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Through A Japanese Prism: Foreign influence and Chinese telecommunications in the early Republican era
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 March 2014
Abstract
This paper examines the key modern infrastructure of telecommunications in early Republican China, through the eyes of a Japanese, Nakayama Ryûji, who served as a telecommunications adviser to the Chinese government from 1913 to 1928. Nakayama's numerous reports and recommendations to his Chinese employer and frequent confidential dispatches to the Japanese government, when read together, constitute a fascinating prism. They not only reveal problems as well as the potential in China's telecommunications sector, they also highlight Japan's efforts to compete with other foreign actors in China through the provision of Japanese equipment, expertise, and loans. While Nakayama strove to shape China's telecommunications development in ways that would, in his view, benefit both China and Japan, his efforts were often undercut by the aggressive actions of the Japanese government in China, such as the infamous Twenty-One Demands. Though promising at first, Japan's influence on China's modernization in the early Republican era came to be more limited, especially when compared with the final decade of the Qing Dynasty. Ultimately, what can be seen through this Japanese prism confirms that the development of an information infrastructure in modern China, as elsewhere, was as much shaped by technological and economic forces as it was influenced by political and diplomatic factors.
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- FORUM: Communications Networks in Modern China
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References
1 Confidential report to the Japanese government by Nakayama Ryûji, ‘Denwa shakkan no ken’ (7 November 1913), in Ryûji, Nakayama (1916). Nakayama gishi shokan Shina jijô [Correspondence from Engineer Nakayama: Conditions in China], Tokyo, p. 120Google Scholar. Hereafter NGS. Nakayama was the author of this entire publication.
2 For English-language works on the early history of the telegraph in China, see the pioneering study by Feuerwerker, A. (1958). China's Early Industrialization: Sheng Hsuan-huai (1844–1916) and Mandarin Enterprise, Harvard University Press, CambridgeGoogle Scholar; Baark, E. (1997). Lightening Wires: Telegraph and China's Technological Modernization, 1860–1890, Greenwood Press, New YorkGoogle Scholar; Ahvenainen, J. (1981). The Far Eastern Telegraphs: The History of Telegraphic Communications between the Far East, Europe and America before the First World War, Soumalainen TiedakatemiaGoogle Scholar, Helsinki. In Chinese, an older but still useful survey is Xincheng, Zhang (1931, 1992). Zhongguo xiandai jiaotong shi [A history of modern Chinese communications and transportation], Shanghai shudian, ShanghaiGoogle Scholar. In addition, see a number of recent works by scholars in Japan and China: Masashi, Chiba (2006). Kindai kôtsû taikei to Shinteikoku no henbô [Modern communications systems and the transformation of the Qing empire], Nihon keizai hyôronsha, TokyoGoogle Scholar; Heting, Wang and Quanyou, Su (2007). ‘Wan-Qing Zhongwai haidi dianbao jiaoshe suping’ [A survey of Chinese-foreign negotiations over submarine telegraphy in Late Qing], Chongqing youdian daxue xuebao, 19:3, pp. 72–78Google Scholar; and Han Jin (2010). ‘Wan-Qing Zhongguo Dianbaoju yanjiu’ [A study of the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration], PhD thesis, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai.
3 Wang, S. (1977). ‘China's Modernization in Communications, 1860–1916: A Regional Comparison’, in Modern Chinese Economic History: Proceedings of the Conference on Modern Chinese Economic History, Academia Sinica, Taipei, p. 336Google Scholar. See also bianjishi, Youdianshi (1984). Zhongguo jindai youdianshi [A history of post and telecommunications in modern China], Renmin youdian chubanshe, Beijing, p. 109Google Scholar. The early Republican era has received attention from those studying international telecommunications, but they have tended to focus on particular issues of dispute such as the negotiations over submarine cables in the 1910s or rivalry over the wireless during the 1920s.
4 Ye Gongchuo, who served as the deputy minister of communications in the 1910s, quoted in Youdianshi, Zhongguo jindai youdianshi, p. 110.
5 On the early history of telecommunications in Japan, see Fujii, N. (2005). Tsûshin to chiiki shakai [Communication and local society], Nihon keizai hyôronsha, TokyoGoogle Scholar. In English, see Yang, D. (2011). Technology of Empire: Telecommunications and Japan's Expansion in Asia, 1883–1945, Harvard University Asia Center, Cambridge, pp. 17–29Google Scholar.
