Gejiu, China

History

Originally, Gejiu was called Gejiuli, which is a small mining settlement in Yunnan Province. Under the Yuan (1206–1368) and Ming (1368–1644) dynasties the mining of silver started.

In the late 17th and 18th centuries, mining in Yunnan boomed, but tin mining in Gejiu did not develop until the second half of the 18th century.

In the 1880s, Gejiu was established as a subprefecture (廳) under Mengzi County, which was about 30 km (19 mi) east of the former.

In 1889, Mengzi was opened as a treaty port to serve as a gateway for trade between the Qing Government and what was then French Indochina.

It was not until the French in Vietnam built the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway in 1910 when Gejiu began to develop. One of the main purposes in constructing this railway was to service the mine trading.

During the last years of the Qing dynasty, the mining of tin was organized by the Chinese-owned Gejiu Tin Company, but the company was deficient in capital, technical skill, and managerial efficiency and therefore was replaced by a joint state-private company, Gejiu Tin-Mining Company, under which production boomed.

After the 1911 Revolution, Gejiu was further developed due to its location up in the mountains, surrounded by abundant tin deposits.

A branch line was built from Gejiu to Mengzi between 1915 and 1928 to better serve the transport needs of the tin mine.

From the History section of Gejiu on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.