182 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. X. 



CHAPTER X 



City of Chang-shan and its- trade — Land journey — My chair and 

 chair-bearers — Description of the road — Trains of tea coolies — 

 Eoadside inns — Boundary of two provinces — Dinner at a Chinese 

 inn — Value of the chopsticks — Adventure with two Canton men 

 — City of Yuk-shan — Its trade and importance — Quan-sin-foo — 

 My servant speculates in grass- cloth — A Chinese test of respecta- 

 bility — Description of the country and its productions — Arrive at 

 the town of Hokow. 



Chang-shan is a city of the third class, and is said 

 to be 140 le from Chu-chu-foo. Judging from the 

 population of other towns in China, I estimated the 

 population of this place at from twenty to thirty 

 thousand. It is built at the base of a hill about a 

 mile from the river, but its suburbs extend down to 

 the water's edge. The streets are narrow, and the 

 shops have a mean appearance when compared with 

 those of Hang-chow-foo or JSTing-po. It has no trade 

 of its own, but, as it is situated on the principal road 

 which leads from the towns on the coast to the great 

 black-tea country of Fokien, to the large towns of 

 Yuk-shan, Quan-sin-foo, Hokow, to the Poyang Lake, 

 and even to Canton, it is necessarily a place of con- 

 siderable importance. Hence the town is full of 

 hongs, inns, tea-shops, and warehouses for the accom- 

 modation of travellers, coolies, and merchandise, the 

 latter being chiefly the black teas of Fokien and 

 Moning. 



