Hello everyone, this is Liu
Chang, M2 student writing about our field trip in Yangtze River (長江) basin.
For your brief information, this field trip was planned by Prof. Shiroyama from
Faculty of Economics. Therefore, Prof. Kawasaki, Sam-san and I will join this trip
with professors who majored in economics and history. As we have arrived in
Wuhan (武漢)
yesterday night, we are planning to visit Hankou Customs House Museum and leave
for Chongqing (重慶)
in the afternoon.
 |
| Schematic Map of Three
Towns in Wuhan |
Because we are about to talk a lot about history,
some geographical information will certainly help. One important thing is that Wuhan
(武漢
) is consisted of three towns known as Hankou (漢口
), Wuchang (武昌
) and Hanyang (漢陽
). These three towns are separated by two rivers: Yangtze River (長江
) and Han River (漢江
).
 |
| Hankou Customs House Museum |
As you can see from the photo above, the museum was
used to be Hankow Customs House. You may wonder why the building looks in a
western style. That is a good question. The construction of the Hankou Customs
House was started in 1922 and completed in January 1924. With a reinforced concrete
structure, the House covered a total floor area of 1,499 m2. Its four-story
main building and five-story bell tower reached a total height of 45.85 meters.
In terms of architectural style, it features the classical Greek style and
European Renaissance style.
Why we built such building in Hankou? This has
things to do with Chinese history. In the late Ming and early Qing, Hankou had
become one of the four famous towns in China with advantageous central
location, accessibility to the rivers and being at the crossroads of nine provinces.
It was a major national inland trading port for its thriving handicraft
industries and booming economy in this period. During the Second Opium War,
Hankou was forced to be opened as a treaty port as required in the Treaty of Tianjin and the Convention of Beijing. In March 1861,
Hankou was officially opened as a treaty port and maintained by British people.
Concessions of many countries are built after that. British (1861), German (1895),
Russian (1896), French (1896) and Japanese (1898) have all built their
international settlement here. Hankou had witnessed invasions by foreign powers
one after another, and Wuhan had undergone unprecedented changes in the fields
of economics, politics and culture.
 |
| Concessions in Hankou |
Therefore, this Museum has collected documents and items
which recorded this period (1861~1949) and we can have a touch of history in
this small building.
 |
| The Receipts of he Export
and Transit Tax of the Shanghai Customs (1939) |
 |
| The Voucher of the
Clearance and Shipping Permits of Tianjin Customs (1937) |
 |
| Passport (1891) |
Although it sounds not so comfortable for local
people to know their land being rented to foreigners by force, it is still a
kind of modernization. The Hankou Customs adopted the organizational structure
of British customs in which a “commissioner” served as the executive chief,
under whom were the deputy commissioners and assistant managers. Based on the
nature of the work, the Hankou Customs comprised seven departments including the
General Affairs Dept., Secretary Dept., Accounting Dept., Inspection Dept.,
Port Management Dept., and the River Management Dept.
The main functions of the Hankou Customs included
examining, assessing, taxing, inspecting the imports and exports, and managing
the non-trading mailed articles of residents and foreign settlers across the
national boundaries. Its responsibilities also included port administration,
channels maintenance, water diversion, meteorological observations,
postal service, quarantine, customs brokers management and so on. The museum reconstructed
the office where they deal with imports and exports. There is even a video game
teaching you how to declare your cargo.
 |
| Reconstruction of Customs
Office |
Rest of the Museum is about the development of
Wuhan after Xinhai Revolution (1911). With the modernization brought by foreigners,
Wuhan ushered in its heyday of the financial industry. Many well-known domestic
and foreign financial institutions gathered in Wuhan, making it a famous
financial center next only to Shanghai in modern China.
 |
| China Industrial Bank (1936) |
Another interesting thing
is about one photo of inundation condition in 1931. The building was Wuhan City
Hall, but sadly we cannot find the residuals nowadays. But the height seems to
match with our simulation result. So, it’s quite encouraging for us to see this
photo.
 |
| A Picture of the Municipal
Government of Hankou in the Flood (1931) |
And some models showing civilization from 1949 to
2014 is also fascinating. Maybe it’s not so correct, it’s still nice to see
such development of this old city.
 |
| City Area in 1949 |
 |
| City Area in 1978 |
 |
| City Area in 2014 |
During lunch, we are invited by professors from Central
China Normal University. The food is so delicious. We felt even guilty not
being able to finish them.
 |
| Lunch at Central China Normal University |
After waiting for 3 hours in the airport. We
finally arrive in Chongqing at around 9 pm. Then we have a nice hot pot for
dinner. The spicy food and beautiful light impressed me deeply.
 |
| Dinner Street |
 |
| Hot Pot |
 |
| Night View of Central Chongqing |
