1 Albert Feuerwerker, China's Early Industrialization: Sheng Xuanhuai (1844–1916) and Mandarin Enterprise (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1958), p. 11. Although I disagree with the interpretive stance of this monograph, it contains a great deal of useful quantitative and empirical data and remains an important point of departure for any discussion of the subject.

2 For a critical account, see Yi Li, Chinese Bureaucratic Culture and Its Influence on the Nineteenth Century Steamship Operation, Chinese Studies Volume 19 (Lewiston, New York: The Edwin Mellen Pr., 2001). More positive treatments appear in Chi-kong Lai, “The Qing State and Merchant Enterprise: The China Merchants' Company, 1872–1902,” in Jane Kate Leonard and John Watt (eds.), To Achieve Security and Wealth: The Qing Imperial State and the Economy 1644–1911 (Ithaca: Cornell East Asia Program, 1992), pp. 139–155, and Anne Reinhardt, “Navigating Imperialism in China: Steamship, Semi-colony, and Nation, 1860–1937,” Ph.D. diss., Princeton Univ., 2002. In Chinese, see Ding Li 丁离, Sheng Xuanhuai: Zhongguo shangfu yu tade shangye diguo 盛宣怀: 中国商父与他的商业帝国 (Taibei: Haige chubanshe, 2002), Hu Zheng 胡政 (ed.), Zhaoshangju zhendang 招商局珍挡 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2009), Zhu Yingui 朱荫贵, Zhongguo jindai lunchuan hangkongye yanjiu 中近代轮船 航空业研宄 (Taizhong: Gaowen chubanshe, 2006), Yi Huili 易惠莉 and Hu Zheng 胡政 (eds.), Zhaoshangju yu jindai Zhongguo yanjiu 招商局与近代中国硏究 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2005), Zhu Yingui, Guojia ganyu jingji yu Zhong Ri jindai hua 国家干预经济与中日近代化 (Beijing: Dongfang chubanshe, 1994), Cao Kaifeng 曹开封, Lunchuan Zhaoshangju – guanban minying qiye de faduan 轮船招商局 — 官办民营企业的发端 (Chengdu: Xi'nan caijing daxue chubanshe, 2002).

3 See William Rowe, China Last Empire: The Great Qing (Cambridge: Belknap Pr. of Harvard Univ. Pr., 2009), pp. 212–219.

4 On Li Hongzhang and sovereignty, see Saundra Sturdevant, “Imperialism, Sovereignty, and Self-Strengthening: A Reassessment of the 1870s,” in Paul A. Cohen and John Schrecker (eds.), Reform in Nineteenth Century China (Cambridge: East Asian Research Center, 1976), pp. 63–70. On the adoption of the concept of sovereignty, see Rune Svarverud International Law as World Order in Late Imperial China: Translation, Reception, and Discourse, 1847–1911 (Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2007); Immanuel C. Y. Hsu, China's Entrance into the Family of Nations: The Diplomatic Phase, 1858–1880 (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1960), esp. pp. 125–138; Hungdah Chiu, “The Development of Chinese International Law Terms and the Problem of Their Translation into English,” The Journal of Asian Studies 27 (1967), pp. 485–501; Li Zhaojie 李兆杰, “How International Law Was Introduced into China,” in Guoji falü wenti yanjiu 国际法律问题研宄 (Beijing: Zhongguo zhengfa daxue chubanshe, 1999), pp. 53–135; Tian Tao 田涛, Guojifa shuru yu wan Qing Zhongguo 国际法输入与晚清中国 (Jinan: Jinan chubanshe, 2001); Lydia Liu, The Clash of Empires: The Invention of China in Modern World Making (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 2004); Par Kristoffer Cassel, Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth Century China and Japan (New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 2012); Peter Zarrow, After Empire: The Conceptual Transformation of the Chinese State, 1885–1924 (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Pr., 2012), esp. chapter three; Wang Ermim 王尔敏, Wan Qing shangyue waijiao 晚青商约夕卜交 (Hong Kong: Zhongwen daxue chubanshe, 1998); David Pong, Shen Paochen and China's Modernization in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1994).

