An Analysis Of The Revolution Of Transportation In China (1862-1937)

The second half time in the 19th century saw China's logisticstransformation from traditional mode into modern mode. The major impetus isthat the new industrial civilization, following with the country gate opened,went into the logistics domain swiftly. Then, a great many changes happenednot only in the transportation scale, form and facility but also in theorganization and management of logistics. This transformation is verymeaningful. On one hand, it established the foundation of China's modernlogistics, on which the logistic industry from that time on has been developingand strengthening gradually. On the other hand, it promoted the economicgrowth and innovation in the latter-day China. According to historical clue, this thesis divided the transformation ofmodern logistics by some remarkable historical events into three periods: thebeginning days (1862~1894), the preliminary developing days (1895~1927),and the climax days (1928~1937). In every period, the author discussed therising and developing of major transportation vehicles and their outstandingtraits. In the beginning days, steamboat took up the first position in thetransportation system, which resulted in the comedown of traditional sailboatand the transformation of the storage operation. The train and railroad hasfinally been established legally after a vehement argument. In the developingdays, water carriage lines went into the hinterland more deeply and minitypesteamboat obtained a unique opportunity for developing itself. Along with theenlarging scale, the promoting management efficiency and the boostingoperation benefit, the status of railroad has been increased higher than used to.At the mean time, the original automobile and pavement have also emergedaround the whole country. In the climax days, the overland transportationvehicles developed more freely and rapidly than that of water transportation. - II -However, the "hardware" and "software" of the steamboat carried out a seriesof revolution and the benefit of harbors has been improved as the watertransportation developed rapidly. The airway has just a start, so its small scalehasn't brought the logistic benefit by then. Another important achievement of the paper is the discussion of the twointerrelations between the China's logistics transformation and the economicmodernization. One is that the new logistic mode impelled the farm produce'scommercial business and the agriculture transforming from traditional autarkyto commercial exchange. Another one is that the emergence and developmentof the railroad resulted in the modern industry and modern mining, as well astheir distribution and the variation of the structure.