Chapter 15 Chapter Eight 1915: Commerce as Resistance

At the beginning of the Republic of China, everyone looked forward to the reconstruction of the country.However, politicians don't think so. What they calculate is their own power. Different governance concepts quickly collapse the fragile alliance.In the south, Sun Yat-sen was forced to give up his post to Yuan Shikai in Beijing after only a little more than a month since he took office as interim president. He promised to build the railway. How willing to collectively become railway workers.Yuan Shikai, who was born as a warlord, was even more reluctant to let people share power. In the election of the House of Representatives held in 1913, the Kuomintang won an overwhelming victory. Song Jiaoren, the leader of the Kuomintang, who was rumored to be the prime minister, was assassinated. Soon, the Kuomintang announced in Jiangxi "Second Revolution", Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army won the war. In 1915, Yuan Shikai wanted to be emperor. In December, Yunnan raised the flag of righteousness for the first time, and the southern provinces responded. This time, the Beiyang Army suffered a defeat, and Yuan, who was unpopular, had to announce the abolition of the imperial system in March of the following year. Soon died in depression.

In the next four years, China fell into warlord separatism. The Beiyang Army split into three major factions: Anhui, Zhi, and Feng, which respectively controlled the north, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the northeast. In addition, Shanxi and southwest had the Jin, Dian, and Guangxi factions. . In 1917, another warlord who supported the imperial system rushed into Beijing with 3,000 "braided troops" and staged a short-lived farce to restore the imperial system.In August of this year, Sun Yat-sen launched the "War to Protect the Law", but was defeated by Duan Qirui, a warlord of the Anhui faction. In the following ten years, the Kuomintang was in Guangdong, and it was not until 1927 that it regained its strength and swore an oath again. Northern Expedition.

In Chinese history, every change of dynasty means the overthrow of wealth accumulation, and only those who are good at both sides can survive by luck.In the troubled times of the early years of the Republic of China, it was undoubtedly difficult for entrepreneurs to maintain a "correct" political stance.The professional nature of profit-seeking and longing for stability makes them always want to stand with the strong, but the most serious question is, "Who is the strong?" In such an ever-changing situation, even Yu Qiaqing, who is known as a "tweaker" and has the most superb wind control skills, looks around and doesn't know what to rely on.

One time, he praised Yuan Shikai as "the second Washington in the world and China's first Washington" in a newspaper. That night, a corner of Yu's house was blown up by a bomb. No one was injured, but it was a shock. An anonymous letter was inserted in On the door knocker, the letter said, "The bombing of your house was caused by my subordinates. I had no choice but to do it. I hope that we will not destroy our party's plan in the future, so as to clear up the past." Yu Qiaqing couldn't laugh or cry.In order not to offend anyone, this "big tuner" simply opened the door wide open, and all politicians who stepped down, generals who lost their troops, survivors of the former dynasty who were in trouble, and bankrupt businessmen, as long as they came to the door, they would come. No rejection, no disappointment and no complaints.There are even rumors in the market that he will lend 300 yuan to all county governors, and 500 yuan to all daotai and teachers.

The political situation is so chaotic, many people think that people's livelihood and economy must be in a slump.However, the reality is far beyond people's imagination. In fact, in the 16 years since 1911, the country has been in a state of warlord separatism and division, which objectively resulted in the weakness of the centralized government. "Central Vacuum" appears for the first time.Thus, this time became a time of absolute freedom, and freedom became very scary. In the next 16 years, China's private economy will usher in a "golden age", which is also the only "golden age" in a century.

During this period, the state-owned enterprise system basically disintegrated, private companies flourished, nationalist sentiment rose unprecedentedly, star entrepreneurs emerged in endlessly, and the entrepreneurial class had a very strong say in public affairs.Tang Lixing, vice president of the Chinese Society of Social History, believes in the book "Merchants and Modern Chinese Society" that the foundation of China's national industry was basically laid during this period.From the perspective of economic growth rate data, although there are different statistical results, high-speed growth is an indisputable consensus. Domestic scholars believe that the industrial growth rate reached 13.4% from 1912 to 1920, and there was a short-term depression from 1921 to 1922. From 1923 to 1926 it was 8.7%.American economic historian Thomas Rawski calculated that the average industrial growth rate from 1912 to 1927 was as high as 15%, which was in the leading position of all countries in the world.In the 100-year enterprise history, such a period of rapid growth has only appeared three times, and the other two times were the first five-year plan (1953-1957) in the 1950s and the period of reform and opening up after 1978.

The emergence of the "Golden Age", in addition to the internal cause of the "vacuum" of centralization, also had an important external cause which was the outbreak of the First World War. The turbulent Europe finally needs a big war to settle all grievances. On June 28, 1914, a 19-year-old Serbian youth assassinated Archduke Ferdinand and his wife of the Austro-Hungarian Empire who advocated the annexation of Serbia in Sarajevo.Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and Germany, Russia, France, Italy, and Britain were soon involved.The war was fiercely fought for four full years until November 1918. 65 million people participated in the war and 10 million people died. It finally ended with the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the defeat of Germany and Italy.

World War I completely changed the political and economic landscape of the world.Politically, in October 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution broke out in Russia, and the world's first socialist country was born.Economically, the United States, far away from the war, has become the new world ruler.In the past two hundred years, the British Empire, which has always been the world's largest economic power, exhausted all its resources in the quagmire of war. It had to rely on borrowing from the United States to pay for the war. In October 1916, the British Empire, which was serving the British Treasury, Maynard Keynes - who would later become a great economist because of Keynesianism - reported to the Cabinet with concern that "Britain is borrowing $200 million a month from the United States".And a Lord Yoss Tays wrote, "Our job is to make Americans feel at ease so that they can borrow from us without restriction."

