Amoy

Amoy, a seaport town of China, in a small island of the same name, in the province of Fukien, 325 miles ENE. of Canton direct. It is the third in importance of the twenty-two treaty ports, and has been celebrated as a trading town for some centuries. It was one of the earliest seats of European commerce in China, the Portuguese having had establishments here in the 16th, and the Dutch in the 17th centuries. In 1841 it was taken by the British, and, by the treaty of Nankin, a British consul and British subjects were permitted to reside there. The trade is now open to all nations; and there are some forty foreign firms. The imports are opium, rice, cotton-twist, British long-cloths, beans, peas, umbrellas, clocks, &c.; the exports are tea, sugar, paper, opium, grass-cloths, gold-leaf, &c. The value of the imports in 1885 was £3,409,350, of which £1,093,161 was under the head of opium; the exports were £1,189,264. The tea exported at the same date to foreign countries and Chinese ports amounted to 23,265,929 lb. Pop. estimated (1891) at 96,000, of whom 300 were foreigners. The island of Amoy, measuring 9 by 7 miles, has 400,000 inhabitants.