I2 Anglo-Chinese Diplomacy 1906-1920 Jordan,Yiian and Chinese politics,1906-I9II 3 Nanking Railway and the Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway.The tween the province and the part of the government dealing with foreign final Shanghai-Nanking Railway Loan Agreement of 9 July Igo3 was relations.The government,unable to quell the opposition of the pro- condemned by the Chinese as greedy and extortionate.The objection- vince,was sandwiched between the hostile provincials and the indignant able points of the agreement were a heavy commission;the purchase of British.10 In the middle of the year Prince Ch'ing suggested that the the Shanghai-Woosung Railway(which had been built by the Chinese whole question be shelved until the negotiations over the Canton- themselves),as a branch line of the Shanghai-Nanking Railway;the Kowloon Railway,another concession obtained by the British and great power enjoyed by the British chief engineer;and the predominant Chinese Corporation,were settled.1 To this proposal the British agreed. control of the British over the construction and management of the line.6 However,on Io September,the very day of Jordan's arrival in Peking, These harsh terms not only aroused Chinese resentment,but stimulated Carnegie,who had been acting as charge d'affaires,sent a disheartening greater Chinese effort in railroad development,especially in Kiangsu report to the Foreign Office.An imperial rescript issued in late August and Chekiang provinces. had authorized two new provincial railway companies to build a line The preliminary agreement of the Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo from Soochow to Hangchow to Ningpo-exactly the right given to the Railway was more or less identical with that of the Shanghai-Nanking British!1 Impatient though he was,Jordan could do little to improve Railway.As the British dealt with the two concessions at the same time, the British situation while the Canton-Kowloon Railway Loan Agree- one can safely assume that the final agreements of the two railways ment remained unratified by the Chinese.Meanwhile,he received would have been fairly similar.However,between 1898 and Igo3 the constant reports on the progress made by the Chekiang gentry in railway Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo line seemed to have attracted little atten- construction.The Chekiang Provincial Railway Company at its first tion from the British and Chinese Corporation. shareholders'meeting on 26 October declared that the company had On 24 May I9o3 Sheng Hstan-huai,director-general of the Railway about 6,oo0 shareholders,and the amount already paid up was between Administration (Tieh-lu tsung kung-ssu),which was founded by the 4,210,ooo and 4,219,ooo dollars.13 In the middle of November the formal Ch'ing government early in 1897 in Shanghai,notified the corporation opening of work was attended by important provincial authorities.14 By that if surveys and estimates of the Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo line the end of 19o7 the ambition of the provincial gentry had increased were not made within six months,the preliminary agreement of 1898 considerably;the Kiangsu and Chekiang railway representatives an- would lapse.?No answer was received and Sheng encouraged the nounced their intention to build the Soochow-Kashing and Kashing- Chekiang gentry to proceed with their railway plans.In 19o5 the Hangchow sections respectively.15 Chekiang Provincial Railway Company (Che-chiang ch'tan sheng t'ieh-l During this time Jordan's inability to act forced him to draw two kung ssu)was established with imperial sanction.The company then conclusions:capital investment made by provincial gentry posed a real proposed a provincial railway scheme to centre on Hangchow,which threat to British interests;and provincial enterprises,however promising clashed directly with the British Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo conces- they might first appear,would fail in the end.Jordan believed that as yet sion. it was a wasteful and time-wasting procedure for the Chinese to build At the end of the year Sheng informed the British and Chinese their own railways.To support this theory he reported early in February Corporation that he had received imperial instruction to cancel the that corruption existed in the Chekiang Provincial Railway Company, preliminary agreement of 1898.8 The corporation objected and a dead- which squeezed contributions from the population who were anxious lock ensued for eight months (until Jordan's arrival in Peking in for the railway to be built.16 September 1go6).During this period the behaviour of the Chinese was At the end of May the Chinese government renewed contact with the most inconsistent.The Chekiang gentry had actually begun surveys for corporation.Negotiations were to be opened within two months,on the construction by the end of February,9 yet the Ministry of Foreign arrival in Peking of Wang Ta-hsieh,a member of the Chekiang gentry Affairs,represented in this matter by Prince Ch'ing and T'ang Shao-i, who had been Chinese minister to Britain.Wang,however,suggested was willing to carry on negotiations with the British on the basis of the that the matter again be postponed until the conclusion of the Anglo- preliminary agreement.The inconsistency reflected disagreement be- German Tientsin-Pukow Railway Agreement.Jordan refused to accept