Chapter 7 Chapter 3 1884: Sheng Xuanhuai seizes power

Around 1882, marked by the prosperity of China Merchants Steamship, the Westernization Movement entered its first climax.Even a big comprador like Zheng Guanying turned to him, which had to make people full of confidence in the cause of Westernization. For a long time, the sorrow that had caused the empire to slump for a long time seemed to be beginning to dissipate. This phenomenon is very clear in the Shanghai stock market. The stocks of Westernization Enterprises, which were not bought by anyone a few years ago, are now a hot commodity.A piece of news was published in the "Shenbao" on September 27 of this year, listing the stock prices of Westernization Enterprises. Among them, China Merchants Steamship's stock with a face value of 100 taels had a market price of 253 taels, Shanghai Machine Weaving Layout, The stocks of Kaiping Mining Bureau, Hubei Changle Copper Mine, Rehe Pingquan Copper Mine and Hubei Hefeng Copper Mine (both face value 100 taels) have market prices of 110 taels, 216.3 taels, 168 taels, 256 taels and 155 taels respectively. Zheng Guanying wrote to Sheng Xuanhuai very excitedly, saying, "Now the shares of all Shanghai companies have risen, and Hiraizumi's share capital is only tens of thousands, and the rise is especially high."

From 1882 to 1887, a total of 36 companies published stock trading prices in Shenbao. They were the first batch of joint-stock enterprises in modern China. Everyone agrees, and within a few years, the atmosphere has been opened up, and companies have gathered because of it. Although there are some successes and failures, it has changed the narrow rules of the past." From the industry distribution of these joint-stock companies, it can be seen that mining investment It is a hot spot, and the competition for energy has always been a theme in the reorganization of the interests of Chinese companies.

Sheng Xuanhuai was one of the first to see this business opportunity.After being appointed as the office of the China Merchants Bureau, because of the existence of Tang Tingshu and Xu Run, he had little room to intervene in the affairs of the bureau, so for ten years, he was sent by Li Hongzhang to some other pioneering projects. Practice in practice.In the second year of Guangxu (1876), he said in a letter to Li, "The provinces are now setting up ship and gun bureaus, and the demand for coal is increasing. Instead of buying coal from the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan, the profits will flow out, and it is better to mine the middle land for self-sufficiency." The coal produced is beneficial to self-prosperity." Li Hongzhang thought so deeply, and believed that "it is an urgent task for China to imitate the mining of coal and iron by foreign methods." He immediately appointed Sheng Xuanhuai to go to Hubei to mine medium and iron mines, and Sheng led people day by day. Traveling for twenty or thirty miles, exploring coal and iron in the Jingzhou and Yichang areas is quite hard work.In the next few years, he went to various places to explore mines, successively explored the Daye Coal Mine in Hubei, the Dengzhou Lead Mine in Shandong, the Jinzhou Iron Mine in Liaoning, the Jinzhou Coal Mine, etc., and completed the first nationwide mining exploration activities in modern China. It can be called the blue thread of the mining industry.Under his demonstration, Tang Tingshu founded the Kaiping Mining Bureau, Zhu Yifu mined the Pingquan Copper Mine, and the first batch of industrialized mining mining enterprises clustered in modern times was born.

In addition to the pioneering achievements in the mining industry, the telegraph and telephone industry, which has been demonized in the past few years, has also achieved breakthroughs. In the autumn of 1880, Sheng Xuanhuai established the General Administration of Telegraphs of China, appointed himself as the general office, and planned to erect electric lines from Tianjin to Shanghai.In order to run the telegram, Sheng Xuanhuai can be said to have taken great pains.On the one hand, he had to fight "Tai Chi" with officials from all over the country to persuade and induce them to agree to erect power lines; on the other hand, he had to solve the problem of shortage of funds.Just like when he founded China Merchants, he once again put forward the concept of government-supervised commercial management, personally drafted the charter, and raised private funds.At the same time, he also resisted foreign telegraph investment.With the support of Li Hongzhang, the China Telegraph Administration successively took back the land lines along the coast established by the British Dadong and Danish Dabei companies, and China's telegraph network returned to Chinese ownership.Until around 1908, the General Administration of Telegraphs built a total of 20,000 kilometers of telegraph lines, connecting most commercial and strategic central cities, and completed the nationwide construction of mainline wires.

Li Hongzhang greatly appreciated Sheng Xuanhuai's talents in the mining and telegraph battles, and commended Sheng Xuanhuai in his memorial to the court, saying, "This member has excellent talents, hard work, and can take on major events, which is enough to help the difficult times." In his opinion, this loyal disciple connected with his mind has truly matured.Soon, he made a risky decision. In 1884, when Sheng Xuanhuai's office of the General Administration of Telegraphs achieved initial results, he suddenly got the opportunity to join the Shipping Merchants Bureau. In the past few years, China Merchants has been doing well, and its annual profit has exceeded one million taels. The government and businessmen have become active, and the contradictions in the government-supervised and commercial-run system have gradually become inevitable.

