「港際工程」：1875年來自日本的兩位荷蘭水利工程師對上海吳淞內沙的調查

Inter-Port Engineering: A Survey of the Woosung Bar near Shanghai by Two Dutch Hydrographic Engineers from Japan in 1875

黃浦江靠近吳淞一段水下泥沙淤積，在1870年代成為至中國貿易的新興大型、吃水較深輪船進出上海港之風險。上海的輪船航運、海上保險業的商人屢次集體向中外官方請願，要求疏濬「吳淞內沙」（TheWoosung Inner Bar）。他們在上海的媒體—中、英文報紙—上鼓動風潮，塑造清淤實屬必要的輿論。然而，總理衙門和轄下的海關與英、美兩國駐北京公使皆懷疑清淤之必要性。為了突破僵局，上海商人在上海各國領事會議的支持下，從日本請來受僱於明治政府的兩位荷蘭工程師艾雪（George Arnold Escher, 1843-1939）與奈格（Johannis de Rijke,1842-1913），再一次對吳淞內沙進行詳盡的水文調查。本文根據其調查報告，加上當時中外報紙、外交領事人員報告及總理衙門檔案等材料，說明這一工程計畫的緣由，並藉此論證水文知識的流通與水利工程專業的型塑，在十九世紀最後幾十年的中國，有一個跨國港際的商業脈絡。這一港際商業脈絡勾勒出一群以往未被重視的跨國在地港際商業社群，對進一步以社會建構論深入研究十九世紀東亞通商口岸的科學技術醫療史至為關鍵。

The silting up of the Huangpu River at Woosung near Shanghai had been reported by the local press as troublesome to steam ships’ access to Shanghai by the 1870s. The delays caused by the silting became one of the most vexing problems faced by the Shanghai mercantile community, city administrators, and diplomatic authorities, both Chinese and foreign. The necessity of dredging broached by shipping companies and underwriters, was, however, questioned not only by the Chinese administration, but also by foreign consular authorities of Britain and the U.S. in Beijing. To refute the official opposition to dredging, the Shanghai merchants had asked help from George Arnold Escher and Johannis de Rijke, two Dutch engineers hired by the Japanese government, to make a survey of the Woosung Inner Bar in 1875. This article argues that there existed, as seen in this case, a transnational mercantile class that actively engaged in the formation of hydraulic knowledge and the profession of hydrographical engineering in modern East Asia.