View source for Chao Chow and Swatow Railway

{{Short description|Former Chinese railway line (1903–1939)}}
{{Infobox rail
| gauge = {{Track gauge|sg|allk=on}}
| railroad_name     = Chao Chow – Swatow Railway
| logo_filename     =
| logo_size         =
| system_map        = SwatowRlyMap.jpg
| map_caption       =
| map_size          =
| image             =
| image_size        =
| image_caption     =
| locale            = [[Guangdong Province]], [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]
| start_year        = 1903
| end_year          = 1939
| predecessor_line  =
| successor_line    =
| length            =
| hq_city           =
}}
{{routemap
|title =Chao Chow and Swatow Railway
|map-title = List of stations
|map =
exKHSTa~~ ~~I-Chi, a.k.a. Yee Kai~~(Yixi; 意溪)
exBHF~~ ~~[[Chaozhou|Chao-chow]]~~(Chaochou; 潮州)
exHST~~ ~~Feng Chi, a.k.a. Pang-Khoi or Fong Kai~~(Feng- xi; 楓溪; 枫溪)
exHST~~ ~~Fou Yang, a.k.a. Phuie or Fow Yong~~(Fuyang; 浮洋)
exHST~~ ~~Kuan Chow~~(Guanchao; 鹳巢)
exHST~~ ~~Tsai Tang, a.k.a. Tsua Tung~~(Cai Tang; 彩塘)
exHST~~ ~~E- Bue~~(Hua-mei; 華美; 华美)
exBHF~~ ~~Ampow, a.k.a. Am pou~~(Anbu; 庵埠)
exKBHFe~~ ~~[[Swatow]]~~(Shantou; 汕頭; 汕头)
}}
The '''ChaoChow–Swatow Railway''' or "Chao-Shan" railway was a privately financed and constructed [[standard gauge]] railway which ran between [[Chaozhou|Chaochow]] ({{zh|links=no|c=潮州|p=Cháozhōu}}) and [[Swatow]] ({{zh|links=no|t=汕頭|s=汕头|p=Shàntóu}}) in [[Guangdong Province]] between 1906 and 1939.<ref name="ChinaYearBook">The China Year Book 1929-30, edited by H.G.W. Woodhead, published Tientsin 1930</ref><ref>China's Struggle for Railroad Development by Chang Kia-Ngau, New York 1943</ref> It's also the first line entirely financed and managed by Chinese merchants.
==History==
As early as 1888 the British trading company [[Swire Group|Butterfield and Swire]] had sought to build this railway but were unsuccessful in gaining permission. In late 1903 a group of affluent overseas and Hong Kong Chinese, headed by [[Cheong Yuk Nam]] (pinyin: zhāng yù nán, 张煜南) and his brother Cheong Hong Nam (aka. [[张耀轩]], [[Tjong A Fie]]), invested a total of $300,000 and registered the Chao Chow and Swatow Railway Company with the Chamber of Commerce in Peking (Beijing) and also under Hong Kong laws. Cheong, who was Director-general of the company, had amassed a fortune from [[sago]] plantations in Sumatra and from other enterprises in Penang and South China. He was assisted by another prominent businessman, [[Lim La Sang]] (pinyin: lín wéi chāng 林为倡), who was appointed Managing Director. Lim, a Fukienese, had been educated in Hong Kong and had then made a fortune as a leading tea merchant in Formosa. In 1904 the contract for construction of the project was awarded to Japanese trading company [[Mitsui O.S.K. Lines#Mitsui Bussan Kaisha|Mitsui Bussan Kaisha]] for which Lim himself was an agent.<ref name="20th C Impressions">Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong Shanghai & Other Treaty Ports, edited by A. Wright, London 1908</ref>
==Construction==
[[File:Swatow-Rly-Opening1.jpg|thumb|left|270px]]
[[File:SwatowStation-1906.jpg|thumb|left|270px]]
Construction commenced in 1904 under the direction of a Japanese railway engineer Kennosuke Sato ({{lang|ja|佐藤謙之助}}). The {{convert|39|km|abbr=on}} line to Chao Chow was completed and opened to traffic on November 16, 1906.
In 1908 a short branch line of just over {{convert|2|km}} was extended beyond Chao Chow to the river frontage at I-Chi, a.k.a. Yee Kai (pinyin yì xī, 意溪), in order to earn revenue from freight traffic when the low river prevented navigation by boat.<ref name="ChinaYearBook" /><ref name="20th C Impressions" /><ref>The Far Eastern Review, January 1908</ref>
==Early operation==
[[File:SwatowLoco1.jpg|thumb|right|270px]]
The railway’s senior operations staff, including the [[railroad engineer|drivers]] and guards, were all Japanese employees, with Chinese staff engaged on less important functions. This situation endured until the railway was eventually taken over by [[China Railways|Chinese National Railways]] in the 1920s.  The railway company imported three [[2-6-2]] [[tank locomotive]]s from the [[American Locomotive Company]] ([[Brooks Locomotive Works|Brooks plant]]) and 24 [[coach (rail)|carriages]] of corridor plan were manufactured in Japan.<ref>The Far Eastern Review, November 1909</ref>
==Demise of the railway==
The railway ceased operations in 1937 when spreading Japanese hostilities prompted the [[Ministry of Railways of the People's Republic of China|Ministry of Railways]] to order that this railway and several other lines should be dismantled for strategic reasons. The tracks were pulled up and track bed replaced by a motor vehicle road. The dismantled parts and locomotive equipment were reportedly reused for the construction of the Hunan - Kwangsi (Guangxi) railway as part of the Nationalist Government's "strategic retreat" to the interior of China which was ordered by [[Chiang Kai-shek]] (Jiang Jieshi).<ref>China’s National Railways by H.J. von Lochow, Peiping 1948</ref>
==See also==
*[[Theodone C. Hu]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:History of rail transport in China]]
[[Category:Railway companies established in 1903]]
[[Category:Railway companies disestablished in 1939]]
[[Category:History of Shantou]]
[[Category:Chaozhou]]