red of its buildings, and thereon was
erected a temple to the queen of heaven by way of purifying the sacred
soil of China from such abomination. This put a stop for nearly twenty
years to all efforts on the part of foreigners to introduce railways
into China. The next step in railway construction was taken by the
Chinese themselves, and on the initiative of Li Hung-chang. In 1886 a
company was formed under official patronage, and it built a short
line, to connect the coal-mines of K'aip'ing in Chih-li with the mouth
of the Peiho river at Taku. The government next authorized the
formation of a Native Merchants' Company, under official control, to
build a line from Taku to Tientsin, which was opened to traffic in
1888. It was not, however, till nine years later, viz. in 1897, that
the line was completed as far as Peking. A British engineer, Mr
Kinder, was responsible for the construction of the railway. Meantime,
however, the extension had been continued north-east along the coast
as far as Shanhai-Kwan, and a farther extension subsequently connected
with the treaty port of Niu-chwang. The money for these extensions was
mostly found by the government, and the whole line is now known as the
Imperial Northern railway. The length of the line is 600 m. Meanwhile
the high officials of the empire had gradually been brought round to
the idea that railway development was in itself a good thing. Chang
Chih-tung, then viceroy of the Canton provinces, memorialized strongly
in this sense, with the condition, however, that the railways should
be built with Chinese capital and of Chinese materials. In particular,
he urged the making of a line to connect Peking with Hankow for
strategic purposes. The government took him at his word, and he was
transferred from Canton to Hankow, with authority to proceed forthwith
with his railway. True to his purpose, he at once set to work to
construct iron-works at Hankow. Smelting furnaces, rolling mills, and
all the machinery necessary for turning out steel rails, locomotives,
&c., were erected. Several years were wasted over this preliminary
work, and over L1,000,000 sterling was spent, only to find that the
works after all were a practical failure. Steel rails could be made,
but at a cost two or three times what they could be procured for in
Europe. After the Japanese War the hope of building railways with
Chinese capital was aba