In 1894, the Qing government was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War; the Boxer Rebellion in China seized the railway interests. More than ten thousand kilometres to be swallowed up in China and carved up the right of way to form the imperialist plunder of China's first climax. Subsequently, in accordance with their needs, they were designed and built a number of railways; however it was in different standards, equipment clutter, resulting in confusion and China Railway backwardness.
The development of China's railway construction was started from 1876, which named ‘Songhu Railway’ since 1981, and it was 105 years ago, building a 50,181 km railway. Before the People’s Republic of China was been built up, the annual average of railway construction is only more than 300 kilometres. During the Qing Dynasty Songhu Railway which was been built by British merchants in Shanghai is considered to be the China's first railway on the land. Before that, the British businessmen in Xuanwumen(Peking), built a 500 meters a small railway, only for the people to treated.
In the Qing Dynasty (1876 ~ 1911), the construction of railway was about 9400 km. Imperialism, which directly accounts for about 41% of the construction business; imperialist control through loans, about 39%; state-owned railways, including China's Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was built as self-reliance, the business head office was redemption of the Beijing-Hankou Railway; and Guangzhou third rail only accounted for about 20%.
From 1881 to 1911 the railway built in the Tang Xu, which collapsed the Qing government for 30 years, is the first phase of the railway. At this stage, the Qing government as the continuous Westernization and domestic proposals to promote people with lofty...
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...y two. First goal is to reclaim those foreign concessions whose agreements had already been signed or drafted before this period. Secondly, the goal is to construct a Chinese railway system through investments in China. (LEE)
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The Transcontinental Railroad was comprised of nearly eighteen hundred miles of track, much of which was laid by Chinese and Irish immigrants (Immigration 1). Chinese immigrants had settled in California during the Gold Rush but were not allowed to become full citizens (Immigration 1). With the need for labor to work on the railroad, the Chinese were hired, although at a lower rate of pay than Americans and other immigrants (Immigration 1). The Central Pacific Railroad had employed over twelve thousand Chinese workers by 1868. They even set a record, laying ten miles of railroad track in twelve hours (Immigration 1). Over twenty-five thousand Chinese immigrants settled in the United States in 1868 and 1869 and eventually obtained citizenship (Cultural 2). The Union Pacific Railroad employed mainly Irish immigrants, many of whom had served in the Civil War. After the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, many new immigrants settled in the western states and territories. Immigrants who came in through immigration stations, such as Ellis Island, used the Transcontinental Railroad to move to new western towns. The railroad advertised with the hope of attracting European, African, and Russian immigrants to populate small western towns along the
Chapter 4: China's Qing Dynasty & Its Collapse." East-Asian-History Home. Penn State. Web. 06 Apr. 2011..
The transcontinental railroad was a 1,800 mile railroad linking Omaha, Missouri with Sacramento, California. This railroad was built through varying environmental conditions including grassy plains, desserts, and mountains such as the Sierra. The railroad revolutionized transportation in the nineteenth century (Galloway 4). The First Transcontinental Railroad was built in the 1860s in order to connect the Eastern and Western coasts of the United States. In the book The Railroads, statistical data describes that “In 1830, 23 miles of railroad track were being operated in the United States; by 1890 that figure had grown to 166,703 miles, as cities and villages were linked across the lan...
In order to detail the rise of railroads throughout this era of technological boom, it is important to understand the Industrial Revolution, which was the start of this success; it paved the way for major changes in the modern society we live in today. This is the period between the 18th and 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportatio...
British Canadians felt that it was best to hire Chinese labourers to work on the continental railways due to working conditions, however, other British Canadians felt that it had been the low wages that Chinese individuals charged that created them enticing alternatives to higher paid non-Asians. Employment on the railways crammed a range of jobs in a rural and concrete environment. In 1885, the Canadian government, after being pressured from Canadian provinces, passed l...
The Chinese empire had once been one of the greatest and most powerful empires in the world. Before the 19th century, China had a large population and was ruled by families or dynasties. It was considered technologically advanced as China had a history of many miraculous inventions, such as: writing, magnetic compasses, movable sails, porcelain, abacus and paper money. Although China was isolated from the rest of the world, it coped well on its own, and saw no need to begin trading with the west, (as Lord McCartney proposed in 1793), since it was a self-sufficient nation. At that particular time, the Chinese empire was still able to exclude the ‘barbarians’, thus forcing them to only trade at one port. However, China soon took a turn for the worst as important ...
"Railroads were the first big business, the first magnet for the great financial markets, and the first industry to develop a large-scale management bureaucracy. The railroads opened the western half of the nation to economic development, connected raw materials to factories and retailers, and in so doing created an interconnected national market. At the same time the railroads were themselves gigantic consumers of iron, steel, lumber, and other capital goods". (Tindall, Shi)
Douglas Reynolds, China, 1898-1912: The Xinzheng Revolution and Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993.
No one person can be credited for the invention of the railroad; rather there are many individuals who contributed to the railways final design. To begin, as far back as the 16th century, Germans were using horse-drawn wagons, pulled along wooden rails. These systems were known as “wagonways” and are grandparents of modern railways. By 1776, wooden rails and wheels had been replaced by iron. Eventually, the wheels became flanged, allowing the wheels to better grip the rails. The major turning point of locomotives was the invention of the steam engine. The steam engine was invented by three different British inventors, over a period of a hundred years; to give only one man the credit would be a crime.
Though there was over 350 miles of railway laid throughout England in 1801, there was no commercially viable railway implemented before the 1830's. Some rails were still made of wood, others iron and the first trains traveled at the pace of 3.5 miles per hour, significantly slower than the horse drawn coach which traveled at a speed of 9-10 miles per hour. According to Jack Simmons in his book, The Railway in England and Wales, 1840-1914, the Manchester-Liverpool line is notable to mention because it did three things no other railway to date had: 1) all traction was mechanical for the first time; 2) the Company carried both passengers and freight; and 3) the linkage of two commercial towns was exceptional. The concept that a man could leave his town to conduct business in another town and be back in his own home the same day was unheard of. People found this aspect of the railway very enticing. Simmons writes, "There was no doubt at the time about the...
Fairbank, John King. The Great Chinese Revolution 1800-1985. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1986.
The early nineteenth century was the beginning of the Qing Dynasty’s downfall. During this century multiple issues, including economic pressures, corruption, domestic rebellions and foreign wars, challenged ...
Hsueh, Chun- tu, The Chinese Revolution of 1911: New Perspectives (Hong Kong: Joint _____Publishing Co., 1986), pp.1-15, 119-131, 139-171
China's development is praised by the whole world. Its developments are not only in the economic aspect, but as well in its foreign affairs. Compared with other developed countries, China is a relatively young country. It began constructing itself in 1949. After 30 years of growth, company ownership had experienced unprecedented changes. Entirely, non-state-owned companies can now be more involved in sectors that used to be monopolized by state-owned companies.