5 Svarverud International Law as World Order, pp. 87–93; Sturdevant, “Imperialism, Sovereignty, and Self-Strengthening,” pp. 63–65.

6 Some terms were later replaced with neologisms borrowed from Japanese after 1895. For example, guojifa (国际法) supplanted wanguo gongfa (万国公法) as the word for international law. See Svarverud, International Law as World Order, esp. chap. three.

7 See Zheng Guanying 郑观应, Shengshi weiyan zengding xinbian 盛世危言增订新编, vol. 2 (Taibei: Taiwan xuesheng shuju, 1965). On Zheng Guanying himself, see Kwang-ching Liu, “Cheng Kuanying's Yiying,” in Lai Chi-kong and K. C. Liu (eds.), Liu Guanjing's Exposition of Chinese Merchants (Beijing: Social Science Academic Pr., 2012), pp. 225–298; Wu Guo, Merchant Reformer of Late Qing China and His Influence on Economics, Politics, and Society (Amherst, NY: Cambria Pr., 2010); Hao Yen-ping, “Cheng Kuan-ying: The Compradore as Reformer,” Journal of Asian Studies 29.1 (1969), pp. 15–22.

8 I use the term “mercantilist” because of the grant of a monopoly charter to the CMNSCo, a belief in zero-sum economic competition with foreign rivals, the evolution of a concept of commercial warfare, and an occasional emphasis on a favorable balance of trade. All of these elements played a part in the mercantilist statecraft of early modern Europe. See, for example, David Ormrod, The Rise of Commercial Empires: England and the Netherlands in the Age of Mercantilism, 1650–1770 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 2003); Philip J. Stern and Karl Wennerlind (eds.), Mercantilism Reimagined: Political Economy in Early Modern Britain and its Empire (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Pr., 2013).

9 David Faure, China and Capitalism: A History of Business Enterprise in Modern China (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univ. Pr., 2006), and “The Control of Equity in Chinese Firms within the Modern Sector from the Late Qing to the Early Republic,” in Rajeswary Ampalavanar Brown (ed.), Chinese Business Enterprise in Asia (New York: Routledge, 1995), pp. 60–79; For a case study of the salt trade that describes the problems of business capitalization in late imperial China, see also Madeleine Zelin, The Merchants of Zigong: Industrial Entrepreneurship in Early Modern China (New York: Columbia Univ. Pr., 2005).

10 Ibid. See also the analysis of the Dasheng business group (大生企业集团) in Elisabeth Köll, From Cotton Mill to Business Enterprise: The Emergence of Regional Enterprises in Modern China (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 2003).

11 On the rise of this symbiotic relationship between state and merchant, see Susan Mann, Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy, 1750–1950 (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Pr., 1987), Kathryn Bernhardt, Rent, Taxes, and Peasant Resistance: The Lower Yangzi Region, 1840–1950 (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Pr., 1992).

12 Decennial Reports on the Trade, Industries, etc., of the Ports Open to Foreign Commerce, and on Conditions and Development of the Treaty Port Provinces, 1922–1931, vol. 1 (Shanghai: Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, 1933), p. 136.

13 Jiang Tianfeng 江天风, (ed.), Changjiang hangyun shi (jindai bufen) 长江航运史 近代部分 (Beijing: Renmin jiaotong chubanshe, 1992), p. 64.

14 On foreign steamship competition in China during the 1860s, see Kwang-Ching Liu, Anglo-American Steamship Rivalry in China, 1862–1874 (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1962).

15 Jiang Tianfeng, Changjiang hangyun shi, p. 83. For an extended accounting of Russell's assets in 1874, see “Qichang yanghang daili Shanghai lunchuan gongsi caichan gujie dan,” doc. no. 18, in Wang Xi 汪熙 (chief ed.), Lunchuan Zhaoshangju: Sheng Xuanhuai dang'an ziliao xuanji zhi ba 轮船招商局：盛宣档 案资料选集之八 (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 2002), pp. 26–28. [Hereafter cited as LZSH.]

