CHINESE RAILWAYS.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Ligne de Pékin-Hankow, Années 1899-1905 ("The Peking-Hankow Railway, 1899-1905"). Rare commemorative album, in a stunning binding evoking the authority of the Qing emperor, celebrating the completion of the Peking to Hankow railroad, China's first long-distance railway line. We have traced five copies, including three institutionally and two appearing at auction in 2017. The Peking to Hankow railway was built as a co-operative venture between the Imperial Chinese Railway Company and the Belgian China Railway Survey Company. Although several small lines were constructed in China beginning in the 1870s, following China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing court realized the importance of long-distance rail connections to economic and social modernization. On 28 October 1896, an imperial edict ordered the construction of China's first major railway line from the capital to the merchant city of Hankow. The German engineer Heinrich Hildebrand was engaged to survey the 1500-mile route, and in June 1898 the contract was awarded to a Belgian syndicate, with bonds worth 112 million Francs issued to French investors to raise the necessary finance. Construction began at both ends of the line and progressed at a rate of 500 metres per day. The first trains began to run on sections of the track in 1901, and in 1902 the Empress Dowager Cixi made her triumphant return to the capital using part of the line. Four years later, construction was finally completed. An engineering triumph,

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