There has been much discussion during recent years concerning the remarkable awakening of China in every ramification of progress and industry, but without a doubt the most wonderful manifestation of this movement has been in regard to railways. In 1870, when the United Kingdom was criss-crossed with no less than 15,537 miles of the iron road, and the United States was threaded with 52,922 miles of railway, the huge tract of Asiatic territory known as the Chinese Empire, of sufficient area to absorb easily both the United States and the British Isles, and outnumbering the combined population of the two latter nations by more than 6 to 1, did not possess 100 yards of the steel highway.

This remarkable state of affairs was not due to lack of enterprise or initiative on the part of far-seeing financiers and engineers. It was attributable directly to one influence—Fung Shui, an unfathomable and insurmountable difficulty—which thwarted every attempt to bring the great nation on the eastern borders of the Pacific Ocean into line with other countries. The Flowery Land is ridden with mystery, superstition, and a religious fanaticism. These offered an insurmountable barrier to development in any form. The balance between the “White Tiger” and the “Azure Dragon,” two inscrutable forces, had to be maintained at all costs, and unless every member of the Celestial community strove to maintain this equipoise, the fates in store for him were beyond comprehension.

An effort to break through the influence of Fung Shui was made in 1875 by a group of Englishmen. The firm of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Company, who have large interests in China, desired to connect Shanghai to Woosung with 12 miles of railway, and they secured the services of the late Mr. G. J. Morrison, an accomplished engineer, to carry the project to fulfilment. Great difficulty was experienced in securing the requisite permission to proceed, because the Chinese entertained a deep-rooted objection to the invasion of their country by the foreigner. However, the application proved successful and the line was built.

The opening of this short road was received with acclamation by the lower classes in close proximity to the line. They experienced a peculiar delight in travelling in the carriages drawn by the steam horse, and all was proceeding merrily. The opposition of the Chinese to the new-fangled idea had been overcome, argued the promoters of the enterprise, and they looked forward to further railway expansion. But they did not reckon with the offended opposition and ignorant vested interests, as represented by influential land-owners and high personages. The wrath of the gods was anticipated in no uncertain manner, but as this did not appear to have vent spontaneously, the opponents resorted to ingenious methods to achieve their desires. They induced a soldier to throw himself before an approaching train, under the promise of a payment of $100 to his family. The latter, possibly entertaining the belief that the presence of his body stretched across the metals might arrest the progress of the train, or at least throw it off the track, without inflicting injury upon himself, submitted to the ordeal, with the inevitable result. He was killed. Instantly the intriguers published this circumstance as an instance of the intense displeasure of the gods, and the countryside rose up with one voice, calling for the destruction of the innovation.

The agitation startled the Government. An inquiry was held upon the suicide, and the unanimous verdict was that the line was unsafe. It was condemned forthwith. The Government even went farther under public pressure. It purchased the railway, lock, stock and barrel, at cost price, and turned it over to the enraged populace to do with it according to their inclinations. The frenzied fanatics tore the track up piecemeal, threw the rolling stock out of the country, and, to propitiate the gods, erected a temple to the Queen of Heaven upon the site selected as the terminus in Shanghai. The promoters of the ill-starred enterprise retrieved as much of the discarded remains of the line as possible, and transported them to the island of Formosa for another undertaking. Such was the inglorious end that befell the first attempt to introduce Stephenson’s invention into the land of the Celestial.

Curiously enough, among those most prominent in the opposition to this movement was Li-Hung-Chang, subsequently China’s foremost and most enlightened statesman. He had spared no effort to prevent the construction of the first railway, and when it was completed he left no stone unturned to bring about its demolition. Shortly afterwards, however, he became converted to the new method of locomotion. Among those few enterprising and enlightened Chinese gentlemen who realised the widespread advantages accruing from the adoption of railways in other parts of the world, and who foresaw its possibilities in his native land, was General Tong-King-Sing. He had followed the Shanghai-Woosung experiment with deep interest. Undeterred by the fate which had overwhelmed the effort of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Company, he decided to build another line, but he took care first to win the most powerful opponent to such a movement to his side. The General was identified with a steamship company which required cheap coal. Li-Hung-Chang, then Viceroy of Chichli, was interested in some collieries at Tongshan, some 30 miles inland from the nearest port at Pehtang.

