Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration
Qing dynasty corporation founded in 1881
- Ministry of Posts and Communications
The Imperial Telegraph Administration (ITA; Chinese: 電政總局)[1] or Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration (ICTA)[2] was a Qing-era government-controlled corporation (spec. guandu shangban) supervised by Sheng Xuanhuai.
The ITA was established in 1881,[1] after which it swiftly gained a monopoly on Chinese telegraphy.
By 1900 the ITA administered 14,000 miles of telegraph wires and supervised another 20,000 miles under local control.[1] The same year, it absorbed the infant Chinese telephone network started in Nanjing.
It was nationalized in 1902 to allow otherwise unprofitable usage rates and expansion of the network[1] or to gain control of its profits.[2] The ITA was then absorbed by the newly formed Ministry of Posts and Communications in 1906. Following nationalization, control alternated between Sheng and his political rival Tang Shaoyi.
See also
- Qing dynasty
- Self-Strengthening Movement
- Hundred Days' Reform
- Telecommunications in the People's Republic of China
References
- ^ a b c d Harwit, Eric. China's Telecommunications Revolution, p. 28. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 0-19-923374-8.
- ^ a b Chiba, Masashi. "The nationalization of the Chinese telegraph industry in the late Qing period". Socio-Economic History Society, Vol. 63, No. 6.
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