The first
steam locomotive in China is thought to be a gauge engine used on the
Shanghai-Wusong railway. Towards the end of the 19th century concessions obtained from the
Qing dynasty enabled foreign powers (Germany, Russia, France and Great Britain) to build railways in China, and they introduced a variety of foreign-built machines. Later Japan gained control over
Manchuria as a result of the
Treaty of Portsmouth following the
Russo-Japanese War and created the
South Manchuria Railway from their acquisitions – resulting in Japanese as well as American locomotives being imported into the north-east of China. After the end of the
Second World War China came back under indigenous rule. Locomotives were imported from both the United States and Russia as well as other
Communist bloc countries. Production of steam locomotives continued into the late 20th century. However, steam motive power was supplanted by diesel and electric locomotives as early as the 1950s. The Chinese rail network has been increasingly electrified in the twentieth century.
Broad gauge Standard gauge Narrow gauge ==Diesel locomotives==