page_title: Kaiping Tramway and Imperial Railways of North China
section_title: The Lutai Canal
hierarchical_section_title: Kaiping Tramway and Imperial Railways of North China / History / The Lutai Canal
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Rocket of China
context_page_description: Often described as China's first railway, the first 1,435 mm standard gauge railway to be built and survive in China was the Kaiping colliery tramway located at Tongshan in Hebei province. This was not, however, truly the first railway in China. An earlier attempt to introduce railways had been made in 1876 when the short Shanghai to Wusong narrow gauge line known as the "Woosung Road Company" was built but then pulled up within less than two years because of Chinese government opposition.
context_section_description: Initially a canal was constructed from Lutai on the river to Hsukochuang  the furthest point that the canal could  physically extend. The CEMC's Managing Director, Tong, eventually received permission for the last seven miles to the Tongshan colliery to be covered by a mule-pulled “tramway”, and English civil engineer Claude William Kinder was employed for its construction, which was completed in 1881.
   Kinder insisted on building the tramway to the international Standard gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in), to make sure the tramway could be turned into a full railway. He also set about constructing a steam locomotive using the boiler and other parts from a portable steam winding engine borrowed from the colliery. After word had leaked out about its construction, the engine had to be concealed for several weeks until Viceroy Li Hung Chang gave word for the construction to continue. The result of Kinder's efforts came to fruition on 9 June 1881 when the home-made 2-4-0 tank engine christened “Rocket of China” entered service on the tramway.
caption: The Rocket of China
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