Shanghai Manholes... & Fire Hydrants: Shanghai Telephone Company

Old telephone poles and manhole covers originally installed by the many telephone companies that operated in Shanghai during the former International Settlement’s and French Concession’s administration over the city can still be found today.

While determining the time frame and, subsequently, which company installed the telephone poles is difficult as there are no markings on the poles, manhole covers installed by the Shanghai Telephone Company (S.T.C.) can be easily identified as they are marked in English.

The original telephone company was the American-backed Oriental Telephone Company which, according to some accounts, was poorly run by its British managers in the city. The S.M.C. awarded Shanghai Mutual Telephone Company (which was a newly created company) the rights to take over the telephone market in Shanghai around the turn of the 20th century. The manager of this company was a man named Gustaf Öberg (more about him later as he is an interesting character and has a great story).

Shanghai Mutual Telephone Company controlled the Shanghai telephone market until S.T.C. was incorporated in 1929 by the American-based International Telephone & Telegraph Company - still operating today as ITT Corporation and listed on the NYSE. Once S.T.C. took over Shanghai Mutual Telephone Company it set out to convert Shanghai’s manual phone system to an automatic system. S.T.C., controlled by its American investors, serviced both the International Settlement and the French Concession. According to an online reference to an article originally published by the China Journal News in 1934, Shanghai's International Settlement and French Concession had a total of 50,588 telephones in use that year. This is compared to 34,700 users in 1930.

Now a quick bit about Gustaf Öberg (Born in Stockolm, Sweden 1850-1920). Gustaf Öberg was a Swedish marine captain based in Shanghai with his wife and two children. To make a long story short, Gustaf Öberg sold weapons to the Chinese when, between 1884 & 1885, France was at war with China. He was arrested by the French and sentenced to death. After his arrest his wife and children returned to Sweden. However, his death sentence was delayed and in June 1889 he escaped from a French-controlled prison in Indochina and disappeared (thought to be dead) until December 1892 when he contacted his wife wishing her a Merry Christmas and requesting that she return to Shanghai (via America) and reunite with him. He was later acquitted by a French court of his arms dealing crimes (after supposedly bribing an official to pin the crime on an already captured Chinese pirate) and then went on to rule the Shanghai telephone market.

For more information on S.T.C. and to see one of the company's American-issued bank notes from 1933 Click Here)

For more information on Shanghai Mutual Telephone Company Click Here)

For Gustaf Öberg's full story Click Here)