Beijing-Hankou railway concession: a lost cause for Britain in 1897-1898

Abstract

The struggle for railway concessions was a critical factor influencing the China (Far Eastern) Crisis of 1897-1898, which was related to the Great Powers’ scramble for concessions and spheres of influence in the Middle Kingdom. Great Britain played a major role in this process as well as in the general development of trade with China. After China’s defeat in the war with France (1884-1885), prominent Chinese dignitaries (Li Hongzhang, Shen Xuanhuai, Zeng Guofan, Zhang Zhidong, Zuo Zongtang) initiated the so-called Self-Strengthening Movement, which was to include the construction of railways to preserve China’s independence. However, it turned out that there was not enough capital in China to carry out this plan. The war with Japan (1894-1895) exposed China’s weakness and gave rise to a heavy reliance on foreign capital. The founding of Imperial Railways of North China (between Beijing and Mukden) and the support of the mighty viceroy Li Hongzhang had extraordinary importance for the construction of railways. The real partition of China into spheres of influence by the Great Powers brought some limits to British activities. A concession to construct the strategically important Beijing-Hankow railway was received by a Belgian syndicate in 1898. This provided the opportunity for Russia’s influence to expand to Yangzi. All of it led to a temporary setback in the British "railway policy" in China.