serve the African and the Australasian trade. The only important
Chinese-owned steamers are those of the Chinese Merchants' Steam
Navigation Company, which has its headquarters at Shanghai.

Internal communications are by river, canal, road and railway, the
railways since the beginning of the 20th century having become a very
important factor. In 1898 the Chinese government agreed that all
internal waterways should be open to foreign and native steamers, and
in 1907 there were on the registers of the river ports for inland
water traffic 609 steamers under the Chinese flag and 255 under
foreign flags.

The Pioneer Line destroyed.

China's first efforts.

The era of concessions.

Administration.

_Railways._--A short line of railway between Shanghai and Wusung was
opened in 1875. The fate of this pioneer railway may be mentioned as
an introduction to what follows. The railway was really built without
any regular permission from the Chinese government, but it was hoped
that, once finished and working, the irregularity would be overlooked
in view of the manifest benefit to the people. This might have been
accomplished but for an unfortunate accident which happened on the
line a few months after it was opened. A Chinaman was run over and
killed, and this event, of course, intensified the official
opposition, and indeed threatened to bring about a riot. The working
of the line was stopped by order of the British minister, and
thereupon negotiations were entered into with a view to selling the
line to the Chinese government. A bargain was struck sufficiently
favourable to the foreign promoters of the line, and it was further
agreed that, pending payment of the instalments which were spread over
a year, the line should continue to be worked by the company. The
expectation was that when the officials once got the line into their
own hands, and found it a paying concern, they would continue to run
it in their own interest. Not so, however, did things fall out. The
very day that the twelve months were up the line was closed; the
engines were dismantled, the rails and sleepers were torn up, and the
whole concern was shipped off to the distant island of Formosa, where
carriages, axles and all the rest of the gear were dumped on the shore
and left for the most part to disappear in the mud. The spacious area
of the Shanghai station was clea