SOME FRUSTRATED ATTEMPTS AT DEVELOPMENT

Trade in Shanghai

After the failure of the wild speculation in property and buildings connected with the increase of Chinese population during the Taiping Rebellion, the business of Shanghai developed on a sounder basis, and we find from statistics that commerce made satisfactory progress.

In 1874 the gross imports were valued at Tls.52,902,102, and the gross exports at Tls. 43,764,978, whereas in 1864 the imports had been Tls.30,522,183.

The absence at that time of deep water ports in the North made Shanghai the distributing centre for North China as well as for the Yangtze basin. The foreign residents began to realize Shanghai's possibilities and to plan for its further development, and the Shanghai Municipal Council became more active in regard to public works. Many new roads were made and The Bund, Bubbling Well Road and some others were planted with trees. Broadway was extended and a road was built as far as the Yangtszepoo Creek, only stopping there for want of a bridge.

Founding of China Merchants S. N. Co.

An American company, known as the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, for traffic on the Yangtze, had been formed in 1867 by Russell and Company. The Chinese merchants saw the importance of Shanghai as a port and in order to secure a large share in its shipping, the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company was founded in 1872 by the initiative of Li Hung-chang. The old P. and 0. steamer "Aden" was bought, and for the first time the Chinese flag was flown over a merchant steamer. In 1877 the fleet and property of the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company was purchased by the "China Merchants," for the sum of TIs. 2,000,000, but the fact that many officials were connected with the company prevented it from becoming a prosperous enterprise, and from realizing its great opportunity.

Need of Harbour Improvement

Trade was the life of Shanghai, and anything interfering with a good harbourage for ships was fatal to its further development.

The accessibility of the harbour in Shanghai was rendered difficult by the shallow water over the outer and inner Woosung Bars. These are formed by the tidal Whangpoo River emptying itself into the tidal estuary of the Yangtze River. The low water depth of the river bar varied in different months of the year from 6 feet to 13 feet 6 inches and was in the midst of a crossing that cut diagonally from one bank to the other of the Whang-poo River.

Conference with Mr.Robert Hart

In 1863 when Mr. Robert Hart, Inspector-General of Customs, was in Shanghai, a deputation, representing the leading shipping firms, put before him the importance of conserving the Whangpoo and of dredging the Woosung Bar, so as to allow the entrance of the larger ships then being despatched to China. He agreed to lay the matter before The Chinese Government.

To all requests the answer of the Chinese Government was "No," and the Chinese Ministers maintained an attitude "even more obstructive than the obstruction of the Bar." It is well to remember that in the early days, the Chinese sometimes referred to the bar as a heaven-sent barrier intended to prevent war vessels of heavy draught and ironclads from entering the harbour.

Appeal to Sir Thomas Wade

After the lapse of a year, Mr. F. B. Johnson, the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, re-opened the subject by a memorable despatch to Sir Thomas F. Wade, the British Minister, in which he asked that in case the Chinese Government would do nothing about the matter, it should grant such additional powers as would enable the Ratepayers of Shanghai, by means of special taxes upon native and foreign shipping entering the port, and by taxes upon land and property, to provide for the conserving of the river and the dredging of the bar. Sir Thomas Wade seems never to have replied to this communication, and we may infer that his attitude was also unfavourable.

Opinion of Mr. Robert Hart

Mr. Robert Hart, in 1875, published in a memorandum the result of his deliberations in regard to the advisability of dredging the Woosung Bar. His opinion is worth quoting at length, for it is an excellent example of the fallibility of human reasoning and the difficulty of prophesying the future.

"The trade consequent on opening the Yangtze River has so far been diverted into a false channel by the vested rights or money spent in Shanghai. This agency is in turn counteracted by the opening of the Suez Canal, through which steamers have begun to pass, making London and Hankow their termini . . . Teas will be shipped at Hankow and Kiukiang, and Shanghai silks and Ningpo teas at Chinkiang. They will be the return cargoes of the steamers which carry what China may continue to demand from Europe. In 20 years time Chinkiang will have taken the place of Shanghai as a semi-terminus and trans-shipment port. . .Thus looked at, as it affects and is affected by natural and artificial agencies now at work at the mouth of the Yangtze, the question of the Woosung Bar is seen to mean that dredging there may possibly be nothing more than a means of making the last days of Shanghai a little more comfortable than they would otherwise be; it will not prolong or avert the commercial death of the place, but it will make a show of vitality during its declining years more possible.