6 For the texts of these agreements, see South Manchurian Railway Company (1930). Manshû no densei [Telecommunications in Manchuria], Dalian, Vol. 1, pp. 388–397. This publication is an extensive survey of telecommunications conditions and Japanese interests in Manchuria and China proper. Concerning telecommunications in Japan's early overseas expansion, see Yang, Technology of Empire, Chapters 1 and 2.
7 See Reynolds, D. (1993). China, 1898–1912: The Xinzheng Revolution and Japan, Harvard University Press Asia Center, CambridgeGoogle Scholar; Harrell, P. (1992). Sowing the Seeds of Change: Chinese Students, Japanese Teachers, 1895–1905. Stanford University Press, StanfordGoogle Scholar.
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12 Quoted in Reynolds, China, 1898–1912, p. 82.
13 Biographical data of Nakayama comes from Yuzuru, Matsuoka (1958). Nakayama Ryûji, TôkamachiGoogle Scholar: Nakayama Ryûji sensei kenshôkai.
14 For related Japanese diplomatic correspondence, see ‘Gaikoku kanchô ni okeru honpôjin koyô kankei zakken’ [Japanese employed in foreign government] in the Japanese Diplomatic Archive. The previous telecommunications adviser, a Dane, had died in 1911. The Chinese government had initially asked for an adviser to take on duties that would be limited to telecommunication accounting matters only.
15 Matsuoka, Nakayama Ryûji. For a personal reminiscence of his years as the telecommunications adviser in China, see Ryûji, Nakayama (1962), ‘Shina seifu komon no goro’ [My time as Chinese government adviser] in Teishin shiwa [Historical tales of telecommunications], Teishin gaishi kankôkai, Tokyo, Vol. 1, pp. 261–265Google Scholar.
16 For a classic work that focuses exclusively on Western advisers, see Spence, J. (1969). To Change China: Western Advisers in China, 1620–1960, Little, Brown, BostonGoogle Scholar.
17 On Yuan and his relationship with the Japanese, see Young, E. (1977). The Presidency of Yuan Shih-kai: Liberalism and Dictatorship in Early Republican China, University of Michigan Press, Ann ArborGoogle Scholar. In the late 1910s, the number of Japanese advisers increased sharply due to Japan's insistence on placing them at Chinese institutions. See Reynolds, China, 1898–1912, p. 68.
18 ‘Nakayama komon no bunsho jimu’ [Duties of Adviser Nakayama], 12 June 1913, NGS, pp. 4–7; JSDB, pp. 370–372.
19 Nakayama, ‘Riben dianbao shiye zhi qushi jiqi jingji’ [Trends and economics of telegraph in Japan], August 1913, in Ryûji, Nakayama (1919). Zhongguo dianzhen yijianshu [Opinions on Chinese telecommunications], Beijing, pp. 499–516Google Scholar. Hereafter ZDY.
20 ‘Riben dianhua shiye zhi qushi jiqi jingji’ [Trends and economics of telephone in Japan], August 1913, ZDY, pp. 517–534.
21 ‘Guanyu Zhongguo dianhua shiye jinying zhi yijian’ [Recommendations on Chinese telephone management], November 1915, ZDY, pp. 63–70.
22 ‘Zhanzheng yu dianbao’ [War and telegraph], August 1914; and ‘You jingjishang guancha Zhongguo zhi jianglai yu jiaotong jiguan’ [The future of China and communications seen from economic perspective], December 1914, ZDY, pp. 481–489, 457–481.
23 ‘Guanyi Zhongguo dianbao jinying fangzheng zhi yijian’ [Recommendations on Chinese telegraph management], November 1915, ZDY, pp. 24–25.
24 ‘Guanyu Zhongguo dianhua shiye jinying zhi yijian’, ZDY, pp. 61–102.
25 ‘Chûka minkoku denwa jigyô kei’ei iken’ [Opinions on management of telephone in the Republic of China], November 1913, NGS, pp. 47–79. Nakayama also added several reference works on the following topics: ‘The economy of telegraph and telephone abroad’, ‘Administration and management of telegraph and telephone abroad’, and ‘Trend and economy of telephone in Japan’. For a Chinese translation of ‘Opinions on management of telephone in the Republic of China’, see ‘Zhongguo diahua kuochong yjianshu,’ December 1913, ZDY, pp. 103–119.
26 ‘Lun Zhongguo dianzheng guanliju zhidu’ [On the Chinese Telecommunications Administrative Bureau system], July 1915, ZDY, pp. 139–161. When the postal communication function was separated from Imperial Maritime Customs in 1911, China was divided into 49 postal zones, later reduced to 24. In 1919 a special telecommunications supervisor was appointed for the Northeastern Provinces. In 1923, the government announced that all telecommunications administration bureaus would be abolished due to financial difficulties, but this turned out to be impractical. The system was not revised until 1928. Manshû no densei, Vol. 1, pp. 161–166; Zhang, Zhongguo xiandai jiaotong shi, p. 407.
