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Dashed Expectations: Limitations of the telegraphic service in the late Qing*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2013

WOOK YOON
WOOK YOON*
Affiliation:
Dankook University, South Korea Email: manchu86@gmail.com
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Abstract

Previous researchers have noted that the telegraph had a significant impact on late Qing politics in a variety of ways. This paper, however, argues that the telegraph in China failed to become a popular means of communication due to technical problems and misguided pricing policies. The Telegraph Administration (Zhongguo dianbaoju) was established in 1882, and its service suffered from persistent problems with regard to speed, stability, cost, and security. In order to keep profits up so as to be able to pay dividends to its shareholders, the Telegraph Administration did not invest in the latest and most efficient telegraph machines which would have enabled it to improve its service, cut down on telegraph fees, and attract more customers. Instead, it had to keep charges high for both private and commercial telegraph users, but at the same time it was not able to resolve delays in transmission, even for government messages. Although the service had an impact on the overall communications market in China—not least due to its near-monopoly position—and returned a degree of profit to its shareholders, the mindset of its administration and its approach to management limited the company's ability to develop a successful niche in the market or to achieve its potential as a driving force in China's economic development.

Type
FORUM: Communications Networks in Modern China
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , May 2015 , pp. 832 - 857
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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Footnotes

*

This paper is developed from a chapter of my PhD thesis, ‘The Grand Council and the Communication Systems in the Late Qing’ (2008). An earlier version was presented at a discussion session at the Institute of Modern History, Taipei, in 2010. I am very grateful to my teachers and colleagues who made helpful comments on its previous versions, including Beatrice Bartlett, Jonathan Spence, Annping Chin, Peter Perdue, Chen Yongfa, Johanna Ransmeier, Wang Wensheng, and Lindsay Lyon. I am especially indebted to Dr Weipin Tsai who organized this forum and has provided me with endless encouragement and advice. Without her kindness and efforts, this forum could have not been realized.

References

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2 Masashi, Chiba (2006), Kindai kotsu taikei to Shin Teikoku no henbo [Modern transportation systems and the transformation of the Qing empire], Tokyo: Nihon keizai Hyoronsa, pp. 201–258Google Scholar. Yongming, Zhou (2006), ‘Part I: Telegraph’, in Yongming, Zhou, Historicizing On-line Politics: Telegraphy, the Internet, and Political Participation in China, Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 19–104Google Scholar. Yoon, Wook (2010), ‘Chŏnbo ŭi ch'ŏngmal chŏngch'ie taehan yŏnghyang—Ch'ŏngbul chŏnjaengŭl saryero’ [A research on the impact of the telegraph on late Qing politics—Focusing on the Sino-French War], Chungguk kŭnhyŏndaesa yŏngu [Korean Studies of Modern Chinese History] 46, pp. 1–52Google Scholar. Hu Junru (1996), ‘Wanqing Zhongguo dianbaoju (1881–1908)’ [The Imperial Telegraph Administration, 1881–1908], Master's thesis, Taiwan Normal University, pp. 194–199.

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6 The main sources for this paper are the archives of the Zongli Yamen (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and Youchuanbu (the Ministry of Post and Transportation), which successively took charge of administering the telegraph in the late Qing, as well as palace memorials and edicts in the Grand Council Archives.

7 shixue hui, Zhongguo (1961), Yangwu yundong [Self-strengthening Movement] [hereafter YWYD], Shanghai: Renmin Publishing Co.Google Scholar, Vol. 6, p. 339 (Li Hongzhang's memorial, 16 January 1883); YWYD, Vol. 6, p. 346 (Li Hongzhang's memorial, 17 July 1883); YWYD, Vol. 6, p. 353 (Zhang Shusheng's memorial, 27 December 1883).

8 On Li Hongzhang's contribution to the construction of the Tianjin-Shanghai line and the establishment of the Telegraph Administration, see Hu, ‘Wanqing Zhongguo dianbaoju’, pp. 32–34; and Chiba, Kindai kotsu taikei, pp. 65–68.

9 YWYD, Vol. 6, p. 382 (memorial from Gongdang, military governor of Heilongjiang, 16 March 1887).

10 YWYD, Vol. 6, pp. 349–359 (memorial from Li Hongzhang, 1883).

11 Feuerwerker, China's Early Industrialization, p. 193, quoting Li Wenzhonggong quanji, zougao, 45, 35a–36b (16 January 1883).

12 On the momentous role of the Sino-French and Sino-Japanese wars on the extension of China's telegraph lines, see Chiba, Kindai kotsu taikei, pp. 81–90.