"Given the natural and commercial agencies at work, it may be taken for granted that - certainly for 10, or perhaps 20 or 30 years to come, the commercial status and foreign community of Shanghai will be such as to make it worth while to prevent the river from being blocked up at any one point - for instance by the Woosung Bar. Dredging can do this and then only for a time; it cannot secure for Shanghai either a navigable channel or a continuance of commercial prosperity.

"The circumstances of Shanghai, its present position as a commercial centre, the interests of the community are in themselves sufficient reasons why the demand for dredging ought to be assented to, but it must be borne in mind that no one can say how soon commerce may cease to ask for access to Shanghai, or natural forces acting elsewhere make dredging operations at Woosung useless."

Thus were the efforts at developing the harbour frustrated for a time. In 1881 the Chinese authorities, at their own cost, ordered a steam dredger to be used in removing the "heaven-sent barrier," but dredging alone was found to be of slight value, and the results were small. It was not, as we shall narrate later, until after the Boxer Outbreak that the matter was taken in hand seriously.

Woonung Railway

At about the same time as the foreign merchants were agitating for the conservancy of the Whangpoo and the dredging of the Woosung Bar, an attempt was made to build the first railway in China. As far back as 1863, when General Gordon was on the point of taking Soochow, a group of English and American firms petitioned Li Hung-chang for a concession to build a railway from Shanghai to Soochow. The petition was refused and Li Hung-chang stated that "railways would only be beneficial to China, when undertaken by the Chinese themselves and conducted under their own management; that China's objection existed to the employment of numerous foreigners in the interior; and that the people would evince great opposition to being deprived of their land for that purpose."

In 1865 the foreign merchants of Shanghai formed a company to build a railway from Shanghai to Woosung, but met with extreme opposition. They secured permission, however, to reconstruct the military road from Shanghai to Woosung, and to acquire by purchase the land necessary to widen and straighten it. They bought the land, made the embankments and culverts needed for a raised road in a flat country, intersected by creeks liable to be flooded. Later on the promoters of the Woosung line announced that they intended to lay rails for a tramway along the new road, and obtained permission for this from the British Envoy. The rails for the "tramway" were landed in Shanghai in December, 1875, and, to the surprise of every one, work was begun on a railway line of 30-inch gauge.

When the Chinese discovered the subterfuge, the Taotai enjoined the promoters to stop the construction until he could refer the matter to Peking.

The line, notwithstanding the Taotai's objection, was completed over a distance of five miles to Kiangwan by June 30 of the following year, and from that time six trains a day, for passengers only, were run each way. The trains were crowded and the new method of travel proved popular, but on August 3 a man walking on the line was killed "under circumstances which suggested, either extremely dense stupidity or a malicious intention to commit suicide, and thereby create a prejudice against railways."

The people became excited and hostile, and Sir Thomas Wade, who happened to be in Shanghai at that time, gave instructions that the trains should cease running. The Chinese authorities then began negotiations for the purchase of the line, but while negotiations were in progress the train service was resumed.

On October 21st, 1877, a sum of TIs. 285,000 was paid for the land, rolling stock, and rails, being the actual cost to the promoters. The last train which ran was pulled by the engine "Victory" followed by the "Celestial Empire." A crowd of Chinese was present to take a last look at the unfamiliar sight - the like of which was not to be witnessed again until 20 years had elapsed.

After the purchase, the rails were torn up and shipped with the rolling stock to Formosa, where for many years they were left rusting on the beach. Thus a second important development was frustrated.

Telegraphs

The first attempts to introduce the telegraph into Shanghai also resulted in a failure. In 1865 Mr. E. A. Reynolds undertook to establish telegraphic connection between Shanghai and Woosung, so that the people in the Settlements could be informed of the movements of the shipping at the mouth of the river.

The country people, with the connivance of the Chinese authorities, destroyed the poles, which they said had a bad effect on the "fengshui" (the influences of wind and water). In proof of this they produced the body of a man, who had died in the shade of one of the poles! As a result the Chinese authorities forbad the use of the line.

Ayear later Russell and Company, with the permission of the Councils, put up a line from Kin-le-chong godowns (French Bund) to Ke-chong in the American Settlement. This was the first line worked in China, but it was entirely within the settlement limits.