16 Decennial Reports on Trade, 1922–1931, p. 136.

17 Decennial Reports on Trade, 1882–1891, p. 9.

18 Hao Yen-ping, The Compradore in Nineteenth Century China: Bridge Between East and West (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1970).

19 Zheng Guanying, Shengshi weiyan, vol. 2, p. 746.

20 Tribute grain, an agricultural tax paid in kind rather than in silver, was assessed only in the relatively wealthy provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Hunan, and Hubei. See the foundational study in Japanese by Ayao Hoshi 星斌夫, Mindai sōun no kenkyū 明代槽運の研宄 (Tōkyō: Nihon gakujustu shinkōkai, 1963), the classic study by Harold Hinton, The Grain Tribute System of China, 1845–1911 (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1956); and the recent treatment by Ni Yuping 悅玉平, Qingdai caoliang haiyun yu shehui bianqian 清代槽粮海运与社会变迁 (Shanghai: Shanghai shuju chubanshe, 2005).

21 On the earlier canal crises of the Daoguang period, see Jane Kate Leonard, Controlling from Afar: The Daoguang Emperor's Management of the Grand Canal Crisis, 1824–26 (Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan, 1996).

22 “Niyi guanshang lunchuan caoliang chaye jielüe,” Wan Qing yangwu yundong shilei huichao 晚清洋务运 动事类汇钞, vol. 1 (Beijing: Zhonghua quanguo tushuguan wenxian suowei fuzhi zhongxin, 1999), p. 218. [Hereafter cited as WQYY.]

23 “[Fu jian] Liu Ruifen (Lunchuan Zhaoshangju biantong diaoji zhangcheng),” doc. no. 42, in Wang Xi, LZSH, pp. 57–58.

24 The rate of 0.58 taels/picul was already approximately double the going market price for grain transport. See Li, Chinese Bureaucratic Culture, p. 76.

25 “Taichang Siqing Chen Lanbin zou,” in Nie Baozhang 聂宝璋 (ed), Zhongguo jindai hangyun shi ziliao, 1840–1895 中国近代航运史资料, vol. 2 (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1983), p. 11. [Hereafter cited as ZJHSZ.] For an emphatic argument against the use of Western ships based on economic grounds, see “Huiyi zhaoshang lunchuan jielüe,” in WQYY, p. 217.

26 Jiang Tianfeng, Changjiang hangyun shi, p. 62.

27 Li Hongzhang, “Zunyi weichi shangju zhe,” in Zhu Yuquan 朱玉泉 (ed.), Li Hongzhang quanshu 李鸿章全书, vol. 2 (Jilin: Jilin renmin chubanshe, 1999), zougao 奏搞, j. 56, pp. 1199–1200. [Hereafter cited as LHQS.] See also Li Hongzhang, “Lun shiban Lunchuan Zhaoshang zhe,” reproduced in part in Xia Dongyuan 夏东元 (ed), Sheng Xuanhuai nianpu changpian 盛宣杯年谱长篇, vol. 1 (Shanghai: Shanghai jiaotong daxue chubanshe, 2004), p. 24. [Hereafter cited as SXNC.]

28 “Shang li fu xiang lunchuan zhangcheng,” ibid, vol. 1, pp. 12–13. Xu Zhongtao echoed these sentiments in a letter to Sheng Xuanhuai, noting the need to “stop Western merchants from entering inland rivers and controlling [people's] livelihoods.” See “Xu Zhongtao zhi Sheng Xuanhuai han,” doc. no., in Wang Xi, LZSH, p. 12.

29 “Lunchuan Zhaoshangju banshi shimo,” in Xia Dongyuan, SXNC, vol. 1, p. 255.

