The Union Jack on the Upper Yangzi: The Treaty Port of Chongqing, 1 89 1-1 943 James J. Matthews A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Programme in History York University Toronto, Ontario August 1999 National Library Bibliothèque nationale If1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. nie Wellington OttawaON K1AON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Yaur file Votre réfëmC9 Our me Nom ~~~BILIMB The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seU reproduire, prêter, distribuer QU copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfichelfilm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thése. thesis nor substantial extracts hmit Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. The Union Jack on the Upper Yangzi: The Treaty Port of Chongqing, 1891-1943 by James J. Matthews a dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of York University in partial fulfillrnent of the requirernents for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Permission has been granted to the LIBRARY OF YORK UNIVERSITY to lend or seIl copies of this dissertation. to the NATIONAL LIB.RARY OF CANADA to microfilm this dissertation and to lend or seIl copies of the film. and to UNiVERSiN MICROFILMS to publish an abstract of this dissertation. The author reserves other publication rights. and neither the dissertation nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's written permission. i v ABSTRACT There has been much debate over the question of how great the economic influence of foreign powers such as Britain was in China in the early days of China's modernization efforts, in the late nine- teenth and early twentieth centuries. An understanding of Sino- British interactions in this period continues to evolve, particularly - at the economic level. The British attempt to penetrate the Chinese goods and services market was based on the "unequal treaties" and a network of treaty ports. Shanghai, the leading treaty port, has re- ceived the most analysis, yet its position within the whole Chinese region was fairly peripheral. Another way to consider this question is to look at the foreign community in Chongqing, a minor treaty port opened late, through the records they themselves left. The story that these records show is one in which the foreign cornmunity never close to dominating the situation economically, much less political- ly or culturally. The port's "development" along the lines of twenti- v eth-century Westernization waç hamstrung by its geographical iso- lation and the difficult shipping links to the downriver ports before the belated introduction of steamships. Nearly every commercial opening achieved by British merchants was sooner or later reclaimed by their resourceful Chinese cornpetitors. The power of China's in- digenous trade systern outweighed the weaknesses of its central government. Chongqing, though not similar to the leading treaty ports, is more representative of China as a whole in the marginal position of its foreign presence. v i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge the supervision of Dr. Bernard Luk and the rest of my cornmittee. I also want to thank Dr. Bettina Bradbury, whose persistence kept the project going; the London Goodenough Trust, which enabled me to do research in London; John Swire & Sons archivist Charlotte Haviland, who not only granted me access to that company's records, but provided some useful extra sources; and J.H. Matthews, for his continuing suggestions and valuable lay- man's perspective. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 4 Chapter 1: Sino-Western Commerce in the Nineteenth Century 42 (a) The Treaties of Nanjing and Tianjin (b) The Expanding Treaty Port Network 63 (c) The Chefoo Convention 71 Chapter 2: Nineteenth-Century Chongqing (a) Chongqing in Nineteenth-Century Sichuan (b) Trade and Finance in Chongqing Chapter ?- Opening Chongqing (a) The Consular Residents (b) Archibald Little and the Kuling Crisis (c) The Opening Process Chapter 4: The Missionary Presence in Sichuan (a) The 1886 Crisis (b) Unrest at the Turn of the Century (c) Social Issues Chapter 5: Foreigners and Chongqing's Economic Development 195 (a) The New Treaty Port (b) Concessions and lmperial Rivalry 222 (c) The Advent of Steam Shipping 241 (d) The End of the Imperia! Order 257 Chapter 6: Development after 19 1 1 (a) Revolution and Financial Crisis (b) Sichuan's Descent into Warlordism (c) Economic Development in Republican Chongqing viii (d) The Liu Xiang Regime (e) The Chiang Kai-Shek Regime Chapter 7: Foreigners in Republican Chongqing (a) New Difficulties (b) The May Fourth Movement and the