Former Site of Tianjin Telegraph Administration

Former Site of Tianjin Telegraph Administration

The former site of the Tianjin Telegraph Administration is a protected cultural heritage site of Tianjin.

The former site of the Tianjin Telegraph Administration is located at No. 65-69 Chifeng Road, Heping District, and is a protected cultural heritage site of Tianjin.

The Tianjin Telegraph Administration was a modern telecommunications enterprise established in the late Qing Dynasty. To prevent Western invaders from setting up telegraph lines on Chinese territory, from the 1870s onward, the Westernization Movement faction formally proposed laying their own telegraph wires.

In 1879, Li Hongzhang first laid a telegraph line from Dagukou to Tianjin. In October 1880, the Telegraph Administration was established in Tianjin, with Sheng Xuanhuai as its general manager, along with an affiliated telegraph school. In May 1881, construction began on the Tianjin-Shanghai line, which was completed in December, spanning a total length of 2,724 li and costing 178,700 taels of Xiangping silver. Before the completion of the Tianjin-Shanghai line in November 1881, it was officially named the China Telegraph Administration. In April 1882, it transitioned to official supervision and merchant management, raising 800,000 taels in commercial shares. In spring 1883, construction began on the Shanghai-Guangdong line, which became fully operational the following summer. In spring 1884, the administration moved from Tianjin to Shanghai and established branch offices at four levels: branch bureaus, sub-bureaus, sub-stores, and reporting stations. In 1884, it took over the Huahé Company, converting it into the Guangzhou Telegraph Bureau, with lines extending to Kowloon. In the same year, the Yangtze River landline was completed. By the end of the 1880s, trunk lines to the southwest, northwest, Beijing, and the northeast were successively built, forming the initial framework of a nationwide telecommunications network. In 1908, it became a government-run entity under the Ministry of Posts and Communications, known as the Telegraph Bureau, and also managed telephone services.

The Telegraph Administration was one of the more successful civilian enterprises operated by the Westernization Movement faction. It played a positive role in promoting economic exchanges, dealing with foreign merchants, reclaiming economic rights, and rapidly transmitting national defense information.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Protected Cultural Heritage Sites of Tianjin