Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 448 Cebu, Zamboanga and Honolulu.

The sixth largest city in the Chu State was Honolulu, a new city that did not appear in the 1871 city ranking. In the 1882 census, Honolulu's total population reached 71.14.

Honolulu's rapid development has its unique historical reasons.

This stems from the Chu State's "Look East" colonial development policy, which placed the core of future colonial development in Central and South America. As a springboard in the Pacific, the Hawaiian Islands undoubtedly played an irreplaceable and important role.

Honolulu is the largest city in the Hawaiian Islands. With the influx of Chinese immigrants supported by policies for more than a decade, the city and regional economies have developed rapidly, becoming the sixth largest city in the Chu State.

The development history of Honolulu is the history of Chinese immigration.

The entire Hawaiian region

At the end of 1882, the total population reached 237.75 million. Honolulu, as the core large city, accounted for almost one-third of the total population. Its economic foundation was mainly sugar production and cattle breeding, and it also had extensive grain production.

The sugarcane industry is Hawaii's traditional advantageous industry. The world's four major sugarcane producing areas are Shangri-La Island, Hawaii, Cuba, and Brazil. These four major producing areas produce almost 80% of the world's white sugar, mainly for supplying the European and American markets.

In the homes of white residents in Europe and the United States, the taste for food is generally sweet. In fact, various foods with high sugar content, as well as cocoa and coffee, are indispensable necessities in life.

In an average American family, sugar is bought in bags of 5 pounds, 10 pounds, or large bags. If 30 pounds of flour are consumed each month, then at least 10 pounds of white sugar are consumed. It is almost a necessity in the diet.

Therefore, white sugar is also a traditional bulk trading product in the world. Hawaiian white sugar is mainly supplied to America and Europe. There are thousands of sugar plantations of all sizes throughout the Hawaiian Islands, and the annual output is quite considerable.

There are 8 large sugar factories in the area, whose production scale is second only to Xinxi'an. It is one of the main sugar producing areas of Chu State.

Another major export product of Hawaii is high-quality beef, which originated from American cattle farmers who brought high-quality cattle to Hawaii, and the trend has been unstoppable since then.

After the Chu State took control of the area, many American businessmen packed up and left, and many American white farmers also packed up and left, and were taken over by Chinese farmers.

Like cattle breeding, this business was developed and promoted by Chinese farmers, and gradually became a pillar industry in Hawaii, with an astonishing amount of exports to Europe each year.

After the Chu State took control of Central America, its export channels to Europe became increasingly smooth.

Without passing through other people's territory, live cattle loaded in Hawaii can reach San Salvador in Central America after about 8 to 9 days of sea voyage.

Generally speaking

These live cattle will be kept in local captivity for 1 to 3 months, mainly to fatten them and restore their physical condition for sea transportation, in preparation for another ocean voyage.

After these live cattle were fattened up again, they were driven by cowboys across the Isthmus of Central America. After a long journey of more than 230 kilometers, they arrived in San Pedro Sula on the Caribbean coast.

This section can also be transported by rail, but farmers prefer to drive the cattle and reach the port of San Pedro Sula in 4 to 5 days.

After loading the ship at this Caribbean port and sailing for 12 days, it will arrive at the European ports of Spain, France, Italy, Germany or the United Kingdom, which is also the final destination of this journey.

Hawaii's high-quality beef is very popular in Europe because these cattle are raised in a semi-wild manner, the meat is more delicate and the grilled steaks taste better, making it a very good beef product.

Over the years
Hawaii has developed ships specifically for transporting live cattle. The live cattle are driven onto the ship at the port. There are layers of gangways, and the live cattle can enter the cabins on each floor and then stop in narrow steel cattle pens.

During the next ten days or so of sailing at sea, these live cattle will stay in a narrow cattle pen, where they can use the left and right sides, front and back for support to avoid slipping and breaking their legs, which would cause injuries and death.

These specially customized live cattle transport ships can carry thousands or even tens of thousands of live cattle at a time, and are the best tool for transoceanic transportation.

In the cabin
These live cattle transport ships have excellent ventilation conditions. They are closed on cold nights and open during the day, which greatly reduces the odor of feces in the cabin and brings in a lot of fresh air.

During normal times, the sailors on the live cattle transport ships are very busy and have heavy feeding tasks.

Here, we have to mention the hand tractor.