13 Zhongguo diyi lishi dang’an’guan (1993), Qingmo Beijing dianxin shiliao [A collection of sources on the Beijing telegraph system] [hereafter DXSL], Vol. 6, p. 738 (March 1909). DXSL is an unpublished sourcebook housed in the Institute of Modern History, Taipei. See also Hu, ‘Wanqing Zhongguo dianbaoju’, p. 57.

14 HFD-DX, Vol. 4, p. 992, no. 650 (letter to Sheng Xuanhuai, 5 August 1884).

15 HFD-DX, Vol. 4, p. 1206, no. 774 (letter from Li Hongzhang, 11 August 1885).

16 Such wrongdoers would receive one year's penal servitude as well as 60 blows with a heavy bamboo. In addition, their faces would be tattooed with three characters: ‘dao guan wu’ (stole government property). They also had to pay full compensation for all stolen or damaged telegraph facilities in accordance with an appraisal of the property. If local outlaws ganged up together and damaged extensive lengths of telegraph lines, they were punished according to the regulations applying to bandits. YWYD, Vol. 6, pp. 446–447 (Li Hongzhang's memorial, 20 August 1892); Jintang, Liu (comp.) (2000), Qingchao xu wenxian tongkao [A collection of Qing documents continued] [hereafter XWXTK], Hangzhou: Zhejiang guji chubansheGoogle Scholar, Vol. 4, p. 11179.

17 On the Zongli Yamen's accusations regarding telegraph offices, see HFD-DX, Vol. 5, p. 1834, no. 1323 (letter to Sheng Xuanhuai, 23 November 1897); and HFD-DX, Vol. 6, p. 2098, no. 1565 (letter to Sheng Xuanhuai, 30 June 1899); HFD-DX, Vol. 4, p. 1104–1105, no. 719 (letter from the magistrates of Wanping County and Jing County, 15 December 1884).

18 XWXTK, Vol. 4, p. 11189. In the same year, new regulations were drawn up, which punished telegraph office managers, line guards, and telegraphers who delayed telegrams, either by mistake or on purpose. Youchuanbu (ed.) (2006), Jiaotong guanbao, Beijing: Quanguo tushuguan suowei fuzhi zhongxin, p. 20309; DXSL, Vol. 5, pp. 755–756.

19 HFD-DX, Vol. 5, p. 1844, no. 1335 (letter from Sheng Xuanhuai, 30 December 1897).

20 Jiaotongbu (1931), Jiaotongshi Dianzhengbian [History of transportation: telegraphic administration] [hereafter JTS-DZ], Nanjing: Ministry of Transportation, Vol. 2, pp. 202–206.

21 JTS-DZ, Vol. 1, pp. 50–51.

22 XWXTK, Vol. 4, p. 11189.

23 HFD-DX, Vol. 5, p. 1840, no. 1331 (letter from Baojun tongling, 12 November 1897).

24 HFD-DX, Vol. 5, p. 1844, no. 1335 (letter from Sheng Xuanhuai, 30 December 1897).

25 HFD-DX, Vol. 6, p. 2098, no. 1565 (letter to Sheng Xuanhuai, 30 June 1899).

26 Ibid.

27 HFD-DX, Vol. 6, p. 2060, no. 1526 (French minister's letter, 25 March 1899). For other accounts of delays of several weeks, which were reported by foreign ministers, see HFD-DX, Vol. 6, p. 2477, no. 1897 (letter from controller-general of telegraph to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Waiwubu), 28 August 1904); HFD-DX, Vol. 7, p. 2682, no. 2045 (German minister's letter to the Waiwubu, 21 June 1906), etc.

28 DXSL, Vol. 5, p. 760.

29 HFD-DX, Vol. 4, p. 1206, no. 774 (letter from Li Hongzhang, 11 August 1885).

30 Gongzongdang, no. 154997 (Sheng Yun memorial, 10 April 1903), National Palace Museum, Taipei.

31 JTS-DZ, Vol. 1, p. 58.

32 The only significant exception was the telegraph connection between Wusong and Chongming Island, which was built to replace a broken submarine cable between these two locations in 1908. XWXTK, Vol. 4, p. 11185.

33 HFD-DX, Vol. 1, p. 5, no. 5 (letter to Shengjing Tartar general, 12 February 1885).

34 Rubin, Michael (2001), ‘The telegraph, espionage, and cryptology in nineteenth century Iran’, Cryptologia VVX(1), p. 26Google Scholar, quoting Ardakani, Husayn (1978), History of Institution of the new civilization in Iran, TehranGoogle Scholar, Vol. 2, p. 200.

