CHEFOO.
VEN if it should never be known as a great centre for trade, Chefoo, under an enterprising administration, might quickly become one of the most popular summer resorts in the Far East. It has a climate which is not surpassed in any other part of China, for, while the winter, extending from December to March, is severe, and rain and heat form a rather unpleasant combination in July and August, the spring months are delightful, and the autumn, with its succession of warm days, tempered with cool breezes, provides almost ideal holiday conditions. In the season, tourist tickets, at a reduced cost for the return passage, are issued from Shanghai, which is but two days' journey away, by the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company, the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, the China Navigation Company, and the Russian East Asiatic Steamship Company, while regular steamship communication between the two places is maintained, also, by the Nippon Yusen Kaisha and the Osaka Shosen Kaisha. The town possesses two excellent hotels, and a number of good boarding-houses, which are always filled with visitors during the season. There are several well-conducted schools to which children are sent from all parts of the East, as much in the interest of their health as of their education. Social intercourse is promoted by means of a comfortable Club, and races are held towards the end of September. But, in spite of many advantages, which might easily be turned to better account, the development of Chefoo, it is generally agreed, is being retarded owing to the absence of any clearly defined progressive policy on the part of the authorities.
The port was opened to foreign trade in 1863. Altogether, some four hundred foreigners have their names registered at the various Consulates, but more than half of these are missionaries who live inland. There is no formally recognised settlement, or concession, but simply a foreign quarter which is controlled and maintained by a General Purposes committee, deriving its revenue from voluntary contributions. Besides an assessment on property-holders there is a poll-tax of $10 per annum, which all male residents are supposed to pay, but as there is no recognised authority to enforce collection the funds at the disposal of the committee are often not so large as they should be. For a number of years many of the residents have cherished a hope that a settlement, under a properly constituted authority, and with well-defined regulations, would be established in Chefoo as in several of the other Treaty ports, but as this hope has been so long deferred, efforts are being made to form a local board, composed jointly of Chinese and foreigners, to take over administrative work, and draw up rules and regulations for the efficient control of local affairs, a good water supply, for example, is urgently needed, and if the funds were forthcoming it would be a task of no great difficulty to build a reservoir among the hills at the back of the town, from which water could be supplied under its own pressure. The rain in July and August would alone be sufficient, it is believed, to keep the stock replenished, and additional water might possibly be obtained by sinking artesian wells.
Chefoo, which in 1900 was connected by telegraph cables with Tientsin, Port Arthur, Weihaiwei, Tsingtau, and Shanghai, is in the line of communication between the ports of India, South China, Japan, Korea, and Manchuria, and is a regular port of call for many tramp steamers, thirty or forty vessels sometimes entering and clearing in one day. But the necessity for proper harbour works, including a protecting breakwater and quay, is recognised by the whole mercantile community, for strong northerly gales are experienced in the late autumn, and the roadstead furnishes but an uncomfortable anchorage. It is generally taken for granted that after a vessel arrives in port the safety of inward cargo is assured, but, owing to the exposed condition of the harbour at Chefoo, it is at this point where the greatest danger arises. In 1906 nearly two months were lost to trade through stress of weather.
But while Chefoo's importance as a trading centre has, up to the present, been inconsiderable there are undoubted possibilities of development. The port supplies Vladivostock and Siberia with upwards of one hundred thousand coolies annually, and this traffic alone furnishes business for a considerable number of steamers.
The local silk industry is a very important one. A high percentage of the cocoons which come to China from Korea and Manchuria are used here, and foreign silk and hand-made silk laces are manufactured in large quantities. Chefoo is also the centre of a large fruit growing district, and the vine is now being cultivated with the object of producing wine on a fairly extensive scale. A railway, which has been projected from Fuchan-Shein to Wei-Shien, a distance of about 170 miles, should give a great impetus to trade. A company, formed by some prominent Chinese merchants, has been registered under the Board of Posts and Communications, and half the required capital of Tls. 8,000,000 has already been raised. It is expected that the work of construction will be commenced next spring.
The value of the trade of Chefoo for 1907 was Tls. 28,646,513, as compared with Tls. 34,740,267, in 1906, and Tls. 39,131,384 in 1905. The net foreign imports declined from Tls. 17,156,771 in 1905, to Tls. 14,799,778 in 1906, and to Tls. 10,630,697 in 1907; and the net native imports from Tls. 10,022,488 in 1905, to Tls. 7,977,090 in 1906, and to Tls. 7,296,744 in 1907. Exports, while increasing from Tls. 11,952,125 in 1905, to Tls. 11,963,399 in 1906, fell to Tls. 10,719,072 in 1907. Chefoo's contribution to the Customs revenue during 1907 was Tls. 633,243, against Tls. 818,322 in 1906, and Tls. 871,607 in 1905. Bean-cake is the chief item of export, the net quantity sent away during 1907 amounting to 1,000,431 piculs, against 1,144,814 piculs in 1906, and 1,233,180 piculs in 1905. Other leading articles of export are silk, straw-braid, ground-nuts and vermicelli. Chefoo has in Kiaochau, the other port for the Shantung Province, a keen rival, and unless the promised railway communication is soon forthcoming, Chefoo is likely to be relegated to the second place.
