Improvised Hybridity in the “Fixing” of Chinese Infrastructure Capital: The Case of Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway

The article explores the role of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the globalisation of China's infrastructure capital. Examining how accumulation strategies of Chinese SOEs are driven by a complex set of political and economic, state and private, interests, it foregrounds the inherently hybrid nature of China's state capitalism. We use Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) as a case study to analyse how state infrastructure capital traverses borders, and the specific ways that contradictions of accumulation in China are relocated through the improvised hybridity of SOEs. In Kenya, China Road and Bridge Corporation, the main SGR contractor, shifted and adapted its strategies as the pursuit of economic productivity gave way to political priorities in China, simultaneously responding to changing socio-political circumstances in Kenya and across East Africa. Analysing these dynamics, we highlight the contingencies of, and limitations to, structural reorganisation of actually existing forms of state capitalism in China and beyond.     

Railway Architecture: The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) at Dundalk

ABSTRACT

This article is adapted from the dissertation ‘Railway Architecture: The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) at Dundalk’, completed by Siobhan Osgood for the MPhil in Art History: Art + Ireland, where it was awarded a distinction. The study provides an historical analysis in the context of architectural development and broader railway culture in Ireland to provide an interpretation and understanding of the use of polychromatic yellow, red and black brickwork to create a visual identity for railway architecture. The use of accented colours to pick out key features is repeated across a series of buildings, thus creating a distinctive style of ‘brick-branding’. These are most prominent in the town of Dundalk, where the GNRI had its central engineering works at the halfway point on the Dublin to Belfast mainline and at the point where the Irish North line extended west and north. The buildings were each intricately designed by the GNRI's first chief engineer, William Hemingway Mills, a second-generation railway engineer who merged the roles of architect and engineer using an amalgamation of architectural designs from his earlier career in Derby, Scotland, Mexico and Spain. Mills thus created his own ‘Millsian’ style of industrial architectural design.     

吉黑两省铁路交涉局的“嬗变”——1898—1917年中东铁路附属地行政管理权研究

清末,在俄国中东铁路管理局的要求下,中东铁路途经的黑、吉两省将军衙门分别设置了相应的交涉机构——"铁路交涉局"。在中东铁路建设、经营、管理过程中,它负责中俄之间有关铁路事务的交涉,同清朝的其他涉外机构有较大区别。它一度成为中方在中东铁路属地及其影响下地区的"准行政机构"。时事变迁,该机构的名称及功能也不断演变。由于它同时接受中俄双方影响,功能也复杂,所以其地位和作用难定,争议至今。从初设时被打上沙俄扩张的烙印,到后来成为制衡沙俄侵略的重要力量,"铁路交涉局"机构的嬗变体现了哈尔滨作为一座现代城市的独特发展史和基本特征。     

1932年《铁道法》形成的历史路径及其实施阻力

1932年中国历史上第一部铁路基本法——《铁道法》正式颁布。《铁道法》的诞生,既迎合了近代国人对铁路国有化的产业发展路径,也符合了铁路法制由简至繁、由缺至全的演进路径。《铁道法》是国民政府推行铁路产业政策的根本性立法,但在实施过程中受到了阻力,在不断的外耗与内耗中效力有限。     

Coping with parallel authorities: the early diplomatic negotiations of Soviet Russia and China on the Chinese Eastern Railway, 1917–1925

This article explores the evolution of Soviet diplomatic policies with respect to the disputed ownership of the Chinese Eastern Railway and the responses of the three Chinese political authorities in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Fengtian from 1917 to 1925. It unveils a “parallel diplomacy” on the Soviet side and the roles the three Chinese authorities played in this grand diplomatic game. From the October Revolution in 1917 until the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925, Moscow’s contacts with Beijing, Guangzhou, and Fengtian were initiated almost simultaneously with a different purpose in each case, namely political legitimacy, justification of ideology, and practical leverage, respectively. In response, the Beijing Government took a relatively active approach toward reclaiming the ownership of the railway, whereas Sun in Guangzhou was somewhat passive in dealing with Soviet claims. Fengtian warlord Zhang Zuolin’s responses were quite ambiguous, as he was suspicious of Moscow yet willing to cooperate with it. In general, this study reveals a balance between propaganda and national interests in Soviet diplomatic policy making, and it evaluates the effectiveness of Chinese politicians’ responses to Soviet Russia.     

晚清铁路外债观初探——以芦汉铁路为中心

在晚清铁路外债举借过程中,洋务官员逐步有了成型的、带有明显思想倾向的外债观,芦汉比国债款交涉是典型的蓝本。其核心是在依赖心理驱动下生成路权与债权交换的主导思想。在体现外资合理性的同时,也暴露出排斥商股、模糊抵押权限、利用外资形式偏执等诸多偏差,表现出近代国人在利用外资上排拒与依赖并存的矛盾心态。     

Tracks Across the Irwell: From the Liverpool & Manchester Railway to the Ordsall Chord

ABSTRACT

Archaeological excavations and built heritage recording has been undertaken by Salford Archaeology (based within the Centre for Applied Archaeology, University of Salford) during the construction of a new rail link across the River Irwell between Manchester and Salford, known as the ‘Ordsall Chord’. The new bridge links existing lines of historic importance, and also crosses the extant remains of the world’s first passenger steam railway, the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, being carried over the Grade I designated ‘Stephenson's Bridge’ at approximately deck level. Six further Grade II designated structures were also affected by the scheme, as were the below-ground remains of a dye works that predated the opening of the railway in the 1830s, and a large livestock market that grew adjacent to the improved transport infrastructure provided by the rail network. This paper discusses the archaeological work undertaken on this important early transport hub during the construction programme in 2015–18.     

滇越铁路与云南矿业开发(1910—1940)

1910年滇越铁路全线通车,大大改善了云南对外交通运输条件,推动了云南经济尤其是矿业的发展。滇越铁路的通车首先方便了个旧大锡的出口,大锡成为云南对外贸易的支柱产品,锡业也代替昔日的铜业成为云南矿业的命脉。滇越铁路还刺激了煤炭需求,促进了整个云南煤业的发展。不过由于滇越铁路管理权被法国控制,导致该条铁路产生的巨大收益外流,在一定程度上阻碍了云南矿业的进一步发展。     

京九铁路与济宁经济

本文在简要介绍济宁市区域现状和未来发展趋势的基础上,阐述了京九铁路对济宁经济发展的促进和带动作用,提出了借助京九铁路发展区域经济的具体措施和建议。     

浙路风潮再反思——光复会计划失败的原因

光复会计划在浙路风潮中之所以失败,一是由于绅商的两重性及清政府各级官员的自救之策弱化了朝野冲突;二是光复会本身的“异端性“及革命处于低潮、对下层民众缺乏深入细致的宣传组织工作、与立宪派较量的力度不够;三是中下层民众斗争的焦点集中在“认购路股“的方式上,及农民的相对漠然态度、宁波帮工人的特殊性、股金来源涉及面不广等因素使其计划缺乏广泛而彻底的群众基础.