The Development of Telephone Communication in China, Part One

HF: Peter Crush kindly sent me the following article published in October 1931. While it does not mention the history of phones in Hong Kong I thought it would be of general interest.

I have very occasionally changed the script where I thought it was a little old fashioned. And indicated where the script was illegible or missing.

The original article did not contain any images. I have added a few, chosen somewhat at random, to add a little ”colour”. If anyone comes across images of subjects mentioned in the article I would be delighted to be sent them.

Thanks to SCT for proofreading the following retyped copy of the original article.

The Development of Telephone Communication in China.

Telephone communications were not introduced into China until 1900 when a Dane, Mr. Poulsen, established the so called Bell Companies in Peping, Tientsin and Tanku, with not more than 300 subscribers. Through diplomatic negotiations, these three companies were handed over to the Chinese government in 1905. After this, local telephones in Shanghai, Hankow, Soochow, Nanking etc., and toll telephone lines between Peping and Tientsin, Tientsin and Mukden, Shanghai and Nanking, Kirin and Changchun and Harbin etc., were successively constructed. At the end of 1928, there were established more than twenty telephone offices with about 40,000 subscribers, and approximately 10,000 miles of main toll telephone lines in China. The following is a brief historical account of Government telephone service.

Local Telephone

When the telephones in Peping were first put under the control of the Chinese Government, the equipment was of the magneto system and had a capacity of 1,800 lines in total. In 1909, the common battery system was adapted and telephones were redistributed between two offices, which have been called the South Office and the East Office. In 1917 there was installed the West Office; and in 1924 the South Branch Office.  The total capacity of these four offices is about 20,000 lines. In addition, small branch offices were also established in Poating, Tunghsien, Nanyuan, Hsiyuan, Hsiangshan, and Tongshan, in direct connection with the city. Consequently the Peping Telephone Exchange, after its development for about twenty years, has come to be the largest among Government owned exchanges. But since the downfall of the old Peking Government, the number of subscribers has been gradually decreasing, probably owing to the fact that Peping has now ceased to be the political centre and its commerce has also declined.

The Main Telephone Office in Tientsin is situated at Chaku. In 1913, the new office building was constructed and new equipment of the common battery system was installed. Afterwards, the South Office was founded in the British Concession , the East Office, in the Italian Concession, and the North Office, in Hopeh (a district in Tientsin), the equipment being also of the common battery system. In 1926 the equipment in the South Office, the East Office, and part of the Main Office were all replaced by automatic ones, the total capacity of which is 9,000 lines. This is the first time the Government adapted that automatic telephone system for communication purposes. Regarding the North Office and the other part of the Main Office they now still remain in their original condition though there is belief that the automatic telephone system will be introduced into them very soon. Besides the four Offices described above there are also small branch offices of magneto equipment in distant towns as Tanku, Tangshan etc, in connection with the city toll lines.

The telephone exchanges in Hankow, Wuchang and Hanyang were inaugurated in 1902 by local authorities. After 1907 their ownership has passed into the hands of the merchants. In 1914 however, the Wuhan telephones were taken over by the former Ministry of Communications. In the next year great improvements were made as new offices were built in Hankow and Wuchang the equipment of which were of the common battery type. Unfortunately the Wuchang Office was burnt in 1925 after which only a temporary magneto exchange of 400 lines were installed for maintaining the traffic. Telephones in Hanyang were originally in direct connection with Hankow through submarine cable. Afterwards an independent was founded, in which the system used was of the magneto type at first and then was converted into a common battery type of 280 lines in 1922.

Source: The Far Eastern Review, October 1931.

This article was first posted on 9th July 2023.

Related Indhhk articles:

1. Long Distance Telephone Service established between Hongkong and Canton, The Far Eastern Review October 1931
2. Hong Kong Telephone Building Nathan Road
3. Cable & Wireless telephone, cross-harbour cable cut, newspaper article 1949
4. The Hongkong Telephone Company, 1925 to 1933, Far Eastern Review article