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Research Seminar, Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, November 19, 2012
Trading Typhoons: Commercial Press Mercantile Networks and theCommercial Press, Mercantile Networks and the
Meteorological Technology in Nineteenth century ChinaNineteenth-century China
Marlon ZhuMarlon ZhuPostdoctoral Fellow
Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica, Taiwanl @ t d [email protected]
Problem StatementProblem Statement
• If any knowledge or practice is from the negotiation within a certain society, what g y,was the society for the meteorology in 19th-C China? And how was the way the19th C. China? And how was the way the society negotiated it?
Science, Media, and the Maritime/Mercantile Public
Vi t i i di l “ l i ” f i tifi• Victorian periodicals as “popularizer” of scientific knowledge (Bernard V. Lightman, 2007)“I i l P S t ” (Si J P tt• “Imperial Press System,” (Simon James Potter, 2003)
Ad ti t– Advertisement– Original articles
Reviews– Reviews– Letters to the Editor– Shipping newsShipping news
• More than the above
Role of Media (English-language newspapers)
C i ti W th I t lli• Communicating Weather Intelligence• Communicating the need of a public g p
weather service• Reaffirming the importance of (Manila)Reaffirming the importance of (Manila)
weather telegramsCompelling a principal but reluctant• Compelling a principal but reluctant observer
• Overseeing the operation of the weather service
Communicating Weather Intelligenceg g
Source: The Illustrated London NewsLondon News,1854-10-07
Risk in the Eastern Seas and its Communication
Source: The Illustrated London News,1851-12-06
Risk in the Eastern Seas and its Communication
Source: The North China Herald (Shanghai), 1851-11-15
Major English-language newspapers in Hong Kong & Shanghai
• China Mail (德臣西報), 1845-1961• Hongkong Daily Press (香港孖剌西報), 1867-1941• Hongkong Telegraph (士蔑報), 1881-1951
• North China Herald (北華捷報), 1850-1951• North-China Daily News (字林西報), 1864-1951
Major English-language newspapers in Hong Kong & Shanghai
1840 1860 1880 1900
China Mail
Hongkong Daily Press
Hong K
o g g y
Hongkong Telegraph
ong
North China Herald
N th Chi D il N
Shangh
North-China Daily News
hai
weekly daily
Merchants as the Major ReadersMerchants as the Major Readers
• Census of the British Population of Shangha“e” 1851Census of the British Population of Shangha e , 1851
Government
Merchants,31, 15%
Officers, 5,2%
Total: 206
Mariners, 91,45% Mercantile
Assistants, 44,Assistants, 44,22%
Professional
Servants, 5,2%
Men, 10, 5%
Missionaries,Storekeepers,
Artizans, 6,3%
Source: The North China Herald, 1851-05-03
9, 4%5, 2%
The Earliest Commercial Press in China
• The Canton Register
• Since 1827
• By James Matheson, Alexander Matheson, & Willi W W dWilliam W. Wood
New Means of Communication: Submarine Telegraph since the 1870sTelegraph since the 1870s
Submarine telegraph lines and wired ports, ca. 1885Source: Revised from Ahvenainen, 1981, p.63; and Charles Bright, 1898, p.208.
Sir Robert Hart and the Chinese Maritime Customs
Sir Robert Hart Inspector General of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs 1863-1908Sir Robert Hart, Inspector General of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, 1863 1908Source: The Illustrated London News, May 13, 1882 (Left), and Sep.19, 1891(Right).
China Coast Meteorological Registerg g• Issued with daily papers since 1873
Source: The China Mail, 1873-08-06
China Coast Meteorological Registerg g• By Harbour Masters of each port
Source: The North China Daily News, 1873-08-18
Mercantile sponsorship of telegraphic meteorology at Manila
• Subscription from marine insurance companies at HK & SH to Manila in 1881HK & SH to Manila in 1881
Source: El Comercio (of Manila), 1881-09-16
Mercantile sponsorship of telegraphic meteorology at Manila
Thomas Jackson
Chief Manager of theChief Manager of the HSBC at Hongkong
Source: Frank King, 1987, p.210c.
The Shanghai-based CCMS
Source: Redraw on Capitaine Gadoffre, infanterie coloniale,
Carte de Chang-haï et Zi-ka-wei, 1901.
The Shanghai-based CCMS
Source: Redraw from Zikawei Observatory, Map of the « Stations météorologiques en relation avec l’Observatoire de Zi-ka-wei, Chine, 1880 ». Bulletin Mensuel, 1880. p. 234c.