The General approached the Viceroy, and the two, with the aid of some other influential friends, decided to exploit the deposits. But the question arose as to how the coal could be carried cheaply to the coast. General Tong-King-Sing maintained that there was no means of transportation which could compete with the railway, and he skilfully won the Viceroy round to his side. In this manner the Viceroy was converted from an implacable enemy to a strenuous advocate of railways. They approached the Government for the requisite permission, and the latter, impressed possibly by the great men associated with the enterprise, sanctioned the project. The preliminary arrangements were hurried forward, an Englishman, Mr. C. W. Kinder, who might be described as the Father of the Railway in China, being enlisted as engineer-in-chief.

Before actual constructional work was commenced, however, the Government—no doubt owing to pressure—repented of its action and withdrew its approbation. As a result the company were forced to build a canal, which was completed for some miles, but the head of this waterway was some 7 miles from the coal-pits. From the end of the canal to the port, the Government authorised the construction of a tramroad, but it stipulated that mules should be employed exclusively for the haulage of the trucks. The company was forced to make the most of this indifferent bargain, and so the coal was transported from the collieries to the port under very adverse circumstances.

These slow methods, however, did not appeal to the engineer, and secretly he decided to effect an improvement. He fashioned a locomotive from the best materials he could command, a portable engine which was used at the mines being mounted on a truck in such a way as to secure self-propulsion. This was used for haulage between the collieries and the head of the canal. As no ill results attended its use, the Government finally approved of its utilisation. Shortly afterwards the line as a railway was extended to Tientsin, and opened for traffic in October, 1888. Subsequently the railhead was pushed onwards to Shan-Hai-Kuan. From the small 7-mile road upon which the enterprising engineer surreptitiously placed a fearsome-looking locomotive the railway has spread its tentacles throughout the Chinese Empire, the original road has been extended, and has effected connection with other systems, giving communication in the north with Mukden, Harbin and the Trans-Siberian railway.

The original road is intensely British, both in its character and operation. It was built on the English model, and differed greatly from the usual class of pioneer railway. The gradients are easy and the curves are of wide radius. At one point the location of the line ran through two private cemeteries, but as the graves of the ancestors could not be disturbed under any considerations whatever, the line had to make a wide swerve to avoid this obstruction.

All the materials for the railway were obtained from Great Britain, and the solidity of the construction is an outstanding feature. Every bridge is carried out either in steel, concrete, brick or stone, whichever was found to be the most economical. This feature somewhat surprised American engineers, who are accustomed to less durable work in the initial stages, especially as it did not appear justifiable in such a fickle country as China. The latter were also astonished at the low price at which the requisite materials were landed in the country, and the fact that mechanical appliances could not compete with coolie labour in point of cheapness. As a matter of fact, the country traversed at that time was exceedingly poor, the inhabitants experiencing a terrible struggle to eke out a pitiable existence. Indeed, around Tongshan, at the time the railway made its appearance, it was estimated that over 50,000 natives died of starvation in two months. When the iron horse invaded this territory a change for the better set in, inasmuch as it offered a ready and inexpensive means of conveying the produce from the land to market.

One piece of engineering skill has always ranked as a distinct wonder in the neighbourhood. This is the bridge over the Lan-ho, 2,170 feet in length, in which there are 5 spans each of 200 feet. It was designed by the late Sir Benjamin Baker, and aroused interest because of its unusual design, which was condemned severely by American engineers. This famous bridge-builder, however, was by no means content to abide by hide-bound rules and regulations, and though in this structure he departed from the orthodox very decidedly, he forced his detractors to admit that the bridge was absolutely safe, and was able to meet any traffic that it was likely to be called upon to bear.

Another feature compels attention. Just before reaching Shan-Hai-Kuan, the line strikes across a valley about a mile in width. Here there is a bridge having an opening of some 1000 feet, through which a narrow stream makes its way. Originally the track was carried about 10 feet above the floor of the valley, but the very next wet season caused the small stream to swell into a wide, foaming torrent, rising to 16 feet above high watermark, and it swept over the embankment like a mill-race. When the waters subsided, the engineers, instead of overhauling their earthworks, lowered the track to the bottom of the valley, so that no obstruction should be offered to future floods, while the road-bed was protected by a paving extending for 50 feet on either side, with bushes planted on the superimposed earth. This expedient was found to meet the situation completely and to protect the track from destruction by the flood-waters, which fall quickly after attaining their highest level.

