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Chang Pi-shih and Nanyang Chinese Involvement in South China's Railroads, 1896–1911

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Michael R. Godley
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Extract

Around the turn of the century, railroads seemed to have a special attraction for the overseas Chinese. In that era, the iron horse was, indeed, the very symbol of the industrial age brought to Asia. Chinese modernizers had long advocated the construction of railroads as a crucial step toward self-strengthening. Many coolies had worked on the great American, Canadian and South African railways and shorter lines had been built in colonial Southeast Asia. Peasants in South China may still have feared the disruptive introduction of Western technology, but more worldly Chinese at home and abroad understood the significance of railroads not only as an improved means of transportation but as a symbol of Wealth and power.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , March 1973 , pp. 16 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1973

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References

1 For a more detailed account of Chang's career, see the author's “The Mandarin-Capitalists from Nanyang: Overseas Chinese Enterprise and the Modernization of China, 1893–1911” (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Brown University, 1972)Google Scholar. A fairly accurate biographical sketch can also be found in Bortnan, Howard, ed., Biographical Dictionary of Republican China, (New York, 1967), I, 90–92Google Scholar.

2 Penang Sin Poe, 8 March 1899.

3 There is a short description of the Chang Yii Pioneer Wine Company including valuable photographs in Wright, Arnold, ed., Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China, (London, 1908), 770–771Google Scholar. Those with more than a passing interest in the winery should consult the Penang Sin Poe, 8,9 and 10 March 1899 or the Shang-wu kuan-pao (Commercial Gazette), published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce; Peking, 1907–1908.

4 Straits Times, 7 and 8 April 1896.

5 Lat Pau, 29 April 1896.

6 Yu-chai ts'un-kao (Collected Papers of Sheng Hsuan-huai, Taipei, 1963), 25Google Scholar: 4b-5, 7 and Chang Wen-hsiang-kung ch'iian-chi (The Complete Works of Chang Chih-tung; Taipei, 1963)Google Scholar, Draft Telegrams, 27:13.

7 For a discussion of Sheng's problems raising money for the line, see Kuo-ch'i, Li, Chung-kito tsao-ch'i t'ieh-lu chingying (The Early Management of China's Railroads; Taipei, 1961), 137–143Google Scholar.

8 YCTK, 25:8b and Li Kuo-ch'i, 139–143.

9 CWHKCC Draft Telegrams, 27:4.

10 For example, the Penang Sin Poe, 15 Dec. 1896.

11 YCTK, 26:1b.

12 See Feuerwerker, Albert, China's Early Industrialization: Sheng Hsuan-huai (1844–1916) and Mandarin Enterprise, (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), 225–241CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Leong, Tan Ee, “The Chinese Banks Incorporated in Singapore and the Federation of Malaya,” Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, XXVI, (07 1953), 113Google Scholar. See also: North China Hearld, 12 March 1897 or Lat Pau, 12 Feb. and 10, 11, 16, 18, 19 March 1897.

14 Lat Pau, 15 Aug. 1898.

15 Straits Times, 5 Sept. 1898.

16 Lat Pau, 19 Nov. 1904 and Penang Sin Poe, 22 Nov. 1904.

17 Penang Sin Poe, 28 Sept. 1903.

18 Lat Pau, 14 Jan. and 2 Feb. 1898. Penang Sin Poe, 28 Feb. 1898.

19 YCTK, 33:5b-6; Lat Pau, 26 an d 27 July 1898; Straits Times, 23, 30 Sept. and 18 Nov. 1898.

20 For an example, see Lat Pau, 21 Feb. 1899.

21 Ch'ing-ch'ao hsu wen-hsien t'ung-kao (Encyclopedia of the Historical Records of the Ch'ing Dynasty Continued), Liu Chin-tsao, comp., (Taipei, 1963), IV, 11133Google Scholar.

22 Penang Sin Poe, 10 and 15 March 1899.

23 Penang Sm Poe, 15 May and 21 Aug. 1900; Lat Pau, 7, 16,17 and 21 May 1900.

24 Penang Sin Poe, 30 March 1901 and Lat Pau, 14 September 1901.

25 Penang Sin Poe, 3 March, 25 Sept., 1 and 15 Nov. 1902 and Lat Pau 12 and 27 Aug. 1903.

26 “The Mandarin-Capitalists from Nanyang,” 179–182. See also Lat Pau, 8, 19 April 1903 and Penang Sin Poe, 11 April 1903.

27 “The Mandarin-Capitalists from Nanyang,” 188–216. Chang's proposals were reported in the Penang Sin Poe and Lat Pau during December, January and February 1905–1906. Peking's reaction can be found in Ta Ch 'ing li-ch 'ao shih-lu (Veritable Records of Successive Reigns of the Ch'ing Dynasty; Tokyo, 1937–1938)Google Scholar, KH 517:66–67. See also Tung-hua hsu-iu (The Tung-hua Records Continued for the Kuang-hsu period), Shou-p'eng, Chu, ed., (Shanghai, 1909), 190:1–2Google Scholar.

28 Penang Sin Poe, 21 December 1905.

29 Penang Sin Poe, 22 and 29 Nov. 1904, 19 and 20 Dec. 1905; Lat Pau, 19 Nov. 1904; THHL., 190:1–2.

30 THHL, 189:8b and 190:1–2; Shih-lu, KH 535:6b.

31 See, for example: Lat Pau, 8 March 1905; Penang Sin Poe, 25 June 1909 and 23 Sept. 1916; Straits Times, 15 March 1905. A number of Chinese language works touch upon Chang's career including the widely circulated Hsiu-chieh, Chu, ed., Hua-ch'iao ming-jen chuan (Biographies of Famous Overseas Chinese: Taipei, 1955)Google Scholar.