30 See Sturdevant, “Imperialism, Sovereignty, and Self-Strengthening,” esp. pp. 65–68.

31 Chouban yiwu shimo, Tongzhi chao 筹办夷物始末, ，同治朝 (Taibei: Taiwan yinhang, 1964), p. 8114.

32 “Zhao lu Zhu Taishou bingcheng niyi Lunchuan Zhaoshang tiaogui,” in WQYY, pp. 220–221.

33 “Qingcha zhengli Zhaoshangju weiyuanhui baogao shu,” in Nie Baozhang, ZJHSZ, vol. 2, p. 817. Li was aware of Japanese subsidies for NYK and praised it as an effective measure to the court in “Zunyi weichi shangju zhe,” LHQS, vol. 2, p. 1200. For a systematic comparison of the CMNSCo. and NYK. see Zhu Yingui, Guojia ganyu jingji. On the NYK in Japanese, see for example Osawa Hiroyuki 大澤浩之, Kami Mokei de miru Nihon yū sen senpakushi, 1885–1982 紙模型でみる 日本郵船船舶史, 1885–1982 (Tōkyō: Shī zu puranningu: Hatsubai seiunsha, 2007); Hayashi Yoshinori 林芳典, Futatsuhiki no hata no moto ni: Nihon yū sen hyakunen no ayum 二引の旗のもとに: 日本郵船百年の步み (Tōkyō: Nihon yū sen kabushiki kaisha, 1986).

34 Chouban yiwu shimo, Tongzhi chao, p. 8114.

35 Feuerwerker, China's Early Industrialization, pp. 157–158. For an early favorable assessment of the company's transport of tribute rice and the suggestion that it also be awarded a portion of Jiangxi's quota see “Niyi guanshang lunchuan caoliang chaye jielüe,” in WQYY, p. 218.

36 Feuerwerker, China's Early Industrialization, p. 169.

37 “Zongshu zou yanghang chuanzhi zai bu tongshang difang qixie zhaoyue jinzu dian,” in Nie Baozhang, ZJHSZ, vol. 2, pp. 944–945.

38 Zhu, an important junk merchant from the lower Yangzi region, continued to manage the transport of tribute rice as an assistant manager in the CMNSCo. Li Hongzhang, “Chafu Zhaoshangju can'an zhe,” in LHQS, j. 40, p. 1239.

39 “Sheng Xuanhuai ni: dui Wang Xianqian canhe Zhaoshangju Tang Tingshu bianbo ci,” in Xia Dongyuan, SXNC, vol. 1, p. 121.

40 Quoted in Xia Dongyuan, SXNC, pp. 107–108.

41 “Zhu Qi'ang, Tang Tingshu, deng bingwen,” in Wang Xi, LZSH, pp. 35–37; Li, Chinese Bureaucratic Culture, pp. 138–139.

42 “[Fu jian yi] Zheng Guanying ni Zhaoshangju jicha kehuo tiaogui shi tiao,” doc. no. 556, in Wang Xi, LZSH, pp. 612–616. On passengers, see Reinhardt, “Navigating Imperialism,” p. 206.

43 Feuerwerker, China's Early Industrialization, p. 182.

44 Hao Yenping, The Commercial Revolution in Nineteenth Century China: The Rise of Sino-Western Mercantile Capitalism (Berkeley: Univ. of California Pr., 1986), p. 203.

45 Ibid., 204. On Russell's falling stock prices see also “Sheng Xuanhuai ni: dui Wang Xianqian canhe Zhaoshangju Tang Tingshu bianbo ci,” in Xia Dongyuan, SXNC, vol. 1, p. 122.

46 Liu, Anglo-American Steamship Rivalry in China, p. 153.

47 See, for example, “Zhu Qi'ang, Tang Tingshu, deng bingwen” and “Shen Baozhen zha Sheng Xuanhuai wen,” docs. nos. 28 and 30, in Wang Xi, LZSH, pp. 35 and 40.

48 “Taichang Siqing Chen Lanbin zou,” in Nie Baozhang, ZJHSZ, vol. 2, p. 812.