Tang Tingshu and Xu Run were originally compradors. They believed that "official money for official profits, not responsible for profit and loss, is really a deposit in nature."Since Zheng Guanying entered the bureau in the spring of 1882, the ideological trend of business management has become more intense. Zheng is more resolute in his vigilance against Westernization bureaucrats than Tang and Xu. No matter whether it is profit or loss, don’t dare to ask about it.” When the three people reached a consensus on their ideas, they jointly signed a report to Li Hongzhang, hoping that the official money would be “returned according to the schedule, and the currency interest will be paid to the official one after another. Afterwards, the business will be in charge of the merchant, and the profit and loss will be recognized by the merchant, which has nothing to do with the official, so please don't send staff."

This proposal is tantamount to privatizing the China Merchants Bureau. This is obviously not in line with Li Zhongtang's intentions. It can be said that there is a rebellion in the back of his head. In fact, among the first government-business joint ventures, due to the weakness of the government, most of the start-up funds came from the private sector, and the operation basically relied on compradors. Therefore, it is a trend to emphasize the principle of business management.From the articles of association of these enterprises, we can see the emphasis of the operators in this regard.Tang and Xu, in the articles of association of China Merchants for Steamships they presided over, emphasized that China Merchants for Steamships should be managed by merchants. Since there was no such precedent before, in order to reduce the troubles that might be caused by it, they then confessed: "Check Merchants live on the soil and feed on hairs, and they are the country’s children. They dare not use the word "official and business" and there is a slight difference. However, it is a commercial operation, and it seems appropriate to look down on the business rules, which are easy to abide by." In the regulations of the Kaiping Mining Bureau, it is also clear Said: "Although the bureau is supervised by the government and the merchants, after all, coal and iron are still sold by merchants. It seems that it is advisable to follow the trading rules so that it is easy to abide by. All the directors of the factories must be selected from the merchants to be beneficial. business." Xuzhou Liguo Mining Bureau's charter also clearly stated: "mining is to reduce costs first. All matters should be handled in accordance with businessmen's business practices, with minimal waste and verification, and no extravagance. All work matters should be done by Chinese businessmen.” It seemed that there was a consensus at that time that businessmen should get rid of official habits, and the Shanghai Machine Weaving Bureau stated in the articles of association: “Although things start with officials, everything is actually done by businessmen. Do it, and get rid of all the flashy habits of officialdom, so that it can last forever."

These principles are not unacceptable to Li Hongzhang, who has always been open-minded. These regulations are not unreasonable on paper, but Li Zhongtang categorically refuses to completely privatize the company based on this.It is also easy to see through his mind: Westernization sent high-ranking officials to run enterprises, one for the purpose of "strengthening the army"—military needs, and the other for "rich country"—increasing fiscal revenue. Once the enterprise is privately run, it cannot be directly controlled.From the perspective of cultural psychology, for thousands of years, businessmen have always been "rich but not expensive". It is absolutely impossible to come.

In addition, there is another thing that worries Li Hongzhang. When the compradors run the government-supervised commercial enterprises, they also operate their own private enterprises according to the "convention".There is no doubt that there is a serious confusion in the transfer of interests.Take Tang and Xu as an example. After they came to China Merchants, they founded Changyuantai one after another.Circulation companies such as Changfa Storehouse, and the first insurance company in China, Renjihe Insurance Company, have a large number of related transactions with China Merchants, which inevitably gives people the impression that they are playing tricks on each other. (It should be noted that even after Sheng Xuanhuai, an official businessman, took over, he followed the same pattern. While running a business in the name of the country, he set up a lot of private companies to amass wealth. This bad habit has continued to Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi in the Republic of China. The professional ethics of Chinese bureaucrats and entrepreneurs and the bad culture of officials and businessmen make people feel deeply.)

Therefore, the joint letter by Tang Tingshu and others became the fuse of the rupture between the government and businessmen. Of course Sheng Xuanhuai saw this kind of centrifugal scene. He had been watching the throne for a long time, so naturally he would not let this moment of alienation go.He sent a secret letter to Li Hongzhang, slandering Tang and Xu for their incompetence. ".Specifically, he believes that the Tang and Xu Zhijus have two major crimes. One is to appoint foreigners to manage affairs, which is not in line with the Qing Dynasty. It was a relative, "beginning to abuse the potato, and then cheating." The phenomenon he described was common to comprador figures and private companies at the time, but from the perspective of the state-run system, it became an unforgivable crime.He also teamed up with Zhu Qiang's younger brother, Zhu Cuifu, who was also working in the China Merchants Bureau at the time, to make things difficult for Tang and Xu. Not to", which made Tang and Xu miserable.

