Table Of ContentCEMENT,
LEGAL PERSONALITY
AND INDUSTRY
HUMPHREY KO
The Making of the Modern Chinese State
Humphrey Ko
The Making of the
Modern Chinese State
Cement, Legal Personality, and Industry
Humphrey Ko
University China Centre
Oxford, United Kingdom
ISBN 978-981-10-2659-1 ISBN 978-981-10-2660-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2660-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016959015
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Acknowledgements
My gratitude must go to Rana Mitter at the University of Oxford for his
sterling advice in encouraging me to take this research beyond the com-
mon ambit of historical studies. I have greatly benefted from his sharp
intellectual insights and constructive comments, and I am thankful for
his patience in guiding this research to its fnal conclusion and publica-
tion. I also wish to express my special appreciation for the many inspiring
discussions with David Faure who initially urged me to embark upon this
study of the cement industry, as well as enlightening me on many obscure
aspects of Chinese history. Historical research inevitably necessitated the
assistance and advice of many people. In this respect, I should like to thank
May Bo Ching, Robert Bickers, Weipin Tsai and Chih-yun Chang for their
assistance with accessing the archives and materials in China; Tim Wright,
Tim Brook, Chloë Starr, Anne Gerritsen, Matthew Johnson, Christopher
Munn, Karl Gerth and Dorothy Solinger, for their constructive remarks
at various stages; as well as my friends and contemporaries at Oxford and
beyond for their the comments, advice and counsel. These include Tim
McGuire, Toby Lincoln, Wah Guan Lim and Minling Liang. The invalu-
able advice from Flemming Christiansen and unremitting guidance from
Henrietta Harrison in the initial stages were imperative to the timely com-
pletion of this project. Their continuing support and encouragement from
afar in Duisburg and Harvard kept me spirited and determined through-
out the present study. Furthermore, special thanks must be given to
Elisabeth Köll for reading and commenting on an early draft of this book
despite the minefelds of errors. I am also grateful to Michael West, who
generously helped me to identify many mistakes and inconsistencies; and
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
to Amanda Zhang and Beatrice Chu, both of whom lent a helping hand at
diffcult junctures during the publication stage of this work. Finally, I am
forever indebted to the late Professor Philip St John Smart of the Faculty
of Law at the University of Hong Kong, who introduced me to the subtle
signifcance of legal personality.
The China Centre Oxford 24 May 2016
contents
1 Introduction: China, Cement and Corporations 1
Part I Analysing the Chalenges to the Ancient Empire 21
2 The Imperial System: Durable and Resilient 23
Part II Transplanting the Corporate Idea into Imperial China 41
3 New Corporate Powers: The Accelerator of Imperial
Malfunction 45
4 Yuan Shikai and His Cement Corporation: The Flight
of State Power 67
Part III The Making of a Modern Incorporated Government 95
5 Sun Yat-sen and His Unincorporated Cement Works:
Revolutionaries in Busines 9
vii
viii CONTENTS
6 The Pearl River Bridge: Recovering State Power 139
Part IV The Making of Modern Incorporated Companies 171
7 Chiang Kai-shek and Corporations: A Holistic Strategy 173
8 Conclusion: State Power, Corporations and the Cement
Industry 201
Apendix 209
Abbreviations 219
Bibliography 21
Index 247
AbbreviAtions
CCP Chinese Communist Party
CMC China Merchants Steam Navigation Company
CPPCC Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference
GCG Guangzhou City Government
GCW Guangdong Cement Works
GDPG The Guangdong Provincial Government (Guangdong sheng
zhengfu)
GSME A General Survey of Municipal Enterprises
GZCA The Guangzhou City Archives
GZCG The Guangzhou City Government (Guangzhou shi zhengfu)
IE-SASS Institute of Economics of the Shanghai Academy of Social
Science
KMT The Nationalist Party (Guomindang)
NRC National Resources Commission
PRC People’s Republic of China
ROC Republic of China
SASS Shanghai Academy of Social Science
SHAC Second Historical Archives of China
ix
list of figures
Fig. 3.1 Map showing northern China and the extent of the railways
under Yuan Shikai’s control in 1906 and hence the size of his
inland cement market 55
Fig. 4.1 President Yuan Shikai of the Republic of China—Coin minted
in the ninth year of the Republic (1920) 87
Fig. 6.1 The Pearl River Bridge, circa 2010 164
xi
