Sheng Xuanhuai And The Late Qing Dynasty’s Telegraph Enterprise:1880-1902

Sheng Xuanhuai was one of an important figure in late Qing China’s modern enterprises, who had founded many modern enterprises including telegraph. From1880to1902, Sheng Xuanhuai served as agent of the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration. The Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration’s annual turnover in1902reached more than200million yuan, and it was a modern enterprise which achieved great commercial success during late Qing Dynasty. In the era of the late Qing China, Sheng Xuanhuai founded and operated the telegraph enterprise had to face various difficulties, such as the raising of corporate funds, the lack of management and technical personnel, the competition of foreign telegraph companies, the damage of telegraph lines and so on. This paper discusses the history of development of the late Qing China’s telegraph business under Sheng Xuanhuai’s leadership, and tries to reveal the historical details of growing process of the enterprise under his management. I want to use this case study to help us better understand the development history of modern China’s enterprises. The article contains seven chapters, specifically as follows:The part1introduces the performance of Sheng Xuanhuai in the early telegraph construction of modern China. During the construction of the first telegraph trunk which from Tianjin to Shanghai, Sheng Xuanhuai who relied on his own ability completed the task successful and got the great trust of Li hongzhang. Finally,he became the only one agent of the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration. In next step of process of expanding telegraph lines, the projects were in trouble because of different local governors held opposing views. When faced with foreign invasion, Sheng Xuanhuai took advantage of the opportunity to obtain the construction right of telegraph line from Suzhou to Guangzhou and Nanjing to Hankou.The part2discusses the negotiations between Sheng Xuanhuai and the agents of the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Co. Ltd and the Great Northern Telegraph Company about the telegraph rights of southeast China’s coast. During the negotiations, Sheng Xuanhuai took effective measures to make negotiations become commercial negotiations between companies, not diplomatic issues between countries. Because of Sheng Xuanhuai’s tireless efforts, Qing government recovered some telegraph rights that had been occupied by foreign powers.The part3is about the ways of Sheng Xuanhuai’s raising funds for constructing telegraph lines. Sheng Xuanhuai received Zheng guanying and others’suggestions to modify the prospectus, and successful completion of the IPO plans in the year. The financial crisis occurred in Shanghai in1883, the telegraph administration could not raise money by issuing shares, which made the telegraph lines construction unsustainable. To ensure the normal construction of the telegraph lines, Sheng Xuanhuai took various measures to raised funds, such as borrowing Jinzhou iron ore administration’s funds and so on, but he also paid a certain price.The part4and part5discuss Sheng Xuanhuai’s management on the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration. On the basis of learning from the management experience of foreign telegraph companies, Sheng Xuanhuai made various modifications on telegraph administration according to his own experience and modern China’s social environment. For example, facing of the shortage of telegraph personnel, Sheng Xuanhuai found up telegraph schools to train telegraph personnel.The part6is about Sheng Xuanhuai joined the negotiation about connecting the telegraph line in the Sino-Russian border, and negotiated with the agents of the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Co. Ltd and the Great Northern Telegraph Company on the unified telegraph prices. In order to break the monopoly of operating international telegraph communication by the foreign telegraph companies and increase the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration’s income, Sheng Xuanhuai strongly sought to connect the telegraph in the Sino-Russian border, because of Russian’s obstruction, the negotiation was full of difficulty. During the negotiation of the unified telegraph prices, on the one hand, Sheng Xuanhuai negotiated with the two foreign telegraph companies repeatedly to seek to maximize benefits, on the other hand, he was constrained by own national governments, the envoys and so on. Ultimately on the basis of mutual compromise, Sheng Xuanhuai signed the contracts which were relatively favorable to the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration.The part7introduces the ways of repairing and protecting the telegraph lines were drawn up by Sheng Xuanhuai. It was very important to protect the telegraph lines, which was the guarantee of the telegraph administrations’normal operation. So on the one hand, Sheng Xuanhuai formulated constitution about the telegraph lines’ repair and protection and strengthened the management for the telegraph lines patrol persons. On the other hand, when some telegraph lines were destroyed by people in some provinces, especially in Boxer Movement of1900, some telegraph lines were destroyed severely, Sheng Xuanhuai tried his best efforts to take measures to protect the telegraph lines, such as to request the local officials to give protection.