Like the fate of many Western inventions, the first attempt to introduce the telegraph into Shanghai also resulted in a failure.

In 1865 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a line was set up to establish telegraphic connections between Shanghai and Wusong, so that people in the foreign settlements could be informed of the shipping movements at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

The farmers destroyed the poles, which they said had a bad effect on the "Fengshui" of the locality.

Fengshui, literally wind and water, is a traditional Chinese philosophy combining some scientific bases as well as some superstitions. Chinese people believe the location of a house or tomb is supposed to have an influence on the fortune of people inside and nearby.

As "proof" of the poles' cursing and ominous effects on the region's "Fengshui," the locals produced the body of a man, who had died in the shade of one of the poles! Then the mandarins spoke out about their opposition to the use of the line.

A year later, Russell and Company, with the permission of the foreign authorities, put up a line between the French Concession and the American Settlement in Hongkou. This was the first telegraph line to operate in China, but it was entirely within the settlement limits.

Because of the number of shipping accidents at the entrance to the Huangpu River, the need for telegraphic communication between Shanghai and Wusong became pressing.

The Shanghai Daotai (or circuit intendant, the paramount, supervising official of Shanghai) however remained unconvinced and in his reply to the joint dispatch from the foreign consuls pointed out there was no provision what-soever in the treaties with regard to the introduction of telegraphs.

He said it was "entirely without precedent," and the wooden poles undoubtedly affected the "Fengshui" and would do harm to the health of people as well to the agricultural interests. He could see no reason for a telegraph line in the Middle Kingdom.

In 1870, when a cable was laid between Shanghai and Hong Kong, the cable at the Shanghai end was not to be landed on shore but on vessels anchored outside the limits. No part of the line went overland; and at each port where the company had an office, the telegraph service was conducted on hulks.

The cable at Wusong was brought ashore secretly. Afterwards, when this was discovered by the Qing authorities, there was a protest, and it was insisted the cable must end on a vessel anchored outside.

The opposition to telegraphs yielded sooner than that to the railways, and in 1878 the Qing authorities permitted the construction of an overland line along the old Wusong Road, the poles being erected on foreign-owned land.

The Qing rulers were thoroughly converted to the use of the telegraph during the skirmishes with Russia over the territory disputes in Northwest China's Xinjiang.

In 1880 and 1881, the Qing authorities employed the Great Northern Telegraph Company (Danish) to construct a line connecting Shanghai and Beijing, the imperial capital, at a cost of 140,000 taels of silver. (By Joshua Shi)