New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-10-19
THE TELEGRAPH IN CHINA.
EXISTING MEANS OF COMMUNICATIONS WITH
EUROPE AND WITHIN THE EMP1RE-THE
BUILDING OF THE lines

EOEOPE AND MlIHlN IhS As-NN N~
BUILDING OF THE LINES.
An interesting recount OF the existing teegraphC
communication between EuroIea centres anu Nn''ia,
and within the latter empire, Is given I'D ioOo"'
number Of the "Revue Franchise de pEtranger e1 ue
Colonies In which the connections are shown De'"eeh
the Chinese system and the system OF soeria 1apa"
Tonquln Cochin China, Burmah, India and the rhil'i
pine Islands At the present time. according 10 tniS
authority, direct communication exists between bIO
pean cities and Pekn in two ways. First by 1le
great Siberian ne as 1a as va.vosioc by the cable
from that port to that OF Shanghai Via NagasakD, ana
nom there by the Imperial Chinese lines. The con-
necon between the Russian and the Chinese land wires
though recently agreed upon at st. Petersburg, has
not yet been carried out To do so 1t will be necessary
to connect Kiachta with Pekn, or Blagovetschenk
with Henampo. The latter line would be tie shortest
the distance separating these two cities being insis
nifcant in comparison with the 200 miles lying be-
tween Kischta and the Chinese capital. Communca
on with Pekln from Europe may also be had by using
the Chinese lines to Shanghai then the English and
Danish cables extending from that city to Hong Kong
Saigon Din Cochin China, Singapore, Penang MADRAS
Bombay Adon Suez. Alexandria, Malta ana Marseiiles
From Hong Kong the cables belong TO the Eastern Ex
tension Telegraph Company, ana the lndo European
telegraph Company. ave have been abe,' snys The
French review 40 telegraph from shanghai to Paris
in two hours allowing for the difference in time"
Il was In 1872 that the first telegraph line was put
ND in China and it done through the agency OF
the Danish Northern Telegraph Company, OF Copen-
hagen The line extended from Shanghai TO the port
OF Woosung at the mouth OF the river OF that NAME
In 1874 the city Of Foochow was connected with the
socalled "Pagoda anchorage" at the mouth OF the
Min river. II was not till $780, however, under the
pressure OF military necessities in the with France
that the Chinese Government undertook to provide inc
country with telegraphc SYSTEM the urgent necessity
Of which it finally 1t applied to the Danish com
pany which furnished engineers, under whose direction
the line between Shanghai and Tientsin was I'M
mediately surveyed 1t was promptly built by largo
force of military and other workmen, under the close
watch OF the mandarins. That line was opened
December "a, 1881. In 1883 the Cantonliong Kong
line was finished. That from Shanghai to Hong Kong
was completed in 1884, and in the same year the wires
were carried over the walls Of Pekin, which was thus
connected with the European telegraph system ana
came into direct communication with Paris and London
That was at the height OF the Franco-Chinese war
and the MARQUIS Tseng received his orders directly from
the throne and made reports daily to LHung Chang, al
Tientsin.
In 1885 the part of Cheefoo connected with the
Pekin-shanghai line and in the same year Seoul ule
capital Of Corea, with the North China system IN 1907
a branch line carried from this system to MouR
den in the province OF Sheng King TO reach the siberian
frontier at lIunchun and Helampo Between iSo2 anu
1887 the Yangtse line finished, so called because
it touches at all the principal cities and open ports on
that river. 1t reached Hangkow in 1854. and in 1887
the extreme frontiers OF Yunnan and Tonquin.
The Chinese lines built with galvanized iron
wire No T. carried JObsOn insuators iron posts
stuck into pine or Chinese FIR. The instruments EN-
plOyed are OF the Morse lnkwriting type Inc EN-
ployes except the Danish engineers, all Cinnamon
who generally know English. The Chinese characters
are catalogued In comparatively short list, and an
put into teegraphic signs according TO their number IN
the Kanghi dictionary, which is taken basis. The
first Chinese code was the work Of a Frenchman p
Vguer formerly In the customs service at Shanghai
and was devised on the same plan. 1t has been TO
vised SINCE and considerably modified and enlarged by
the Danish company. The number of stations given
in their list is 16S.