By 1884, Sheng Xuanhuai's opportunity finally came.This year, the financial crisis broke out in Shanghai. Xu Run once took advantage of the financial management of China Merchants to embezzle a huge sum of 160,000 taels to speculate on real estate. At this time, the scandal came to light.Li Hongzhang appointed Sheng Xuanhuai to investigate and deal with this incident. Sheng Xuanhuai reported to the court, saying that Xu Run "fake public affairs for personal gain, tame to the point where he owes the bureau money, which is really a joke", so he should be dismissed and ordered to pay the compensation according to the amount.Xu Run proposed that he had only received a salary of 25,000 taels in China Merchants for 11 years, and he had a balance of 700,000 taels in the bureau. As a shareholder, he could draw two dividends in accordance with the established regulations. Can he use this dividend? Offset the outstanding balance.Sheng Xuanhuai flatly refused.Xu Run "clean out".His power was taken away, his equity was lost, and he had to sell all his real estate. As a result, "the family business was gone, and the vitality was gone." Xu Runcheng was the first manager of a state-owned enterprise who "sacrificed" due to system conflicts. The mourners behind are like clouds, winding for hundreds of miles, and there is no end yet. After Xu Run was removed, Tang Tingshu was also transferred from China Merchants in the spring and summer of the following year.Sheng Xuanhuai finally took the coveted post of supervisor.After taking office, he immediately announced that the imperial court "send a senior official to supervise the handling carefully, and use personnel and financial management to listen to the scheduling." During the Tang and Xu Dynasties, official personnel seldom intervened in specific business affairs. In the end, there was no distinction between officials and businessmen.He also secretly used the power of the government to force other private shareholders to withdraw their shares one by one, which completely changed the ownership structure, and China Merchants became a company run by officials supervised by "Sheng".In the next few decades, this "China's first modern enterprise" will experience several times of property rights competition, which can be called the "miniature" of property rights evolution. These behaviors of Sheng Xuanhuai are not only completely different from Tang and Xu's concept of private governance, but also very different from Li Hongzhang's original thinking of "listening to the self-reliance of the business directors and others". In order to control power, he betrayed the 13 years ago. That philosophy.Sheng's style has been passed on all the way in the future, and it has been a disaster for a hundred years.In government-supervised commercial enterprises, official shares and commercial shares do not have equal rights and status at all.A businessman named Wu Zuoqing once complained about this kind of property rights discrimination in the ownership system: "If it is run by the government, it will be a real investment company; Investing in shares is like a passer-by, even the dividend at the end of the year is nothing more than relying on others, and whether the bureau fee should be cut or not, and whether the secretary should be used or not, should not be involved. Although the year-end discussion is also like the example of Taixi, the business shares and The general office separates the cloud and mud." In 1884, the same year when Sheng Xuanhuai seized power from China Merchants, a cross-referenced company news occurred in Japan.The Meiji government "sold" Nagasaki Shipyard, the largest shipbuilding company in Japan at that time, which was founded almost at the same time as China Merchants Group, to private entrepreneur Yataro Iwasaki at a symbolic price of only 1 yen. This company later developed into the famous Mitsubishi Corporation. company. In the early 1870s, both China and Japan began industrialization changes. Many modern factories were born in both countries, and their modernization speeds were very similar. On December 12, 1870, the Meiji government established the Ministry of Industry, responsible for "supervising and managing all mines; building and maintaining all railways, telegraph lines and lighthouses; manufacturing and casting copper, iron and lead ores used by various enterprises, and Engaged in machine manufacturing." Over the next ten years, Japan successively established many state-owned enterprises such as Yokosuka, Yokohama Iron Works, Nagasaki Iron Works, Sekiguchi Cannon Works, and Ishikawashima Shipbuilding Works. Movement mirrors each other. However, in the mid-1880s, the two countries suddenly embarked on two different industrialization paths. At the same time that Sheng Xuanhuai returned the China Merchants Bureau to bureaucratic control, there was a very firm privatization in Japan. The Meiji government realized that The disadvantages of state-owned government-owned enterprises were too great, so they resolutely changed their course and promoted privatization. Fukuzawa Yukichi, the enlightener of the Meiji Restoration, exclaimed: "If the government wants to enrich the country, it thinks that it can do anything, engage in the same ordinary business as the people, and even compete with the people. The success or failure of business and industry has its disadvantages.” The famous politician and former Prime Minister of the Meiji government, Ito