THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS  229
might  have  been  expected  to  spring  up  at  which  the  men  of
the  mountains  should  meet  the  men  of  the  plains,  and  the  inland ­
  men  should  meet  the  men  from  the  sea,  for  the  mutual
exchange  of  products.  The  course  of  trade  has,  however,
undergone  no  change,  and  Ichang,  opened  as  a  treaty  port
in  1876,  has  done  no  more  than  use  its  advantage  of  steamer
traffic  and  take  from  Shasi  a  portion,  and  the  major  portion,
of  the  work  of  transhipping  the  Szechwan  trade  from  the
deep-draft  lower  river  boats  to  the  light  upper  river  boats  and
vice  versa  ;  while  the  emporia  for  the  exchange  of  products
are  still  at  Hankow  and  Shanghai.  The  character  of  the
trade  of  Ichang  may  be  judged  from  the  following  figures
for  the  traffic  which,  between  Ichang  and  Chungking,  went
by  “  chartered  junk,”  subject  to  the  control  of  the  Maritime
Customs,  and,  between  Ichang  and  Hankow,  went  by
steamer,  competing  with  the  lower  river  junk,  the  value
of  the  traffic  by  which  is  not  included.
Gross  Imports.  Re-Exports.  Net  Imports.
{i.e.  transhipped)
Tls.  Tls.  Tls.
1894  .  .  10,373,903  9,427,920  945,983
1904  .  .  35,559,841  34,129,018  1,430,823
Shasi  (30 o  17'  N.,  112 0  17'  E.),  a  city  of  80,000  people,
was  opened  as  a  treaty  port  in  1896.  Originally,  before
the  opening  of  Ichang,  it  was  the  ordinary  place  of  transhipment ­
  for  the  Szechwan  trade  ;  and  in  itself  should  be
a  good  distributing  centre,  placed  in  the  heart  of  the  Hupeh
plain,  with  canals  radiating  from  it  through  the  plain  and
into  Hunan.  One  such  canal  connects  it  directly  with
Hankow  by  a  much  shorter  route  than  that  taken  by
steamers  on  the  Yangtze  ;  and  to  this  canal  facility  must
be  attributed  its  failure  to  develop  as  a  steamer  port.
The  value  of  the  trade  has  been  as  follows  :—

Imports.  Exports.
Tls.  Tls.
135,292  l8l,220
•  •  1,334,328  622,043

Total.
Tls.
316,512
1,956,371

1897
1904