Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/742

* CHINESE EMPIRE. 644 CHINESE EMPIRE. l>een taken. Knowing already the resources and relative economic importance of the various sec- tions of China, we may analyze the constructed and projected railways as controlled and planned by the various foreign nations. Thus far the total mileage of completed railways in China, with the exception of the Russian line to Port Arthur, does not e.xceed 1000 miles. (1) The Russian Sphere of Injluence. — In the e.trem<" northeastern section of the empire (Jlanchuria) Russia has laid her line from Port Arthur, at the southern end of the l.iao-tung Peninsula, ruiming north through Mukden and farther on through Kirin and Hodunc (Petuna) — aline of nearly 1000 miles, finally connectingwith the Trans-Siberian Railway. A branch road con- nects this feeder of the trans-Siberian road with tne rich port of Niu-chwang, near the eastern coast of the Liao-tung Gulf. This road, though of immense value to Chinese trade, especially the tea trade, is entirely in Russian hands, and is less subject to Chinese control than any other rail- road in the country, although by a clause of doubtful value it is supposed to revert to the Chinese Government in eighty years. The road is not only of supreme strategic imjiortance to Russia, but promises to Iieconie quite lucrative as well. Within the two years of 189G-98 its freight tradic more tluin trebled, increasing from l'.J2,000 tons to (IKi.noo. and tlic number of pas- sengers increased almost fourfold — from 244,000 to 948,000. A concession for building a railway from Cheng-ting, in Pe-chi-li, to Tai-yuan, in Shan-si, with an eventual extension to Singan-fu, the capital of Shen-si, has been secured by the Russo-Chinese Bank, and the work of construc- tion delegated by the latter to a French syndi- cate. Si-ngan-fi! is the terminal |)oint of the cara- van route, and Russia thereby sec'ures for its railways the entire tea trade, as well as the still more importnut mineral and agricultural trade which is bound to spring up in that region as soon as the road is completed. Thus Russia has cut into the heart of the mining region of (/hina, on which the English thought they had .secured a firm hold through (heir mining con- cessions. Russia has, moreover, secured the privilege of connecting the port of Niu-chwang with Peking, should such a road be decided upon by the (^liinese Government. In that case the tiussian (iovemment would be in a position, in (he event of war. to pour its troops into the very capital of the Chinese PImpire. But all of these lines are comparatively insignificant, or may be called mere feedejs. compared with the great concession wrung by Russia from the Chinese in the teeth of the fiercest opposition on the part of Great Britain and Germany — viz. the great projected Chinese trunk line which is to traverse (he entire length of China all the way from Peking in the north to Canton in the south. The road, when completed, is destined to bring into clo.sest touch two interests which have hitherto stood far apart — namely, the Riissian and .American. The Peking-Canton railroad nat- urally falls apart into two distinct and almost eoual divisions (north and s(mth) of the Yang- (se-kiang. The northern section is to run from Peking to Hankow on the Yangtse-kiang. a rich river port accessible to large ocean-going vessels, and, with the two neighboring towns of Han- yang and Wu-chang. having a population of about 1.. 500.000. This section was originallv granted to a Chinese railway syndicate, which, owing to general incapacity and lack of native financial support, was constrained to seek foreign aid. A Belgian syndicate then secured the concessiim through the connivance of the French and Rus- sian ministers and the Russo-Chinese Bank. This disposition of the concession was little relished by the English, first, because the railway will serve to connect the Russian and the French spheres of inlluence in the northeast and south- west respectively, and, seccmd, because through its entire length of about 8.50 miles it will tap .some of the richest of China's provinces, furnishing an outlet for (he agrii ullural and mineral products which the English themselves largely control. (2) The American Coyicession. — The concession for the southern section of the great trunk line connecting Hankow with Cantcm has been grant- ed to an -American syndicate known as the Ameri- can China Development Com])any. The length of that line nu'asurcs about a thousand miles, and though the territory through which it passes is not so rich as along the northern section, its two populous termini alone — viz. Hankow and Wuchang on the one hand, with large iron and steel plants and other important manufactures, and Canton and Hong Kong on the other, with about an equal population, and constituting the most imnortani and richest ports of China — insure a lucrative traffic. Moreover, a great part of the traffic of the northern section will require the Hankow-Canton line as an outlet for its southern points of destination, unless it takes the roimdabout route of the Yang-tse-kiang and the Pacific Ocean. (3) The British Sphere of Influence. — The Peking-Tien-tsin-Taku Railway, in the Province of Pe-chi-li, grew out of a little local railway built with (he aid of British capital by Li Hung . Chang from Tieii-tsin to his mines. It was ex- tended northwest to Peking, and northeast, through a rich coal district, to the port of Shan- hai-kwan, on the Manchurian border. Thence the road was extended along the Manchurian coast for 113 miles to Kin-chow, at the head of the Liao-tung Gulf. Another projected e.xtension of 100 miles from Kinchow to Sin-min-thim, only 40 miles distant from Mukden, will bring the road in contact with the Russian railway, re- ipiiring only a branch of that length (o elVect an actual junction. This extension of British lines in the .semi-Russian territory of Manchuria is an offset to the Russian encroachments in the region of English mining concessions in the l)rovinces of Shan-si and Shen-si mentioned above : and, owing to the great rivalry and jeal- ousy between the two nati(ms. cannot but serve as an additional element of friction. Indeed, some irritation occurred in 1899. and. in spite of an agreement reached between the two (iovern- ments, led to a new confiict during the Boxer troubles, when the road was seized by the Rus- sians, by whom it was restored to the British only in February, 1900. The road described is managed and run almost exclusively by means of Chinese employes, and is extremely profitable. A more importjint and less disputed English con- cession is the road from Tientsin to Chin Kiang. below Xanking on the Yang-tsekiang. It runs parallel to the ancient Imperial canal, which has fallen into disuse, as has everything else dc- Iiendiug on Chinese officials for maintenance. This line will pass throiigh a number of large