Cheh-Chiang
or CHEH-KIANG, a maritime province of China proper, in which is included the Chusan archipelago. Cheh-Chiang is bounded N. by the province of Chiang-Su (Kiang-Su), E. by the Eastern sea or East China 'Sea (Tung-Hai), S. by the province of Fu- Chien (Fo-Kien), and W. by the provinces of Chiang-Hsi (Kiang-Si) and Ngan-Hwei (An-Hui or Gan-Hui). AS a province, Cheh-Chiang is of great commercial importance, containing three treaty ports, Ning-Po, Wan-Chau (Wen- Chow), and Hang-Chau (Hang-Chow), all of which are to be connected with Shanghai by a projected railway under British control. The area of Cheh- Chiang is 36,670 square miles (about that of Indiana), and the population about 14,000,000. There are thousands of native Christians.
The province is mountainous and traversed by rivers, notably the Tsien-Tang and Ta-Kia, which run down to the Eastern sea. The Grand canal affords the only means of internal communication apart from an extensive system of narrow foot roads. Trade in silk and tea is well developed, this province being, with Chiang-Su and Fu-Kien, the first to contain a treaty port, that of Ning-Po, opened in 1844. Besides tea and silk the province produces cotton and sedge for hats and mats. It imports cotton and woolen goods, tin and iron, kerosene oil, indigo and sugar.
Hang-Chow is the capital of the province. Marco Polo visited the province in the 14th century, when it contained beautiful temples, now in ruins. The most magnificent architectural feature of the province is the temple of the Queen of Heaven, dating from 1680. Cheh-Chiang suffered severely during the Tai-Ping rebellion in 1861. It contains the gateway to the Grand canal, or system of Chinese waterways. The Italians in 1900 laid claim to part of Cheh-Chiang as a sphere of influence, and unsuccessfully demanded the privilege of establishing a port on the coast to be called San Mun.
CHEIROMANCY. See PALMISTRY.