英國是老牌帝國主義的國家，從晚清開始即經營在華市場，尤其視長江流域為其勢力範圍。不過直至民國初年，受到種種主客觀環境影響，英國大致還是以長江中下游地區為主要活動地區。但自第一次世界大戰結束後，英國又積極開展進一步的擴張行動，並將眼光投注在尚待開發的長江上游地區及其航運市場。然而，正當龐大的英商船隊精極投入長江上游航運市場的同時，四川、湖北一帶的政治、軍事、社會等情況卻有日益惡化的趨勢，從而導致看似蓬勃發展的長江上游輪船航運事業，其背後卻潛伏著巨大的危機與挑戰，特別是嚴重的攻擊輪船事件頻傳，甚至造成船毀人傷的慘況。也因此，與英商長江航運利益問題密切相關的英國商會，以及英國駐華使領與海軍官員紛紛針對此類問題進行瞭解剖析，並試圖從中謀求根本的解決之道。簡言之，本文的重心即在於深入探究英國駐華使領、海軍與商會等對航行安全問題的評估與檢討，藉此形塑出1920年代英人眼中極度複雜難解的長江上游航運難題以及各種可能的處製與因應方式

Britain, an old imperialistic nation, had begun operating in China’s internal regions since the late Ch’ing Dynasty and had taken control of the Yangtze River valley. Due to the subjective and objective hindrance, the British focused their activities primarily on the middle and lower parts of the Yangtze River. After World War I however, the British actively expanded their operations and launched a new expedition to the upper Yangtze to secure an extensive shipping business. However as the British shipping companies with their large fleet were establishing commercial dominance in the upper Yangtze, the political, military and social conditions in Szechuan and Hupei were gradually deteriorating. The seemingly booming steam shipping business was thus in reality under grave threat. Frequent attacks by the locals on British steamers incurred significant material damage and casualties. As a result, the British diplomats, consuls, naval officers, and the British chamber of commerce in China all worked to analyze and solve the problems. In summary, the main focus of this article is to delve into the extremely complicated security problems faced by British merchant shipping on the upper Yangtze during the 1920s, and their reactions and perceived potential solutions to these problems.