Hirobumi, explained that one of the purposes of the Meiji government to establish various enterprises is to “show real benefits and lure the people.” After these industrial and mining enterprises have completed their historical missions in introducing advanced production technology and equipment and training skilled workers, the government should sell these state-run enterprises to private business associations. It was under the guidance of this kind of thinking that the government successively resold many state-owned factories to private entrepreneurs, and some even gave away "for nothing" like Nagasaki Shipbuilding.The privatization process of state-owned enterprises in Japan has not been smooth sailing.Kenichi Ohno recorded in the book "From Edo to Heisei": "All state-owned enterprises except military supply factories were privatized. At this time, the sale of state-owned assets to some powerful businessmen at a low price caused domestic public opinion to There was an uproar and curses, and it developed into a political scandal in 1881. But the fact is that after privatization, many companies turned losses into profits through layoffs and additional investment.” The privatization movement led to the rapid growth of the Japanese economy. From the end of 1884 to 1892, the number and total capital of Japanese joint-stock companies increased from 2,392 and 100 million yen to 5,444 and 280 million yen respectively, and the number of employees increased from 123,000 to 420,000, and Mitsui Corporation appeared. , Mitsubishi, Kansai Railway and many other chaebol-type private enterprises.Associated with the different ideas of industrialization, the evolution of the political systems of the two countries is also completely different. In 1889, Japan established the Diet and promulgated the Constitution, thereby establishing a new system of constitutional monarchy.Two different path choices led to completely different national fortunes of the two countries.From this we can make a prediction: the Westernization Movement will be a complete failure.This ending was doomed at the moment Sheng Xuanhuai seized power in China Merchants in 1884. In the distant year of 1884, Sheng Xuanhuai's seizure of power and the China Merchants Bureau was not even news at the time, and the historical significance of its "officials entering and business retreating" took a long time to be revealed in an extremely hideous manner.In China at that time, the most sensational economic event was a great business war in Shanghai, and the resulting bankruptcy of Hu Xueyan (1823-1885), the richest man in the Qing Dynasty and known as the "red-top businessman". ("Red-top businessman": According to the official system of the Qing Dynasty, officials above the second rank wear red tops, and those below the third rank wear blue tops. Hu Guangyong, whose name is Xueyan, is known in the world. His official title is Jiangxi Candidate Dao, and he is the fourth rank. , the imperial court also "unconventionally" rewarded him with the title of chief minister, as the second grade, so he can wear a red cap, and has the title of "red cap businessman". This is called an official businessman, or a businessman with an official background derogatory.) When Hu Xueyan was alive, he was already a legend.He was born in Jixi, Anhui. He lost his father when he was young, and his family was poor. He walked a hundred miles to Hangzhou and entered a money shop as an apprentice.He was quick-witted and good at management, and he was so trusted by his master that he actually gave Hu Xueyan all his money before his death.However, Hu Zhenzhen's fortune began when he got acquainted with Zuo Zongtang. Zuo, together with Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong, were famous ministers of the Westernization School. In 1862, Hu Xueyan climbed up to Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Zhejiang at that time, who was fighting against the Taiping Army by chance, and worked as his procurement officer for the next 20 years, raising money, food and military pay for him, and became the latter's "money man". bag".It was also during this process that Hu Xueyan's wealth increased dramatically.Relying on the power of Zuo Shuai, he established more than 20 Fukang banks in various provinces, becoming the most creditable and powerful Anhui merchant bank, and operating Chinese medicine and silk tea business, manipulating the business of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, with a capital of more than 20 million taels , owning 10,000 mu of land, became the richest man in the country in just 20 years.He has excellent business intuition, pays attention to integrity, is mellow, and considerate in life. While earning a lot of money, he also won the trust of the court. A businessman who was given a yellow jacket.Hu Xueyan leisurely wandered between shopping malls and official circles, taking advantage of official positions for personal gain. He is a typical official businessman and is considered an unborn business genius. Learn from Hu Xueyan". In 1882, Hu Xueyan, who had long been famous all over the world, faced a major decision in his career.Holding a huge amount of cash of more than 10 million taels in his hand, he hesitated for a while whether to do foreign affairs or resell raw silk. Hu Xueyan is no stranger to Westernization. When Zuo Zongtang founded the Fujian Ship Administration Bureau in 1868, all the purchases of foreign machinery and arms were