Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Kew-Keang Foo

KEW-KEANG FOO, a prefecture and prefectural city in the province of Keang-se, China. The city, which is situated on the south bank of the Yang-tsze Keang, 15 miles above the point where the Kan Keang flows into that river from the Po-yang lake, stands in 29° 42′ N. lat. and 116° 8′ E. long. The north face of the city is separated from the river by only the width of a roadway, and two large lakes lie on its west and south fronts. The walls are from 5 to 6 miles in circumference, and are more than usually strong and broad. As is generally the case with old cities in China, Kew-Keang has repeatedly changed its name. Under the Tsin dynasty (265–420 a.d.) it was known as Sin-Yang, under the Leang dynasty (502–557) as Keang Chow, under the Suy dynasty (589–618) as Kew-Keang, under the Sung dynasty (960–1127) as Ting-Keang, and under the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) it assumed the name it at present bears. Kew-Keang has played its part in the history of the empire, and has been repeatedly besieged and sometimes taken. The last time this worst fate overtook it was in February 1853, when the Tai-ping rebels gained possession of the city. After their manner they looted and utterly destroyed it, leaving only the remains of a single street to represent the once flourishing town. The position of Kew-Keang on the Yang-tsze Keang and its proximity to the channels of internal communication through the Po-yang lake, more especially to those leading to the green-tea-producing districts of the provinces of Keang-se and Gan-hwuy, induced Lord Elgin to choose it as one of the treaty ports to be opened under the terms of his treaty (1861). Unfortunately, however, it stands above instead of below the outlet of the Po-yang lake, and the 15 miles which separate it from that channel form one of the swiftest parts of the lower Yang-tsze Keang. This has proved to be a decided drawback to its success as a commercial port, but nevertheless the customs returns show a steady annual increase in the trade carried on. The immediate effect of opening the town to foreign trade was to raise the population in one year from 10,000 to 40,000, and at the present time the census declares it to be peopled by 48,000 souls. The foreign settlement extends westward from the city, along the bank of the Yang-tsze Keang, and is bounded on its extreme west by the P’un river, which there runs into the Yang-tsze. The bund, which is 500 yards long, was erected by the foreign community at a cost of 1700 taels. The climate is considered to be good, and though hot in the summer months is invariably cold and bracing in the winter. According to the latest customs returns the value of foreign imports into Kew-Keang in 1878 was 2,514,302 taels as against 2,954,286 in 1880; during the same period native imports showed an increase from 649,109 taels to 962,364 taels; and the value of exports declined from 8,924,436 taels to 8,824,966 taels. 1653 piculs of opium were imported in 1878, and 2290 in 1880, and the revenue returns show that while the duties levied in 1872 amounted to 585,883 taels, in 1880 the sum received from the same source was 764,571 taels.