Initiative of the Shanghai General gChamber of Commerce
• Chairman, F. B. Forbes, 1839-1908
• Manager of Russell & Co. (旗昌洋行) at Shanghai( ) g
Source: Kwang-Ching Liu,1962. Anglo-American steamship rivalry in China, 1862-1874, p.78
Mercantile initiatives in ShanghaiMercantile initiatives in Shanghai
Att d t f th ti• Attendants of the meeting:– Forbes & other Chamber
members– Fiver major S. N. Companies:
• China Merchants’ Steam Navigation Company g p y
• Messageries Maritimes • The P. & O.• Mitsu Bishi Steamship CompanyMitsu Bishi Steamship Company • Butterfield & Swire
– Great Northern Telegraph CompanyCompany
– Chinese Maritime Customs
Source: Kwang-Ching Liu,1962. Anglo-American steamship rivalry in China, 1862-1874, p.78
Inter-port Commercial Network
Ex.: Messrs. Butterfield & Swire
Source: Buildings: Marriner & Hyde, 1967, The Senior: John Samuel Swire, 1825-98, p.112 , p.128.
Semaphore at the Bund since 1884
Source: left: Dian-Shi-Zhai Illustrated News (點石齋畫報) , No.22, 1884; right: cover page of J. de Moidrey, Notes on the Climate of Shanghai, 1873-1902 (Shanghai: Oriental Press, sold by Kelly & Walsh, 1904).
British Empire and the HK Observatory
Ll d’ f L d• Lloyd’s of London– Maritime insurance– Henry HozierHenry Hozier
• Father-in-law of Churchill• His letter of 1882 to Robert H. Scott (Secretary to the Meteorological(Secretary to the Meteorological
Office)
• Eastern Extension, Australiaand China Telegraph Co.– Cable laid between HK & Manila
18801880– Cable laid between HK & Shanghai
1883
Mercantile Statistics of Typhoons•Lloyd’s of London’s calculation of tropical storms in the 1870’s
Source: Drawn by Henry Jeula of Lloyd’s, from materials furnished by Clayton Litchfield of Lloyd’s. In Frederick Martin, The History of Lloyd’s and of Marine Insurance in Great Britain (London: MacMillan and Co., 1876), 401-403.
British Empire and the HK ObservatoryBritish Empire and the HK Observatory
Source: Left: 何沛然,《風雲可測》, 2003, p.182;Right: Anthony Dyson, 1983, From Timeball to Atomic Clock: A History of the Royal Observatory, p.40,九龍尖沙咀大包米訊號塔
British Empire and the HK Observatory
Source: Redraw from Doberck, List of Meteorological Stations in the Far East in Communication with the Hongkong Observatory in 1885, in HKGG May 15, 1886, pp.419-420.
Oversaw the “Doberck Fiasco”Oversaw the Doberck Fiasco
Source: Left: Anthony Dyson, From Timeball to Atomic Clock: A History of the Royal Observatory(Hong Kong: The Government Printer, 1983), p. 40; Title Page: Microfilm in Academia Sinica, The Publications of Chinese Maritime Customs, reel 94.
Oversaw the “Doberck Fiasco”Oversaw the Doberck Fiasco
1880 1890 1900 1910
Dechevrens
Sh
1920
Dechevrens
Chevalier
Froc
anghai
1876-1887
1887-1896
1896 1930Doberck
Hong K
on
1896-1930
Figg1883-1907
1907-1912
Faura
gM
an
Claxton
1878-1897
1912-1932
nila Algué1897-1926
Figure 7.1: Directors of Respective Observatories in the typhoon zone except Japan (Zikawei, Hongkong and Manila) from their beginning to 1920’s
China Merchants’ S N Co The NCDN
Great Northern
S. N. Co.
Chi I i l
The NCDNBuilding
Great Northern Telegraph Co. Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs
Russell & Co. HSBC
Source: The Illustrated London News, 1854-10-07
A History of Meteorology?y gy
The Semaphore Tower at Shanghai since 1907
Concluding RemarksConcluding Remarks
• English-Newspapers as Media to incorporate various agencies in an scientific enterprise– Chinese government/ Chinese Maritime Customs– Jesuit observers– Maritime observers– Telegraphic technology– Mercantile sponsorship
• Papers as means for the mercantile/maritime ppublic to secure the transmission of typhoon message g
The Shipping-Insurance Hegemony
John Samuel SwireJohn Samuel Swire (1825-1898, founder of the Swire Group)of the Swire Group) with newspapers in handhand
Source: Crisswell, 1981, The Taipans: Hong Kong’s Merchant Princes, figure 17.