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CIRCUITS OF POWER: CHINA'S QUEST FOR CABLE TELEGRAPH RIGHTS 1912–1945
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 November 2018
Abstract
This article examines China’s efforts to restore cable telegraph rights from the establishment of the Republic of China to the end of World War II. Challenging the conventional dichotomy of “Chinese” and “Western” actors in rights recovery issues, this article explores the intricate power relations between foreign cable companies, international interests groups and various political factions in China. It analyses China’s reclaim of cable sovereignty in three phases, each characterised by a particular controversy—the intra-clique struggle of the Communications Clique during the early Republic and the warlord era; the rivalry between the Nationalist Party, military and the state during the Nanjing decade; and the direct Sino-Japanese conflict during wartime. The article presents the argument that for the various interest groups, ideologies such as imperialism and nationalism served as rhetoric in their respective pursuits. It was the daily political tensions that played a crucial role in shaping how cable policies were devised.
Keywords
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- Research Article
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- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018
Footnotes
I would like to thank Brian Martin and Tessa Morris-Suzuki for their valuable comments on this research. I am also grateful for Janet Y. Chen who kindly advised on the style and structure of this article.
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