Mid-1920's Crisis (c) The Later Years Conclusion Bibliography Appendix: Statistical Tables LIST OF TABLES Chongqing Foreign Customs Overall Trade la Transit-Pass lmports to & Exports from Sichuan, 1875-90 1b Chongqing Foreign Customs lmports & Exports, 1891-1 931 1c Transit-Pass Imports frorn Chongqing, 1 896-1 904 Id Transit-Pass Imports frorn Chongqing, 1906-1 91 9 1e Foreign Transit-Paçs lmports from Chongqing, 1920-30 1f Chongqing Foreign Customs lmports & Exports, 1935-40 Chongqing Foreign Customs Cotton Goods Imports 2a Transit-Pass Cotton Goods by Category, 1880-1 890 2b Yarn and Raw Cotton by Country, 189 1-1 904 2c Foreign Yarn, 1905-30 Chongqing Foreign Customs Opium Exports 3a By Value, 1895-1 904 3b By Weight, 1896-1 91 1 4 Chongqing Foreign Customs Bullion lmports & Exports, 1891 -1 91 9 433 Chongqing Foreign Customs Shipping Volume Sa Shipping Entries & Clearances, 1 89 1-1 91 8 Sb By Country of Charterer, 1891 -1 905 SC 1935-40 Chongqing Foreign Custums Revenue 6a Foreign Customs Revenue in Taels, 1 891-1 931 6b In Dollars, 1930-40 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Map 1 : Chinese Treaty Ports Map 2: Southwest China Map 3: Chongqing & Its Neighbors MAP 1 : CHINESE TREATY PORTS Treaty Port Openeci Nl N G BO Colony MACAO 1842 Treaty Port Opened Leasehold Dalian 1858-65 CHEF00 Treaty Port Opened Weihaiwei 1876-1 907 Yichang (From Appendix A of Stanley Wright's Hart and the Chlnese CustomsmsNote: Only regular ports opened by treaty where a foreign customs house was opened are shown- The openings of Nanjing and Qiongzhou were delayeâ past 1858-65; Chefoo was opened in place of nearby Dengrhou; Tanshui and Tainan. dong with the rest of Taiwan. were medto Japan in 1895.) -Yichang Chongqing-r"O Changsha fengyue & Sirnao CANTON HONG KONG MAP 2: SOUTHWEST CHINA CHONGQING & (1 : 30,000) (From a map supplied by Stephen Endicott and one in the Imperia1 Maritime Customs* 1882-91 Decennial Report, beiween pp. 108 and 109.) Naval Canteens Foreign Union Church International Hospital Introduction The problern of evaluating Britain's long-term commercial legacy in China is even more complex than similar questions regarding ter- ritories where the British Empire had a more direct presence. In India, for example, the British not only dominated trade but for the greater part of two centuries also ruled and administered the region in a top-down manner. Ultimately direct rule would end in national- ist resistance and independence in the twentieth century. Dominions like Canada and Australia, created in Britain's image, developed local autonomy, achieving real independence gradually and indirectly. The beneficiaries of the British Empire included Britain's economic interests, exploiting a London-centred commercial structure extend- ing to al1 parts of the world. In an empire as immense as China, for- eign powers had no illusions about attempting direct rule, with its accompanying expenses and responsibilities, but hoped to use their commercial power, backed by latent military clout, to effect a simi- lady favorable trade system. Since the Ming era the Chinese state had discouraged contact be- tween its subjects and foreigners, commercial and othennrise, and legal contacts were kept under strict regulation. "The rulers of the Ming Dynasty were profoundly anti-commercial in outlook and they attempted to restrict this rich and variegated trade by forcing it within the frarnework of the tributary system."' This reflected their concern to ensure that overall control of externaf trade remained Sn the hands of Beijing, not the foreign or Chinese traders. In the nime- teenth century this put Beijing on a collision course with the move- ment toward greater, freer international trade found in the most highly developed Western economies. By the 1860's, after waging two wars with China largely over trade concessions, the West had achieved a major yet incomplete victory: the Qing regime and the Chinese merchant class still exerted some clout in defining the terms of the foreign ascendancy. This reflected the fact that --.- 1 . Uoyd E. Eastman, Famiiy, Fields and Ancestors: Constancy and Change in China% Social and Economic History, 7 550- 7 949 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1 98S), p. 123. a 6 foreign interests, unable to rule China directly, had to work through Beijing; and the continuing strength and adaptability of much of Chi- na's interna! trade system. The new systern of Sino-foreign rela- tions was based on a far-reaching web of treaty ports, which in the century of their existence actually managed to combine Sino-foreign coexistence with a great degree of continued separation.