50th anniversary of friendship between Belgium and the People’s Republic of China
1971-2021
The China Platform at Ghent University is announcing the publication of a new book “A Belgian Passage to China (1870-1930). This new book brings a forgotten episode of Belgium’s overseas history into the limelight. It highlights the projects of François Nuyens and, at other hand, Brothers Philippe and Adolphe Spruyt’s adventure. So “A Belgian Passage to China » contains unique and never before published documents, letters and photos.
Between 1870 and 1914, Belgium – at that time one of the major financial and industrial powers – and its engineers financed, built and operated hundreds of kilometers of train and tram lines across the five continents. The Western sense of superiority and King Leopold II’s colonial ambitions were the main driving forces behind these enterprises.
In China, this adventure materialized in the construction of the railway line between Beijing and Hankou and a tram network in Tianjin.
But the new book brings a forgotten episode of Belgium’s overseas history into the limelight.
A power station and a tram network in Tianjin !
François Nuyens left Ghent for the city of Tianjin in 1905 where he built a power station and a tram network. In a well-documented diary Nuyens writes down his impressions of his stay in China between 1905 and 1908.
China daily life at the beginning of the 20th century
Brothers Philippe and Adolphe Spruyt, both of them doctors, travelled to China to oversee the medical service at the railway construction yards between Beijing and Hankou. They returned with suitcases full of Chinese antiquities. Their interesting correspondence and more than 1,200 photographic glass plates offer a unique glimpse into the daily life of China at the beginning of the 20th century.
The book was edited by Johan J. Mattelaer and Mathieu Torck in collaboration with Charles Lagrange, Roland Dussart-Desart, Patrick Maselis and Thomas Baert.
