create tension in Sino-Russian relations. Instead, Li proposed another route from Guye to Shengjing and Jilin City, which was approved in early 1891. When the second land surveying team came back, the details of the route were confirmed as from Shanhai Pass to Jinzhou, Xinmin, Shengjing, and Jilin. In March 1891, Li Hongzhang reported the details of Kwantung Railway, including the methods of construction and the modification on the route, to the Royal Courts; besides, he requested the funds for Beijing-Hankou Railway – 2 million Silver Teal annually – for the construction of Kwantung Railway. The plan was approved on 13 March and Official Railway Bureau of Imperial North China was founded afterward. This was the first time the government preside railway construction. Construction Plans to continue the railway North-eastwards beyond Shan Hai Kuan (Shanhaiguan) to Jinzhou, Shenyang and Jilin were set back by the lack of funds and because of First Sino-Japanese War (August 1894 to March 1895). By 1896 the rails had only reached Chung Ho So (pinyin: Zhonghousuo 中后所, nowadays Suizhong County), 40 miles beyond Shan Hai Kuan. China's loss of the war with Japan brought about Li Hung Chang's disgrace and virtual removal from power, and with this came new management. After a short power struggle between rival factions, Sheng Hsuan Huai succeeded in gaining control of this new organization and appointed his own supporters to the directorate. Among them, the most prominent was (), who was appointed Director-General and made responsible for all sections of the Railway. During the period 1898-9 a British loan of £2,300,000 was negotiated and an issue of bonds raised in London for the purpose of extending this line northwards to Xinmin and a branch line from Koupangtzu to Yingkou. The loan was arranged by the British and Chinese Corporation, a joint venture and front for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Jardine Matheson and Company. In spite of objections from the Russians (who were themselves busy grabbing control of Chinese territory in Manchuria) the line to Chinchou was eventually completed in 1899. On 31 July 1897, the bureaus of Tientsin-Lugou Bridge Railway and Tientsin-Yu Pass Railway merged and formed new Trans-Pass Railway. Under the control of foreign power, a small port was developed at Qinhuangdao with a six-mile branch line joining the mainline a few miles southwest of Shan Hai Kuan at Tangho. In April 1902, the Russian Empire