In Asia, the important outcome of the world war was that the European powers fell into a melee and had no time to look east. Japan took the opportunity to expand its power, while for China, Chinese national entrepreneurs got a chance to breathe and rise. (There are also scholars who disagree with this conclusion. For example, Yang Xiaokai believes in "A Hundred Years of Chinese Economic History Notes" that "the view that China's national industry had a chance to develop during the First World War is arbitrary and groundless. In fact, the first World War I reduced foreign direct investment in China, and many industrial projects had to be delayed due to lack of urgently needed equipment, and the proposition that foreign investment has hindered the development of China’s national industry has no empirical support.” His conclusions are urgently needed argument.)

From 1912 to 1917, the Rong brothers in Wuxi opened nine factories in one go. After eight years of operation, the Maoxin Flour Mill finally gained a foothold. By 1910, the output of the factory was ten times larger than when it was first built, and it was already one of the largest factories in China. The second Rong Desheng stayed in Wuxi, and the eldest Rong Zongjing went to Shanghai. In 1912, Rong Zongjing opened a second flour mill in Xinzhaqiao, Shanghai, and named it Fuxin.He proposed at the shareholder meeting that in order to expand reproduction, no dividends will be mentioned within three years, and all the money will be used to "snowball".

In order to speed up the rolling speed of the "snowball", Rong Zongjing, who took risks as a pleasure, adopted various methods such as new construction, lease and acquisition. On the beach in Shanghai, he let out the rumor, "As long as someone is willing to sell the factory, I will Dare to buy.” In the summer of 1913, he rented the troubled Zhongxing Flour Mill (wholly acquired it two years later and renamed it Fuxin No. 4 Factory), and in the winter, built a new Fuxin No. 2 Factory to the east of the Zhongxing Factory. In June 1914, he bought land next to the Fuxin No. 1 Factory and built the Fuxin No. 3 Factory. So far, on Guangfu Road in Zhabei, Shanghai, along the Suzhou Creek, there are four Rongjia Flour Mills lined up. Their towering chimneys are full of smoke every day, and the sound of machines is chugging day and night. The boats are constantly flowing, and the scene is already very spectacular. In 1916, Rong Zongjing went to Hankou again to build Fuxin No. 5 Factory. In the second year, he rented Huaxing, an old Chinese-funded flour factory in Shanghai, and renamed it Fuxin No. 6 Factory.Since then, the reputation of Wuxi Rong Brothers has reverberated in the Chinese business circle. Rong Zongjing is a crazy expansionist. He has two methods for setting up factories, one is to seek more, and the other is to seek innovation.His business philosophy is fully revealed in the following passage: "Build factories as fast as possible, equipment as new as possible, start work as fully as possible, and expand as much as possible. Therefore, new machines are added every month, and they are always in operation. People Abandon what we take, change the old into the new, do things worth three pennies with one penny, do more with small profits, outperform the market, and everyone will succeed.” While emphasizing economies of scale, he also spared no expense in terms of quality. The noodle-making equipment purchased were the most advanced American-made machine mills and 600-barrel flour machines at that time. According to the characteristics of Chinese wheat, he made technical improvements to the wheat threshing machine, buckwheat machine and round sieve, so that the quality of flour and output are higher than foreign factories at the same time. Rong Zongjing beat and kicked in Shanghai and other places, and his younger brother Rong Desheng was not idle in his hometown. At that time, there were five flour mills in Wuxi. In 1914, he bought Huiyuan Flour Mill and changed it to Maoxin No. 2 Mill, and soon rented it again. Two factories, Tailong and Baoxin, were acquired, so four of the five factories were included in Rong's pocket. In just five years, the Rong family has owned ten flour mills (eight of which are self-owned and two are leased), and they can produce 42,000 bags of flour every day and night. They have become the unrivaled "Flour King".With the outbreak of the First World War, the European industry stagnated, but the military demand for flour increased sharply. Chinese flour has become a new procurement market in the world due to its low price and large output. Rongjia's "Bingchuan" brand flour is exported to In Europe and Southeast Asian countries, because of its stable quality, it has become the "standard noodle" of Chinese flour. At the same time that it became dominant in the flour industry, the Rong family's cotton yarn factory was also advancing at the same time. Founded in 1905, Zhenxin Spinning Mill was already very profitable by 1912, with an annual profit of more than 200,000 yuan. In 1915, Rong Zongjing built the Shenxin Yarn Mill in Zhoujiaqiao on the outskirts of Shanghai, purchased 36 British-made spinning machines, and started production in the second year. Just in time for the hunger and thirst of demand during the European War, the price of cotton yarn in Shanghai rose sharply. More than 90 taels soared to 200 taels, and the scene of "one piece of cotton yarn earning one yuan