27 ‘Guanyi Zhongguo dianbao jinying fangzheng zhi yijian’ [Recommendations on Chinese telegraph management], November 1915, ZDY, pp. 1–60.
28 ‘Guanyu Zhongguo dianhua shiye jinying zhi yijian’, ZDY, pp. 61–102.
29 ‘Lun Zhongguo dianbai jiamu zhidu’ [On the telegram pricing system in China], September 1913, ZDY, pp. 229–248.
30 ‘Guanyu wuxian dianbao jiamu zhidu zhi diaocha’ [Investigate wireless telegram price], June 1914, ZDY, pp. 399–410.
31 ‘Guanyu geguo dianhua jiamu zhido diaocha’ [Investigation of telephone price abroad], June 1915, ZDY, pp. 419–34.
32 ‘Guanyi Zhongguo gongyou dianhua jiamu zhidu zhi diaocha' [Investigate public telephone price in China], March 1914, ZDY, pp. 410–418.
33 ‘Guanyi Zhongguo dianbao jinying fangzheng zhi yijian’, ZDY, pp. 24–25.
34 ‘Changtu dianhua shiye jingying yijian’ [Recommendations on long-distance telephone management], November 1914, ZDY, pp. 121–138.
35 ‘Chûka minkoku denwa jigyô kei’ei iken’, NGS, pp. 47–79. He also added several reference works on the following topics: ‘The economy of telegraph and telephone abroad’, ‘Administration and management of telegraph and telephone abroad’, and ‘Trend and economy of telephone in Japan’. For a Chinese translation of the Opinion, see ‘Zhongguo diahua kuochong yjianshu’, December 1913, ZDY, pp. 103–119.
36 ‘Guanyi Zhongguo dianbao jinying fangzheng zhi yijian’, ZDY, pp. 24–25.
37 ‘Guanyu Zhongguo dianbao dianhua yong dianchi zhi yanjiu’ [Research on batteries used in Chinese telegraph and telephone], March 1916; ‘Guanyu caiyong kuaiji he Moersu shuanggongji zhi yijian [Use fast and duplex telegraphy], March 1916; ‘Guanyu caiyong xianboji he Husidun shoubaiji zhi yijian’ [Use of Undulator (Morse recorder) and Wheatstone receiver], March 1915. All ZDY, pp. 301–313.
38 ‘Guanyu Zhongguo dianhua shiye jinying zhi yijian’, ZDY, pp. 61–102.
39 ‘Guanyu Zhongguo dianlu gailiang tonxun fangshi’ [Improve method on telegraph circuit], October 1918, ZDY, pp. 313–326.
40 ‘Guanyu Zhongguo dianzheng jishu shang gailiang zhi yijian’ [Improving China's telecommunications technology], August 1915, ZDY, pp. 249–268.
41 ‘Guanyi Zhongguo dianbao jinying fangzheng zhi yijian’, ZDY, pp. 61–102.
42 ‘Guanyu Jiaotong chaunxisuo youxiandian gongchengban yangchen zhi yijian’ [Course on wired technicians in the Communication School], January 1915, ZDY, pp. 385–392.
43 ‘Guanyu yangchen dianqi cedingshen zhi yijian’ [Training measuring worker], March 1917, ZDY, pp. 263–266.
44 ‘Dianbao jinjihui’ [Telegraph contest], June 1917, ZDY, pp. 435–456.
45 ZDY, pp. 8–11.
46 ZDY, pp. 1–7. On Cao Rulin, see Chi, M. (1980). ‘Ts’ao Ju-lin (1876–1966): His Japanese Connections’, in Iriye, Akira (ed.), The Chinese and the Japanese: Essays in Political and Cultural Interactions, Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp. 184–198Google Scholar.
47 ‘Ikensho no hozon oyobi haifu hôhô ni tsuite’ [Concerning the preservation and distribution of my recommendations], 27 August 1915, NGS, p. 432.
48 In 1922, the Ministry abolished all telecommunications administration bureaus but restored them three years later.
49 Feng, Zhang (2008), ‘Beiyang shiqi dianxinye renshi zhidu lunshu’ [On the personnel system in telecommunications under the Beiyang government], Xi’an youdian xueyuan xuebao, 20:5, pp. 35–36Google Scholar.
