02 / Historical evidence
The first to give way were several popular claims.
The curator’s confidence made fact-checking urgent. I began comparing his claims with primary sources such as customs reports, railway histories, local newspapers, and government documents.
Nevertheless, that was only part of the story. The same research suggested that it was unlikely that Bisezhai was an entirely fabricated tourist attraction.
Claims in circulation
These are dated examples found in this research, not proof of where a phrase first originated. The marked screenshots locate the wording in the reproduced texts.
A Dianchi Morning News report, republished on Sina on December 31, describes the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway this way. The writers qualify the comparison with “it is said” and “regardless of whether it is true.” Cui Jia's 2024 report later states the attribution to The Times directly; the early newspaper article alone does not verify that attribution.
Xu Junda’s feature in Bowu, issue 5 (2013), calls Bisezhai “Little Paris.” Bowu was launched as the youth edition of China National Geographic in 2004. The feature documents the phrase in 2013; it does not establish its use in the 1910s or 1920s.
The same Bowu feature calls Bisezhai a “special-class station” and compares it with Kunming. The paper also identifies Hekou as having held that category, so this example cannot establish that Bisezhai alone had it or that the label gave it a higher rank.
Zhao Yanqing's user-submitted article presents Chen's role in the Gejiu–Bisezhai Railway through a patriotic story. The researcher-marked screenshot shows the wording with English annotations. Read the paper's comparison ↗
Anson Zong-Liscum’s travel feature reports that a plaque at Bisezhai calls the site “Little Paris of the East.” This documents a later presentation of the nickname at the site; it does not establish when the name began.
China News Service's on-site report records a Bisezhai display claiming that the clay came from Italy. A 2023 sports authority report records official recognition as China's first red-clay tennis court. The curator offered a different account of its construction. The paper did not obtain a construction record that would settle the competing stories. Read the fieldwork passage ↗
The Mengtsz Customs report records the opening of regular passenger and goods service to Pishihchai (Bisezhai) on 15 April 1909, and the operation of a Customs sub-office there.
The next report describes rice, beans, and coal carried by rail as far as Mengtsz–Pishihchai before continuing toward the Gejiu mining district. The page records transport through a network; it does not by itself rank stations.
The report says rail carried cargo from Pishihchai to inland stations, while the proposed line from Pishihchai to the Kochiu (Gejiu) mines remained under discussion and survey. It distinguishes the functioning main line from the branch that had yet to be built.
The commissioner describes the Ko–Pi Railway as eagerly awaited by tin smelters in the Kochiu (Gejiu) district because rising charcoal costs had made fuel a pressing problem. This records an expectation about the line’s future benefit, not its completed effect.
The customs report records 7,710 railway cars, amounting to 85,820 tons, entered and cleared during 1917. These figures belong to the Mengtsz reporting area; the page does not isolate Bisezhai’s own traffic.
In the same report, the commissioner records that land at Pishihchai had been cleared for the Ko–Pi Railway and construction of its station had begun. The report expected the line to open the following year; that expectation is not evidence of an actual opening date.
The 1918 Directory and Chronicle, a contemporary commercial directory, listed a branch office at Pishihchai (Bisezhai); the trade of this office was included in the Mengtsz Customs returns.
The following page lists a “Pishihchai Branch Office” with examiner N. J. B. Galletti and tidewaiter F. Benoist. It documents an administrative presence, but does not establish that the station was the railway’s only center.
Read the paper’s interpretation of the historical records ↗
1918 / Contemporary directory
The 1918 Directory and Chronicle, a contemporary commercial directory, listed a branch office at Pishihchai (Bisezhai); the trade of this office was included in the Mengtsz Customs returns. Bisezhai also stood at the intersection of the metre-gauge Yunnan–Vietnam Railway and the narrower, 600-millimeter Gejiu–Bisezhai Railway.
The revised paper cites printed p. 1004. The digitized edition record and a transcription of the Mengtsz entry confirm the passage; the scan image of p. 1004 is not yet displayed here.
Read the scale of the source
The company map traces the Gejiu–Bisezhai system. It helps locate the branch discussed in the paper. The Haiphong–Kunming route extends well beyond this sheet.
An unresolved claim
The tale of the tennis court, for example, now has two competing narratives: one associated with government agencies and official experts, and one offered by the curator I met at the museum. I did not obtain any construction records or documents that could prove or disprove either account.
Next: two kinds of centrality