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Chang Yu-nan and the Chaochow Railway (1904–1908): A Case Study of Overseas Chinese Involvement in China's Modern Enterprise

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Yen Ching-Hwang
Yen Ching-Hwang
Affiliation:
University of Adelaide
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Extract

With the climax of imperialism in China at the end of the nineteenth century, Chinese nationalism in its modern form grew rapidly and became ever more assertive. As the imperialists concentrated on economic gains, the frustrated nationalists gave increasing attention to economic defences. The prime target of the imperialists was the control of mining and railway construction in different areas; so ‘to resist the imperialists’ became the catchword of the day, and the movement for recovering mining and railway construction rights highlighted the development of Chinese economic nationalism. While revolutionaries and the fugitive reformers abroad worked out their political programmes for the salvation of China, the conservative Manchu government and scholar-gentry tried to resist imperialism by promoting economic nationalism. To recover the mining and railway rights, to find the alternative capital for economic modernization and to play one power against another, became the strategic aims of economic nationalism.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , February 1984 , pp. 119 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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References

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25 See ‘Ch'ao-hsien t'ieh-lu yu-hsien kung-ssu hsiang-hsi chang-ch'eng’ (The Detailed Charter of the Chaochow Railway Company), item 2, in Yu-ch'uan-pu, (The Ministry of Transport and Telecommunication) (ed.), K'uei-cheng chi-yao ts'u-ch'ih pien (Collections of the Outlines of the Transport Administration) (Taipei, n.d.).Google Scholar

26 Ibid., item 4.

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30 Ibid.

31 For a discussion on overseas Chinese desire for Ch'ing honours, See Ching-hwang, Yen, ‘Ch'ing's Sale of Honours and the Chinese Leadership in Singapore and Malaya 1877–1912’, in Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 20–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

32 Michael Godley claims that Chang Yu-nan was Chang Pi-shih's cousin, but I am doubtful on this point. Although both were Hakka and carrying the same surname, Chang Pi-shih was a Tapu Hakka (the Hakka from Tapu district), whereas Chang Yu-nan was a Hakka from Mei district. The English word ‘cousin’ loosely includes both paternal and maternal sides of cousin. Chang Yu-nan could not be Chang Pi-shih's paternal cousin because he came from a different district and spoke a slightly different Hakka dialect; he could not be Pi-shih's maternal cousin either, because his maternal aunts were unlikely to marry someone in a distant district. See Godley, M. R., ‘Chang Pi-shih and Nanyang Chinese Involvement in South China's Railroads’, p. 21Google Scholar; also Godley, , The Mandarin-Capitalists from Nanyang, p. 150.Google Scholar

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34 For instance, the Vice Consulate in Penang in 1910 consisted only of the Vice Consul Tai Ch'un-yung, his son Tai P'ei-yuan who was the interpreter, and a secretary named Li Kuang-hsi. See ‘Tsung-li ke-kuo shih-wu ya-men ch'ing tang’ (Tsungli Yamen Archives, Clean file), the mission of Li Ching-fang in the 2nd year of Hsuan-t'ung.

35 For instance, the interpreter Tai P'ei-yuan and secretary Li Kuang-hsi were recommended by the Chinese minister in London, Liu Yu-lin, for awards in 1911 after their three years’ service in the Penang Vice Consulate. See ‘Tsung-li ke-kuo shih-wu ya-men ch'ing tang’ (Tsungli Yamen Archives, Clean file), the mission of Liu Yu-lin in the 3rd year of Hsuan-t'ung.

36 In a dialogue with the Empress-Dowager Tz'u-hsi when he was given an audience in 1903, Chang Yu-nan mentioned that he had contributed to various relief funds in China. The dialogue was published in the Thien Nan Shin Pao, 22/12/1903.