handled by Hu Xueyan. Later generations built the "China Ship Administration Museum" at the Mawei Site, which can be seen by opening the door The three bronze statues are Zuo Zongtang, Shen Baozhen and Hu Xueyan.He obviously saw the huge "money prospect" of the Westernization cause. In January 1882, he wrote to his benefactor Zuo Zongtang, expressing his willingness to contribute to the construction of the telegraph along the Yangtze River alone. He said that he had 10 million funds available for this purpose. More than two—this is a huge amount of money, which we have already calculated in the previous chapter. The old lady Cixi repaired the Summer Palace and Zuo Zongtang led thousands of troops to suppress the unrest in the Northwest. All the Westernization Enterprises that Li Hongzhang has worked so hard to run in the past ten years.However, what made Hu Xueyan think hard the most was the subtle personnel structure in the officialdom.Both Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang were famous generals brought out by Zeng Guofan when he was destroying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. They were both open-minded and important ministers of the Westernization Movement. However, Zuo Zongtang belonged to the Hunan Army system, and Li Hongzhang belonged to the Huai Army. The deadly enemy above.At that time, Master Li was in charge of Western Affairs, which made Hu Xueyan, who is well versed in officialdom, very hesitant. In the past few years, his relationship with Sheng Xuanhuai was very delicate. Hu Shuang quickly agreed, but the tens of thousands of taels of shares were never in place, which made Sheng Huai hate his whole life. Doing foreign affairs, the business prospects are bright but the officialdom is difficult to understand. The second way is to resell raw silk.Since the late Ming Dynasty, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas have been the center of the national textile industry. The so-called "thousands of silks at sunrise, clothes and quilts all over the world" have been identified in history textbooks as "the birthplace of modern capitalism".For hundreds of years, giant businessmen and merchants who have made their fortunes from the silk industry can be found everywhere. Jiangsu and Zhejiang have finally become the most affluent places in modern China. ", those who call "Xiang" must have a family property of more than 1 million taels of silver.Some scholars have calculated that the total property of Huzhou merchants reached 60 million to 80 million taels of silver, which is equivalent to the annual fiscal revenue of the Qing government.Merchants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang seemed to be known as the "Three Great Merchants" at that time together with Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants.Hu Xueyan procured military supplies for Zuo Zongtang, so dealing with silk merchants was indispensable. He and Pang Yungao, one of the "Four Elephants", had been business partners for more than ten years. They partnered in the silk business and resold arms together. He opened a When Hu Qingyu Tangguo drugstore, Pang opened Pang Zi German drugstore in Nanxun according to the gourd painting. After the 1860s, Jiangnan silk merchants faced a major crisis.At that time, Britain and the United States began to set up mechanical silk reeling factories in Shanghai, and the technological innovation of the "Industrial Revolution" in the West started from the textile industry. Therefore, the production efficiency and quality of traditional Chinese hand reeling could not compete with mechanical silk reeling.In order to further plunder China's cheap labor and raw materials, foreign merchants monopolized the silk export market, desperately lowered the price of raw silk, raised the price of factory silk, and reaped huge profits from it. In 1868, the market value of each tael of raw silk was 517 taels of silver. By 1875, the price had dropped to 285 taels, and eight years later, it had plummeted to 200 taels.The textile industry in the south of the Yangtze River, which has been thriving for hundreds of years, declined rapidly, and the silk merchants who used to be incomparably wealthy all of a sudden became "sick as thin cows and homeless dogs". Witnessing this scene, Hu Xueyan believes that business opportunities have emerged.The silk reeling industry is booming, but the price of raw silk as a raw material is falling day by day. This is an extremely abnormal phenomenon. According to his observation, the main reason is that the Chinese merchants are fighting each other and the price power is controlled by foreigners.Therefore, he decided to rely on his own financial resources to gamble with him.In addition, there is information that in the past two years, European agriculture has suffered from drought, and the raw silk harvest has decreased. It is based on these judgments that the richest man, Hu Xueyan, made a move and became a high-profile dealer.In the century-old corporate history, the first Sino-foreign business war broke out. In May 1882, he purchased 8,000 bales of raw silk in large quantities, reaching 14,000 bales by October.Ouyang Yu, a late Qing scholar who was contemporary with Hu Xueyan, recorded the tragic scene of this commercial war in detail in "Short Records of Knowledge": as soon as the new silk came out in that year, Hu immediately sent people to buy it in large quantities, and there were no omissions. Foreign