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SWATOW (also Shan`tow)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 184 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SWATOW (also Shan`See also:tow) , a See also:port of See also:China, in the See also:province of Kwang-tung, opened to See also:foreign See also:trade in 1869. The populationis upwards of 6o,000. The See also:town is situated at the mouth of the See also:main See also:branch of the See also:river Han, which 30 See also:miles inland flows past the See also:great See also:city of Ch'aochow Fu, or Tai-chu (Tie-chu), while the surrounding See also:country is more populous and full of towns and villages than any other See also:part of the province. The See also:climate is See also:good, but being situated at the See also:southern end of the See also:Formosa Strait the town is exposed to the full force of the typhoons, and much destruction is occasionally wrought. See also:English merchants settled on See also:Double See also:Island in the river as See also:early as 1856; but the city, which is built on ground but recently recovered from the See also:sea, was formerly a See also:mere fishing See also:village. The trade of the port has rapidly increased. In 1869 the See also:total value of the trade was £4,800,000, in 1884 £5,519,772, and in 1904 £7,063,579• The surrounding country is a great See also:sugar-See also:cane See also:district producing annually about 2,400,000 cwt. of sugar, and there is an extensive refinery in the town employing up-wards of 600 workmen and possessing a See also:reservoir for 7,000,000 gallons of See also:water. Next in value comes the manufacture of See also:bean-cake, which is also imported in large quantities from Niuchwang, Chifu, See also:Shanghai, See also:Amoy and Hong-See also:Kong. Among the leading exports are See also:tea (since about 1872); grass-See also:cloth, manufactured at Swatow from so-called Taiwan See also:hemp (the fibre of the Boehmeria nivea from Formosa); See also:pine-See also:apple cloth, manufactured in the villages about Chieh-Yang (a town 22 M. distant); oranges, for which the district is famous; cheap fans; and See also:pewter, See also:iron and See also:tin wares. Swatow is also a great See also:emigration port and was the See also:scene of many See also:kidnapping adventures on the part of foreigners in the early days. Their outrages gave rise to much hostile feeling towards foreigners who were not allowed to enter the city of Ch'aochow Fu until the See also:year 1861. Of the whole foreign trade of the port upwards of 83% is in See also:British bottoms, the trade with Hong-Kong being of especial importance.

About 1865 the whole Swatow district was still divided into a number of " See also:

independent townships, each ruled by its own See also:head-men," and the See also:population was described in the See also:official gazetteer, as " generally rebellious and wicked in the highest degree." Mr See also:Forrest, British consular See also:agent, relates that in that year he was See also:witness to the preparations for a fight between the See also:people living on the opposite sides of the See also:estuary, which was only pre-vented by a British See also:war-See also:vessel. The Taip`ings swept over the country, and by their ravages and plundering did much to tame the See also:independence of the clans. The See also:punishment inflicted in 1869 by See also:Commander See also:Jones on the inhabitants of Otingpui (Ou-ting-pei), about 8 m. from Swatow, for the attack they had made on the boats of H.M.S. " Cockchafer," showed the See also:Chinese authorities that such piratical villages were not so strong as had been supposed. See also:General See also:Fang (a native of Ch'aochow Fu) was sent to reduce the district to See also:order, and he carried out his instructions with remorseless rigour.

End of Article: SWATOW (also Shan`tow)

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