Navigating Semi-Colonialism: Shipping, Sovereignty, and Nation-Building in China, 1860-1937

400 Pages·2018·8.125 MB·English

by  Anne Reinhardt

Navigating Semi-C olonialism
Harvard East Asian Monographs 410

Navigating Semi- Colonialism
Shipping, Sovereignty, and Nation- Building
in China, 1860–1937
Anne Reinhardt
Published by the Harvard University Asia Center
Distributed by Harvard University Press
Cambridge (Mas sa chu setts) and London 2018
© 2018 by The President and Fellows of Harvard College
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
The Harvard University Asia Center publishes a monograph series and, in coordination with the
Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the K orea Institute, the Reischauer Institute of Japa nese Stud-
ies, and other facilities and institutes, administers research proj ects designed to further scholarly
understanding of China, Japan, Vietnam, K orea, and other Asian countries. The Center also spon-
sors proj ects addressing multidisciplinary and regional issues in Asia.
Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
The Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute of Columbia University were inaugurated in
1962 to bring to a wider public the results of significant new research on modern and con temporary
East Asia.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Reinhardt, Anne, 1968– author.
Title: Navigating semi- colonialism : shipping, sovereignty, and nation- building in China,
1860–1937 / Anne Reinhardt.
Other titles: Harvard East Asian monographs ; 410.
Description: Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts : Published by the Harvard University Asia Center,
2018. | Series: Harvard East Asian monographs ; 410 | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017029371 | ISBN 9780674983847 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Steamboat lines— China— Yangtze River— History. | Shipping— Government
owner ship— China— History—20th  century. | China— Foreign relations. | Colonial
companies— China— History—19th century. | Colonial companies— China— History—
20th c entury. | China— History—1861–1912. | China— History— Republic, 1912–1949.
Classification: LCC HE894 .R45 2018 | DDC 386/.350951209034— dc23 LC rec ord available at
https:// lccn.loc . gov / 2017029371
Index by the author
Printed on acid- free paper
Last figure below indicates year of this printing
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18
To My F amily

Contents
Maps, T ables, and Figures ix
Acknowl edgments xi
Introduction 1
1 Sovereign Concerns: The Formation of a Semi- Colonial
Steam Transport Network, 1860–1911 21
2 Aligning Capital and Flag: The Steam Shipping Business,
1860–82 63
3 The Shipping Conference as Collaboration, 1882–1913 94
4 The Steamship as Social Space, 1860–1925 133
5 Shipping Nationalism: The Politics and Business of
Shipping in China’s Early Republic, 1912–27 179
6 Nanjing and Chongqing: The Return of the State to
Shipping, 1927–37 217
7 The “New Steamship”: Transformations of Social Space,
1925–37 253
Conclusion: Decolonizing the Steamship Network, 1937–56 295
viii Contents
List of Chinese and Japa nese Characters 309
Abbreviations in Notes 313
Notes 315
Works Cited 353
Index 371
Maps, T ables, and Figures
Maps
1.1 Open Treaty Ports, 1860–77 36
1.2 Open Treaty Ports, 1911 57
2.1 Major Steamship Routes of the Yangzi River and
Coast, 1870s 88
3.1 Treaty Ports on the Yangzi River, ca. 1911 120
6.1 Area of Minsheng Industrial Com pany’s Ser vices, 1935 240
Table
5.1 Lower Yangzi River (Shanghai– Hankou) Fleets, 1927 193
Figures
4.1 China Navigation Com pany ship Wusueh 151
4.2 Steerage Accommodation, Wusueh 151
4.3 Saloon Accommodation, Wusueh 152
4.4 Evacuation of Tianjin during the Boxer Uprising 173
7.1 Minsheng Com pany Teaboy, 1937 273
7.2 Minsheng Com pany Sailors’ Singing Group, 1937 290
7.3 Minsheng Com pany Advertisement, 1937 294