treasure" appeared. In the three years after Shenxin started construction, the output of cotton yarn increased from 3,584 pieces to 9,811 pieces, and the output of cotton cloth increased from 29,000 pieces. It increased to 128,000 horses, and the profit was even more astonishing. It increased from 20,600 yuan in the year it was founded to 222,000 yuan, an increase of more than ten times in three years. Rong Zongjing also did something that made the Chinese business community look bad. In 1917, he paid 400,000 yuan to buy a spinning mill in Shanghai that was originally run by a Japanese businessman and renamed it Shenxin No. 2 Factory.Since 1884, after the disastrous defeat of the "red-capped businessman" Hu Xueyan, the cotton yarn industry in Shanghai was first controlled by British and American businessmen, and later became dominated by Japanese companies. Now, Chinese companies have the courage and ability to acquire Japanese companies. Great news. The achievements of the Rong brothers in these years are the epitome of a new wave of industrialization. Still taking the cotton yarn industry as an example, before 1914, China had to import 19 million pieces of cotton cloth and 2.5 million tons of cotton yarn from abroad every year, but by the end of World War I, these had dropped sharply to 14 million pieces and 1.3 million tons respectively. For cotton fabrics, it was reduced by 48%.In Asia, the Japanese cotton yarn is dominated by spun yarn, while the Chinese market is dominated by roving, which has created a huge demand space and greatly increased the profits of national cotton mills. According to "Modern Chinese Economic History" compiled by Yan Zhongping and others "Selected Statistics" shows that in 1916, a pack of 16 yarns produced a profit of 7.61 yuan. By 1917, the profit soared to 36.93 yuan. By 1919, it reached 70.65 yuan. At that time in the Jiangnan area, apart from the ferocious new Rongjia industry, Zhang Jian’s Dasheng yarn factory was the most important cotton yarn manufacturing group. In 1918, the profit margins of the two Dasheng factories exceeded 100%. The profit of the factory reached more than 3.8 million taels, setting the highest record, and the number of spindles reached 137,000, ranking first in China.At that time, Shanghai newspapers published Dasheng's stock quotes every day, which was the most sought-after stock.According to the memory of the people at the time, "one share is one hundred taels of silver, and when the dividend is the highest, the dividend can reach 20 taels per share. Some investors with a lot of shares can't even move the interest silver by manpower. They have to be pushed by carts. This is Let those who were unwilling to invest at the beginning regret it.” In the eight years from 1914 to 1921, the profits of the Dasheng No. 2 Factory accumulated more than 10 million taels, which was the peak moment of Zhang Jian as an entrepreneur. The huge profits of the textile industry made everyone salivate, and investors poured in. Shenchang Foreign Company, which specializes in the introduction of textile equipment, recorded the enthusiastic scene at that time in a report: "For textile equipment materials, the demand is It is so strong that those buyers only pay attention to how to pick up the goods quickly, rather than the price issue." What is particularly prominent is that even politicians and warlords have been attracted by the huge profits of the textile industry, and Tianjin is the most prominent Before the First World War, there was only one small spinning mill with 5,000 spindles in Tianjin. By 1918, six spinning mills had sprung up, with a total investment of 1.99 million yuan and a total of 223,000 spindles. The second largest center of the textile industry. It is very interesting to study the capital structure of Tianjin Spinning Mills in detail. Taking Huaxin, Hengyuan, Yue Yuen, and Yuda, the four largest spinning mills, as examples, 23 of the 25 major shareholders are heavyweights of the Republic of China government. Among them, there are three presidents of the Republic of China Li Yuanhong, Xu Shichang and Cao Kun, two prime ministers Duan Qirui and Gong Xinzhan, five cabinet chiefs and deputy ministers Bao Guiqing, Cao Rulin, Wang Kemin, Wang Jitang and Xu Shizhang, four provincial governors or The provincial governor Zhang Zuolin, Chen Guangyuan, Ni Sichong and Tian Zhongyu, and the rest are either ministers or deputy ministers.In the form of bureaucrats or warlords, these people form a group of intricate interest groups, betting on industries and reaping huge profits. It is really difficult to distinguish between public and private.Of course, these spinning mills grew smoothly and rapidly during the economic boom, but they were uncompetitive when the economic crisis hit. By the early 1930s, three of the four major spinning mills had fallen into the hands of Japanese businessmen. Except for cotton yarn, almost all means of production and consumer goods saw a huge increase in demand during the war. Take the non-ferrous metal tungsten as an example. The price per pound was US$7.42 in 1913, and rose to US$25.33 by 1916. Leather used for armaments , wool, flour, and black tea consumed in large quantities by British soldiers were all in short supply during the war, and China became a large supplier of raw materials.Another favorable thing is that the war accelerated the amount of currency minted in various countries, and the demand for silver increased greatly. In 