Zhang Zhidong And The Late Qing Railway

Railway is a sign of a country' s modernization. As a leader of the railway reconstruction in the latter part of Qing Dynasty, Zhang Zhidong exerted a tremendous influence on the construction of the railways including the Lugouqiao-Hankourailway, the Shanghai-Hangzhou railway and the Guangzhou-Hankou railway . From the analysis of the connection between Zhang Zhidong and the railway construction, we can know the government of the Qing Dynasty was in a dilemma to make a choice in the construction of railways at that time, and it had to overcome the pressure both at home and abroad. Why the reconstruction of railways in the latter part of Qing Dynasty always failed was clearly revealed in this thesis.During the two decades from the first time that Zhang Zhidong put forward the suggestion of building the Lugouqiao-Hankou railway in 1889 to his death in 1909 , Zhang' s viewpoint and practice changed several times, and this thesis describes these changes in 4 chapters:The first chapter describes the construction of Lugouqiao-Hankou railway. The environment of building railways was getting better after the Sino-French War in 1889. The government took Zhang Zhidong' s suggestion of building the railway from Lugouqiao to Hankou. But Zhang Zhidong decided to set up the iron factory first, which delayed the railway construction.The second chapter describes the preparaton of the railway from Shanghai to Hangzhou. At first Zhang Zhidong decided that the railway should be built by Chinese businessmen, but then he changed his idea and the right of construction was switched to the municipal administration. The result of his policy change is that no businessman was willing to provide funds for the construction. At last, the Britishgovernment built the railway.The third chapter analyzed why there were mistakes and the Qing Dynasty lost the power in building the railway from Lugouqiao toHankou. After the 1895' s Post Sino-Japanese War, the government decided to rebuild the railway from Lugouqiao to Hankou . Zhang Zhidong recommended Sheng Xuanhuai to build the railway. Zhang' s suggestion of borrowing money from the Belgium government and other countries using the railway as a pledge hastened the Qing government' s loss of power in the railway..The four chapter describes the several changes in building the railway from Guangzhou to Hankou. Zhang Zhidong' s redemption of this railway regardless of its consequences,it was related to Zhang' s fishing for fame and compliments, his closeconnection with Japan and so on. At last, Zhang Zhidong failed to build the railway by his plan.In a word, Zhang Zhidong must be responsible for Qing government' s repeated losses in the railway construction. His ideas were behind the times and impractical. He was very stubborn and he cared themunicipal administration' s interest more than the building of railways. He decided the railway construction policies with his personal power instead of the economic law. The connection bwteen Zhang Zhidong and the railway construction can be studied further with more historical data.