Li Hongzhang and Chinese Railways: The Difficult Beginning of Modern Chinese Railway Construction

Author: Zhu Congbing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Li Hongzhang was the pioneer of modern railway construction in China, known as the "Father of Chinese Railways" by Zeng Kunhua, and the "Railway President" by Zhang Zhidong. Railway construction was the central task of countries during the second wave of modernization. Western powers continuously demanded that China build railways and attempted to construct railway lines reaching China's frontier regions. Against this historical backdrop, since the introduction of railway knowledge, China has faced a series of dilemmas: whether to build railways, how to build them, who should build them, and where to build them. The ambitions of Western powers, the constraints of traditional concepts, the pros and cons of railways themselves, and the influence of power struggles made these issues even more complex. This book makes full use of newspaper materials and correspondence archives, adopting a global historical perspective to reveal the difficult historical environment and process of the early stages of modern railway construction in China. It elaborates in detail Li Hongzhang's historical contributions and lessons learned in the development of modern railway construction in China, analyzes his railway construction ideas and level of understanding, and evaluates his historical status in the history of Chinese railways.