49 “Zhu Qi'ang, Tang Tingshu, deng bingwen,” in Wang Xi, LZSH, pp. 35–37. For an emphasis on the implications of the sale for Qing economic sovereignty see “Sheng Xuanhuai shang Nanbeiyang Dachen xiang,” ibid., p. 42.

50 “Xu Run, Tang Tingshu, Sheng Xuanhuai, Zhu Qi'ang zhao shang Nanbei Dachen bing,” in Xa Dongyuan, SXNC, vol. 1, p. 54.

51 “Lunchuan Zhaoshangju banshi shimou,” ibid, vol. 1, p. 155.

52 “Sheng Xuanhuai yinjian pian,” ibid., p. 62.

53 Li later won court approval of his proposal to defer interest payments on the loan for several years to enable the company to consolidate its position. “Chafu Zhaoshangju can'an zhe,” LHQS, j. 40, p. 1239. See also “Chaming maibing qichang huahong zhe,” in Li Hongzhang quanji: zougao, 1870–1880 全集奏搞, 1870–1880, vol. 2 (Haikou: Hainan chubanshe, 1997), j. 43, pp. 1237–1238.

54 The figure of 36.7 percent only includes treaty port waters, since customs officials did not monitor areas closed to international commerce. See Jiang Tianfeng, Changjiang hangyun shi, p. 160; “Zhaoshangju binggao,” in Nie Baozhang, Zhongguo jindai haiyun shi ziliao, 1840–1895, vol. 2, p. 1211; Hao, Commercial Revolution, p. 206.

55 “1903 nian Zhaoshangju gaige zhangcheng (jielu),” in Nie Baozhang 聂宝璋 and Zhu Yingui 朱荫贵 (eds.), Zhongguo jindai hangyun shi ziliao, 1895–1927 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2002), vol. 2, pp. 520–521.

56 Ibid.; see also Feuerwerker, China's Early Industrialization, p. 101.

57 Ibid.

58 “Sheng Xuanhuai bing Li Hongzhang zhengtun Lunchuan Zhaoshangju ba tiao,” in Xia Dongyuan, SXNC, vol. 1, p. 67.

59 Faure, China and Capitalism, esp. pp. 45–64.

60 “Lunchuan Zhaoshangju zongju zhangcheng,” in Hu Zheng, Zhaoshangju zhendang, pp. 226–233.

61 Zhaoshangju zhendang

62 “Sheng Xuanhuai bing Li Hongzhang zhengtun Lunchuan Zhaoshangju ba tiao,” in Xa Dongyuan, SXNC, vol. 1, p. 67. On cost accounting in the CMNSCo., see Zhu Yaoting 朱耀庭, Zhaoshangju kuaiji shi 招商局会计史: 1872年–1992年 (Beijing: Renmin jiaotong chubanshe, 1994); Robert Gardella, “Perspectives on the Development of Accounting and China's Economic Transformation from the Late Ming to the Early Republic,” in Brown (ed.), Chinese Business in Asia, p. 53.

63 “Zhao lu Zhu Taishou bingcheng niyi Lunchuan Zhaoshang tiaogui,” in WQYY, pp. 220–221. See also Zheng Guanying, Shengshi weiyan, p. 736, and his 1873 letter to Li Hongzhang, “Sheng Xuanhuai bing Li Hongzhang,” in Xia Dongyuan, SXNC, vol. 1, p. 19.

64 This was about 10 percent of the ship's total value. Jiang Tianfeng, Changjiang hangyun shi, p. 151.

65 “Zhao lu Zhu Taishou bingcheng niyi Lunchuan Zhaoshang tiaogui,” in WQYY pp. 220–221.

66 “Sheng Xuanhuai bing Li Hongzhang zhengtun Lunchuan Zhaoshangju ba tiao,” in Xia Dongyuan, SXNC, vol. 1, p. 67.

