Former Great Northern Telegraph Company Building

The Great Northern Telegraph Company was founded in Denmark in 1869 through the merging of the Denmark-Norway-Britain Telegraph Company, the Denmark-Russia Telegraph Company, and the Norway-Britain Telegraph Company. In 1870, the company started operations in China, laying submarine cables from Hong Kong to Shanghai, from Shanghai to Nagasaki, and from Nagasaki to Vladivostok. The company also developed a coding system in which each Chinese character was represented by four numbers, making it possible to transmit messages in Chinese by telegraph.
This building at Tianwei Road on Kulangsu was built by the company in early 1871. Then, the cables were laid linking the building to the Hong Kong–Shanghai submarine cable, after which the company began telegraph operations, even though it did not obtain official permission from the Chinese government until 1883. The company also acted for the Danish Consulate.
The existing one storey building in colonial veranda style has a floor area of 420 square metres. It is constructed in brick and wood, and is rectangular in plan. There are verandas with semicircular arches along the north and south sides, and the walls are plastered and painted white.
The Great Northern Telegraph Company building was one of the first telegraph offices in China. Thanks to the development of telegraphic communication, the small offshore island of Kulangsu was closely connected with many countries around the world. The company was instrumental in making dialogues possible between China and foreign countries in terms of culture, diplomacy and trade through Kulangsu from the late 19th Century to the middle of the 20th Century.