businessmen wanted to buy a You can't get a catty or two, and there is nothing you can do.Xiang Hu said that he would like to add 10 million taels, and if he bought this silk, Hu would definitely ask for 12 million taels.The foreign businessman refused to buy it, and after a few days, he entrusted someone to buy it from Hu Shen, who insisted on fixing the price.Foreign businessmen believe that raw silk raw materials are only in the hands of Hu Xueyan, and future transactions will only be made by him. How can they profit?I am determined not to buy raw silk from Hu Zhi, and wait for the new silk to come out next year.Hu Xueyan invited his colleagues in the silk industry to discuss together to collect all the raw silk from all over the country and not to give it to foreign businessmen, forcing foreign businessmen to pay high prices for the purchase, so that we will surely reap huge profits. At first, Hu's strategy seemed to work.Western scholar Stanley recorded in the book "Late Qing Finance" that in September 1882, the price of first-grade raw silk in Shanghai had risen to 17 shillings and 4 pence, while the price on the London Exchange was only 16 shillings and 3 pence.Domestic prices surpassed international futures prices.By August 1883, when the great business war was at the decisive moment, Hu Xueyan had already invested more than 15 million taels.Both Huayang and Huayang have reached the limit of their patience. Seeing that the outcome is judged, who would have thought that the "celestial phenomenon" suddenly changed drastically. As one of the variables, the Italian raw silk harvest in Europe was suddenly bumper, and the tension in the European futures market was temporarily suspended. When the news was sent back to China, business sentiment began to waver. The bigger variable is that China and France have turned against each other because of the Vietnam issue, and a war broke out. In October 1883, a French warship sailed to Wusongkou, Shanghai, and threatened to attack the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. The situation was tense, and citizens withdrew their money to avoid it. The market changed suddenly, and the financial crisis broke out suddenly.Foreign banks and Shanxi Banks withdrew their short-term loans one after another, and individual depositors also urgently withdrew their cash.The newspapers at that time described the scene: "The money bank forced the account like sparks, and the Shanghai business bureau was shaken. Anyone who came in and out of the bank's money was in danger; although there was something to pay back, there was a principal that could be repaid, but the cash could not be withdrawn. The bank's pressure is like defaulting on a debt. "The price of general commodities has dropped by 30% to 50%, all real estate is difficult to sell, and trade has come to a complete standstill. The world is like this, and Hu Xueyan is powerless to recover. In November, the price alliance of silk merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang collapsed. The raw silk was perishable and could not be stored for a long time. Hu Xueyan had to sell it.The failure of the raw silk battle soon affected the "rock-solid" bank business. People lined up to withdraw money, and some officials who were at odds with Hu Xueyan took the opportunity to press for their salaries. It affected more than 20 bank names in Beijing, Fuzhou, Zhenjiang, Hubei, Hunan and other places. By December 5, Fukang Bank declared bankruptcy. The Chinese coach in the Sino-French War was Hu Xueyan's benefactor Zuo Zongtang. On August 22, 1884, the French Navy and the Fujian Navy, the only modern navy of the Qing Empire, fought a decisive battle in Mawei, Fujian.American scholar Shi Jingqian described the war in a very concise manner in the book "In Search of Modern China": "The difference between China and the developed industrial power is once again clear to the world. The flagship of the Chinese fleet was in the first minute of the war was torpedoed and sunk. Within seven minutes, most of the Chinese ships were hit. Within an hour, all Chinese ships were sunk or set ablaze, and the arsenal and docks were destroyed. France killed five, and China had 521 people were killed and 51 people were missing.” The Fujian Navy Fleet initiated by Zuo Zongtang and funded by Hu Xueyan was almost completely wiped out. In September of the following year, Zuo Zongtang died of illness in Fuzhou. In November, the imperial court ordered Hu Xueyan to be dismissed from office and searched, and punished severely.He dismissed concubine Ji and his servants, and died in a very "timely" depression before the imperial decree came.His coffin was buried by an old servant in the pile of rocks at the foot of Luchan Ridge in the western suburbs of Hangzhou. It was not discovered by accident until a full 100 years later. In 1884, Sheng Xuanhuai's seizure of power and Hu Xueyan's death were two very symbolic and intrinsically related events. Since the Westernization Movement was launched in 1870, due to the shortage of official treasury, it had to rely heavily on private capital. The lack of management talents also made it possible to try the professional manager system, especially the active participation of the comprador class, which made Westernization enterprises present a prosperous scene. Over the past ten years, from shipbuilding, mining, textiles to shipping, insurance, etc., many "China's first" emerging companies have