Page:The international development of China (IA developmentchina00suny).pdf/88

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60
THE INTERNATIONAL

be taken up at the present price under the same principle which I have proposed for the Projected Port at Chapu.

Pukow, opposite Nanking, on the other side of the river, will be the great terminus of all the railways of the great northern plain to the Yangtze. It will be the nearest river port for the rich coal and iron fields of Shansi and Honan, giving access to the lower Yangtze district and hence to the sea. As the great transcontinental trunk line to the sea whether terminating at Shanghai or at our Projected Port, would pass through this point, the construction of a tunnel under the Yangtze to connect Nanking and Pukow by rail at the same time when the cities are being constructed, will not be at all premature. This will at once make possible a through train journey from Shanghai to Peking.

Concrete or stone embankment should be built along the shore above and below the present Pukow point many miles in each direction. Modern streets should be laid out on the land within the embankment so as to be ready for various building purposes. The land on the north side of the river should be taken up by the state for public uses of this international development scheme on the same basis as at our Projected Ports.

c. Wuhu

Wuhu is a town of 120,000 inhabitants and is the center of the rice trade in the lower part of the Yangtze.