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 tmarlon@ntu.edu.tw

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.