THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS  245
Tsientang,  is  intersected  by  canals,  including  the  Grand
Canal,  the  southern  starting-point  of  which  is  Hangchow  ;
all  are  on  the  same  level,  and  freely  intercommunicating,
except  those  from  Hangchow  to  Haining  and  intersecting
the  city  of  Hangchow,  which  are  on  a  higher  level.  Being
in  China,  where  so  much  is  topsy-turvy,  the  high-level
canals  adjoin  the  estuary  of  the  Tsientang,  in  which  the
range  of  spring  tides  is  25-35  feet,  and  the  low-level  canals
are  inland.  The  principal  products  of  the  province  are
silk,  tea,  and  cotton,  and  it  contains  three  treaty  ports.
Hangchow  (30 o  12'  N.,  120 0  12'  E.),  the  provincial
capital,  and  for  a  time  the  capital  of  the  Southern  Sung
Empire  (a.d.  1129-1280),  was  opened  as  a  treaty  port  in
1896.  A  centre  of  the  silk  industry,  in  which  it  surpassed
Soochow,  it  shared  the  fate  of  other  cities  of  the  Yangtze
plain  during  the  Taiping  rebellion,  and  has  not  yet  fully
recovered  from  the  devastation  it  suffered  at  that  time.
Its  present  population  is  estimated  at  350,000.  As  at
Soochow,  opened  at  the  same  time,  an  International  Settlement ­
  with  an  area  of  182  acres  was  set  aside  by  the  Chinese
authorities  and  retained  under  their  control,  and  alongside
it  was  granted  a  Japanese  concession  of  120  acres.  Some
fifty  miles  from  Hangchow  is  the  mountain  resort  of  Mokanshan,
  with  many  summer  cottages  built  by  residents  of
Shanghai  and  other  places.  Trade  communication  outside
the  district  is  entirely  with  Shanghai,  by  a  route  following
the  Grand  Canal  and  other  inland  waterways,  and  is  maintained ­
  by  “  trains  ”  made  up  of  passenger  and  cargo-boats
towed  by  steam-launches.  A  considerable  trade  ends  and
originates  in  Hangchow,  as  shown  by  the  following  figures:—
Imports.  Exports.  Total.
Tls.  Tls.  Tls.
1898  ..  2,960,234  5.033,245  7,993.479
I 9°4  •.  8,702,249  9,158,519  17,760,768
Among  the  imports  of  1904  cotton  manufactures  figured
but  little,  the  principal  being  tin  (Tls.  197,000)  kerosene
oil  (Tls.699,000),  matches  (Tls.97,000),  sugar  (Tls.1,710,000),