Paul Ristelhueber Explained

Paul Octave Ristelhueber (July 19, 1849 – March 12, 1925, known in Chinese sources as Chinese: 林椿) was a French diplomat stationed in Qing China. He served as the French consul in Fuzhou (1877-80),^[1] Guangzhou (1883-84)^[1] and Tianjin Concession (1884-91).

Over his tenure in Tianjin, he oversaw the construction of telegraph linking Tianjin and French Indochina in 1889.^[2] In 1905, he became the Director of the Societe Francaise de Construction et D'exploitation de Chemins de Fer en Chine Ligne du Chan-si, the company that oversaw the construction of Shijiazhuang–Taiyuan railway in Qing China.^[3] Besides, he was the Director of Russo-Chinese Bank in Paris.^[4]

Family

Ristelhueber was born in Guadeloupe, the French West Indies and died in Paris. He married Marie Anne Dannet and had two sons, of which Jean René Marie Ristelhueber became a French diplomat, stationing in Beirut (1908) and in Tunis (1924-28).^[5]

Notes and References

1. News: La consule générale. French consulate general in Guangzhou's official website. 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20210508163405/https://cn.ambafrance.org/La-consule-generale-3794. 2021-05-08.
2. Origines et motivations au sujet de la construction d’un réseau télégraphique reliant l’Indochine à la Chine à partir de 1889. Claeys. Thierry . Wen. Wen. Revue française d'histoire économique. 9-10. 1-2. 2018. 10.3917/rfhe.009.0254.
3. Book: Laboulaye, Édouard de. Les chemins de fer de Chineby. Paris. Emile Larose. 1911. https://archive.org/details/lescheminsdeferd00labouoft. 2008-07-17. 8.
4. Autour de la genèse de la Banque Russo-Chinoise : les ambitions contradictoires d’une alliance franco-russe. Claeys. Thierry . Wen. Wen. Revue française d'histoire économique. 14. 2. 2020. 10.3917/rfhe.014.0050.
5. Web site: Établissements Lucien Delignon, Quinhon. www.entreprises-coloniales.fr. 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20210508161202/http://entreprises-coloniales.fr/inde-indochine/Ets_Lucien_Delignon.pdf. 2021-05-08. Page 5 of pdf.