Definition of "Shasi"

Shasi, as seen from the river, has a very uninviting appearance, but it contains a very good and comparatively clean main street. A bund 400 yards long, built of hewn stone, with three large jetties for the use of hulks and two smaller jetties for native boats, has been constructed.The trade of Shasi is very insignificant as compared with that of the other treaty ports. Most of the trade is carried on in native craft by means of the inland water communication with Hankow and other trade centers, which render it independent of the Yangtze and of stream transport.

1929, Asiatic Pilot (Volume III): Coast of China, Yalu River to Hong Kong entrance including the coasts of Taiwan (Formosa)‎, 3rd edition, Washington: United States Government Printing Office, page 266

West of Wuhan are the Yangtze River ports of Shasi and Ichang. Shasi is a water transportation center on the north bank of the Yangtze. It is linked with Hankow, in addition to the river itself, by a junk route utilizing a maze of waterways and lakes north of the Yangtze River.

1956, Theodore Shabad, China's Changing Map: A Political and Economic Geography of the Chinese People's Republic‎, New York: Frederick A. Praeger, page 141

From Kiangnan (i.e., the area south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze river) and the districts around Shasi in Hupei, for example, large quantities of baled raw cotton and woven piece goods were carried by water and on the back of porters to Manchuria and North China, to Szechwan via the Yangtze, to Yunnan and Kweichow in the southwest, and to the southern coastal provinces.

1969, Albert Feuerwerker, The Chinese Economy, ca. 1870-1911‎, Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, page 18

David and the other missionaries could have made the trip to Chungking on one large boat. However, between Hankow and Shasi the Yangtze had so many turns and twists that the journey would have taken at least a fortnight, and they had already lost much time waiting for the floods to subside. They decided to travel by two smaller boats.

1996, George Bishop, Travels in Imperial China: The Explorations and Discoveries of Père David‎, paperback edition, Cassell, page 120