67 SXNC.

68 Li Hongzhang, “Haiyun guanwu tonggui shangju pian,” in Shen Yunlong 沈玉龙 (ed.), Jindai Zhongguo Shiliao Congkan 近代中国史料丛刊, vol. 34 (Taibei: Wenhai chubanshe), p. 740.

69 Ibid.

70 I arrive at this number by multiplying the total amount of grain by the transport price per picul of 0.562 taels. (One picul equaled 133.3 avoirdupois pounds or 60.48 kilograms.) See “Dai li qian Zhaoshangju shi suo tie,” in Weng Tongshu 翁同龢 (ed), Xinzheng bianfa 新政全法 (Taibei: Yiwen yinshuguan, 1998), pp. 5–6; Peng Deqing 彭德清 (ed), Zhongguo hanghai shi (jindai hanghai shi) 中国航海史 (近代航海史) (Beijing: Renmin jiaotong chubanshe, 1989), p. 137. Table data taken from these two sources.

71 Feuerwerker, China's Early Industrialization, p. 153.

72 On the Imperial Telegraph Administration, see Erik Baark, Lightning Wires: The Telegraph and China's Technological Modernization, 1860–1890 (Westport, Conn: Greenwood Pr., 1997); Yoon Wook, “The Grand Council and the Communications System in the Late Qing,” Ph.D. diss., Yale Univ., 2008; Sun Li 孙藜, Wan Qing dianbao ji qi chuanbo guannian, 1860–1911 晚清电报及其传播观念, 1860–1911 (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian chubanshe, 2007; Wang Ermin 王尔敏, “Sheng Xuanhuai yu Zhongguo dianbao shiye zhi jingying 盛宣怀与中国电报事业之经营,” Qing ji ziqiang yundong yanjiu taohui lunwenji 清季自强运动研究讨会论文集, vol. 2 (Taibei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan, Jindai shi yanjiusuo, 1988).

73 On the gradual nature of the process and the contributions of important legal texts, see also Svarverud, International Law as World Order, esp. chap. three.

74 “Lunchuan Zhaoshangju banshi shimo,” in Xia Dongyuan, SXNC, vol. 1, p. 255.

75 SXNC.

76 Svarverud, International Law as World Order, p. 93.

77 Ibid.

78 Ibid., esp. chap. three.

79 See, for example, Li Hongzhang, “Dian ao bianjie tongshang yiyue zhe,” in LHQS, vol. 2, p. 1196.

80 See, for example, “Li Hongzhang zuo Zhaoshangju baoxiao Cixi shoudian zhegao,” doc. no. 413, in Wang Xi, LZSH, p. 491.

81 See Zheng Guanying, Shengshi weiyan, vol. 2, pp. 731–732.

82 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 758.

83 Ibid., p. 763. Zheng used the same rhetoric in everyday communications with CMNSCo personnel. See, for example, “Zheng Guanying zhi Sheng Xuanhuai han,” doc. no. 367, in Wang Xi, LZSH, p. 450.

84 Zheng Guanying, Shengshi weiyan, vol. 2, pp. 731–732.

85 On favorable trade balance, see Yi Huili 易惠莉, Zheng Guanying pingzhuan 郑观应评传 (Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe, 1998), p. 142.

86 Kenneth Pomeranz, The Making of a Hinterland: State, Society, and Economy in Inland North China 1853–1937 (Berkeley: Univ. of California Pr., 1993), esp. introduction.

87 Peng Deqing, Zhongguo hanghai shi, p. 148.

88 “Zhaoshangju binggao,” in Nie Baozhang, ZJHSZ, vol. 2, p. 1211.

89 Ibid.

90 Peng Deqing, Zhongguo hanghai shi, pp. 149–150.

91 “Chafu Zhaoshangju can'an zhe,” in LHQS, j. 40, p. 1241.

92 Peng Deqing, Zhongguo hanghai shi, p. 150.

93 Zheng Guanying, Shengshi weiyan houbian 盛世危言后编 (Taibei: Datong shuju, 1969), j. 10, ‘Chuanwu,’ in Nie Baozhang, ZJHSZ, vol. 2, pp. 1214–1215.

