Woosung

In the three hours it took us to run from the light-ship to the anchorage at Woosung, no less than seven large steamers passed us, outward bound.

The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various

It has, from its proximity to the tea district, and easy communication with the vast country watered by the Yang-tze river, taken almost without an effort the great trade that once centred in Canton, and every year shows a greater amount of tonnage in the Woosung river, and larger exports of tea, silk, and cotton.

The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various

Out of hundreds of junks moored in the Woosung river it was impossible to find one without the great staring eye under what is called, by courtesy, the bows, and not a few of them had the open mouth of a dragon, with ugly teeth, painted under it, near the water-line, the corners being drawn down, and the eye (from their desire that it should see 'all ways at once') having a horrid squint.

The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various

The tide in the Yang-tze and its branch, the Woosung, runs with tremendous force, having a rise and fall of eighteen feet at spring tides, and few ships are able to proceed beyond Woosung with a single tide, Shanghai lying twelve miles above.

The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various

Woosung, itself, is a place of no interest whatever -- a filthy village, with a market place on the river; the remains of old forts in its neighborhood, and extensive rice and cotton fields about it, presenting the only points worthy of note.

The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various

Every evening at sunset there is a prodigious hubbub from the junks on the Woosung, made with tom-toms, drums, and other unmelodious instruments, which are vigorously beaten for ten or fifteen minutes, to bring good luck, and propitiate the devils, or frighten them away for the night.

The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various

Other even queerer craft lay at anchor like ourselves, only further up the harbour, chief amongst them being Chinese junks of every size, from the huge, travelling tea-chest from Woosung or Amoy of three or four thousand tons burthen, down to the "junklet" from the nearer provinces of the Celestial Empire of lesser proportions.

Crown and Anchor Under the Pen'ant John B. [Illustrator] Greene

Receiving vessels were stationed at Amoy, Fuh-Choo, Namoa, and Woosung, with fast clippers to supply them from the principal dépôt at Hong-Kong; and opium was smuggled almost within the precincts of the Imperial

Kathay: A Cruise in the China Seas W. Hastings Macaulay

Approaching the entrance to the Woosung river from the Pacific, the waters of the Yang-tze are plainly discernible at sixty to seventy miles from its mouth, and when near the point where the ship's head is turned from the broad current of the great river into that of the Woosung, a thick, yellow mud rolls out with the tide, and discolors the water as far as the eye can reach.

The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various

This fleet of junks and sampans is a curious sight to the stranger approaching the China coast for the first time, and, with a ramble through the filthy village of Woosung, occupies the time which the tides compel him to spend there.

The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various