1914, an ounce of silver was $0.56, and it rose to $1.12 by 1919. As a traditional "silver empire" According to a report by the U.S. Department of Commerce, 70 million Chinese silver dollars in 1917 were enough to repay the 100 million yuan in debts paid in the previous year, which greatly enhanced the popularity of Chinese currency in the international market. purchasing power. Under the excellent economic development environment, various enterprise legislation work has also been promoted. From October 1913 to December 1915, Zhang Jian served as the head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce of the Yuan Shikai government. Under his leadership, the central government introduced rules for business registration and company registration, and promulgated the "Joint Stock Enterprise Law". The government's "Company Law" has more detailed regulations, and he also plans to standardize the system of weights and measures. In February 1914, under the promotion of him, Liang Shiyi and others, the unified silver coin of the Republic of China was minted. This was the first step towards the unification of the currency system in China. Yuan Datou".Due to its good casting quality and high silver content, "Yuan Datou" was the most popular hard currency before 1949, and even around 1978, fishermen on the southeast coast were still using it to exchange with overseas smuggling groups Tight watches, jeans and a two-speaker radio. This round of industrial investment boom that started in 1914 is considered by historians to be the second wave of industrialization in China, and it will last until 1924 (some scholars believe it lasted until 1926).Compared with the last round of the Westernization Movement, it has distinctly different characteristics. The Westernization Movement was launched from top to bottom by the declining Qing government. Its protagonists were the ministers of the Westernization School and the officials and businessmen attached to them. Capital is the main force, and the establishment of large-scale enterprises is the main axis. In the later stage, the focus will be on resource fields such as railways, mining and steel.The Westernization Movement laid the foundation for China's modern heavy industry. This round of industrialization is a feast for the collective rise of private capital. Its protagonists are emerging entrepreneurs whose main driving force is profit. Their investment industries are mainly concentrated in the field of people's livelihood, mainly providing consumer goods, covering a large number of people. SMEs are the most dynamic mainstream force.During this period, China completed the layout of light industry.Among them, Shanghai is the center of textile, food and machinery manufacturing. From 1912 to 1924, 202 machine factories appeared in Shanghai, mainly producing knitting machines, small lathes and motors, and agricultural product processing equipment. A distribution center for the tobacco, paper and match industries. These industries have a common feature that is "import substitution". In the past forty years, foreign companies have made a lot of investment in many areas of people's livelihood and created room for consumption. National capital is precisely on this premise Under the circumstances, it gradually developed by relying on the low production cost and familiarity with the local market.This feature is surprisingly similar to the growth path of Chinese private companies after 1978.As we have discovered in the previous chapters, in the century-old corporate history, state-owned capital can rely on policy advantages to form advantages in the upstream resource field, while private capital relies on flexible mechanisms and competitiveness to obtain living space in the downstream field of people's livelihood. The pattern has never changed. In addition to the success in the industrial world, private entrepreneurs have also regained the initiative in the financial field, and their leader is a young banker who is only 27 years old. Yuan Shikai’s government’s finances were extremely scarce. In order to deal with the revolutionary army in the south, he desperately expanded his armaments and increased military expenditures. However, most of the warlords in various places established themselves as kings and did not pay taxes to the central government.From Yuan Shikai's point of view, the banks had enough money to start printing banknotes. Therefore, the Bank of China and the Bank of Communications, the two official banks he controlled, had to print and issue huge amounts of banknotes and paid huge amounts of money in advance. (The predecessor of the Bank of China was the Household Bank established in 1905. It was changed to the Bank of Great Qing in 1908 and exercised the power of the central bank. In February 1912 after the Revolution of 1911, it was renamed the Bank of China. The Bank of Communications was established in 1908. At the beginning, it assisted the four important administrations of roads, telecommunications, postal services, and aviation, and was controlled by Yuan Shikai’s financial manager Liang Shiyi for a long time.) The banknotes issued by the Bank of China were only 5.02 million yuan in 1913, and soared to 38.44 million yuan in 1915. .There are more Bank of Communications. In 1914, the banknotes issued were 8.93 million yuan, and in 1915 it increased to 37.29 million yuan.The advances for government finances amounted to more than 10 million yuan for the Bank