This fate was a commonly invoked symbol of the Qing dynasty's backwardness and insularity, despite the road's admitted illegality and numerous legitimate objections voiced by the Chinese during its construction and operation.

The British firm Jardine, Matheson, & Company in particular started to champion rail connections from the interior to Canton, Shanghai, and Tianjin as early as 1845.

[1] MacDonald Stephenson, the engineer responsible for the East Indian Railway, attempted to interest the imperial government in rail links from Hong Kong and Shanghai to Calcutta through Hankou and Kunming in 1859[1] and again in 1864.

A request of 20 July 1863 by 27 firms for a Shanghai-to-Suzhou line was similarly rejected by the governor of Jiangsu Li Hongzhang[1][2] and in 1865 by the circuit intendant of Shanghai Ying Baoshi, who composed an influential treatise, "The 7 No's",[n 3] on the occasion.

However, in 1864, American Chinese began to be employed by the Central Pacific Railroad and by March 1865 the company was recruiting thousands of workers directly from Guangdong Province.

Nonetheless, officials at Shanghai were repeatedly troubled about constructing a railway between the city and a Yangtze port, as the mouth of the Suzhou Creek continued to silt up, obstructing deep-bottomed foreign vessels.

As the construction of a Chinese railway was a clear violation of Article VIII of the 1868 Burlingame Treaty, American interests in the enterprise were sold to Jardine's Woosung Road Company, which extended the Danish telegraph from Wusong south to Shanghai along its right-of-way on 12 August 1873.

[4] His subsequent discovery that its conversion to rail had been previously mooted and was known to Feng Zhunguang, the circuit intendant of Shanghai, only increased his annoyance.

After consultation, they agreed that the Chinese would permit construction to continue so long as the British ceased to employ the locomotive and that both would seek further instruction from their superiors.

Upon being notified of the railway, Shen Baozhen ordered the circuit intendant to suspend all work: this failed, but workmen, dibao, and landowners came under such pressure that the company considered the agreement vitiated and restored the locomotive on March 20.

Mayers met with the circuit intendant of Shanghai six times in mid-April concerning a Chinese purchase of the railway; both concurred in principle but differed on how long Jardine's would continue its management role.

[4] The profit of the line made the British expectant of continued Chinese operation: in April, they engaged their foreign employees to another 18 months of service and, in September, ordered a fourth and larger locomotive.

[4] However, as the foreigners made clear among themselves and to the Chinese, they intended to convert the railway to a freight line, competing with the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company and forcing the issue of opening Wusong as a continuation of their concessions at Shanghai.

The line's purchases and operation increased property values, but divided farms and obstructed existing streams and canals with low bridges.

The annoyance was compounded when the initial plan – to ship the rails and rolling stock to Qing Taiwan to help develop the coal mines there[4] – failed to materialize on account of mishandling during shipment[citation needed] and lack of funds.

A series of research articles on the "researchgate.net" academic website about narrow gauge railways built in China during the Qing dynasty and the early 20th Century.