Foreign Built Railways in China_Andrew LeeForeign Built Railways in China_Andrew Lee

Map Creator: Andrew Lee ’19

At the start of the 1900s, there was a scramble to build railroads in imperial China by the major European powers to earn money, gain provisional control, and extract riches from the surrounding areas. This model proved incredibly successful for the British and Germans, with their railroads linking major Eastern cities; however, France’s colonial railway, leading through the mountainous Yunnan Province into Vietnam (French Indochina), was a failure. France’s railway connected only small cities, while the other powers’ railways connect China’s megacities, explaining why France’s railway is no longer operated, while the others are major lines in the Chinese network.