37 See ‘Memorial of T'ao Mo, the Governor-General of Liang Kuang, to the court recommending awards of Chang Yu-nan and Chou Yung-yao’, in Yu-chi hui-ts'un (Collected Records of Imperial Decrees and Memorials) (Taipei, 1967, reprint), Vol 43, 6th moon of 28th year of Kuang-hsu (07 1902), pp. 17a–17b.Google Scholar

38 Ibid., p. 18a.

39 See Thien Nan Shin Pao, 22/12/1903, Lat Pau, 21/12/1903.

40 Chang Yu-nan was recommended for award by the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce dated 8th day of 2nd moon of 33rd year of Kuang-hsu (21 March 1907), see Shang-wu kuan-pao (The Gazette of Commercial Affairs) (Original, Peking, 1906–10), Vol. 4 of the Ting-wei year (1907), pp. 10b–11b.Google Scholar

41 In 1906, the Vice Consul Liang T'ing-fang presented a report to the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce relating to ways and means for developing mining industry in China. Based on his own tin-mining experience in Perak, he submitted a four-point plan on exploration and management of mines. See Liang T'ing-fang, ‘Chen-hsing k'uang-wu ch'u-yen’ (Suggestions on the Development of Mining), in Shang-wu kuan-pao, 32nd year of Kuang-hsu, , Vol. 9, pp. 32b–34b)Google Scholar; for a good discussion on Chang Pi-shih's plan for development of China's industry and commerce, See Godley, , The Mandarin-Capitalists from Nanyang, Ch. 5.Google Scholar

42 See Yu-nan, Chang, Hai-kuo kung-yu chi-lu (1898, n.p.) (kept in the Harvard-Yenching Library, Harvard University).Google Scholar

43 Ibid., Vol. 1.

44 Ibid., Vol. 1, pp. 28–31, Vol. 4.

45 Ibid., Vol. 1, ‘Preface’.

46 Ibid.

47 The concern of overseas Chinese nationalists for China's loss of mining and railway rights was frequently aired in local Chinese newspapers. See, for instances, Thien Nan Shin Pao's editorials on 6/11/1903, p. 2, 18/11/1903, p. 2.Google Scholar

48 See Yu-Nan's, Chang open letter to a gentry-official Hsiao of Chaochow urging him to be the general manager of the Chaochow Railway Company. It was reproduced in Thien Nan Shin Pao, 30/5/1904, p. 3.Google Scholar

49 See Chang's, dialogue with the Empress-dowager, in Thien Nan Shin Pao, 22/12/1903, p. 2.Google Scholar

50 See a news report on the proposed Chaochow Railway under the title of ‘Chia-ying Chang Yu-nan undertakes to construct the Chaochow railway’, in Thien Nan Shin Pao, 28/12/1903, p. 2.Google Scholar

51 Hsueh was the third Chinese Vice Consul in Penang. He was also known as Hsueh Meng-ch'ih, or Hsueh Ch'un-sheng. He was appointed the Acting Vice Consul in Penang in June 1895 by the Chinese minister for Britain, Kung Chao-yuan. In March 1897 he was appointed as the Vice Consul. He had made several contributions to relief and coastal defence funds which gained him some brevet titles. For a short biography of Hsueh Yung-kuang, see ‘Tsungli ke-kuo shih-wu ya-men ch'ing-tang’ (Tsungli Yamen Archives), 28th year of Kuang-hsu, The Mission of Lo Feng-lu'. See also Kuo-hsiang, K'uang, Ping-ch'eng san-chi, pp. 91–3.Google Scholar

52 See Pin, Hsieh, Chung-kuo t'ieh-lu shih (A History of Chinese Railways) (Shanghai, 1930), p. 407.Google Scholar

53 In many Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, this belief still persists nowadays. They believe they have a common ancestor (t'ung-tsung) and address each other as ‘tsung-ch'in’.

54 See Kuo-hsiang, K'uang, Ping-ch'eng san-chi, p. 104.Google Scholar

55 See Godley, , ‘Chang Pi-shih and Nanyang Chinese Involvement in South China's Railroads’, p. 21.Google Scholar

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57 Godley, , The Mandarin-Capitalists from Nanyang, p. 151.Google Scholar

58 Few Chinese engineers were available at the turn of the present century. The best known Chinese engineer at the time was Chan T'ien-yu who was among the first batch of students sent to study in the United States in 1872. In 1881 he graduated from Vale University, and in 1882 he became a railway construction engineer. For details, See Ch'i-heng, Hsu and Hsi-mie, Li, Chan T'ien-yu ho chung-kuo t'ieh-lu (Chan T'ien-yu and China's Railways) (Shanghai, 1978).Google Scholar Chinese students studying engineering in Japan during the late Ch'ing period were comparatively rare. See Chao-yin, Fang (ed.), Ch'ing-mo min-ts'u yang-hsueh hsueh-sheng t'i-ming lu ts'u-chi (Lists of Chinese Students Studying Overseas during the Late Ch'ing and Early Republican Periods) (Taipei, 1962), pp. 1–53.Google Scholar

59 See Wright, A. (ed.), Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Other Treaty Ports of China (London, 1908), p. 680Google Scholar; Penang Sin Pao, 17/3/1905.

