even this railway line would be lost within seven years. The project faced uncertainty, given the interest of other powers—particularly France and Britain—in China. As a result, the American China Development Company agreed to share half of their concession for the line with the British and Chinese Corporation in February 1899. A New York engineer, William Barclay Parsons, was sent by the American China Development Company to survey the proposed route during the winter of 1898-1899. After evaluating the costs of the railroad, the company determined that their current loan agreement with China would only fund about half of the costs of the railroad construction. The company reached a supplementary agreement with the Chinese Minister in July 1900, which provided the American China Development Company $40, 000, 000 gold bonds from the Chinese government. However, the supplemental agreement reached between the American China Development Company and the Chinese government made no mention of the earlier affiliation between the American China Development Company and the British and Chinese Corporation. International competition concerning development interests in China continued to be an issue. In December 1901, the American China Development Company was reorganized, which resulted in the Company taking on two Belgian directors, Senator de Volder of Brussels and Pierre Mali, the Belgian consul in New York. The reorganization also meant that the company became more financially dependent on Belgium, as one of the three banks that now backed the Company was the Banque d’Outremer of Brussels. By late 1903, the Belgians were striving to divide the line in order to gain sole of control of the northern portion. In January 1904, Sheng claimed that the Belgians had gained control of the company. When the American China Development Company first reached their agreement with the Chinese government, they had agreed to remain an American-owned and controlled company, and were not allowed, under the terms of the contract, to sell out to another nation. Many Chinese officials were concerned about the effect of giving concessions to foreign companies, especially those with a political interest in China, like Belgium or France. When Belgian influence increased within the American China Development Company in late 1903 to early 1904, the governors and the members of the upper class of Hunan and Hubei pushed for the cancellation of the American China Development Company’s concession to prevent the Belgians from controlling the railway line. In response to the threat