Ben Kletzer

Virtual Event
December 17 2025
Registration via Eventbrite

In 1952-1957, the People’s Republic of China’s China National Railways operated based on a marriage of convenience between the pre-revolutionary railway technical intelligentsia and the Communist Party of China (CCP). The railway technical intelligentsia governed the new state-owned railways, working as managers and engineers. The CCP’s parallel political apparatus supervised the railway administration, checking railroaders’ power but also endowing them with funding and support. This arrangement allowed the party to assert limited control over the railways while benefiting from the work of experienced railroaders. I argue that the Chinese railway technical bureaucracy accepted the party’s power because the CCP offered funding and prioritization that allowed them to design the railway system of their dreams. Using knowledge acquired in the United States and the Soviet Union, these engineers built a safer, more efficient railway system. At the same time, overt politicization of the railways through mass campaigns disrupted these developments, foreshadowing the destructive Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

Philip Scranton of Rutgers University will provide an introductory comment.