The Establishment Of Japanese Consulate In Jiujiang City And Its Control Over The Transportation Of Northern Jiangxi Province In The Early 20th Century

On 16 July 1915,Japan established a consulate in Jiujiang city,which is to the north of Yangtze River located at the border of Huibei province,Anhui province and Jiangxi province.It is also the key to Jiangxi’s hinterland.The purpose of Japanese settlement here is not only to protect the rights and interests of the local residents,but also to form one of the strategies posed by the Japanese government to control transportations in Central China.As the research object,this paper described the basic situation and the opening process of the Japanese consulate in Jiujiang,and analyzed the construction of Nanxun railway and Poyang Lake channel before and after the opening of the consulate to explore the purpose of the Japanese consulate set up in Jiujiang.Since the background of Japan’s opening the consulates in China has been studied in detail by others,this thesis only briefly explained it in the Introduction.This thesis is composed of three parts: the first part introduces such basic informations about Japanese Consulate in Jiujiang as its opening,changing,covering areas,and former consuls in Jiujiang by studying the archives of Jiujiang,the literature of Japan’s foreign ministry,and the consular records.The second part discusses the construction of Nanxun railway in Jiangxi province and the inflow of Japanese capital by studying China-Japan communications in Jiujiang area recorded in Shanghai Shenbao Newspaper,local newspapers and historical materials.The third part discusses the modern Japan’s position in the Yangtze river basin.According to the statistics of Jiangxi economy and trade,this thesis analyzed the trades of Japanese shipping industry in Jiujiang port and Japanese government ’s traffic control strategies on Central China,finally proving the real purpose of the Japanese consulate in Jiujiang is to control the Jiangxi transportation and to lay the foundation for establishing a transportation network in Southern China.