Neto and Giadán: The Last Two Spanish in the Qing Dynasty

Abstract

本文考察力拓有限公司在韦尔瓦矿的两名 铸造工人马努艾尔⋅吉塔恩⋅鲁伊斯和侯赛⋅安东 尼奥内⋅托冈萨雷斯在 1912 年因帝国铜矿合同 反对甘肃政府的这一事件。通过对该事件的考 察，我们试图探讨晚清时期洋务运动失败的根 本原因，从而进一步探讨辛亥革命失败和中华 民国诞生的原因。根据内托和吉塔恩的观点， 新诞生的中华民国不能改变殖民势力对其进行 掠夺的局势，同时，通过这一事件，我们也发 现中华民国由于缺乏军事实力而不得不屈服于 包括西班牙在内的欧洲列强，被迫在利益上一 再退让。本文对《管理档案》、《国家历史档 案》、《红河基金会的历史矿工档案》、《韦 尔瓦省档案》、《维尔瓦教会档案》和《涅尔 瓦市政档案》等原版资料进行了分析，同时对 由甘肃政府兰州道尹彭英甲发动的工业运动的 经理比利时人林辅臣及其子林阿德编写的《比 利时外交档案》和《比利时技师档案》进行了 补充。 The present article examines the claim that Manuel Giadán Ruiz and Jose Antonio Neto González, Copper foundry workers, former employees of Rio Tinto Company Limited in Huelva, against the Government of the Republic of China in 1912 for breach of contract of the Imperial Copper Works. This enterprise was owned by the Gansu Provincial Government. Through this claim we can observe the causes of the failure of the modernization attempts carried out by the “Westernization Movement” in late Qing times; and also we can see the causes of frustration of Xinhai Revolution and the beginnings of the Republic of China. In particular, the “Neto and Giadan Claim” shows how the nascent Republic of China is unable to shake off the exploitation to which China was subject by the colonial powers. In fact, through this case, we see how the Republic of China was forced to yield to the economic claims of any European country, even to Spain, which at that time lacked the coercive or military capacity to impose its wishes on China. For the writing of this article, we have used original documentation from The Archive of Administration, The Archive of National History; The Archive of Historical Miner of Red River Fundation; The Archive of Huelva Province; Archivo of Huelva Diocesan, and The Archive Nerva Municipal. We have supplemented this documentation with the Belgian Foreign Ministry Archive and the personal archives of Belgian “technicians” led by "Belgian Mandarin" Paul Splingaerd and his son Alphonse. They were the managers of the industrialization process of Gansu Province launched by the Taotai of Lanzhou Peng Yingjia.