emerged, and basic industrial facilities such as railways and telegraphs have also been activated.However, after the beginning of the weather, there were institutional and ideological conflicts between the politicians and the entrepreneurial class. In the end, marked by Sheng Xuanhuai's power in China Merchants, bureaucratic capitalism that insisted on the state-run system gained the upper hand.Hao Yanping, a Chinese-American scholar, regarded this as "the turning point of bureaucratic capitalism". He commented in the book "Commercial Revolution in Modern China", "After 1884, unfortunately, the bureaucrats headed by Sheng Xuanhuai firmly grasped the bureaucratic business (they were the early pioneers of China's industrialization), and bureaucracy began to play a more important role than entrepreneurship in China's industrial development." What is especially worth reflecting is that the Westernization School spared no effort in establishing industries, but did nothing in system design, which formed a sharp contrast with neighboring Japan. Chinese scholar Yang Xiaokai made an incisive comparison between the almost simultaneous Westernization Movement and the Meiji Restoration in "Notes on China's Economic History in the Hundred Years": The Qing government's political monopoly was not based on an independent judiciary and a legal system that protected private enterprise.Contrary to the Civilian Reform that imitated the Western political, legal, and economic systems, the Westernization Movement insisted on a system of government-run, government-business joint, and government-supervised business-run systems. Based on this, it imitated the technology and industrialization models of developed countries.This approach puts the interests of the government-monopoly industry in conflict with its status as an independent third party in its arbitrating role, making it both referee and player, thus using its refereeing powers to pursue the interests of its players.This institutionalized state opportunism makes the government use its monopoly position to compete with private enterprises for resources and suppress the development of private enterprises.During the Meiji Restoration, not only did private property be sacred and inviolable in the constitution, but it also fully imitated the political, legal, and economic systems of Britain and Germany (but did not give up the real power of the emperor, and did not create a false monarchy). During the period of development, except for a few model factories, there were basically no state-owned enterprises.Therefore, the government can play the third-party arbitration function of fair justice and law enforcement, and private enterprises can flourish.In addition, Japan imitated the patent law and company law, which enabled private companies to use the residual rights to protect and promote the benefits of Western patents, so Western technologies were widely developed in Japan. After Tang Tingshu and Xu Run were ruthlessly kicked out of China Merchants, the "honeymoon period" between Westernization faction bureaucrats and emerging entrepreneurial classes ended.In the following ten years, it became more difficult for Westernization bureaucrats to raise funds for industrial enterprises. At that time, the Qing government’s financial resources were very limited, and all tax revenues accounted for only 2.4% of national net income. The disappointment of private capital made the investment of the Westernization Group Getting smaller and smaller. The bankruptcy of Hu Xueyan and the Shanghai financial crisis that occurred at the same time are undoubtedly worse. The "red-top businessman" challenged the British and American textile companies in an extremely reckless and heroic way. This should be a Jedi-style counterattack by traditional business forces under the premise that both technology and industrial models are at an absolute disadvantage.His bankruptcy announced the collective fall of the traditional merchant class. Two of the "three major merchant gangs", Huizhou merchants and Jiangsu and Zhejiang merchants suffered heavy losses in the battle, and have never recovered from it.The textile industry that sprouted in the late Ming Dynasty collapsed completely, and Jiangnan silk merchants turned to other businesses one after another. Pang Yungao, a rich man in Nanxun who allied with Hu Xueyan, even left a "legacy" before his death, warning future generations never to touch the "white tiger" again. "Tiger" is white silk and white people.Volume 12 of Xing Zuisheng's Selected Records of Zhuang Xie says: "After Hu's defeat in the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, business has greatly diminished, and commentators say it is no less than the catastrophe of Gengshen."Late Qing novelist Daqiao Shiyu even thought in the preface of "Hu Xueyan's Biography": "Since the emperor is defeated, and those who have been famous in the Chinese commercial society for decades or twenty years, they don't know how much they will suffer." The Shanghai financial crisis triggered by the Sino-French war was not only the direct cause of Hu Xueyan's defeat, but also a disaster for China's fragile emerging economic system. In the past ten years, Shanghai has become the largest commercial center in the Far East, with prosperous industries, active transactions of various commodities, and skyrocketing real estate prices.In addition to the Kaiping Mining Bureau, the four most important foreign affairs