50 ZDY, pp. 8–11.
51 The publication was entitled Correspondence from Engineer Nakayama: Conditions in China. As Tanaka Jirô, director general of telecommunications, pointed out in the Introduction, ‘not all correspondence from Nakayama were printed. . . as quite a few had to be kept confidential’. Unfortunately, this unprinted correspondence, including telegrams sent by Nakayama, seem to have been lost in the fire during the 1923 Great Tokyo Earthquake.
52 ‘Kôtsûbu ni okeru gaikokujin no seiryoku’ [Influence of foreigners in Ministry of Communications], 18 July 1913, NGS, pp. 15–20.
53 ‘Densei gijutsu no jûyô shokumu o Petersen ni tan’ninseshimuru no ken’ [On Peterson to assume important technical post in telecommunications], 30 July 1915, NGS, pp. 400–424.
54 ‘Shanhai ni okeru denwa jigyô’ [Telephone operations in Shanghai], 31 January 1904, included in Tsûshinkyoku, Teishinshô (1906). Ô-Bei ni okeru denshin denwa jigyô [Telegraph and telephone in Europe and America], Ministry of Communications, Tokyo, pp. 1–2Google Scholar.
55 It is noteworthy that the references to other engineers were omitted when the proposal was translated into Chinese and printed in 1919.
56 ‘Shina ni okeru musen denshin no jôkyô 1’ [Conditions of the wireless in China 1], 4 June 1913; and ‘Shina ni okeru musen denshin no jôkyô 2’ [Conditions of the wireless in China 2], 23 June 1913, NGS, pp. 1–4, 7–11.
57 ‘Shin Kôtsû sôchô no hyô’ [Comments on the new Minister of Communications], 6 June 1914; ‘Kôtsûbu nai no idô’ [Personnel changes in Ministry of Communications], 28 July 1914; ‘Sakukyo no Shina kankai no pifû’ [Bad trends in Chinese officialdom], 1 May 1915; and ‘Shina kankai no dôyô’ [Shake-up in Chinese officials], 30 June 1915, NGS, pp. 198–201, 208–212, 254–259, 398–400.
58 ‘Long Jianzhang Nihon shisatsu no ken’ [Long Jianzhang's visit to Japan], 6 June 1914; and ‘Long Jianzhang ten’nin no ken’ [Long transferred out], 9 July 1914, NGS, pp. 198–201, 202–204.
59 According to his biography, four Chinese studied in Japan with Nakayama's help. Matsuoka, Nakayama Ryûji, p. 157. ‘Kôtsûbu ni okeru gaikokujin no seiryoku’, NGS, pp. 15–20.
60 NGS, pp. 200–204, 208–12. However, Nakayama also found Zhou to be a low-key person and sought to win his trust over time. Moreover, Zhou had worked under the late Sheng Xuanhuai and had known Nakayama since he visited Japan to study its telecommunications. NGS, p. 126.
61 ‘Denwa shakkan no ken’ [On telephone loans], 10 November 1913, NGS, pp. 44–127.
62 See Yang, Technology of Empire, pp. 35–44.
63 Shin’ichi, Kitaoka (1978). Nihon rikugun to tairiku seisaku [The Japanese army and continental policy], Tokyo daigaku shuppankai, TokyoGoogle Scholar; Young, P. ‘Chinese Leaders and Japanese Aid in the Early Republic’, in Iriye, The Chinese and the Japanese, pp. 124–139.
64 See Yushu, Li (1975). Zhong-Ri guanxi shiliao: You, dian, hang, yu, yan, lin jiaoshe, 1911–1916 [Historical documents on China-Japan relations: Negotiations on post, telecommunications, navigation, fishery, salt, forestry], Academia Sinica, TaipeiGoogle Scholar; Manshû no densei, Vol. 1, pp. 300–302.
65 Dickinson, F. (1999). War and National Reinvention: Japan and the Great War, 1914–1919, Harvard University Asia Center Press, Cambridge, pp. 84–116Google Scholar.
66 Shen Pao (1 August 1915), (30 April 1917), (14 October 1918), (1 April 1920), (5 February 1922).
67 ‘Kôtsubu ni okeru gaikokujin no seiryoku’, NGS, pp. 15–20.
68 ‘Denseishi naijô’ [Inside the telecommunications department], 25 August 1913, NGS, pp. 32–36.
69 ‘Shakkan no ken’ [On loans], 4 February 1914, NGS, pp. 136–138.
70 Wuhan difanzhi bianzhuan weiyuanhui (1998). Wuhan shizhi: Jiaotong youdian zhi [The local gazette of Wuhan: Transportation and Communications], Wuhan daxue chubanshe, Wuhan, p. 645. The businessman then set up a local telephone company.
