Abstract
This paper analyzes the establishment of the Chinese Shipping Rules and examines how the Qing government"s jurisdiction over the Chinese-owned foreign vessels(華商洋船) was implemented. It was because of the Taiping Rebellion that the Qing government became interested in the jurisdiction of the Chinese-owned foreign vessels. The Qing central government was concerned about the possession of the foreign vessels, especially the steamers by the Taiping Rebellion, and preventing this was an important purpose for the establishment of the Chinese Shipping Rules. As for the local government, the question of how to incorporate the newly emerged Chinese-owned foreign vessels into the system to prevent tax evasion and harm caused by unregistered ships was also important. In the beginning of the Chinese Shipping Rules discussion, the mainstream was the transfer of some of the responsibilities of the jurisdiction over Chinese-owned foreign vessels to foreign consul, but it was canceled due to opposition from British authorities. The Qing government was mainly concerned with the preparation of China"s own shipping rules and in addition to the review of Robert Hart, the Inspector General, as well as Viceroy Tseng Kuo-fan"s Code and the Code from P. Giquel, Commissioner of Shanghai Customs and the Code from the Shanghai Taotai Ying Bao-shi was presented. Hart converged these Codes to make a modified proposal for the shipping rules, and the Superintendent of Southern ports Li Hung-chang revised it again to prepare the Shipping Rules. As a result, the Chinese-owned foreign vessels, like foreign-owned foreign vessels(洋商洋船), were not only covered by the Treaty tariff, but were also subject to the jurisdiction of the Maritime Customs by traveling to and from the treaty ports. With the establishment and implementation of Chinese Shipping Rules, the treaty rights granted only to the foreign-owned foreign vessels until then were also granted to Chinese-owned foreign vessels. However, the purpose of the Qing government was never in the equal right of the treaty. From the Qing government"s perspective, this was nothing more than restricting Chinese-owned foreign vessels to the treaty ports, and its main purpose was to protect native vessels and secure Likin by preventing foreign vessels from entering the interior, especially the steamers.
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