The Studies Of Sheng Xuan-huai's Railway Thought

Sheng Xuan-huai is the first-generation industrialist in late Qing Dynasty.But apparently, the history study circle has not paid much attention to him since liberation. Though the studies of Sheng Xuan-huai are attracting more and more scholars, many fields still keep untouched till now. Sheng Xuan-huai's railway thought is one of the fields.We can get a general idea of Sheng Xuan-liuai' s railway thought by analysing his reports and telegrammas during the railway constructing period after the war in 1895. But if we want to make a deep study of Sheng Xuan-huai's railway thought ,we must delve into his double identities of both offical and merchant ,his inner sense and the social environment. If not ,we are unable to explain why Sheng, who had done so many merits in China's railway construction ,was still criticized in history hooks for enforcing the main-road-state-owned policy.Sheng' s cognition about railways experienced a process from perceptual to reasonable. The more frequently he attended railway construction, the deeper his sense on the importance of the railway ,esp. during the period when he was preparing for the construction of Lu-Han railway. What he saw and sensed in the struggle against the crazy pillage of China's rights and interests of the railway' s by the imper:~s . his sense in defending China' s sovereignty and competing with the foreign powers for the rights and interests of the railway's evevtually made him relate the importance of railway to the fate of Chinese people. He realized that railway is not only important to national defense, but also to wasteland cultivation, relieving people in stricken area.The nuclear part of Sheng' s railway thought is the viewpoint of railway capital. In view of money shortage in national finance,Sheng proposed to construct railways by loans, and further suggested that the merchants be responsible for the loans in order to maintain the sovereinty of China. For purpose of avoiding being coerced by the creditor nations, Sheng adopted many ways to collect money,e.g. getting loans from the Chinese government, inviting official shares and merchant shares, establishing international comercial bank and perfecting credit institions etc.Taking the opportunity of the capital surplus in the western countries, Sheng borrowed loans from these countries to pay the former loans, thus took back China's sovereinty over railway. Sheng was not the first person to propose constructing railways by loans , but he was the first person to introduce foreign investment in large scale for China's railway construction. He was crit~icized for losing too much rights and interests, on the other hand ,praised for his great courage in seeking ways out despite diffculties. But anyway, he offers experinces and lessons for the later generations.It is natural for Sheng to make a general plan to the construction of of China# s railways for hewas theoffcial inchargeof it. Inreality, someof his planningwas inevitabllyaffectted by the competition with the foreign powers for the rights of constructing. Sheng's planning is very practical, clear in building order and easy to operate, which found testimony in the fact that most of his planning was finished before the collapse of Qing Dynasty. The features of Sheng' s planning appears more and more prominent as compared with Sun Zhong-shan' s railway planning. But there are some shortcoming in Sheng' s planning , that is , it only pays attention to short-term benefit but lack in consideration for long-term benefit. This shows the great influence of the domestic and international invironment in late Qing Dynasty imposed upon2Sheng.Sheng' s manage mode in railway construction is of precious value for study. In his practice of railway construction,which Lasted for tens and odds years,Sheng approved for building railways by the government, but he did not refuse the merchants' support.The manage mode adopted by The National Railway Company in charge of Sheng namely, to construct railways commercially,under the control of the gover...