One country, two systems : shipping and maritime customs affairs in Hong Kong and Guangdong Province (1897-1910)

Abstract

Ever since the establishment of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs (CIMC) in Shanghai in 1853, the CIMC had operated different foreign-controlled custom stations at treaty ports which existed alongside the native customs and Likin stations controlled by the Qing government at non-treaty ports. Foreign steamships and Chinese junks were under the jurisdiction of the foreign and native customs respectively. This created the norm of a dual maritime customs system in China in the late Qing period, when foreign economic influences penetrated almost every sector of the Chinese economy. By adding in the context of high imperialism in China, this dissertation studies both competitive and co-operative interaction between different players in the maritime affairs of Hong Kong and Guangdong province during the turning points of the opening of the West River in 1897 and the signing of the Mackay Treaty in 1902. Through case studies of foreign-flagged Chinese junks, inland steam navigation and piracy on the West River, this dissertation provides concrete insights into daily dealings between Chinese and foreigners in the scattered streams and creeks of the Canton River and the West River deltas, and the native-foreign water borderline near Hong Kong. This demonstrates the importance of the customs system in China, which affected both Chinese and foreign patterns of shipping, with only vessels of a hybrid character, namely foreign-flagged Chinese junks and Chinese steam tugs, being able to win in the competition for coastal and inland river trade with Chinese junks and foreign steamers possessing only a single identity. Since there are no records of private Chinese junks and Chinese steam tugs that survive today, by chiefly analysing the unpublished and under-researched correspondence of the Kowloon Customs during the period under review, this dissertation fills a research gap in maritime history that demonstrates the evolving development of Chinese shipping, from Chinese junks to Chinese steam tugs, in Southern China during the last decade of the Qing dynasty.