dz_v02

Title: “Launching the Railway” 興辦鐵路
Year: 1884 Volume: 2 Page Number: 46

Caption Translation: Since the commencement of a trading relationship with the West, it has grown increasingly popular in recent years to emulate Western ways. Even though not all stereotypes and prejudices have been discarded, the era of meticulously observing rigid conventions has gone, the tide of opinion has changed, and a new climate has set in. In the last year of the Tongzhi Reign (1874), trains appeared for the first time in Shanghai. It took no more than two hours to travel the distance of fifteen kilometers between Shanghai and Wusong. Unfortunately, official disapproval and the imposed financial penalties brought an abrupt end to this project. In late May this year, a letter sent from Tianjin stated that the court has approved of building railways, and a trial would first start in the section between Dagu and Tianjin. On June 23rd, then, the court issued another decree ordering Zhili Governor-general Li Hongzhang to raise funds as quickly as possible for building the railway from Tianjin to Tongzhou. The train is led by a machine car, which is followed by towable carriages, manned or for cargo, to the maximum of ten to twenty carriages. With their gradual promotion in other provinces, railways, like electric wires leading everywhere, will eventually run through the whole land without obstacles. I cannot help looking forward to the arrival of that day.

Translator: Flora Shao,
revised by Peter C. Perdue

Caption Text: 泰西通商以來，仿行西法之事至近年而益盛，將從前一切成見，雖未能破除盡淨，然運會至而風氣開，非復曩時之拘於虛矣。同治季年，火車已肇興於泸埠,由上海達吳淞三十余里，往返不逾二刻，惜為當道所格議，償造作之費，遽毀成功。茲於五月下旬天津來信云，創辦鐵路一節，朝廷業已允准，由大沽至天津先行試辦。嗣於六月二十三日悉，朝廷又頒諭旨，飭令李直督相速即籌款，興辦天津通州鐵路，其火車式樣，前一乘為機器車，由是而下，或乘人，或裝貨物之一二十乘，均可拖帶，將來逐漸推廣，各省通行，一如電線之四通八達，上與下利賴無窮，竊不禁拭目俟之矣。

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