industries founded by Li Hongzhang, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, Shipping Merchants Bureau and Shanghai Machine Weaving Bureau are all gathered here.The war suddenly broke out, and the chess game became chaotic.By the end of 1883, 48 of the 58 relatively important banks in Shanghai had gone bankrupt, and the deposit of silver in Shanghai had decreased by 90%, to only 380,000 taels.F.B. Johnson, manager of Jardine Matheson Bank in Hong Kong, stated in a letter dated October 29 that foreign banks had transferred more than 2 million taels of money from Shanghai. Explain the reason for the collapse of the enterprise." The stocks of the Westernization School enterprises that were still in full swing in the past two years collapsed like water. By the beginning of 1884, the shares of Kaiping Coal Mine had fallen from more than 200 taels per share to 29 taels, and the shares of China Merchants had fallen to 34 taels. , Compared with one and a half years ago, the average shrinkage is 87%, investors have suffered heavy losses, and they dare not rekindle their confidence within ten years. This financial crisis is the bursting of the first bubble economy in the century-old corporate history.The vitality of Shanghai has not recovered for a long time. The "Beihua Herald" in December 1885 described the scene at that time: "People can still see empty, useless, and abandoned buildings along the Huangpu River, and the boundary stones of dead enterprises scattered here and there. The silent ghost of the factory—the tomb of an enterprise that suffocates as soon as it is born.” In 1887, a mining investor named Li Qingyun still wrote with lingering fear in the center of his letter, “As far as a corner of Shanghai is concerned, there are dozens of people who set up companies. A family has an end. The undertakers often go bankrupt, and there are still more to be tired. The word "company" has long been hated by people." In the ten years since 1884, the Westernization School has made no major achievements.After Sheng Xuanhuai took over China Merchants, although he was working hard, he never surpassed the glory of the Tang and Xu eras. According to Liu Guangjing's statistics in "Sino-British Ships", by 1894, the number of China Merchants' ships was similar to that of ten years ago, 26 (net tonnage 23,200), Jardine and Swire have increased to 22 (net tonnage 23,900) and 29 (net tonnage 34,500), "the dominance of the shipping industry in Chinese waters will soon disappear" . During this period of time, Zhang Zhidong's biggest handiwork of the Westernization School was the founding of the Hanyang Iron Works, and its history is very ironic. In a country's industrialization process, steel production capacity is one of the most important basic indicators. In 1888, after Zhang Zhidong served as the governor of Huguang, he played the "Preparation for the Establishment of an Ironworks" and proposed "to set up a factory by ourselves, purchase machinery, and use foreign methods to refine it, so as to start with Duwaitie".Mrs. Zhang is a famous minister of the Westernization School, and he proposed the famous "Chinese style and Western application". "Drafts of Qing History" commented on this person, "Wherever you come to an official, there must be a joint effort. The task is grand, regardless of the amount of money."The last horoscope not only admires his grandeur, but also ridicules him for not understanding input and output, which is a typical mentality of a state-owned boss.At the beginning of the establishment of the factory, some people suggested that the government should supervise the private operation, but he advocated that the government should be run by the government, and once it was established, it would be the largest steel factory in East Asia. The "politically correct" Zhang Xiangshuai (Zhang Zhidong, nicknamed Xiangtao, respected as Xiangshuai), ran an iron factory under the government, but the result was a stinky move. He located the ironworks in Hanyang, and the Hubei iron mine was in Daye, 120 kilometers away. It produced 100 tons of iron every day, and the freight required for iron sand was more than 60 taels of silver.Moreover, there is no coking coal for ironmaking near Hanyang, so we can only use coking coal imported from Kaiping, Hebei or abroad. In addition to transportation costs, each ton of coking coal costs 16 to 17 taels of silver, while the price of imported iron in Shanghai only costs more than 30 taels. .把炼铁厂选在汉阳已经错了，张之洞又坚持将厂建在大别山麓。这里地势低洼而潮湿，必须先垫高地基才能建厂。共填了一丈多高的土，填土用30余万两，相当于包括购买机器及运费在内的建厂经费300万两的1/10。建好了厂要买机器。炼铁炼钢用什么设备是有技术要求的。钢的含磷量超过0.2%质量就不高，容易断，因此，要根据所用的铁矿含磷量来决定采用哪种设备。张之洞心急着要开工，不顾专家建议，下令“什么炉子方便就制造什么，我们中国什么矿都有”。结果从英国买来的炼铁大炉完全不适用，汉阳铁厂产的钢铁易脆裂折断，不能用于锻制或铸造。 光绪二十年（1895年），汉阳铁厂的钢铁上市。当时进口钢铁每吨售价30余两白银，汉阳厂的产品每吨23两白银都无人问津。汉阳铁厂开炉生产仅仅4年，已用去官银500多万两，亏损累累，毫无起色。 自19世纪80年代中期之后的十年中，正是世界经济出现重大变局的时刻。 日本在经济体制和政治体制上的诸多革新都是在这段时间完成的。经过十多年的“求智识于世界”，“殖兴产业”的国策推行顺利，丝、茶经西方工艺改良，在国际市场上成为中国的劲敌，绿茶夺去一半美国市场，“每马士丝”超过中国湖州的“辑里丝”，是最受欢迎的亚洲细丝。 远离欧洲大陆的美国开始崛起为一个新兴的经济大国，对铁路的坚决投入，让它的土地和矿产资源优势得以发挥，企业家们开始展现自己的雄心，洛克菲勒的石油和铁路生意，J·P·摩根的金融帝国，卡内基的钢铁工厂都是在这段时间隆隆崛起的，纽约成了除伦敦以外最重要的金融中心，在曼哈顿岛上一条叫华尔街的狭窄街道上，金融家们开始学习着统治世界。1882年，德国哲学家马克斯·韦伯预言说，“欧洲结束的地方正是美国开始的地方。”他后来写出了《新教伦理与资本主义精神》，对现代企业家精神进行了最著名的论述。 在欧洲，蒸汽机的发明已经超过一百年，以此为标志的“工业革命”早已结束，自1873年之后的二十年中，整个欧洲大陆陷入大萧条，民族主义运动和工人运动此起彼伏，思想家们开始反思资本主义制度，其中对后世影响最大的，是去世于1883年的德国哲学家卡尔·马克思，他的三卷《资本论》分别出版于1867年、1885年和1894年（后两卷由恩格斯整理），马克思主义及其社会主义理论即将开创一个新的人类纪元。 对于1884年的中国人来说，他们要听到马克思这个名字，还要等35年，而读到《资本论》则要54年。