Owing to the number of accidents to shipping at the entrance to the Whangpoo, the necessity of telegraphic communication between Shanghai and Woosung became pressing. The Taotai, however, remained unconvinced and in his reply to the joint despatch from the Consuls pointed out that there was no provision whatever in the treaties in regard to the introduction of telegraphs. He said it was "entirely without precedent," and that the wooden poles undoubtedly affected the "fengshui" and would thus do harm to the agricultural interests. He could see no reason for a telegraph line in China.

In 1870 when a cable was laid between Shanghai and Hongkong, according to agreement, the cable at the Shanghai end was not to be landed on shore but on vessels anchored outside the limits. No part of the line went overland; and at each port where the company had an office, the telegraph service was conducted on hulks.

The line to Shanghai at first had its end moored at sea 25 miles south of Videa Island in the Chusan group, and was thence carried via Gutzlaff Island to Woosung. From Woosung a small cable came up river and was brought ashore in Hongkew. The cable at Woosung was brought ashore secretly. Afterwards, when this was discovered by the Chinese authorities, there was a protest, and it was insisted that the cable must end on a vessel anchored outside.

The opposition to telegraphs yielded sooner than that to railways, and in 1878 the Chinese authorities permitted the construction of an overland line along Woosung Road, the poles being erected on foreign owned land.

The Chinese were thoroughly converted to the use of the telegraph during the trouble with Russia over the territory in Central Asia, and in 1880 and 1881 the Chinese authorities employed the Great Northern Telegraph Company (Danish) to construct a line connecting Shanghai and Peking at a cost of Tls. 140,000.

The Jinricsha

A new form of conveyance came into Shanghai in 1874, which proved in some ways to be a nuisance and in others, a great convenience. This was the Jinricsha - "the man-power carriage." It was imported from Japan. At first the ricshas were not very popular, but they soon proved their usefulness and became more and more numerous.

The Burlingame Mission

Mr. Anson Burlingame, the American Minister in Peking, was commissioned by the Chinese Emperor in 1867 as Ambassador Extraordinary to all the Courts of the world. The purpose of his appointment, as expressed in the words of Mr. Robert Hart, was "to cultivate and conserve friendly relations by explaining to each of the Treaty Powers the many difficulties that China cannot fail to experience in attempting to change existing conditions and to introduce novelties; to bespeak forbearance and prevent, in as far as possible, any resort to hostile pressure to wring from China concessions for which the government did not as yet feel itself ready."

Mr. Burlingame had the oratorical temperament, and in his addresses in the United States and other countries gave an exaggerated statement of Chinese readiness to enter upon the path of progress.

For instance, he asserted that China was prepared to invite the missionaries to "plant the shining cross on every hill and in every valley," and to engage Western engineers to open mines and build railways and to modernize her ancient civilization.

The Burlingame Mission did not arouse as much enthusiasm in England as in the United States. Lord Clarendon, head of the Foreign Office, declared that "the policy to be adopted by his government and its agents was that an unfriendly pressure shall not be applied, inconsistent with the independence and safety of China, and that the British Government desires to deal directly with the central government rather than with the local authorities. China was expected to observe the treaties she had entered into, and the British Government reserved the right to use force to protect life and property immediately exposed."

>From London, the Mission proceeded to Paris, Berlin and St. Petersburg. In the last named city, Mr. Burlingame, unable to withstand the severity of a Russian winter, succumbed to an attack of pneumonia and died on February 11, 1870.

The residents of Shanghai were somewhat sceptical in regard to the promises made by this Ambassador in his tour around the world, owing to the opposition they encountered in the attempts to introduce the railway and telegraphs, and the unwillingness of the Chinese authorities to dredge the Woosung Bar, and improve the harbour of Shanghai.

The Margary Memorial

The Indian Government in 1874, acting under instructions from the British Home Government, despatched an expedition under Colonel Browne to proceed into Yunnan by way of Bhamo, in order to open up a trade route between Burmah and China. It was arranged that at the same time Mr. A. R. Margary, of H.B.M.'s Consular Service, should travel overland through China, to meet the expedition at Bhamo, and, acting as interpreter, should conduct it through Yunnan and then overland to Hankow.

At Manwyne, on the border between China and Burmah, Margary was assassinated under circumstances which were never cleared up. Out of this incident came the Chefoo Convention between Great Britain and China.

A memorial monument to Mr. Margary was erected by subscription in Shanghai in 1880, and placed at the division of The Bund into Soochow Road and the Garden Bridge approach. In 1907 the monument was removed to the north end of the Public Gardens, where it now stands.