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As the most progressive means of transportation in history, railways have played a very important role in China's modern history. This is mainly reflected in the fact that railways can accelerate the economic development of areas along the line and promote urbanization in rural areas. In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, people had different views on the construction of railways. People's acceptance of railways, a new thing, also went through a process. What is going on?

1. The special historical background and railways in the late Qing Dynasty

China is the third Asian country to build railways after Japan and India since the 19th century, and is also the country in Asia that has received the most Western "railway funding". After the Opium War in the late Qing Dynasty, the Chinese people heard not only about how powerful the foreigners' guns and military capabilities were. News such as "the advanced economic laws and instrument systems of Western countries" spread like wildfire and was widely spread in the palace and the alleys.

In 1865, in order to promote the benefits of building railways to the Qing government, British businessman Durand built a one-mile-long "mini railway" at his own expense outside Xuanwu Gate in Beijing for the Qing court to visit.In July of the Yichou year of the Tongzhi reign, the Englishman Durand built a small railway about a mile long on the flat land outside the Yongning Gate in the capital, and ran small carts on it at a speed as fast as flying.”

People at that time were very interested in the new trains.

It is true that this novelty aroused the curiosity of ministers and neighbors, but at that time, the country was in internal and external troubles, and the people were sensitive and suspicious of the emergence of railways.Surprised as a monster, looked at as a snake", and set off a great social unrest. As a result, the court quickly ordered the government to send people to dismantle the railway, which finally calmed the disturbance.

2. The Development of Railways and the Resulting Collateral Effects

The first truly operational railway in my country was the Wusong Railway, which opened in Shanghai in the second year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1876). Although this railway was indeed built by the British Jardine Matheson without the approval of the central government, the feedback it aroused from the government and the public truly stimulated the development of my country's railway industry.

Scenery: Grand opening of Wusong Railway

As the name suggests, the Wusong Railway is a short-distance railway from Shanghai to Wusong, with a total length of only 14 kilometers. After learning that the Wusong Railway was open to traffic, the Qing government officials immediately formed two opposing forces. One faction advocated accepting the construction of the railway and even further introduced Western factories and machinery to expand cooperation with foreigners. This faction is the familiar Westernization faction. Most people in the court, for different reasons, chose to join the conservative camp to resist the occurrence of new things.

In 1881, under the insistence of Li Hongzhang, who advocated "learning from foreigners to strengthen the country", the Qing government finally gave in. In that year, the Tang-Xu Railway from Tangshan, Hebei Province to Xugezhuang officially began to be laid. In order to obtain the economic benefits of the Tangshan coal mine, the Qing government allowed Li Hongzhang to hire British engineer Jindal as the chief engineer responsible for supervising the construction of the railway, and the general contractor of the project was the Kaiping Mining Bureau controlled by the Qing government.

Workers working at the Kaiping Mining Bureau

At first, during the trial operation of the railway, the trains running on the Tang-Xu Railway were all pulled by livestock such as horses and mules. This was a compromise measure taken by Li Hongzhang to avoid causing "official anger and public resentment." Later, when capital from Britain, France, Russia, Japan and other countries infiltrated China, "accelerating the construction of railways that meet the requirements of modernity" was put on the agenda.

Using foreign capital to build railways is certainly a very beneficial thing. Because these advanced countries not only have valuable experience accumulated after decades of railway development, but also have a large number of relevant talents with professional skills. By hiring or borrowing foreign capital, the Qing government can avoid following the old path of the Western world. This is a "stopgap measure" that helps China move towards modernization.

Workers on the construction of Henan Bianluo Railway

However, many unpleasant things also happened during the process of foreign capital flowing into China. For example, the lease signed with Germany in 1898 stipulated that Germany was allowed to build the Jiaoji Railway in Shandong Province. However, the mining rights within 30 miles along the railway would belong to the foreigners. Similarly, the lease signed by China with Russia, France and other countries urged France to build the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway connecting Yunnan and Indochina, while also giving the ownership of resources and land development rights along the line to foreigners.

Sites along the Jiaoji Railway

III. The impact of the call for “reclaiming road rights” on railway development

After the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, more and more people, from high-ranking officials to gentry and civilians, saw the corruption of the imperial court and the backwardness and conservatism of the Qing government. The proposal to lay railways, which was not widely accepted by society at the beginning, became a fashion that people were eager to pursue. Generally speaking, after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the railway policy in the late Qing Dynasty went through three stages: "joint-stock government-run, full-power commercial operation and state-owned road rights".

We have just mentioned the first stage, which is to attract foreign investment and build railways in the name of the government. This stage was probably proposed in the 1860s and entered a slowdown around the beginning of the 20th century. Some students may ask, since it is possible to run railways privately, why not allow foreigners to help us build railways in our country from the beginning? Just like today, we hire foreign companies to build buildings for us.

Hankou Dazhimen Station on the Beijing-Hankou Railway

The problem of railway operation is not the same as that of ordinary construction. The operation of railways not only means that the economy of the whole country will be revitalized, but also means that the national defense and military strategy of the country will all change. Therefore, it is impossible to entrust all the projects to outsiders. Joint stock and state-owned operation is a huge concession made by the Qing government to foreign merchants when it has "extra power".

The second stage was represented by the imperial decree issued by the Qing government in 1904, which called on private groups to invest in railways. Soon after the decree was implemented, it immediately attracted the attention of gentry and local financial tycoons. However, this seemingly "decentralized" and capital-absorbing method suffered a huge blow soon after its implementation.

Old photos: China's railway transportation in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China

At that time, Chinese society was still an agricultural society, and wealth and capital did not flow in large quantities among a small number of enthusiastic civilians. For them, building a railway was a major event that was "easy to say but difficult to do." Therefore, when the government really entrusted the hope of handling this matter to the society, it saw the powerlessness of the society and the people.

The third stage of the policy of taking back the right of way and nationalizing the railways occurred in the last few years of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing government believed that it could no longer rely on civilians to build railways, but should take back the construction rights delegated to various places and hire Western engineers to continue the construction.

The people were opposed to this. After the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, the people's resentment towards foreigners and foreign goods had reached its peak. Therefore, the Qing government was unable to implement his plan. Even the "Railway Protection Movement" spontaneously launched by the people stimulated the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution to some extent.

The massive railway protection movement

As an important part of modern national transportation, railways have been called "the most revolutionary tool in history". Because it can give people direct audiovisual and sensory stimulation, and at the same time greatly changed the settlement mode of agricultural society. The railway construction in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China is also the same for our country. Ci'er still believes that no matter how huge the differences in the debate on railway construction in modern times are, and how difficult the expenses and expenses are, the sooner the railway is built, the better. Railway construction is very consistent with the capitalist development model and business laws, because it can play a role in communicating the overall situation on land. Today, China's "high-speed rail speed" has become a world leader. Compared with our poverty and weakness in the late Qing Dynasty, China's prosperity is worthy of everyone's pride!