United States or Finland ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Increased facilities of trade, such as the opening of new ports, far from extending the area of danger, served to promote a mutual goodwill. In 1876 Kiungchow, in the island of Hainan, was made a treaty port, or rather the fact of its having been included in the Treaty of Tientsin was practically accepted and recognized. In the following year four new ports were added to the list.
Fourth, the opening of the following forty-one virgin territories and islands: Andaman Islands, Bhutan, Daman, Diu, Goa, Karikal, Máhe, Mariana Islands, Nicobar Islands, Pondicherry, Sikkim, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pákistán and Burma; Caroline Islands, Dutch New Guinea, Hainan Island, Kazakhstan, Macao Island, Sakhalin Island, Tibet, Tonga Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; Brunei, Chagos Archipelago, Kirgizia, Mongolia, Solomon Islands, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Persia; Admiralty Islands, Cocos Island, Loyalty Islands, Mentawei Islands, New Hebrides Islands, Portuguese Timor, Society Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand; Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Marshall Islands, Tuamotu Archipelago, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Central America; Hadhramaut, Kuria-Muria Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq; Marquesas Islands, Samoa Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada; Cook Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South America.
Although the custom appears to have long fallen into disuse, the barbarous inhabitants of Hainan, an island to the south of China, still call a year "a fire," as if in memory of the time when the years were reckoned by the annually recurring ceremony of rekindling the sacred fire.
Russia immediately hurried a fleet to Port Arthur and obtained from China a lease of that port for twenty-five years. England and France now put in a claim for their share of the good things going. England obtained Wei-hai-Wei, France a lease of Kwang-tschau and Hainan.
Unfortunately, when he arrived off Hainan, a wind blowing on shore, and very imperfect charts, prevented his entering the port; but on his way he had an opportunity of revisiting one of the few places on the coast possessing any historical interest, namely Macao, the residence of Camoëns; and also of touching at St. John, the scene of the labours and death of Francis Xavier. February 11th.
In Hainan, an island of extraordinary fertility and natural wealth, which must some day be developed, the aboriginal tribes revolted against Chinese authority, and massacred many of the Chinese settlers, who had begun to encroach on the possessions of the natives.
France, on her part, obtained possession of the port of Kwangchowfoo, which is the best outlet to the sea for the trade of the southern province of Kwangsi; she also secured a promise that the island of Hainan should not be ceded to any other power; and, finally, she gained a recognition of her claim, first advanced in 1895, to a prior right to control the commercial development of the province of Yunnan.
You observe that it extends from the Amur River, which is spelled in older books Amoor; but the latest fashion is to make it Amur, as Hindu and similar words have been changed from oo to u, for both have the same sound in most European and Oriental names, from the Amur River to Tonquin, about thirty degrees of latitude, with the nineteen provinces of China, with Korea, properly spelled with initial K, with the islands of Formosa and Hainan.
There is every variety of climate in the vast territory of China. The natives consider the three southern provinces, including the island of Hainan, less healthy than the other portions of the country; but foreigners find no difficulty in residing in them.
Troops had to be sent from Canton before the disorders were suppressed, and then Hainan reverted to its tranquil state, from which only the threat of a French occupation during the Tonquin war roused it. These disorders in different parts of the empire were matched by troubles of a more domestic character within the palace.
Word Of The Day