When the Imperial Post came into existence， it began to handlemails for the Treaty Ports， and requested the Local Post Office towithdraw. Neither the Chamber of commerce nor the Ratepayerswould at first consent to this， but alter the local steamship companiesdeclared they could only carry Imperial mails for ports in China， theLocal Post Office was discontinued.
China was admitted to the Postal Union in 1914， but thevarious national post offices were not finally withdrawn until after theWashington Conference， 1921-1922.
A large Chinese post office building was erected on Peking Roadin 1907， and an efficient staff organized. Although there was somedoubt at first as to whether China was prepared to undertake thesupervision of postal affairs， yet experience proved that on the wholethe mail service was better than it had been under the former system.
The Postal Department was well run and brought in a small revenueto the Government. Even at times of internal disturbances in China， itcontinued to function in spite of many difficulties.
Shanghai Mutual Telephone companyThe first telephone company in Shanghai was conducted by theGreat Northern Telegraph company， which was established in 188 1.
It was only on a small scale， having 338 subscribers exclusive of theMunicipality， and later the business was handed over to the China andJapan Telephone company.
On March 10th， 1898， at a Ratepayers‘ meeting， a resolutionwas passed authorizing the Council to enter into negotiations withthe China and Japan Telephone company， or with any other similarcompany， and， at its discretion， to grant a lease. Tenders were invited，and that of the Shanghai Mutual Telephone company was accepted，partly because the company was formed locally with Directors inShanghai， and partly because it offered to supply service at a cheaperrate than other companies.
Under the agreement， the company was to complete the lines byApril， 1901， but by August 1st 1900， a service was opened between ahundred of the principal stations， and on the day for the completionof the work of construction， the company was able to announce that ithad connected all old subscribers， and added a considerable number ofnew ones. The work of the company has gradually been extended andis now being changed from the manual to the automatic system.
Lack of Traffic FacilitiesBy the introduction of the telephone， Shanghai put itself in linewith other growing commercial cities， but it was still very back-wardas regards traffic. There were carriages and ricshas， but no trams andbuses， and the day of the automobile was not to come until 1902.
At a Ratepayers‘ meeting on October 17th， 1898， a motionwas made that the construction of tramways in Shanghai should beconsidered. The conservative residents， however， fearing interferencewith the existing traffic， rejected the motion.
The Reform Edicts of 1898
While the negotiations in regard to the extension of theSettlements were in progress， an important movement was taking placein which the residents of the Settlements， both Chinese and foreign，were deeply interested. The Emperor， Kwang Hsu， came under theinfluence of a group of young reformers， prominent among whomwas Kang Yu-wei， a native of Kwangtung， a man of marked ability andstrong personality. As a result， a series of reform edicts were publishedwhich aimed at modernizing the ancient system of government. TheEmpress Dowager， Tzu-hsi， and the offcials of the old type， regardingthese innovations with consternation， gained possession of the personof the Emperor by a coup d‘état and forced him into retirement. Thisleft the Empress Dawager in control， and she proceeded to seize thereformers. Kang Yu-wei made his escape on a British vessel to Shanghaiand at Woosung was transferred to the P. and O. steamer “Ballarat，”
leaving for Hongkong.
In regard to the reform movement of which so much was expectedand which failed so lamentably， Cordier， the French historian， says，“The great fault of the reformers was to seek to transform China in tooshort a period， and to take in hand at the same time all the machineryof Government， to strike at one time at all abuses. In Japan therewas a Feudal system to crush， but not the traditions of centuries toovercome.“Sir Robert Hart wrote in a private letter to a friend， “TheEmperor"s head was set in the right direction， but his advisers， KangYu-wei and others， had had no experience of work， and they simplykilled progress with kindness. They it against its powers of assimilationand digesting， with food enough in three months for three times asmany years； so it is killed for the present.”
