1911年湖广铁路借款公债，德华银行发行20及100镑债票各2枚，VF；1911 Imperial Chinese Government, 5% Hukuang Railways Gold Loan, 20 pounds (2) and 100 pounds, issued by Deutsch Asiatische Bank, The Hukuang Railways Loan of 1911 was for the capital sum of£10,000,000 of which only the first series of £6,000,000 was issued.The first series of the loan was, “…authorized by Imperial Edict of20th May 2011, western calendar (officially communicated by theWai Wu Pu to the ministers in Peking of Great Britain, France,Germany and the United States of America). The principal andinterest being the direct obligation of the Imperial Government ofChina and secured as a first charge (together with the second seriesmentioned below if and when duly issued) upon certain provincialrevenues of the province of Hupei and Hunan.”The participating financial institutions which handled thearrangements for the issuance of bearer bonds were:The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation whichissued £1,500,000 in London at 99¾% and in Shanghai at 95%;Banque de l’Indo-Chine which issued £1,500,000 in Paris at100½%;Deutsch-Asiatische Bank which issued £1,500,000 in Berlin at100%; andNew York Banks: J.P. Morgan & Co, Kuhn, Loeb & Co, the FirstNational Bank of the City of New York and the National City Bankof New York which jointly issued £1,500,000 in New York at 97%.The various denominations of bearer bonds issued by these fourbanks are shown on the data tables above.Coupons were payable on 15 June and 15 December each year.Scroll down or clicklink for IllustrationKUHLMANN - 230KUHLMANN - 231KUHLMANN - 232KUHLMANN - 233KUHLMANN - 234KUHLMANN - 235KUHLMANN - 236KUHLMANN - 237Back to Main IndexPage...152The historical events which were linked to this loan were dramatic.The opposition to the loan agreements, coupled with public outrageat the Imperial Chinese Government’s decision to not onlynationalise all of China’s Railways, but also to grant majorconcessions to foreigners, significantly contributed to the downfallof 3,000 years of imperial dynastic rule.The initial loan agreement was negotiated by the British & ChineseCorporation, but then French and German interests exerted pressureto be allowed to participate in the financing of the project, and finallythe direct intervention of American President, William Howard Taft,secured a share of this project for American capital enterprises.The loan was secured upon a first charge of salt, rice and likin1 taxesof Hunan and Hupeh which resulted in opposition from provincialgovernments as well as from a rich merchant group who wereadvocates of the “Rights Recovery Movement”. This groupdemanded cancellation of the Hukuang Railways Loan, mainly asthey wished to promote their own business interests and gain a sharein the various infra-structure development programmes. Howeverthere was also a patriotic element to this movement as there wasconsiderable objection to the granting of extra-territorial rights andjurisdiction over sections of Chinese territory to foreigners.Attempts by the central Imperial Government to pacify the leadersof the “Rights Recovery Movement” failed and the opposition groupsactively mobilised students, workers and peasants to make violentprotests against the Chinese Imperial Government.Although there were many contributing factors, the controversysurrounding the Hukuang Railway Loan of 1911 and the subsequentreaction by the Chinese population at large, is believed to be one ofthe sparks that ignited the Chinese Revolution and significantlycontributed to the downfall of the Chinese Imperial Government.(K-234, K-235), very fine (3)
