Contradictions And Conflicts: Water Company In Beijing Early Development (1908-1928)

Since founded in 1908, Jingshi Tap Water Company suffered a lot during its development. In the transitional Period——from the late Qing dynasty to the Republic of China,Jingshi Tap Water Company have witnessed the hardship of Beijing's modernization. Meanwhile, the development of the company demonstrated an important historical phenomenon, which could be used to analyze the intense interaction between the modern Chinese government and civil society in the 20th century. Based on the ample archives in Beijing Municipal Archives, this thesis introduces the foundation and development of the Jingshi Tap Water Company in the period of 1908 to 1928, and mainly focuses on the interactive relationship between the public power and the Jingshi Tap Water Company. After studying the details about the development of Jingshi Tap Water Company and contrasting to the former studies, this thesis argues that the role of government public power in the process of modernization of China is many-sided and the interaction between the public power and civil society is more complicated. On the one hand, government not only supported and protected the development of enterprises for public utilities, but also empowered limited autonomy to the enterprises. On the other hand, government public power pursued their own interests from the public utilities, which blocked the normal management and operation of enterprises for public utilities. In a word, enterprises for public utilities had to rely on the protection of government public power to provide public goods and service, in return, enterprises for public utilities offered the privileges to public power in the consumption of public service. However, when government public power sought for more privileges, they often resisted and their conflict was unavoidable. Sometimes, resorting to the protection of government public power, enterprises for public utilities maintained their monopoly and harmed the interest of common consumer. This thesis is a typical example that demonstrates the interaction between Chinese government public power and Tap Water Company.Based on the sufficient archives that accumulated in libraries and Beijing Municipal Archives,,this thesis mainly discusses the subject from the following four chapters:Chapter one mainly introduces how the Jingshi Tap Water Company was founded in the late Qing dynasty. Chapter two first introduces the development of Beijing's modern public security regime and its defect. And then analyzes the social security problems which caused by the foundation and operation of Jingshi Tap Water Company. At the end of this part discusses how the Jingshi Tap Water Company deals with these problems. Chapter three explains the definition of the public utilities and states its characteristics, and then analyzes the complicated relations between the government public power and Jingshi Tap Water Company. Chapter four introduces the development of Jingshi Tap Water Company in 1908 to 1928, explores the conflict between the Company and common consumer and illustrates how Jingshi Tap Water Company deals with the feudal forces. In the end, this thesis focuses on the competition between Jingshi Tap Water Company and water workers, and reveals how water service gets profit balance during the process of survival.