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Chinese Network - 1890

This 1890 map is rather unclear. It is a map of the Chinese telegraph network at that time, and most of the place names have changed since then.
Also the names were often in the dialect of the people living there. I will try to translate this to a modern version as I think it is important to know the extent of the network at that time.
The network did not include Xinjiang or inner Mongolia, but did include Taiwan and Korea. It also reached the borders of Burma, Vietnam and Russia.
The first completed line connected Shanghai with Tianjin, the protector of Beijing.
There is another map that helps with this, the "Commercial Map of China", 1899 which among other things shows a partial map of telegraph and cable routes.

Image from a Cornell University Library collection.

The existing place names are written horizontally or vertically and followed by the name in Chinese characters. I have numbered them (1-165) from top-right, and the following table attempts to interpret them.
There are varying degrees of confidence in each, due to legibility, naming differences, boundary changes and finding suitable maps.   A useful place for finding alternate names for places is at Wikidata.org

Here is a cleaned up version, colouring the different Provinces, taking out the the names and leaving the numbers.


A table of the places is shown below. I cannot guarantee it 100% due to legibility and uncertain name changes, nut it is at least a start.
Hunan appears to have been left without a connection.

The table above can be sorted by column. Just click the column heading. Click again to reverse direction.
Work is still needed, I hope to improve on this. Average Confidence level is now %."

Comments, criticisms, information or suggestions are always welcome.

Please include the word 'Telegraphs' in the subject.

Last updated 10th. November 2025

©Copyright Steve Panting 2012 - 2025 except where stated.
Permission is hereby granted to copy material for which the copyright is owned by myself, on condition that any data is not altered and this website is given credit.