Directory_and_Chronicle_1901 — Page 575

CHINA

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bridges, firing the sleepers and carrying off the metals. Later on track destruction was a strong feature of the strategy of the Imperial troops and from their point of view wisely so. It was the cutting of the Railway that was the sole cause of Admiral Seymour's failure in his gallant attempt to rescue the Legations. All the lines in North China were attacked and badly cut: their repair was the first duty of the Allies; and it is hoped that most of the damage will be at least temporarily made good by the Spring of 1901. Railway vandalism was the first evidence of the savagery and magnitude of the Boxer sedition. It is significant that the Imperial Government was so inert in protecting its own property.

A line from Shanghai to Woosung, some fourteen miles in length, was opened in 1898, twenty-one years after the first line between the same termini was torn up. The total length of the railways already in operation is about 450 miles. A contract has been let to a Belgian Syndicate for the construction of a trunk line of about 650 miles in length from Hankow to Paotingfu, where it joins the existing Paotingfu and Lukoachino line, thus giving through communication with Peking. Work on this line has been commenced at both ends, and large numbers of Belgian engineers arrived in 1899. The bridging of the Yellow River and the crossing of the Fuh Niw Mountains in Honan, may offer some engineering difficulties. The American-China Development Company has obtained a concession for the construction of a line from Wuchang, on the southern bank of the Yangtsze immediately opposite to Hankow, to Canton. The British-Chinese Corporation has become associated with the American-China Development Company in this project, and the same corporation has obtained a concession for a line connect- ing Canton with Kowloon (Hongkong.) German concessionnaires have secured the right to construct two lines from the German Settlement at Kinochau to Chinanfu and Ichou in the interior of the Shantung province, and an Anglo-German Syndicate has been authorised to make a line from Tientsin to Chinkiang, the Germans having charge of the northern portion of the undertaking and the British of the southern.. A British syndicate has also secured the right to construct a line from Shanghai via Soochow to Nanking and north-westward to join the Lu-Han line (as the Hankow-Peking line is called), and also a line from Soochow via Hangchow to Ningpo. A line from Canton to Chengtu, the provincial capital of Szechuen, has also been mentioned. Surveys have been conducted with a view of finding a practicable route for a railway to connect Burmah with the Yangtsze region in Szechuen, and it is anticipated that a definite project for such a line will shortly be launched. The French have secured a concession for a line from Laokay, near the Tonkin frontier, to Yunnan, and tenders for the execution of the work have been called for. The French have also secured concessions for lines from Lungehow to Nanning and from Nanning to Pakhoi, but it is doubtful whether these will be carried out, as their tendency would be to divert trade from the French colony to the West River route. The Anglo-Italian Syndicate has been authorised to work coal and iron mines in the province of Honan and to build railways connecting the mines with navigable rivers; under this contract a line from Taiyuen to Singanfu and a branch to Siangyang are projected. In Manchuria Russia is making a railway to connect Port Arthur and Tailienwan with the Trans-Siberian line, and branches in various directions are projected; and unsuccessful attempts were made in 1899 to induce the Chinese Authorities to introduce the Russian guage on their northern lines from the Manchurian border to Peking. The paper inception of a new line from Peking to Katcha and thence to Irkutsk via Kalgan has also been made. A telegraph line between Tientsin and Shanghai was opened in December, 1882, and lines now connect all the impor tant cities of the empire.

The year 1900 will ever be memorable in the history of China. It witnessed the last and a most determined attempt to break away from foreign influence and to revert to the exclusiveness of twenty centuries. The causes of the great social and political upheaval are not far to seek, though from their interaction and overlapping they are by no means easy to set forth in the sequence of their importance. The associations brought about by an expanding trade, by missionary effort, and by reciprocated diplomatic representation have not in any way lessened the hostile mental attitude engendered by alien civilizations, literatures, and moral standards: there are still gaps between the Western and Chinese mind that no sympathy can bridge. The whole trend of Chinese education is especially calculated to ensure a hostile bias towards change, towards reform of abuse, and towards the adaptation of environment to new conditions, on which depends the continued existence of men and governments alike. The governing and influential classes have an enormous