Each live cattle transport ship is equipped with thirty hand tractors for feeding live cattle in each cabin. At least four tractors are required to rotate on each cabin.

Taking care of live cattle is a hard job. You have to put hay, black beans and sugarcane residue in the trough at least twice a day.

Generally, the feed is transported by hand tractors, with the bed loaded with feed. A sailor stands on one side and uses a large shovel to pour the feed into the cattle pens on both sides, and this cycle repeats over and over again.

This is a very tiring job, but with the help of a hand tractor, the labor intensity of the sailors can be greatly reduced, and the sailor configuration can also be reduced.

If there were no tractors transporting goods back and forth in the narrow cabin and taking on the main transportation work, the sailors' labor intensity would be unimaginable.

The export of live cattle from Honolulu has formed an industrial chain. The transportation from Honolulu to San Salvador in the Pacific region is undertaken by special live cattle transport ships, which travel back and forth on this route day after day.

In Caribbean ports
The route from here to Europe is also served by live cattle transport ships ordered from the UK, thus establishing a trade route for exporting live cattle to Europe that is efficient and cost-effective.

The Chinese people's ingenuity and wisdom in the field of trade are fully demonstrated in the beef trade.

Honolulu’s exports to Europe have now added frozen meat, which is also a bulk commodity. The advantage is that the price per pound of frozen meat is lower and transportation is much simpler.

The high-quality leather from Hawaii is a bulk product that is exported in large quantities to Europe and sold to the Chu State. As a result, dozens of leather factories have developed in Honolulu, making it a considerable industry.

Overall
Honolulu is a city that gradually prospered due to the Chu State's "Look East" colonial policy, which supported its development for more than ten years.

This important city in the Pacific Ocean was also the home port of the Chu Pacific Fleet and a crucial forward base for projecting Chu's military power into Central America. Its position was irreplaceable. With this important city, the Chu mainland and the Viceroyalty Colonies in Central and South America were closely linked, forming an inseparable bond.

If this link is interrupted, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Pacific islands such as Midway Island and Wake Island, due to their small geographical location, poor resources, and limited population capacity, cannot serve as an important forward base for Hawaii.

Precisely because of the important role of the Hawaiian Islands, the Chu State invested heavily in building a large number of military fortresses and artillery batteries in Honolulu and Pearl Harbor, sparing no effort to turn them into impregnable coastal defense fortresses. The Royal Seventh Division was also stationed here, as well as several fortress battalions and infantry regiments. The total number of naval and army garrisoned troops reached over 10,000.

There is also a complete militia organization in the local area. As a remote outpost, the mobilization and training levels of the militia here are higher than those in the mainland. In times of crisis, they can be quickly mobilized to fight and assist in the defense of the fortress.

The fifth largest city in Chu State is Zamboanga. In the city rankings of 1871, Zamboanga was ranked sixth with a population of 41.03 people, and now it has moved up one place.

According to the census at the end of 1882, the population of Zamboanga reached 84.71, more than double the population 11 years ago, a very significant increase.

Sanbaoyan is very famous for its local canned food exports. From the original single canned fruit in syrup, it has developed to hundreds of varieties of canned meats, canned fish, canned soybeans and chickpeas, etc., which can be said to be very diverse.

It is also a typical light industrial city with an excellent food processing industry. It is also a place where the wool textile industry gathers. It has 13 large and medium-sized wool spinning mills, many linen spinning mills, and dozens of weaving mills. The textile industry alone employs more than 7.7 people.

Zamboanga is developing step by step. It is also one of the major ports in the south and a must-stop place on the Eurasian route to Australia. Australian wool is deeply processed here.

Textile weaving, weaving, dyeing and finishing, and then exporting to Europe and northern China, is a vivid example of the Chu State's active participation in the world's industrial division of labor, and it has yielded fruitful results.

Zamboanga has the largest cotton mills in Chu State, namely Zamboanga Cotton Mill No. 1 and Zamboanga Cotton Mill No. 2, which process imported Indian cotton and produce high-quality and low-cost machine-made cotton cloth for the domestic market.

Its sales volume has accounted for more than 40% of the cotton cloth market in the Chu State, replacing imports to a large extent, and is an outstanding representative of the development of light industry.