of China, and 40 million yuan for the Bank of Communications.Too many banknotes are issued, which cannot but cause the bank's reputation to be shaken.Liang Shiyi, the general manager of the Bank of Communications, was the secretary-general of Yuan Shikai's presidential palace. At this time, he made a plan and advocated the merger of the China Bank and the Communications Bank to concentrate cash for government use.At that time, the hearts of the people in the north were already fluctuating. After the news spread, it immediately caused panic among the citizens. Holders of the two banknotes in Beijing and Tianjin went to the bank to demand cash.The situation of Bank of Communications is particularly serious.Under such circumstances, seeing that the bank's inventory was in crisis, the Beiyang government and the State Council suddenly ordered the Bank of China and the Bank of Communications on May 10, 1916 to stop cashing and all deposit payments in order to stabilize the financial market. When the decree was passed to Shanghai, Song Hanzhang (1872-1968), the manager of the Shanghai Branch of the Bank of China, and Zhang Gongquan (1889-1979), the deputy manager, actually publicly resisted. Zhang Gongquan was born in a family of traditional Chinese medicine in Baoshan, Shanghai. He was intelligent by nature. He was admitted as a scholar at the age of 15. Two years later, he went to Japan to study economics at Keio University in Tokyo. editor in chief.Both he and his brother Zhang Junmai, who is two years older, have a strong constitutional complex. The latter is also one of the founders of the National Socialist Party of China and the China Democratic Political Group League (NLD for short), and was a famous political activist during the Republic of China.The talented "two Zhangs" were very popular with Liang Qichao. On Liang Qichao's recommendation, Zhang Gongquan went south to Shanghai and took up the post of deputy manager of Bank of China Shanghai Branch.Shanghai Branch occupies an important position in the entire Bank of China system, and has always been the hub supporting the head office and branches in various places.Song and Zhang believed that the situation was very serious after they received the order of "stop payment and prohibit withdrawal".If a bank fails to cash out, it is tantamount to getting its own neck stuck, and it will not be able to open for business in the future, which is tantamount to suicide.Under Zhang Gongquan's persuasion, Song Hanzhang decided to "disobey orders" with him.On the one hand, they consulted the relevant legal basis to be reasonable and reasonable. At the same time, they contacted colleagues in the Bank of Shanghai and foreign banks, asking them to support the Bank of China at this critical moment.Everyone knows that the Bank of China is the pillar of China's finance. Once it collapses, the whole situation will be disastrous, so they all promised to support it. Zhang Gongquan calculated that the Bank of China had more than 2 million taels of cash in stock at the time, which might not be enough to cope with it, so it signed overdraft contracts of 2 million yuan with 10 foreign banks including HSBC and Dehua.He also made a special trip to visit Zhang Jian in Nantong, and decided to establish the Bank of China Commercial Shareholders Association, with Zhang Jian as the chairman, and declared in the newspaper that the Shanghai Bank of China's administrative affairs were all under the auspices of the Commercial Shareholders Association, and Shanghai Bank of China's banknotes could be cashed at any time. On May 12, the Bank of Communications obeyed the order of the Beiyang government and stopped cashing banknotes, and the common people complained.And because Bank of China has made sufficient preparations in advance, the comers still cash in.Despite this, there are still huge crowds of people in front of the Bank of China, and the queue for cashing out is several roads away, with thousands of people.Zhang Gongquan recorded the terrible situation in his diary: "Yu came from his apartment (No. 3 Hankou Road), three roads away from the site, the crowd was already crowded, barely squeezed to the door, and the runaways rushed to the door and climbed the windows, He almost disregarded life and death. It was only a few notes of one yuan or five yuan, or a single note of two or three hundred yuan." On the first day, more than 2,000 people cashed out, and the second day did not decrease. On Saturday, when the afternoon was supposed to be closed, the bank was still open as usual in order to deal with cashing out. Anyone who came was not rejected, and an announcement was published in the newspaper. Only then did the hearts of the people calm down a little, and the number of cashiers was reduced to 400.The fourth day was Sunday, and the bank advertised in the newspaper again, announcing that it was still open for cashing, but there were only more than 100 cashers.By the 19th, there were no more runners. After this battle, Song Hanzhang and Zhang Gongquan became famous, and Chinese and foreign newspapers reported that they were "courageous and strategic bankers" and two "warriors who did not submit to the Beiyang government".And the branch manager of a bank dared to openly resist the government's decree, but the latter was helpless, and the central government's victory and weakness can be met. After the storm passed, the reputation of Bank of China's Shanghai branch rose sharply.Rich people