Yangchow

With the opening of Yangchow the Mission had struck out in a new direction, for that city was situated on the northern section of the Grand Canal, which in those days, before the sea-route had become popular, was the highroad from the south to Peking and the northern provinces.

Source: wiktionary

The resourcefulness of the Taipings was not too greatly occupied with the establishment of the Celestial Capital to prevent reaching out for the vital strategic centers of Chinkiang and Yangchow, the former a commanding site at the intersection of the Grand Canal with the Yangtse River, the latter on the canal about twenty-five or thirty miles away, both together controlling that vital artery through which flowed the supplies of tribute grain to the capital.

Source: wiktionary

Every aspect of the salt trade required official sanction and the issue of permits. As an illustration, let us consider the marketing of a consignment of salt from the Huai-nan salines to an up-river port such as Hankow or Ta-t'ung. The yard merchant (ch'ang-shang) at the salines had to report his output of salt daily to the salt receiver (ch'ang-kuan), and could carry salt for sale to Shih-erh-wei only on the requisition of the Huai-nan general office (Huai-nan tsung-chü) at Yangchow, transmitted through the salt receiver; when he received this, the had to apply back to Yangchow for a transport permit (ch'ung-yen chih-chao) and to his local branch office (fen-ssu) for a cargo certificate (ts'ang-tan).

Source: wiktionary

In a riot half a century earlier, Hudson Taylor had nearly lost his life at Yangchow, once the city of Marco Polo.

Source: wiktionary