Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration

The Imperial Telegraph Administration (ITA; Chinese: 電政總局)^[1] or Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration (ICTA)^[2] was a Qing-era government-controlled corporation (spec. guandu shangban) supervised by Sheng Xuanhuai.

Imperial Telegraph Administration

Seal of Qing dynasty
Agency overview
Formed	1881
Dissolved	1906 (1906)
Superseding agency	Ministry of Posts and Communications
Jurisdiction	Qing Empire (China)

The ITA was established in 1881,^[1] after which it swiftly gained a monopoly on Chinese telegraphy. The Qing government's control over the agency would prove to be crucial in its efforts to centralize power.^[3]

By 1900 the ITA administered 14,000 miles of telegraph wires and supervised another 20,000 miles under local control.^[1] The same year, it absorbed the infant Chinese telephone network started in Nanjing.

It was nationalized in 1902 to allow otherwise unprofitable usage rates and expansion of the network^[1] or to gain control of its profits.^[2] The ITA was then absorbed by the newly formed Ministry of Posts and Communications in 1906. Following nationalization, control alternated between Sheng and his political rival Tang Shaoyi.

See also

• Qing dynasty
• Self-Strengthening Movement
• Hundred Days' Reform
• Telecommunications in the People's Republic of China