and businessmen immediately deposited their money in the Bank of China, and the deposits they absorbed were much higher than before the run. After the "anti-order" victory, Zhang Gongquan took advantage of the momentum and began to boldly seek the privatization of the Bank of China. In 1917, Yuan Shikai died while attempting to proclaim himself emperor. Duan Qirui, an Anhui Beiyang warlord, organized a new cabinet, and Liang Qichao was appointed as the Chief Financial Officer. The amount is 60 million yuan, and the official and commercial shares are divided into half. However, personnel appointments are all decided by the government, and commercial shareholders have no say. In November 1917, Zhang Gongquan revised and proposed a new company "rule". There are two main amendments. One is to establish a shareholders' meeting and a board of directors. The president and vice president must be selected from the elected directors. The government has cleverly transferred it out, and the second is to expand the recruitment of commercial shares and realize the privatization of share capital. Zhang Gongquan was elected as the only vice president of the Bank of China. He refused to take up the post in Beijing, where the "power vortex" existed.In the next few years, due to financial difficulties, the Beiyang government successively reduced its shares by drawing capital, selling off and mortgaging, while commercial shares increased three times. By 1922, private capital had accounted for 99.75% of the total share capital. The Central Bank went so far as to achieve complete privatization.Under the leadership of Zhang Gongquan, Bank of China became the largest, most powerful, best-reputed and highest-capitalized bank in the country, and its capital accounted for more than one-fifth of the total capital of national banks.He said proudly in the future, "General public opinion believes that the Bank of China, the Customs, and the Post Office keep pace with each other and become the three most well-organized institutions in China. In fact, they are also the largest and most successful private joint-stock companies in China... In the Shanghai financial market, It is enough to compete with foreign banks." (By June 1922, another state-owned bank, the Bank of Communications, was also privatized, and the 11 newly elected directors were all celebrities in business and industry, and Zhang Jian was elected as the prime minister. Shareholders The society even considered Beijing, which was occupied by warlords, as a "non-industrial and commercial place." Two years later, the general management office was moved to Tianjin.) If the success of the Rong brothers and Zhang Gongquan is gratifying, then the rise of Fan Xudong (1883-1945) is even more precious. In the winter of 1914, Fan Xudong, a 31-year-old young man, went to Tanggu, Tianjin alone.The beach here is full of salt snakes, like ice and snow, boundless.Seeing this scene, he seemed a little excited.Later, he said to his partner, "A chemist, seeing such abundant resources, if he has no ambition, would be too lacking in ambition." This is a Hunan native with a gentle appearance but a stubborn heart. His elder brother Fan Yuanlian was once the chief education officer of the Yuan Shikai government. national industry.In his early years, he was sent to study in Japan by his family, and a Japanese principal said to him: "As long as you finish your studies, China will die long ago." This remark stimulated his life.After graduating from the Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Kyoto Imperial University, he immediately returned to China, determined to revive China's salt industry.Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the central government has monopolized salt and iron. Although the Chinese are guarding rich marine resources, the salt they eat is still coarse salt made by local methods, which is low in efficiency, low in purity, and contains many harmful substances.At that time, Western developed countries had clearly stipulated that salt with a sodium chloride content of less than 85% was not allowed to be used as feed; however, in many places in China, salt with a sodium chloride content of less than 50% was still used for human consumption.Therefore, some Westerners ridicule China as a "soil-eating nation".In fact, it is not difficult to make refined salt, and the cost is not high, but China lacked chemical talents at that time, and no one set foot in it.The refined salt market has long been monopolized by British and Japanese businessmen. In 1915, Fan Xudong founded Jiuda Refined Salt Company in Tianjin with a share capital of 50,000 yuan.He started to develop refined salt in the fishing village of Tanggu, and soon the purity reached over 90%. Jiuda processed brine with sun-dried salt on the beach, and used a steel plate pan to heat up, evaporate and crystallize, and produced the first batch of refined salt made in China. It is clean in quality , Uniform, and hygienic. The varieties mainly include grain salt, powder salt and brick salt, etc. The coarse salt produced by traditional salt making methods cannot be compared with it at all.Fan Xudong personally designed a pentagonal trademark and named it "Neptune". Jiuda Refined Salt was soon besieged by salt merchants at home and abroad. Japanese merchants spread poisonous rumors about "Neptune" in newspapers. The British Minister to China even tried to block Tianjin Port with warships to prevent salt ships