94 Ibid.

95 The CMSNCo received 38 percent of the Yangzi total, Butterfield and Swire 35 percent, and Jardine Matheson 28 percent. Ibid.

96 Peng Deqing, Zhongguo hanghai shi, p. 151.

97 Zheng Guanying, Shengshi weiyan houbian, j. 10; Chuanwu, in Nie Baozhang, ZJHSZ, vol. 2, pp. 1214–1215.

98 Ibid.

99 Quoted in Yi Huili, Zheng Guanying pingzhuan, p. 142.

100 Ibid., pp. 152–153.

101 “Guangxu shiba nian Ningbokou huayang maoyi qingxing lunlüe, tongshang geguan huayang maoyi zouce,” in Nie Baozhang, ZJHSZ, vol. 2, p. 1219.

102 Ibid.

103 Peng Deqing, Zhongguo hanghai shi, pp. 152–153.

104 Ibid.

105 Ibid., pp. 157–158.

106 Feuerwerker, China's Early Industrialization, p. 105.

107 Ibid., p. 177.

108 Peng Deqing, Zhongguo hanghai shi, p. 155.

109 Ibid.

110 Feuerwerker, China's Early Industrialization, p. 177.

111 “Sheng Xuanhuai shang Li Hongzhang bing,” in Xa Dongyuan, SXNC, vol. 1, p. 97.

112 Zhu Yingui, “Lun Qing ji Lunchuan Zhaoshangju de zijin wailiu 论清季轮船招商局的资金外流,” Zhongguo jingji shi yanjiu 中国经济史研宄 2 (1993), p. 10.

113 Ibid., p. 11.

114 The link with the Kaiping Mines was important and became increasingly so during international crises like the First Sino-Japanese War. See, for example, “Zheng Guanying zhi Sheng Xuanhuai han” and “Zheng Guanying zhi Sheng Xuanhuai han,” docs. nos. 369 and 419, in Wang Xi, LZSH, pp. 452–453 and p. 496.

115 Feuerwerker, China's Early Industrialization, pp. 181–182. See also “Sheng Xuanhuai zhi Shen Nenghu, Zheng Guanying han,” doc. no. 417, in Wang Xi, LZSH, pp. 494–495.

116 Zhu Yingui, “ Lun Qing ji Lunchuan Zhaoshangju de zijin wailiu,” p. 11.

117 Ibid.

118 See Jiang Tianfeng, Changjiang hangyun shi, p. 152.

119 “Sheng Xuanhuai shang Li Hongzhang Liu Mingzhuan bing,” doc. no. 230, in Wang Xi, LZSH, p. 307.

120 “Taichang siqing Chen Lanbin zou,” in Nie Baozhang, ZJHSZ, vol. 2, p. 811. See also “Xu Run zhi Xu Zhongtao han,” doc. no. 11, in Wang Xi, LZSH, pp. 18–19.

121 “Zheng Guanying zhi Sheng Xuanhuai han,” doc. no. 492, Wang Xi, LZSH, p. 558.

122 The firm continued to exist for decades after the death of its patron, Li Hongzhang, in 1901 but only through privatization in the 1910s and subsequent nationalization under the Nationalists in 1927.

123 “Zhaoshangju dang'an 468 (2) / 224,” in Nie Baozhang and Zhu Yingui, Zhongguo jindai hangyun shi ziliao, 1895–1927, vol. 2, p. 530.

124 Köll, From Cotton Mill to Business Empire, esp. pp. 31–41.

125 Decennial Reports on Trade, 1892–1901, p. 473.

126 Peng Deqing, Zhongguo hanghai shi, p. 158.

127 Ibid.

128 Ibid., p. 161; Köll, Cotton Mill to Business Empire, esp. chap 5.

129 Benjamin Schwartz, In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the West (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1964); Pomeranz, The Making of a Hinterland, esp. introduction.

130 Phillip Kuhn, Origins of the Modern Chinese State (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Pr., 2002).