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232
EAST ASIA.
Shanghai, the nearest seaport to the Yang-tze estuary, has become the first
commercial mart in the empire, and in all Asia knows no superior except Bombay.
Yet when in 1842 the English chose this place
for their factories, it seemed
difficult to believe that they could ever convert it into a rival of Canton or Amoy.
It was doubtless the outport of Suchew and the rich surrounding district, and it
had also the important advantage of commanding the entrance of the great water
highway which traverses the whole empire from east to west. But there were
formidable difficulties of soil and climate to contend against. The very ground on
which it stood had to be raised and consolidated ; canals had to be cut, lagoons
drained, the navigable channel dredged, the atmosphere purified from its miasmatic
EofG. M9-28'
Fig. 105. CHINOKIANQ.
Scale 1 : 110.000.
OloSOFeet. 80 to 160 Feet. 160 Feet and upmrds.
_ 2 Miles.
exhalations. Most of these improvements have been successfully carried out ; but
a dangerous bur still separates the Yang-tze estuary from the Hoang-pu, or river of
" Yellow Waters," on which Shanghai is situated. The evil has even increased
during the last decade, and vessels of deep draught do not now ascend the Hoangpu
to the city. Unless the Chinese Government allows the necessary works to be
undertaken to keep open the navigation, Shanghai runs the risk of sooner or later
getting lost on the margin of a marshy creek in the interior. To bring about this
result, all that is needed is a further slight geological change in a tract where the
alluvia of the Yang-t/e and the marine waters are struggling for the ascendancy.
According to the local tradition, Shanghai formerly stood on the sea-coast, from