In the early days the trains constituted a source of infinite amusement. They were what are known as “mixed” trains; i. e. they carried both passengers and freight. The passenger coaches were of varying classes, the Chinese travelling in long, open trucks, with tarpaulins to protect them from inclement weather. The natives appeared to enjoy this experience highly, especially when the train attained its maximum speed of about 25 miles an hour, which they admitted was quicker travelling than by an animal-drawn cart. The whole 100 miles were covered in about 5½ hours, including stops, some of which, at intermediate points, were of long duration. At these points, however, the time was whiled away by watching the antics of the Chinese travellers, who were sorely perturbed lest the steam horse might start before its scheduled time. This initial trunk line played an important educational part in the railway expansion of China, and the cost of travelling was cut down to the lowest figure. The first-class fare for the whole distance was 5s. 5d., or $1.30 for 100 miles, which, in comparison with the scale prevailing in other parts of the world for similar accommodation, was absurdly cheap. The Chinese at first regarded the railway with childish delight, those who could afford the expense travelling to and fro for the mere pleasure of travelling.

Consequently, it is not surprising that the railway soon established itself in popular favour. Indeed, resentment from the earliest days had proceeded only from the upper classes; the peasants hailed it with unfeigned pleasure. Accordingly, as railway expansion set in, any opposition that was encountered was fostered by ignorant, affected, wealthy interests. After Li-Hung-Chang became a staunch friend of the new means of travel, he established his own ways of dealing with opposition, which were peculiarly Chinese. On one railway which he supported, traffic was interrupted frequently by displaced rails and sleepers. When he, in his official capacity, sought to ascertain the reason for such disturbance, he was informed that it was due to the spirits, who resented its intrusion. He made no reply to this ingenuous reply, but hinted that if he caught the spirits interfering with the line, it would go hard with them. Needless to say, no further trouble was experienced on that line in regard to breaks in the track.

Within the past few years several momentous railway undertakings have been carried to successful conclusion, and to-day there is feverish activity in covering the empire with the iron thread on every hand. Foremost among these enterprises are the Shanghai-Nanking, the Pekin-Kalgan, and the Canton-Kowloon lines. Railways, indeed, are being driven through the country by various interests and nations, including British, United States, Belgian, French, Portuguese and German. In fact, there is spirited competition among the various powers to bring about the complete conquest of the Celestial Kingdom by the iron road.

Although the initial venture in regard to introducing the railway into China had been so disastrous, Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Company were by no means deterred. They waited a favourable opportunity before repeating their experiment. It came twenty-three years after their first ill-starred adventure, for in 1898 they received permission to connect Pekin with Nanking by rail, a distance of some 200 miles, together with other enterprises of a similar character. This railway was undertaken by a group of financiers known as the British & Chinese Corporation, and they carried the first part of the scheme through to success. The arrangement was drawn up that this line should coincide in every particular with a typical first-class European railway, and this has been secured to the strict letter of the agreement. Indeed, it stands as the finest-built line in China. It proved an expensive undertaking, due in a great measure to the solidity of the constructional work, but the policy has been well repaid. The railway serves a wealthy district, where the possibilities of expansion are extensive, for the territory is rich in all resources.

Curiously enough, this line includes the stretch of 12 miles between Shanghai and Woosung which it was attempted to connect by the iron road in 1875, and which the natives tore up and destroyed in an unceremonious manner. The promoters of that enterprise may be said to have achieved a sweet revenge, especially as “Fung Shui” does not appear to have been perturbed by the second attempt to set the Tiger and Dragon at variance.

This line is what is known as a “fast road”; that is, owing to its comparatively easy alignment, there being several stretches of straight road, while the track is well ballasted, it is favourable to high speeds. Indeed, on the opening day, the special train which travelled over the line with privileged guests covered the 193 miles in 5½ hours, notwithstanding that on the last 25 miles the speed had to be dropped to a maximum of 25 miles per hour, as the road had not been ballasted thoroughly. On some portions of the line the train notched a speed of 57 miles an hour, and apparently was appreciated greatly by the Chinese guests.