| The Movement to Protect Railway-rights in Hunan refers to the series of economic and political struggles deployed by Hunan people centered on the right to build Hankow-Canton Railway in the territory of Hunan before the Revolution of 1911. Being initiated early and enduring long, it played a vital role in the whole Movement to Protect Railway-rights.The first stage of The Movement to Protect Railway-rights in Hunan was from 1904 to 1905, aiming at retracting loan treaties signed between Qing government and America. It was initiated by loan treaties of Hankow-Canton Railway signed between the 1898 Qing government and American-China Development Co. , endorsing the sell of the Hankow-Canton Railway-rights to the imperialistic America. Hankow-Canton railway was more than two thousand li, running through Hubei,Hunan, and Canton provinces with its longest part-over onethousand and two hundred li-housing in the terrain of Hunan.Around the time when the loan treaties was signed, Hunan people, in endeavor to protect their rights, had some resistance. But because of the Qing government' s policy of foolocracy, the movement did not expand until the time when the deed of selling equity capital to Belgians by America-China Development Co. was exposed at the beginning of 1904. Then the great vigorous movement led by Hunan to retract the American loan treaty surged in Hunan, Hubei, and Canton, with the spearhead directing directly to American imperialism and the supervising minister Shen Xuanhuai, who followed the American loan treaty with humility. Hunan-Canton viceroy ZhangZhidongva.s then standing on the same side with people in the three provinces and he presided over the movement to retract the American loan treatyat the later stage. Through the concerted efforts of people in the three provinces and extremely zigzag struggles, the rights to Hankow-Canton railway were ultimately reclaimed through redeeming method. This success started the precedent of China reclaiming profits and rights from big powers and became the outset of movements to reclaim profits and rights all over the country.The period from 1905 to 1909 was the stage of Hunan Hankow-Canton railway' s independent management. As early as the movement to retract the American loan treaty, Hunan squires, under the leadership of Long Zhanling and Wang Xianqian, set up two railway organizations of Hunan Railway Branch Way Company and Hunan Railway Fundraising & Estate-purchasing Company. After the retraction of the American loan treaty in 1905, Hunan Railway Fundraising & Estate-purchasing Company was formally founded. The system of the company was so-called"officials- guided and squires- handled" . In order to seize the control over the company, conflicts never ceased between officials and squires, squires and businessmen, and squires and squires within the company. Hunan Commerce General Association seized the opportunity to set up business-run Hunan Whole Province Railway Company, striving to realize the ideal of running Hunan railways commercially. Consequently Hunan railways turned on a totally new view. However, owing to the blow and depression out of Zhang Zhidong, the commerce-sponsored company was compelled to be merged into those run by squires which was renamed Memorial - run Hunan Hankow-Canton Railway Company. It adopted a system of"officials-supervised and commerce-run" and remained the situation of inner management. Due to the fact that the rights to Hankow-Canton railway within Hunan were kept in Hunan squires for a long time, the company found it very difficultto raise funds and consequently there was hardly any progress in the railway project.The Movement went into treaties-abolishing stage in 1909 when Qing government made a decision to loan from foreign countries and signed draft treaties. Zhang Zhidong, assuming the office of viceroy at that time, took charge of endorsing the draft treaty of asking for loans from Britain, France and Germany. The U. S demanded forcibly to join in loaning to Qing government...
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