In the field of Chinese patent medicine preparation, Zamboanga has also developed a considerable scale, with dozens of exclusive secret Chinese medicines, including anti-inflammatory and hemostatic drugs used on a large scale in wars, children's cough syrups, secret quinine cream for treating tropical malaria and shivering, bagged powders for treating colds, Huoxiang Zhengqi water for treating diarrhea, bone-setting water, Lao Zhengxing brand gold-wound medicine, etc., forming a unique competitive track.

In today's era of shortage of medical care and medicine, it is receiving more and more attention and has a bright market prospect.

Based on their specialty planting, the areas around Zamboanga have developed a series of uniquely competitive light industrial industries, and have also undertaken processing of materials from Australia and India. The development of the light industrial economy is on a steady path.

Unconsciously

It has surpassed many domestic cities with rapid development and firmly holds the position of the fifth largest city in Chu State.

The fourth largest city in the Chu State was Cebu, whose urban population grew from 1871 at the end of 49.3 to 1882 at the end of 88.53, which is also not to be underestimated.

Cebu is an exceptionally beautiful coastal city with blue sky, white sand, coconut trees and red walls, making this city as beautiful as a painting and full of exotic charm.

This was the first place where Spanish colonists landed, and the city retains a strong Mediterranean architectural style. There are also more than a dozen churches scattered throughout the city, and their tall spires tell of the past.

The arrival of Chinese rulers added the style of classical Chinese architecture to the city. The fusion of Chinese and Western architecture in this beautiful city is unexpectedly harmonious.

The local area has rich copper resources. The largest enterprise here is the copper smelter, which has developed a series of additional industries, including copper tripods, copper bell casting, copper basins, copper bowls, copper shells and copper handicrafts, etc. The Royal Second Mint is also located here.

Cebu also has a solid foundation in the mechanical processing industry. There are dozens of local machine tool factories and special steel cable factories. The Chu State cargo ship fleet and immigration fleet, as well as naval vessels, sailing around the world are all thanks to Cebu's mechanical industry.

In addition to the 16 majestic main ironclad ships, the Chu Royal Navy also had as many as 49 ironclad cruisers with a displacement ranging from 2300 to 4000 tons, plus more than 130 iron-hulled cruisers with a displacement of more than 500 tons. Many important parts of the marine horizontal steam units and high-efficiency fuel boilers used on these ships came from Cebu.

The high-pressure steel pipes, valves, special pressure vessels, reactors and other production equipment needed for oil refineries also come from Cebu Machinery Industry.

The beautiful local environment has created a group of skilled workers. Cebu also has 7 higher education institutions second only to Manila, including the Chu Kuo Polytechnic University, Cebu College of Arts and Humanities, Royal Medical University, Chu Kuo Second Normal College, Royal Naval Officer Preparatory School, College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the Cebu Administrative College under preparation. It is truly a place of outstanding people and beautiful scenery.

This city is also one of the favorite cities of the nobles of the Chu State. Many high-ranking nobles in the kingdom own vacation homes, villas and outer houses in Cebu. They come here to live for a period of time every year and live a relaxed and comfortable life.

Cebu's city streets are winding, with centuries-old trees on both sides of the road. They are vigorous and powerful, with lush branches and leaves. The dense shade of the trees covers the flat and clean asphalt roads.

One after another, unique buildings are hidden in the green shade. In the main downtown area, tall buildings are dominant, with 70% to 80% of large buildings clustered on both sides of the road, which makes the city's skyline particularly majestic and spectacular.

Many officials have asked themselves where they would go after resigning from office when they are old.

Most of them will choose Cebu as the final destination of their life, where they can quietly enjoy the rest of their leisure time.

The sky here is exceptionally clear and blue, the sea is azure and the sand is white, the coconut trees are swaying gently, and the entire city's seascape presents a beautiful picture like heaven, which makes people linger and unforgettable.

Cebu is also a favorite place for foreign white residents. There are quite a few properties purchased in this city, many of which are colonial officials and their families from British and French territories, as well as Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch.

These outsiders seem to have a special affection for this city, perhaps because of its long history, or because of its excellent environment, or because of their optimism about the city's bright future development.

Every morning or evening, the morning bells and evening drums of Catholic churches and Buddhist temples and Taoist monasteries cleanse the heart and always make people feel particularly peaceful.

There is a kind of transcendence that transcends worldly troubles, and I just want to sit quietly on the steps.

Holding the beloved woman in your arms, looking at the blue sea and white sand with the rolling waves, sit until the sun sets and the stars reappear, and indulge in this paradise-like beauty.

(End of this chapter)