Canton (Called also YANG-CHING i e)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

called also YANG-CHING (i. e., "city of rams"), a large commercial city and port in the south of China, and capital of the province of Kwang-tung (of which the name Canton is merely merely a corruption), on the N. or left side of the Shu-kiang, or Pearl river, in a rich alluvial plain, 70 miles N. of Macao and 90 N. W. of Hongkong. The Pearl river is the estuary of the same stream that higher up is called Boca Tigre, or Boca Tigris. Farther up still, the stream is known as the Canton river; and this is but the chief channel by which the united waters of the Sikiang and the Pekiang rivers reach the sea through the delta. The city is surrounded by walls partly brick, partly sandstone, 25 to 40 feet high, 20 feet thick, with an esplanade inside, 6 miles in circumference; and it is divided by a partition wall running E. and W. into two unequal parts, the N. or old city, much the larger, and the S. or new city. The entire circuit, including suburbs, is nearly 10 miles. At the S. W. corner of the suburbs S. of the river, are the Hongs or European quarter, divided from the river by a quay, 100 yards wide, called Respondentia Walk. The streets, more than 600, are in general less than 8 feet wide, and very crooked. The houses along the water-side are built on piles, and subject to inundations. There are two pagodas, the "Plain Pagoda," erected more than 10 centuries ago, 160 feet high, and an octagonal nine-storied pagoda, 175 feet high, erected more than 1,300 years ago; and 124 temples or Joss-houses. The Honam temple, one of the largest in Canton, covers with its grounds, 7 acres, and has 175 priests attached. The "Temple of Filial Duty" has 200 priests, supported by 3,500 acres of glebe-lands. The priests and nuns in Canton number more than 2,000, nine-tenths of them Buddhists. The "Temple of Five dred Genii" has 500 statues of various sizes in honor of Buddha and his disciples. Examination Hall, in the old city, is 1,330 feet by 583 feet, covers 16 acres, and has 8,653 cells. There are also in Canton prisons, granaries, a handsome English church, public schools and colleges, a foundling hospital, an English and an American missionary hospital, etc. Nearly half the craft on the river are fixed residences, and the population on land and water is estimated variously at from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000. The climate of Canton may be pronounced healthy. The average temperature are ranges from 42° to 96° F. The admirable situation of Canton, connected by three rivers with the whole province, E., N., and W., and to the W. with the distant interior of China, and commanding a safe and commodious anchorage for the largest vessels, explains how, from an early period, it was a favorite port with foreign merchants. The earliest notices date back to two In 700 A. D. a regular centuries B. C. market was opened and a collector of customs appointed. The Arabs made regular voyages hither as early as the The Portuguese found 9th century. their way to it in 1517, and were followed by the Dutch a hundred years later. These in turn were overtaken and supplanted by the English before the close of the 17th century, and an immense trade was carried on by the agents of the East India Company. Their monopoly ceased on April 22, 1834. The city was captured by the allied French and English forces, December, 1857, and continued to be garrisoned by them till October, 1861. After the treaty of Nankin (signed Aug. 29, 1842), Canton was known as one of the five treaty ports, with Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai. The chief exports from Canton are tea, silk, sugar, and cassia; the chief imports, cotton, woolen and metal goods, food-stuffs, kerosene, etc. The total trade of the port is very large and is estimated at $75,000,000.