1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Kiang-Si

KIANG-SI, an eastern province of China, bounded N. by Hu-peh and Ngan-hui, S. by Kwang-tung, E. by Fu-kien, and W. by Hu-nan. It has an area of 72,176 sq. m., and a population returned at 22,000,000. It is divided into fourteen prefectures. The provincial capital is Nan-ch’ang Fu, on the Kan Kiang, about 35 m. from the Po-yang Lake. The whole province is traversed in a south-westerly and north-easterly direction by the Nan-shan ranges. The largest river is the Kan Kiang, which rises in the mountains in the south of the province and flows north-east to the Po-yang Lake. It was over the Meiling Pass and down this river that, in old days, embassies landing at Canton proceeded to Peking. During the summer time it has water of sufficient depth for steamers of light draft as far as Nan-ch’ang, and it is navigable by native craft for a considerable distance beyond that city. Another river of note is the Chang Kiang, which has its source in the province of Ngan-hui and flows into the Po-yang Lake, connecting in its course the Wu-yuen district, whence come the celebrated “Moyune” green teas, and the city of King-te-chên, celebrated for its pottery, with Jao-chow Fu on the lake. The black “Kaisow” teas are brought from the Ho-kow district, where they are grown, down the river Kin to Juy-hung on the lake, and the Siu-ho connects by a navigable stream I-ning Chow, in the neighbourhood of which city the best black teas of this part of China are produced, with Wu-ching, the principal mart of trade on the lake. The principal products of the province are tea, China ware, grass-cloth, hemp, paper, tobacco and tallow. Kiu-kiang, the treaty port of the province, opened to foreign trade in 1861, is on the Yangtsze-kiang, a short distance above the junction of the Po-yang Lake with that river.