35 DBD, Vol. 4, and Tinglong, Gu, Yi, Dai (2008), Li Hongzhang quanji [A collection of Li Hongzhang's works] [hereafter LHZQJ], Hefei: Anhui Education Publishing Co.Google Scholar, Vol. 21, GX10/7 (21 August–18 September 1884).

36 LHZQJ, Vol. 21, no. G10–8–1 (Li's telegram to the Zongli Yamen, 19 September 1884). Later, during the Russo-Japanese War, the Eastern Extension Company selected and passed on Russian telegraphic messages to Japan, Britain's ally; see Chapman, J.W.M. (2002), ‘British use of ‘dirty tricks’ in external policy prior to 1914’, War in History 9(1), p. 60Google Scholar.

37 HFD-DX, Vol. 5, p. 1945, no. 1440 (letter from managers of telegraph offices, 10 October 1898).

38 Hu, ‘Wanqing Zhongguo dianbaoju’, p. 80; Baark, Eric, Lightning Wires, the Telegraph and China's Technological Modernization, 1860–1890, London: Greenwood Press, p. 85Google Scholar. Viguier's New Book for the Telegraph was advertised in newspapers and became available in telegraph offices and bookstores.

39 Deyi, Zhang (1982), Suishifaguoji, Changsha: Renmin Publishing Co., pp. 262–263Google Scholar.

40 For example, New Secret Red Codebook (Mihong xinben) was published in 1895, New Secret Codebook (Mixin dianben) in 1897, Codebook of the Year of Jihai in 1899 and so on. See HFD-DX, Vol. 5, no. 1103; HFD-DX, Vol. 5, no. 1236; HFD-DX, Vol. 6, no. 1691.

41 HFD-DX, Vol. 5, p. 1906, no. 1397 (letter from Tartar general of Guangzhou, 21 June 1898); HFD-DX, Vol. 6, p. 2280, no. 1735 (letter to Zhili governor-general, 28 August 1898).

42 HFD-DX, Vol. 5, p. 1834, no. 1322 (letter from Wang Wenshao, 21 November 1897); HFD-DX, Vol. 5, p. 1906, no. 1397 (letter from Tartar general of Guangzhou, 21 June 1898); HFD-DX, Vol. 7, p. 2777, no. 2135 (letter from governor-general of Three Eastern Provinces, 5 April 1908).

43 On 18 August 1884, a telegraphic edict stated that ‘from now on, governors and generals should add or subtract the telegraph code numbers by twenty’. LHZQJ, Vol. 21, p. 254, no. G10–6–213 (Zongli Yamen's telegram to Zhang Pailun). This is the first mention of the method that I have found.

44 Dongyuan, Xia (ed.) (1982), Zheng Guanying ji [A collection of Zheng Guanying's works], Shanghai: Renmin Publishing Co.Google Scholar, Vol. 2, p. 1007.

45 HFD-DX, Vol. 5, p. 1834, no. 1322 (letter from Wang Wenshao, 21 November 1897).

46 DXSL, Vol. 5, pp. 704–706 (collateral letter from the Ministry of Post and Communication to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 6 January 1907).

47 DXSL, Vol. 5, pp. 710–711 (6 January 1907).

48 DXSL, Vol. 5, pp. 704–705.

49 Regulations of Punishment for Leakage, Regulations of Awards for Whistleblowers, and Preemptive Regulations for Leakage, see JTS-DZ, Vol. 1, pp. 155–156.

50 HFD-DX, Vol. 7, p. 2772, no. 2132 (28 March 1908).

51 XWXTK, Vol. 4, p. 11191.

52 DXSL, Vol. 5, pp. 705–706.

53 Xia Dongyuan (ed.), Zheng Guanying ji, Vol. 2, p, 1002 (letter to Li Hongzhang).

54 HFD-DX, Vol. 2, p. 348 (memorial from Li Hongzhang, 30 September 1882).

55 Baark, Lightning Wires, pp. 159–163.

56 On the development of Western telegraph technology, I refer to Standage, Tom (1998), The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-line Pioneers, USA: Walker Publishing Co.Google Scholar

57 Ibid., pp. 188–194.

58 Ibid., p. 192.

59 Headrick, Daniel R. (1981), The Tools of Empire, Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 159Google Scholar, 161.

60 Statistics on the duplex system first appeared in 1917. In 1917, three out of 1,781 Morse telegraph machines and 12 out of 41 Wheatstone telegraph machines were equipped with duplex apparatuses. JTS-DZ, Vol. 2, p. 93.

