After the end of the epidemic in Fujian, some media suddenly posted an article saying that after the "five ports of trade", "Fuzhou refused to open up, and Xiamen has developed rapidly.".
The editor who knew something about history was taken aback at that time, and did not know what the purpose of the article was, whether it was to "praise Xiamen Heifuzhou" or "kill Xiamen"?
In fact, people who know a little about history know that the "five ports of trade" are passive, and Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Xiamen, and Guangzhou were all forced to open up under the circumstances of signing unequal treaties.
Although it is also a "five-port trade", Fuzhou benefits from the special geographical location of the Minjiang estuary, which is many years faster than the development of Xiamen.
The peak period of Fuzhou's development was from 1842 to 1890.
Xiamen (more precisely, Gulangyu Island) did not really begin to develop until after 1900, when the peak of the Lower Nanyang (that is, the bitter piglets) began to develop, and Xiamen was nearly 60 years later than Fuzhou.
Late Qing Dynasty Fuzhou Zhongzhou Island
In the first two years of the "Five Ports of Commerce", there was indeed some resistance for foreign expatriates to enter Fuzhou, mainly because Fuzhou was the seat of the provincial capital and the largest city in Fujian, and there were many Shi classes living inside and outside the city.
At that time, Xiamen was just a small wharf, sparsely populated, only one or two streets. This allowed Britain, the United States and other countries to quickly seize Gulangyu Island. Unfortunately, because Xiamen did not have corresponding export resources at that time, the development speed was very slow.
——A few years after the opening of the port, the education, welfare and medical care brought by the European expatriates quickly won the trust of the people of Fuzhou, and the first Christian church after the opening of the port in Fujian Province was on Zhongzhou Island in the Minjiang River in Fuzhou, and the first hospital was in Cangqian Mountain, Fuzhou.
Fuzhou Panchuanpu Church
More crucially, tea, China's largest export commodity at that time, brought a large number of employment opportunities to Fuzhou people.
According to the Qing Dynasty customs archives:
Tea from Huizhou can reach the port of Shanghai within 10 days through the Xin'an River in Zhejiang.
Tea leaves from eastern Zhejiang pass through Shaoxing and Hangzhou to Shanghai Port, which takes only 5 days.
Wuyishan's tea leaves pass through the Minjiang River and reach the port of Fuzhou in only 4 days.
From Shanghai Port and Fuzhou Port, it can be transshipped to all parts of the world.
The export of tea has provided a huge driving force for the development of Fuzhou Port and Shanghai Port.
tea
In 1856 (the sixth year of Xianfeng), Shanghai exported 445,000 quintals, and Fuzhou exported 307,000 quintals, accounting for 77% of the country's maritime exports;
In 1856, the Second Opium War broke out. The port of Hankou in central China was forced to open. Tea leaves in central China began to be exported from Hankou.
By 1881, Shanghai exported 623,000 quintals of tea, Fuzhou exported 663,000 quintals, and Hankou exported 268,000 quintals, and the exports of the three major tea ports accounted for 73% of the country's tea exports. Fuzhou became the largest trading port in the country at that time.
The total foreign trade of Guangzhou, Ningbo, Xiamen and other places is not as good as that of Fuzhou!
The development of Fuzhou Port has provided a steady stream of financial impetus for the economic development and social and people's livelihood of Fuzhou.
For example, the school funds for the Mawei Ship Politics School were borne by the Fujian Customs at that time.
In order to protect their own trade interests, consulates in more than a dozen countries such as the United States, France, and the United Kingdom have been set up.
Banks from more than a dozen countries have branches in Fuzhou.
Modern hospitals such as Union Hospital (now Union Hospital), Tating Hospital (now Fuzhou Second Hospital), south China Women's College of Arts and Sciences, Fujian Union University and other universities have been established successively.
Fuzhou became a benchmark city for East-West exchanges at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Although the "five-mouth trade" was indeed a passive act, it had to be admitted that the scholars and people at that time were able to see the world and the world.
The opening of Fuzhou Port had a positive impact on future generations.
Yan Fu, Lin Juemin, Lin Wen, Lin Yinmin, Lin Changmin and other Fuzhou celebrities who have a great influence on China's modern and modern times basically appeared at the peak of the development of Fuzhou Port!