Günter Dinhobl (Hrsg.): Sonderband 7. Eisenbahn/Kultur – Railway/Culture (2004)
II. Die Wahrnehmungen von Raum / The perceptions of space - Robert Lee: Railways, space and imperialism
Railways, space and imperialism Archibald Colquhoun, were identified with the scheme which became known as ‘the overland to China’.4 5 The prospect of penetrating and exploiting the putative wealth of southwestern China from Britain’s Indian empire even excited as phlegmatic a politician as Lord Salisbury, and only a railway could make it possible.' The political chaos and terrible topography, which made for grand adventures and fine scenery but very expensive railways, scarcely discouraged late Victorian enthusiasts from such schemes. Even more quixotic was the first French plan to build a railway in the area. This came from the feverish imagination of Frédéric Haas, one of France’s most enthusiastic and long serving but least prudent consuls in China and southeast Asia. In 1885 he represented the French Republic in Mandalay during the last months of Burmese independence. He sought to influence the Burmese monarchy over to form an alliance with France, and offered as a sweetener the construction of a railway from Haiphong to Mandalay. The line would pass through the same inhospitable country as the Hallett- Colquhoun scheme, with even less economic purpose. The government in Paris quickly disavowed Haas’ proposed treaty and railway, and his career thereafter did not prosper.'’ It was a real railway, the line from Rangoon to Toungoo (which had opened early in 1885), which helped determine the fate of Burma much more than any imaginary ones. British troops invading the kingdom were able to begin their journey by train. A quarter of a century later a French railway did actually penetrate Yunnan from Haiphong, but a British line from Burma, either through northern Siam at the Shan states of Burma (British territory after 1885) was never built. Strangely enough it was Curzon, a figure normally associated with imperial overreach, who recognised the limits of rail4 An excellent source on Hallet’s views is Hallet, Holt: A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States. Bangkok 2000 (first published 1890), p. 464-474. 5 Two books discussing Bunna-Yunnan railway schemes are Lee, Robert: France and the Exploitation of China: A Study in Economic Imperialism. Hong Kong 1989, p. 182, 248-251; and Jeshuran, Chandran: The Burma-Yunnan Railway: Anglo French Rivalry in mainland Southeast Asia and South China. Athens, Ohio 1971. ^ On Haas’career see Lee : France and the Exploitation of China, pp. 19, 175-176. Haas appears as the fictional Maas in Jesse, Fryniwyd Tennyson: The Lacquer Lady. New York 1981 (first published 1929), a novel set in the last days of independent Burma and largely based on interviews with survivors of the events, or what would later be called oral history. The details of Haas’ activities are in France, Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Archives, Correspondance politique des Consuls, Angleterre, Vols. 59-60, Rangoon. 97