71 ‘Hankô denwa no ken’ [Concerning telephones in Hankou], 2 July 1913, NGS, pp. 11–13.
72 Shen Pao (22 November 1914); ‘Hanko denwa no ken’ [Concerning telephones in Hankou], 6 September 1915, NGS pp. 438–439.
73 Manshû no densei, Vol. 1, p. 136; Sumitomo denki kôgyô kabushiki kaisha (1961). Shashi Sumitomo Denki Kôgyô Kabushiki Kaisha [A company history of the Sumitomo Electric Company], Sumitomo, Osaka, pp. 251–252. The China-Japan Industrial Corporation was the successor to the China Industrial Corporation (Chûgoku Kôgyô Kabushiki Kaisha), founded by Sun Yatsen and Japanese business leader, Shibusawa Ei’ichi, in 1913.
74 ‘Denwa shakkan no ken’ [On telephone loans], 10 November 1913, NGS, pp. 44–45.
75 ‘Nihon kara kantaru denwa shakkan’ [Telephone loan issue seen from Japan], 10 November 1913, NGS, pp. 119–127.
76 ‘Denwa shakkan no ken’ [On telephone loans], 10 November 1913, 16 December 1914, NGS, pp. 44–127, 240–244.
77 ‘Denwa shakkan no ken’ [On telephone loans], 14 November 1914, NGS, pp. 225–240.
78 For Nakayama's recollection, see Nakayama, Teishin shiwa, Vol. 1, pp. 264–265.
79 ‘Gunji gaikô oyobi tsûsho jo yori kantaru Nisshi denshin renraku no fubi oyobi kyûsaihô’ [Deficiencies and remedies of telecommunications links between Japan and China from military, diplomatic, and commercial perspectives], 12 October 1916, Japan Center for Asian Historical Records.
80 For complete texts of the loan agreement, see JSDB, Chapter 3 ‘Telephone’, pp. 85–88.
81 Chi, ‘Ts’ao Ju-lin (1876–1966)’, pp. 144–148.
82 Only 1.33 million yen was used for telecommunications, however. By the end of 1924, the outstanding balance was 3.4 million yen.
83 Nihon Kei’eishi Kenkyûjo (1992). Sôgyô 100-nen [100 years since the founding], Furukawa Denki Kôgyô Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, pp. 138–139.
84 Manshû no densei, Vol. I, p. 144.
85 Manshû no densei, Vol. I, pp. 136–156. It includes the text of the plan. See Takeo, Suzuki (1972). Nishihara shakkan shiryô kenkyû [A study of historical documents on the Nishihara Loans], Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai, TokyoGoogle Scholar.
86 For a summary, see Xuncheng, Du (1986). Riben zai jou Zhongguo de touzi [Japanese investment in old China], Shanghai Shehui Kuxueyuan Chubanshe, Shanghai, pp. 138–142Google Scholar.
87 Kenkyujo, Nihon Keieishi, Sôgyô 100-nen [100 years since company establishment], Furukawa denki kôgyô, Tokyo, 1991, pp. 195–196Google Scholar.
88 Manshû no densei, Vol. 1, pp. 134–35. For a list of foreign telecommunications loans, see pp. 155–56. For a recent article on this issue, see Changchun, Xu and Ruzheng, Ye (1993). ‘Shi shu Zhongguo jindai dianxin waizhai’ [A preliminary survey of foreign telecommunications loans in modern China], Xiamen daxue xuebao (Zhesheban), 32:4, pp. 69–82Google Scholar.
89 In 1917, the Japanese signed an agreement with the Chinese Navy Ministry to build a powerful wireless station outside Beijing, to be financed by Japanese loans and placed under Japanese control for a period of 30 years. It soon became mired in Chinese domestic politics as well as intense international rivalry. See Yang, Technology of Empire, pp. 64–69. Moreover, the Chinese government's finances were in such a ruinous state that, ironically, Nakayama could not be properly paid and eventually had to press the Chinese government for his back pay, even after he had left his post in early 1928.
90 ‘Nitchû kokusai kankei to ôheisha’ [Japan-China relations and (Japanese) employees], 23 June 1915, NGS, pp. 272–291.
91 For a survey of recent scholarship, see Shin, Kawashima, ‘A Prototype of Close Relations and Antagonism: From the First Sino-Japanese War to the Twenty-One Demands’, in Yang, D. (2012). Toward a History Beyond Borders: Contentious Issues in Sino-Japanese Relations, Harvard University Asia Center Press, Cambridge, pp. 76–77Google Scholar.