from leaving the port.The domestic salt merchants are even more aggressive. For hundreds of years, the national salt production and sales have always been monopolized by government-business partnerships. The Jianghuai salt merchants control the price of salt. They have formed a huge and intricate interest group. Still, the Chinese government dare not talk about reform lightly.Once Fan Xudong came out, it was obvious that the status quo would be reversed.Jiuda refined salt could not be sold to the south of the Yangtze River for a long time. Fan Xudong was even kidnapped by a warlord, and he was released only after his brother-in-chief's mediation. In 1917, Jiuda Refined Salt sold 10,000 dan, increased to over 40,000 dan in 1923, and reached its peak in 1936, about 500,000 dan. After making a breakthrough in refined salt, Fan Xudong immediately turned to the soda industry. The most common attire of Chinese people at that time was coarse cloth robes, which were monotonous in color and not wearable.Printed and dyed cloth was a luxury item because it required lye, which was very expensive.In the soda making industry, the "Sulvey method" using sodium chloride and limestone as raw materials is the most advanced technology. Western countries have formed a patent monopoly in this area and will never disclose it to the outside world.At that time, it was the British company Bo Neimen that monopolized the soda ash market in China.After the outbreak of World War I, ocean transportation was difficult.British businessmen took the opportunity to raise the price of soda ash by seven or eight times, and even stopped selling it, which brought many ethnic cloth factories to a standstill.Fan Xudong once visited the British headquarters of Buneimen, and the British mocked and said, "You don't understand the soda making process, you should just look at the boiler room." Fan Xudong was determined to avenge his shame in making alkali, and a group of young scientists who were like him surrounded him, including Chen Tiaofu, a master of chemistry at Soochow University in Suzhou, Wang Xiaoxu, the director and chief engineer of Shanghai Daxiao Machinery Factory, and Tokyo Gao. Li Zhuchen, a graduate of an industrial school majoring in electrochemistry, and Hou Debang, a Ph. " and is famous all over the world. In 1918, Yongli Soda Manufacturing Company was established in Tanggu.Chen Tiaofu and Wang Xiaoxu built a 3-meter-high lime kiln in Fan Xudong's home and made a set of soda-making equipment. After more than 3 months of testing, they got through the process and produced 9 kg of qualified soda of soda ash. Wynn experienced even more hardships than Jiuda, and it lasted for eight years.During the preparation of the factory, the major international companies that monopolize the soda-making technology strictly kept secrets, and it was almost impossible to purchase complete sets of machinery and equipment. Everything needed to be redesigned, researched and self-made. The British knew that Fan Xudong should not be underestimated, so they tried every means to kill Yongli in the cradle.Bu Neimen Company lobbied the Ministry of Finance of the Beiyang Government to try to pass the "Regulations on the Taxation of Industrial Salt", stipulating that "industrial salt is taxed at 20 cents per load", which will increase the cost of alkali per ton by 8 yuan out of thin air, making the experimental Wynn can't afford it.The then chairman of the Salt Audit Office of the Ministry of Finance was the Englishman Sir Dean, and of course he tried his best to facilitate the case.Angrily, Fan Xudong appealed to the Executive Yuan of the Beiyang Government, suing the Salt Administration of the Ministry of Finance for violating the decree promulgated by the government to grant industrial salt tax exemption for 30 years. After several rounds, he won the lawsuit. In August 1924, Yongli invested 2 million yuan and finally produced the first batch of alkali products in batches. However, it was disappointing that the red and black and low-quality alkali products were still produced.When the news came out, the British-funded company made a burst of ridicule.At this time, all four ship-type calciners were burnt out and could no longer be used. The whole plant was forced to stop production for a while. The shareholders who had been waiting for several years lost their patience, but Fan Xudong still gritted his teeth and persisted.Bu Neimen Company took the opportunity to ask for a meeting with Fan Xudong, hoping to become a shareholder of Wynn. Fan Xudong refused on the grounds that the company's articles of association clearly stipulated that "shareholders are limited to those with Chinese nationality".More than a year later, on June 29, 1926, Yongli finally produced pure and white qualified alkali, and the whole factory rejoiced.With tears in his eyes, Fan Xudong said to Chen Tiaofu beside him: "My clothes are too big these years. Old Chen, you can live a few more years." Fan Xudong named the product Yongli Soda Ash to distinguish it from "Ocean soda", in August, at the International Exposition held in Philadelphia, USA, Yongli soda ash won the gold medal of the conference. Experts commented: "This is a symbol of China's industrial progress." Fan Xudong's persistence can be described as heroic. In the "Golden Sixteen Years", the rise of national enterprises is a big business war in full competition with foreign-funded enterprises.For quite a long time, foreign