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1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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formerly an important maritime town of China, in the province of Cheh-kiang, 50 m. N.W. of Chen-hai, situated in one of the richest and best cultivated districts in the country. It is the port of Hang-chow, with which it has good canal communication, and it was formerly the only Chinese port trading with Japan. The town has a circuit of about 5 m. exclusive of the suburbs that lie along the beach; and the Tatar quarter is separated from the rest by a wall. It was captured and much injured by the British force in 1842, but was abandoned immediately after the engagement. The sea around it has now silted up, though in the middle of the 19th century it was accessible to the light-draught ships of the British fleet.