Study On Middle East Railway

The signing of "Secret Treaty of China-Russia" led to the construction of Middle East Railway ,whose original name is East Qing Railway ,phonetically implying"Eastern China's Railway"——the Middle East railway. Haerbin lies in the centre ofthe northeast of China, on the Songhua river and to the southeast of Songneng plain.Due to its excellent transportation advantages, Harbin was chosen to be the base camp of the project.In 1903 July ,The Middle East railway was completed.In less than 20years, Harbin changed from several scattered villages into a big modem international city.Immigrants from in and out of China swarmed into it and developed capitalistic countries also made investments in it.Embassies,banks,and stores were built here and there ;companies run by local people developed quickly as well; the integration of western and eastern cultures were popular.There the railway brought prosperity in both economy and cultures to Harbin.However, we ought to realize that the railway is the consequence of invasion and unequal treaties.It was served for the imperialistic countries.During the building ,Chinese people were tortured and exploited.Namely ,it was largely used as a tool of invading China by the imperialistic countries ,which was a humiliation to Chinese people.This article planned to discuss and evaluate the influences Middle East Railway exerted on Harbin from 3 aspects.Firstly, review the historical background and general process of the railway's building. Through it ,we can get a clearer and further understanding about the relationship between Harbin and the Middle East Railway.Russia once was the unique owner of the Middle East Railway. It was Russia that carried out the constructing plan.Harbin was chosen to be the building and operating base camp , which resulted in its prosperity.Secondly, after the completion of the building,a large number of people gathered Harbin and various businesses developed there.Meanwhile ,education ,finance, religions, input and output trade, science, news, and post offices flourished.Many of them were run by the Middle East Railway Agency directly and others were also more or less dependent on the railway too.lastly, although the construction of the Middle East Railway contributed a great deal to the emergence of Harbin.It is used as a tool of invasion,it is a shame of China.