61 DXSL, Vol. 5, p. 613 (letter from the Ministry of Postal Service, 17 June 1908).

62 Ibid.

63 Guanying, Zheng (1968), Shengshiweiyan houji [Dangerous words of a prosperous period continued], Taipei: Datong shujuGoogle Scholar, Vol. 3, p. 1470.

64 For Xuanhuai's, Sheng description on the craze for investing in the Telegraph Administration among Chinese merchants in the early 1880s, see Wang Ermin (comp.) et al. (1993), Sheng Xuanhuai shiye handiangao [Sheng Xuanhuai's letters and telegrams on industry], Taipei: Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, p. 424Google Scholar.

65 YWYD, p. 387 (memorial from Li Hongzhang, 31 August 1887).

66 For the table for converting dates to rhymes, see Ermin, Wang, ‘Sheng Xuanhuai yu Zhongguo dianbao shiye zhi jingying’ [Sheng Xuanhuai and the management of the Chinese telegraphic enterprise), in Institute of Modern History (ed.) (1998), Qingji Ziqiang yundong yanjiu lunwenji [Proceedings of the conference on the Self-strengthening Movement in late Qing China, 1860–1894], Taipei: Institute of Modern History, pp. 777–778Google Scholar.

67 For example, Li Hongzhang used ‘Hong’ to represent himself, and Shusheng, Zhang used ‘Sheng’. Meanwhile, Zhang Zhidong and Xu Shichang employed two characters, ‘Zhidong’ and ‘Shichang’. Zhongguo diyi lishi dang’an’guan (ed.) (2005), Qingdai Junjichu dianbao dang’an huibian [The telegraph archives of the Grand Council in the late Qing] [hereafter DBD], Beijing: Renmin University PressGoogle Scholar.

68 YWYD, p. 385 (memorial from the Zongli Yamen, 18 May 1887). The Zongli Yamen claimed that most of the telegrams that had been sent thus far were concerned with military or frontier affairs.

69 Zongli Yamen Archives, no. 01-09-016-02-008-44, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taipei.

70 Yijie, Chen (1989), Weng Tonghe riji [Weng Tonghe's diary], Beijing: ZhonghuaGoogle Scholar, Vol. 5, p. 2733–Vol. 6, p. 3038.

71 Guojia tushuguan gujiguan (ed.) (2007), Jindai tongji ziliao congkan [Collection of statistics of Modern China], Beijing: Yanshan Publishing Co.Google Scholar, Vol. 35, pp. 35–36.

72 Ibid., Vol. 35, pp. 33–34.

73 bowuguan, Gugong (1979), Qingmo choubei lixian dang’an shiliao [Archives of the constitutional reforms of the late Qing], Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, p. 373Google Scholar.

74 Bi, Chen (1967), Wangyantang zougao [Chen Bi's drafts of palace memorials], Taipei: Wenhai, pp. 721–727Google Scholar.

75 Youchuanbu (ed.) (1967), Youchuanbu zouyi liubian [Collection of memorials of the Ministry of Posts and Communications], Taipei: WenhaiGoogle Scholar, Vol. 5, p. 2359.

76 Quanyou, Su (1986), Qingmo Youchuanbu [Ministry of Posts and Communications in the late Qing], Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, p. 288Google Scholar, quoting Qingshilu (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1986), Vol. 60, p. 685.

77 Youchuanbu (ed.), Jiaotong guanbao, Vol. 42, p. 21059.

78 Su, Qingmo youchuanbu, p. 200, quoting Lianguang guanbao (Official gazette of Liang-Guang), pp. 2035–2039.

79 XWXTK, pp. 11190–91.

80 At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Russian cabinet noir (black chamber), with the assistance of leading mathematicians and cryptologists of the time, could have broken almost any code used by any of the world powers had they wanted to do so. David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye (1998), ‘Tsarist code breaking: some background and some examples’, Cryptologia XXII(4), p. 346.

81 Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, ‘Tsarist code breaking’, p. 350.

82 When I was in Beijing in 2005, I was told by a retiree from the Number One Historical Archives that one of the Institute's staff members, whose surname was Wang, had served as a secret messenger (jiyao weiyuan) for the government of the People's Republic of China. The retiree informed me that in order to send secret information to the provincial offices, instead of using the telecommunications system, Beijing employed secret messengers who took charge of delivering secret documents to the provincial offices by aeroplane or other fast transport. Mr Wang was told not to mention his previous job experience to his current colleagues.

83 This estimated figure comes from my own calculations based on a late Qing telegraph map, Zhongguo dianxian tu (1909), housed in the National Library, Beijing. In this map, 3 mm represents 75 li.