| Imperial Telegraph Administration | |
| Seal: | Seal of Qing dynasty.svg |
| Seal Size: | 150px |
| Formed: | 1881 |
| Superseding1: | Ministry of Posts and Communications |
| Jurisdiction: | Qing Empire (China) |
The Imperial Telegraph Administration (ITA;)[1] or Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration (ICTA)[2] was a Qing-era government-controlled corporation (spec. guandu shangban) supervised by Sheng Xuanhuai.
The ITA was established in 1881,[1] after which it swiftly gained a monopoly on Chinese telegraphy.
By 1900 the ITA administered 14,000 miles of telegraph wires and supervised another 20,000 miles under local control.[1] The same year, it absorbed the infant Chinese telephone network started in Nanjing.
It was nationalized in 1902 to allow otherwise unprofitable usage rates and expansion of the network[1] or to gain control of its profits.[2] The ITA was then absorbed by the newly formed Ministry of Posts and Communications in 1906. Following nationalization, control alternated between Sheng and his political rival Tang Shaoyi.