town is yearly extending, and though most of the
inhabitants are small shop-keepers and coolies of the lowest class, the
houses are for the most part well and solidly built of stone. The
foreign settlement occupies a position between the native town and the
sea, which neither affords a convenient access for shipping nor allows
space for any great extension of area. Its growth, however, has hitherto
been steady and rapid. Various streets have been laid out, a large
hotel erected for the reception of the visitors who resort to the place
as a sanatorium in summer, and the religious wants of the community are
supplied by a Roman Catholic and a Protestant church. Though the harbour
is deep and extensive, and possessed of excellent anchorage, large
vessels have to be moored at a considerable distance from the shore.
Chi-fu has continued to show fair progress as a place of trade, but the
total volume is inconsiderable, having regard to the area it supplies.
In 1880 the total exports and imports were valued at L2,724,000, in 1899
they amounted to L4,228,000, and in 1904 to L4,909,908. In 1895 there
entered the port 905 vessels representing a tonnage of 835,248 tons,
while in 1905 the number of vessels had risen to 1842, representing a
tonnage of 1,492,514 tons. The imports are mainly woollen and cotton
goods, iron and opium, and the exports include bean cake, bean oil,
peas, raw silk, straw-braid, walnuts, a coarse kind of vermicelli,
vegetables and dried fruits. Communication with the interior is only by
roads, which are extremely defective, and nearly all the traffic is by
pack animals. From its healthy situation and the convenience of its
anchorage, Chi-fu has become a favourite rendezvous for the fleets of
the European powers in Chinese waters, and consequently it has at times
been an important coaling station. It lies in close proximity to Korea,
Port Arthur and Wei-hai-Wei, and it shared to some extent in the
excitement to which the military and naval operations in these quarters
gave rise. The Chi-fu convention was signed here in 1876 by Sir Thomas
Wade and Li-Hung-Chang.

CHIGI-ALBANI, the name of a Roman princely family of Sienese extraction
descended from the counts of Ardenghesca. The earliest authentic mention
of them is in the 13th century, and they first became famous in the
person of Agostino Chigi (d. 1520), an immensely rich banker who built
the palace and gardens afterwards known as the Farnesina, decora