60 See Kuo-ch'i, Li, Chung-kuo chao-ch'i te t'ieh-lu ching-ying, pp. 37–45.Google Scholar

61 See Chang, Chung-li, The Income of the Chinese Gentry (Seattle, 1962), pp. 43–122Google Scholar; Chang, Chung-li, The Chinese Gentry: Studies on Their Role in Nineteenth Century Chinese Society (Seattle, 1955), pp. 32–70.Google Scholar

62 See ‘Cable from the Wai Wu Pu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to the Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, and the Governor of Kwantung dated 17th day of 10th moon of 29th year of Kuang-hsu (5 December 1903)’, in Wai Wu Pu tien-tang (Wai Wu Pu Cables), 29th year of the Reign of the Emperor Kuang-hsu.

63 Chang's doubt was probably well grounded. For the ‘Merchant Protection Bureau’ which was set up by the central government in Fukien and Kwangtung provinces in 1889 and 1900 for the protection of returned overseas Chinese merchants, failed to render any protection. In fact it was even used to exploit returned overseas Chinese. A petition from the Chinese merchants of Penang, Singapore and Luzon was sent to the Ministry of Commerce in 1902 to that effect. We do not know whether Chang Yu-nan was involved in the petition or not, but it can be certain that he must have known about it. For details of the petition, see Ta-Ch'ing kuang-hsu hsin fa-ling (New Statutes of the Great Ch'ing Empire during the Kuang-hsu Reign), Vol. 16, pp. 56–7.Google Scholar Part of the petition is also found in Kuang-hsu-ch'ao tung-hua lu, 11th moon of 29th year, Vol. 5, pp. 129–30.Google Scholar For a discussion on the failure of the ‘Merchant Protection Bureau’, see Yen Ching-hwang, ‘China's Overseas Chinese Policy under the Ch'ing’, (forthcoming) Ch. 7.

64 See Thien Nan Shin Pao, 30/5/1904, p. 3.Google Scholar

65 See ‘Chang Yu-nan's open letter to Hsiao Ch'ih-shan dated 25th day of 3rd moon of 30th year of Kuang-hsu (10 May 1904)’, reproduced in the Thien Nan Shin Pao, 30/5/1904, p. 3.Google Scholar

66 Ibid.

67 See a discussion on this issue in Zen Sun, E-Tu, Chinese Railways, pp. 3–26Google Scholar; En-han, Lee, China's Quest for Railway Autonomy, pp. 9–24.Google Scholar

68 See Thien Nan Shin Pao, 27/5/1904, p. 2.Google Scholar

69 See Godley, , ‘Chang Pi-shih and Nanyang Chinese Involvement in South China/s Railroads’, p. 23.Google Scholar

70 See a report entitled ‘The storm over the Chaochow Railway’, published in the Thien Nan Shin Pao, 9/8/1904, p. 2.Google Scholar

71 See Penang Sin Pao, 9/3/1905; North China Herald, 31/3/1905.

72 See Penang Sin Pao, 6/3/1905, 11/3/1905, 15/3/1905, 21/3/1905, 25/3/1905, 27/3/1905. 11/4/1905; Lot Pau, 6/4/1905.

73 See ‘Memorial from the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce to the court dated 8th day of 2nd moon of 33rd year of Kuang-hsu (21 March 1907)’ in Shang-wu kuan-pao (The Gazette on Commercial Affairs), Vol. 4 of the Ting-wei (1907) year, pp. 10a–11a.Google Scholar

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77 See ‘Memorial from the Shang Pu (Ministry of Commerce) to the Court relating to the undertaking of the Chaochow Railway dated 24th day of 24th moon of 29th year of Kuang-hsu (12 December 1903)’, Appendix in the Yu-ch'uan-pu, (ed.), Kuei-cheng chi-yao ts'u-ch'ih pien, Kuei 4, pp. 9–10.Google Scholar

78 For a good discussion on this system, see Feuerwerker, , China's Early Industrialization, pp. 1–30.Google Scholar

79 See Ching-hwang, Yen ‘The Overseas Chinese and Late Ch'ing Economic Modernization’, in Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 16, no. 2 (1982) pp. 227–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar