Nationalistic contestation and mobilization politics - Practice and rhetoric of railway-rights recovery at the end of the Qing

Railway movements in Zhejiang province from 1907 through 1910 and in Sichuan during 1911 provide insights into the impact of mobilization politics and nationalism on the urban reformist public space and politics during the 1900s. These nationalist protests entwined with such other new phenomena as constitutional representation and self-government, the spread of civic institutions and associations, and ultimately revolution. The movements arose amid extensive state restructuring, the expansion and reconfiguration of public arenas, and an unprecedented upwelling of open politics in urban public life. This was an exciting and unsettling time, and the emotion-laden rhetoric of the railway discourse dramatically illustrates the suspicions, fears, and animosities as well as the political and economic interests that eroded faith in the Qing government. This study draws on the abundant original texts and extensive existing scholarship on issues surrounding railways to examine more deeply the rise of mobilization politics and its relationship to other aspects of public affairs at the end of the imperial period. It first considers the institutions and practices through which railway activists pursued patriotic goals, their interactions with the increasing number of civic institutions and private associations, and the contribution of the mobilizations to broadening political participation. It next turns to the ways in which railway activists publicized their protest and then looks at how interlocking themes of nationalism, constitutionalism, and struggle against governmental oppression are presented in the discourse of railway-rights recovery. This literature repeatedly reveals the reconceptualization of national identity and political authority amid conflict, new uncertainties, and changing relationships.