The New International Encyclopædia/Meng-tsze

MENG-TSZE, mĕng′tsĕ′. A town in the Province of Yun-nan, China, situated amid mountains at an elevation of about 4600 feet, about 40 miles from the frontier of Tongking (Map: China, B 7). It is a well built city with traces of its splendor and importance before the Taiping Rebellion. It was opened to foreign commerce in 1889 in accordance with the French Treaty of Tien-tsin of 1886. The trade is mostly transit and with Hong Kong. The merchandise is transported by the Red River as far as Man-has, a village on the left side of the river about 40 miles from Meng-tsze, and from there is carried by coolies and pack animals inland. The chief exports are tin from the adjacent mines and opium; textiles and tobacco are imported. The total trade amounted in 1900 to over $4,000,000. Meng-tsze is connected by telegraph lines with Yun-nan-fu and the frontier of Tongking. The French Government has obtained a concession for the construction of a railway line from Lao-kai on the frontier to Yun-nan-fu via Meng-tsze. Population, about 12,000.