32 Penang Sin Poe, 22 Dec. 1903 and 28 March 1905; Feuerwerker, 235; Pin, Hsieh, Chung-kuo t'ieh-tao shih (History of Chinese Railways; Shanghai, 1929), 464Google Scholar and SWKP, No. 5 (1907).

33 THHL, 183:15b and CCHWHTK, IV, 11089. There are a number of secondary sources in both Chinese and English which discuss the railroad.

34 Not all of the secondary sources agree on the original amount invested, but see Lai Pau 22 Aug. 1904 and Penang Sin Poe 29 Nov. 1904. The Ch'ao-chou chih: chiao-t'ung-chih (Chaochow Gazetter: essay on communications; Swatow), 47b-48Google Scholar gives similar figures.

35 Ch'ao-chou chih, 47b; CCHWHTK, IV, 11148; Wright, ed. Treaty Ports.

36 Lat Pau 22 Aug. and Penang Sin Poe 14 Oct. 1904 provide sample reports from the Nanyang press.

37 Penang Sin Poe, 9 March and 19, 20 Sept. 1905; North China Hearld, 31 March 1905.

38 Ibid. See also: Penang Sin Poe, 6, 11, 15, 21, 25, 27 March and 11 April 1905; Lat Pau, 6 April 1905.

39 Ibid.

40 Ch'ao-chou chih, 47b and Penang Sin Poe, 17 March 1905.

41 Penang Sin Poe, 12 and 26 April 1905.

42 Ch'ao-chou chih, Alb and CCHWHTK, IV, 11148.

43 Penang Sin Poe, 22 and 20 Nov. 1906; Lat Pau, 13 Nov. 1906; North China Hearld, 20 Dec. 1907. See also Wright, , ed. Treaty Ports, 680Google Scholar.

44 Ibid. Ch'ao-chou chih, Alb.

45 CCHWHTK, IV, 11133–11134.

46 Penang Sin Poe, 22, 28, 30 Nov. and 15 December 1904.

47 CCHWHTK, IV, 11091 and Lat Pau, 16 Sept. 1905.

48 Penang Sin Poe, 20 and 30 March 1906.

49 Penang Sin Poe, 25 Oct. and 3 Nov. 1906; Lat Pau, 31 Oct. and 14 Nov. 1906; Straits Times, 6 Dec. 1906.

50 CCHWHTK, IV, 11133; Lat Pau, 12 April, 10, 27 and 31 May 1907.

51 Ch'ao-chou chih, Alb and 52b; CCHWHTK, IV, 11092; Penang Sin Poe, 28 Feb., 21 March, 15 and 17 Ma y 1905. See document no. 288 in Hai-fang tang (Archives on Maritime Defense), IX, t'ieh-lu (railways; Taipei, 1957), 498Google Scholar.

52 CCHWHTK, IV, 11092; THHL, 197:13b-14b; Penang Sin Poe, 1 May 1906; Straits Times, 29 Nov. 1906. For a brief sketch of the railroad, see Hsieh Pin, 464–465.

53 She Man Po cited by Straits Times, 29 Nov. 1906.

54 Penang Sin Poe, 15, 17 May 1905 and 20 March 1906.

55 Straits Times, 18 and 19 Dec. 1906; The Times (London)Google Scholar, 10 Sept., 12 Nov., and 4 Dec. 1906; North China Hearld, 7, 21 and 28 December 1906; HFT:TL, 500–502.

56 Cited in Straits Times, 14 Jan. 1907.

57 HFT:TL, 505, 510. A similar conclusion may b e reached from a reading of CCHWHTK, IV, 11103.

58 Straits Times, 19 Jan. 1907 and 19 Jan. 1909; Lat Pau, 2 and 31 July 1907.

59 Penang Sin Poe, 6 May and 21 Dec. 1908, 8 Jan. 1909; Straits Times, 6 June 1908.

60 Penang Sin Poe, 4 Oct. 1911; Lat Pau, 15 Sept. 1911.

61 Hung-hsun, Ling, Chung-kuo t'ieh-lu chih (“A Comprehensive Survey of Railroad Developments in China;” Taipei, 1954), 410–411Google Scholar.

62 CCHWHTK, IV, 11140; Penang Sin Poe, 18 Ma y 1905, 13 May and 14 Dec. 1906.

63 Penang Sin Poe, 18 May and 16 Dec. 1905.

64 Ibid.; CCHWHTK, IV, 11091 and 11140; THHL, 195:16.

65 Lat Pau, 12 May 1905; Straits Times, 12 Aug. 1905.

66 Lat Pau, 7 July 1906.

67 Lat Pau, 30 April and 1 May 1906.

68 See the Lat Pau and Penang Sin Poe, Oct.-Dec. 1906; Straits Times, 28 and 29 Nov. 1906.

69 Straits Times, 14 and 29 Nov., 3 and 18 Dec. 1906.

70 Straits Times, 14 Jan. and 6 April 1907. See YCTK, 20:17.

71 CCHWHTK, IV, 11140; Straits Times, 23 March 1909.

72 While archival material may be available, information abou t this railroad is comparatively scarce. See: CCHWHTK, IV, 11095 and 11, 148; THHL, 198:17; SWKP, no. 25 (October 31, 1907); Hsieh Pin, 408–409; Lot Pau, 29 April 1905 or K'un-hua, Tseng, Chung-kuo t'ieh-lu shih (History of Chinese Railways; published by the Tseng residence; Peking, 1924), 878Google Scholar.