Study Of Late Qing China Cable And Wireless

The Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration of the late Qing Dynasty was established in Tianjin in 1880 through the application to the North-sea Government by Li Hongzhang, the Zhili direct Governor, and was later moved to Shanghai. The company was in charge of the cable construction of China from the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. It had gained great profit due to its wide spread cable lines and used to be the one of the best new enterprise in late Qing Dynasty. This thesis targets the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration of the late Qing Dynasty, attempting to locate the characteristics of the company and the relations between the company and the Late Qing society by surveying the course of development of this Government-Monitored-and-Privately-Invested company in nearly thirty years. There has not been the systematic research on the company due to the lack of relevant historical data, insofar as which this thesis tries to fill the academic vacancy on the ground of the newly discovered data.The company was founded under the pressure of foreign competition in private cable lines industries to meet the demand for the development of telecommunication in Chinese society. The pressure of the frontier area crisis further forced the Qing government to carry out the large-scaled cable construction. Due to the financial limit of the government, the founding of the company had to collect money from the society and issue its stock, being controlled and managed by government officials. All the activities were invested privately and monitored by the government. Facing up to the difficulties in terms of money, technique and human resources when the company was first established, Sheng Huaixuan settle the problems by opened telegraph schools, formulated stock constitutions and cooperated with The Great Northern Telegraph Company. The company had played an active role in the Sino-France war, so it's social influence increased day by day. In the course of constructing domestic telegram industry, the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration had conformed to the trend of the times in the telegram industry and signed the wiring-connection contracts and common purse system contracts with foreign telegram companies, safeguarding the rights and interests of China telegram industry.But the development of the company was hindered by the Government's high service and Sheng Xuanhuai's graft and dictatorship.The eight countries invaded China after the Gengzi incident and assumed the sovereignty of China's telegram industry, causing great damage to the industry. Through the mediation of Sheng Huaixuan, the share holders of the company retrieved their losses at huge price. During the reform of the late Qing Dynasty the government decided to nationalize the telegram industry but was resisted firmly by the share holders. The company was consequently nationalized, the share holders selled their stock under the government's pressure.The hard development of China telegram industry reflects the country's modernization characterized by the breakup of the traditional restriction and the outburst of newly-emerged productivity. The contest of power between the officials and the merchant in the company deeply reflects the double-sided influence of the government on the development of enterprises. The technique of telegram changed the mode of communication in a far-reaching way, causing series of upheavals in terms of society, economy, politics and culture in China and promoting the urban modernization. Represented by the Telegraph had provided the impetus for innovation of the traditional political.