THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS  215
as  a  coal  shipping  port  for  the  output  of  the  Kaiping  mines,
and  utilised  as  a  winter  landing  for  passengers  and  mails,
it  proved  of  great  value  in  enabling  the  foreign  garrisons  at
Peking  and  Tientsin  to  maintain  communication  with  the
outer  world  during  the  winter  1900-1  ;  and  when  the
military  forces  were  withdrawn  to  Tientsin,  a  Chinese  Custom ­
  House  was  established  there  in  1902.  The  trade  of
the  port  developed  at  once,  and  in  1905  amounted  to
Tls.18,817,120  for  imports,  and  Tls.3,033,959  for  exports,
a  total  of  Tls.21,851,079,  the  greater  part  of  which  should
be  added  to  the  trade  of  Tientsin,  of  which  Chinwangtao
is  the  “  winter  jetty.”  Of  its  special  export,  coal,  168,576
tons  were  shipped  in  1905,  in  addition  to  25,183  tons  shipped
from  Tientsin.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay  is  the  seaside
resort  of  Peitaiho,  frequented  during  the  summer  by  residents ­
  of  Peking,  Tientsin  and  Shanghai,  and  by  missionaries
from  the  interior  of  North  China.
Shantung
Shantung,  the  “  Mountains  of  the  East,”  the  home  of
Confucius,  has  an  area  estimated  at  56,000  square  miles  and
a  population  estimated  at  37,000,000.  It  is  divided  sharply
into  two  halves,  the  mountainous  country  to  the  east  and  the
plain  to  the  west.  The  eastern  part,  with  a  width  of  80
miles  at  the  base  and  30  miles  at  the  tip,  projects  boldly
for  a  length  of  150  miles  into  the  sea,  separating  the  waters
of  the  Yellow  Sea  to  the  south  from  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli
to  the  north,  and  is  rich  in  minerals,  notably  coal,  iron,  and
gold.  The  western  part  is  a  portion  of  the  plain  formed  by
China’s  Sorrow,  the  Yellow  River.  This  river  has  changed
its  course  many  times,  finding  its  outlet  into  the  sea  at
several  places  within  a  range  of  eight  degrees  of  latitude  ;
prior  to  the  sixth  century  before  Christ,  it  formed  a  delta
with  its  northern  mouth  at  Tientsin,  latitude  39 0  N.,  and  its
southern  mouth  near  the  present  outlet,  latitude  38 o  N..  ;  from
the  seventh  century  a.d.  it  emptied  by  one  mouth  about
latitude  38 o  30'  N.  ;  toward  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  it
plunged  south-east  from  a  point  midwaybetween  Kaifeng  and