noodles, foreign cloth, foreign fire, foreign salt, and foreign oil (kerosene) have occupied almost all the people's livelihood markets. The "import substitution movement" of national enterprises is to cooperate with the replaced foreign The company launched a face-to-face competition to recover one by one.As a result, the "commercial war other than the military war" that Zheng Guanying predicted 40 years ago started extremely fiercely. In almost all important industrial fields, we have seen the scene of confrontation between Chinese and foreign companies: in the cotton spinning market, the opponents of the Rong brothers, Zhang Jian and others are many Japanese cotton spinning companies; in the textile machinery market, Huazi Dalong机器厂的对手是两个美国制造商——萨克·洛厄尔和维定机器厂；火柴市场，刘鸿生的大中华火柴公司与瑞典火柴公司和日本铃木会社杀得难解难分；出版市场，商务印书馆和中华书局与英资兆祥洋行势同水火；制碱与肥料市场，是天津永利制碱公司与英资卜内门和帝国化学工业之间的竞争；肥皂市场，是五洲皂药厂与英资联合利华的竞赛；水泥市场，周学熙的启新洋灰厂与日本水泥及英资青洲英妮公司打了一场长达十年的对手仗；钢铁市场，汉阳铁厂与日本南满株式会社难分上下。 对于这些中外商战，后世史家的评论各有不同。郑友揆、谢诺等人认为，这是一场“不平等的竞争”，外国公司在“获得资金、尖端技术、管理效率以及政商特权”等方面拥有强大的优势，而侯纪明、邓伯格等人则得出相反的结论，他们认为，中外竞争是平等的，华资企业在“了解本地市场、民族主义、劳动力成本低廉和企业易于转向”等方面更有优势。这些观点各有成立的地方，不过上述学者们都没有注意到另外一个重要的因素，那就是，支撑荣家兄弟、范旭东等企业家们的精神力量是一种民族主义的热情，而这种热情甚至成为了一个商业竞争的武器。 按社会学家汉斯·孔恩（Hans Kuhn）的定义，民族主义是一种思想状态，认为国家是政治组织的理想形式，也是文化创造与经济繁荣的源泉。人的至高无上的忠诚就应该献给国家，因为人的生命只有在国家的存在与国家的兴盛中才有意义。在中国近现代史上，民族主义是一个非常复杂的命题，它象一根敏感而脆弱的神经，稍有拨动，就能引发喧天的风潮，其后果甚至让拨动者自己都无法预料或控制。一百多年以来，外国人给予中国人的耻辱是如此的平常，这些记录包括一切可以想象得到的方式，从巨额赔款到割让国土，从火烧皇家园林到两个外来军队在中国土地上交战，这些足够写成一本厚厚的教科书。 最让近代国人有耻辱感的典型事例是一块“华人与犬不得入内”的牌子。在当时商业最繁华的上海，很多高档的消费场所、甚至公园都不让华人进入，1907年，上海士绅李维清在其编写的小学课本《上海乡土志》中记录：“黄浦公园尚许洋人之养犬入内，独禁华人，此乃奇耻！”据高龄的上海文史研究馆馆员姜豪口述，他在1921年从宝山乡间到市区来读书，在外滩的黄埔公园还亲眼看到过“华人与狗不得入内”的牌子，它是长方形的，挂在公园门口的南侧。这牌子如同一块烙在每个中国人脸上的火印，虽死犹记，切齿难忘。 民族主义的狂热便是在这样的土壤上熊熊燃烧起来的。它在1894年的甲午战败后被彻底点燃，在1900年的义和团运动中，它以武力抵抗的方式呈现，却遭到羞辱性的挫折。当国家和民众无法从军事和政治上获得尊严之后，民族主义的“地火”就曲折地向商业领域转移，而它的来势就显得更加的猛烈。商战的得失便寄托了国民所有的希望。在之后相当长的时间里，带有强烈民族主义色彩的抵制洋货运动一直是民族企业最锋利的武器。 自二十世纪以来，第一次大规模的抵制运动发生在1905年，对象是美国货。在这一年，美国政府制订排华法律，在十年内拒绝中国工人进入，并对在美华人进行了种种人权上的限制。夏天，在华人劳工输出的基地华南地区爆发了大规模的抗议活动和抵制美货运动，至少有10个省份出现了游行，人们写海报、捣毁库存的美国产品、征集参加抵货运动的签名。一个叫F·W·福斯特的观察者在当年的报纸上评论说，“中国人抵制美货，是老大帝国反对外国的不公正和入侵的愤恨情绪在觉醒的显著证据。”国内外专家普遍认为，1905年的这场抵制运动是“第一次跨越了各种社会团队的大众抗议。”在抵制中，第一次出现了团体化和制度化的特征，在上海，创建了20多个专门用以提倡抵制运动的组织，并且有76个行业商会参与了活动。 第二次全国性的抵制运动发生在1908年，对象是日本货。这年开春，广州官员以走私武器为理由查封一艘日本轮船“辰丸二号”，日本政府强势干预，中方迫于压力，释放了日船。这个事件激怒了中国人，他们认为清政府懦弱无能，站在了日本人一边，愤怒很快演变成一场日货抵制运动。广州的商会和同乡会发出公告，号召抵制日货，他们甚至还提出了一个不可能实现的抵制目标——直到所抵制的货物总值相当于对日赔款总额。在商会的鼓动下，各种形式的抵制活动层出不穷，港口码头的工人拒绝给日本船卸货，地方船运公司发誓不用日船运输，学生在马路上焚烧日本商品，广州的72个知名商人还专门开会商议，想要合资开一家大型的商场，只销售中国制造的商品。这场抵制一直持续了一年多，1909年，日本加快在东北三省的政治和经济渗透，宣布它将拥有从沈阳到安东铁路的建设权，很快在东三省的城市也爆发了大规模的抵制日货运动。 这些抵制运动直接催生了第一批现代意义上的“非政府组织”（Non-govermental Organization缩写为NGO），1911年12月，上海成立中华国货维持会，它由绸缎、服装、典质等10个行业公所联合发起，沪上几乎所有知名的商人全数参与，最初的宗旨是力图用国货原料制作礼服，后来很快转型成全国性的洋货抵制领导机构。1912年12月，维持会发起召集国内各主要城市的商会代表，在上海召开维持国货大会，就维持国货的重要性和具体方法展开讨论，此后，直隶、湖南等十多个省份相继组建国货维持会。（民国初建时，组党结社成风，各类企业家组织同样如火如荼，据经济史学者虞和平的统计，到1913年底以前成立的全国性企业家组织就有72个，名称中带有实业二字的有15个，属于农工商业的有33个，属于交通业的有6个，属于矿业、盐业的各3个，其它的还有12个。仅在1912年，就成立了中华民国实业协会、中华民国工业建设会、中华民国农业促进会、同仁民生实业会、西北实业协会、全国铁路协会、中华全国矿务联合会、中华民国盐业协会、经济协会等等。） 以民族主义为旗帜的抵制洋货运动，每隔三到五年就会大规模地爆发一次，这构成了百年中国企业史上一个十分显著的现象。它似乎受到了国内各个阶层的欢迎。对民众而言，抵制运动能够极大地满足民族自尊心，以一种非暴力、不合作的方式发泄积压已久的耻辱感。对政府而言，当然乐观其成，他们可以借此转移国内矛盾，甚至成为对外谈判的筹码，日后我们即将看到，在重要的抵制运动中，政府是幕后最主要的策动者，它不但形成了制度化，甚至还成为了政策化。立足刚定的民族企业家更是抵制运动的积极参与者和推动者，他们可以利用这样的机会合法而富有道德感地驱逐或打击竞争对手。就跟民族主义的复杂性一样，抵制运动对中国商业环境和市场成熟的正面、负面意义，一直是一个十分微妙的课题，它甚至从来没有被认真地讨论过。 自1910年之后，中国的洋货抵制运动找到了一个固定的“假想敌”，它就是日本公司和它们的商品。特别在第一次世界大战之后，西方势力自顾不暇，在中国市场上形成激烈竞争的国际对手，就是日本企业。很显然，这是一个恩怨交集的对手。 从数据看上，日本商业势力的涌入是十分猛烈的，在一战前夕，日本商品占中国进口商品总额的15.5％，到1919年已经猛然上升到29.9％，仅纱锭一项，就从11万枚增加到33.2万枚，上升三倍。自1917年开始，日本取代英国成为最大的贸易商，而且成为对华工业设备的主要销售者。更让中国人难堪的是，日本商品在传统的“中国货”上也取得了优势，日本茶叶、日本丝绸的国际贸易额相继都超过了同类的中国商品，成为最大的出口国，甚至在中国市场上，日本货也成了颇受欢迎的时髦商品。除了经济上的咄咄逼人之外，日本对中国领土和政治特权要求也一点没有放松。于是，从这样的时刻，日本成了中国最重要的军事和经济敌人。 具有标志意义的日货抵制事件发生在1915年，这是一次仇恨爆发的总演习。 一战开打后，日本乘机争夺中国利益，1914年8月，它出兵占领德国在中国的势力范围——山东半岛。第二年1月，日本驻华公使晋见袁世凯，递交了有二十一条要求的文件，并要求“绝对保密，尽速答复”。《二十一条》霸道无理之极，它要求承认日本继承德国在山东的一切权益，准许日本修建自烟台（或龙口）连接胶济路的铁路。还要求认日本在南满和内蒙古东部的特殊权利，日本人有居住往来、经营矿等项特权。旅顺、大连的租借期限及南满、安奉两铁路期限，均延长至99年。其他要求还包括，把亚洲最大的钢铁联合体汉冶萍公司改为中日合办，中国不得自行处理；要求所有中国沿海港湾、岛屿概不租借或让给日本之外的他国；中国政府还要聘用日本人为政治、军事、财政等顾问。中日合办警政和兵工厂。袁世凯为了换取日本政府对他当皇帝的支持，居然同意与日秘密谈判。5月7日，日本提出最后通牒，限令于两日内答复。5月9日晚上十一时，袁世凯接受《二十一条》的大部分条款。 《二十一条》在1月份就被曝光，立即遭到各界的强烈抗议。随之，各地纷纷爆发了日货抵制运动。 3月16日，上海商会组成“劝用国货会”，推举虞洽卿、董少严、王正廷为正副会长。18日，绅、商、学各界联合发起，在张园召开了反对《二十一条》的国民大会，到会者近4万人。大会通过提倡国货、设立公民捐输处等项决议。到22日，上海抵制日货声浪日益高涨，福州路、南京路等处日人所设商店均一律闭门，暂停营业。捕房以“恐人众滋事”为由，加派探捕分头梭巡，“以资弹压”。与此同时，城厢内外街巷各处墙上以及电杆木桩上均贴有抵制日货传单。4月，一个叫知耻会的组织在上海设立基金，宣布将征募5000万元，用于建立兵工厂，并向国内工业供应资金以“确保民族得以生存”，基金会在短短三周内，就筹集到25万元，到5月，全国出现了70个知耻会的分部，很多政府官员、警察和公司职员自愿捐出一个月的薪水，很快捐款数额超过了1000万元。 5月9日，当袁世凯接受《二十一条》的消息传出后，举国视为奇耻大辱，这一天，被定为“国耻日”。上海、广东等十多个省份的商会通电反对，农商总长张謇愤然辞职。抵制运动更是到了白热化的地步，抗议集会此起彼伏。商人拒卖日货，人人要用国货。不少学校规定，文具一律用国货。一些大城市的报纸，天天刊登“国货调查录”，鼓动人民选用国货。上海、天津、广州等地，出现了以反日爱国为题材的戏剧和歌曲。学生走上街头，散发传单，发表演说，进行鼓动。爱国的女学生穿着表示悲痛色彩的白色衣服，她们还号召不要在前额上方高束头发，因为那是日本式发型。 在抵制运动中，中华国货维持会等组织起到了重要的作用，它在“5.9”之后迅速发表宣言，并印发10万份广为散发，宣言中写道，“如果中国希望象一个人那样生活，我们就决不能忘记5月9日的羞辱……这些纪念应该被传递给我们的孩子和孙子，代代相传，直到永远。自5月9日之后，我们4万万中国人必须全心全意地奋斗，帮助我们的国家”。在维持会的指挥下，各地学生遍查当地商店，寻找日本商品，如有发现，当场没收或砸毁，全年共进行了383次这样的检查。维持会在前一年只有100多个企业家会员，到年底就增加到了688个。美国参议员沙斯伯雷（Saulsbury）当时正在中国访问，他在回忆录中表示，十分惊讶地看到中国的抵制日货运动有着非常完善的组织。 《洛杉矶时报》则注意到，中国的民族工业打出了“中国人用中国货”的口号，抓住机会进行发展。数以百计的工厂涌现出来，生产中国货以替代流行的日货，例如肥皂、火柴、毛巾以及雨伞等等。一家名叫生生烟厂的烟草公司还推出了“5.9”牌香烟，在包装盒上赫然写着“真正国货。请大家激发热忱，用国货挽回权利。请国民每年挽回4500余万之权利。”也是在这一年，出版了两种新刊物《国货调查录》和《国货月报》，刊登各类国产物品的清单，宣导“不用国产货，就是不爱国”的理念。 日货抵制运动对袁世凯政权和日本政府显然造成了巨大的压力。日本外贸也遭到重挫，当年上半年，对华出口同比下降1790万美元，锐减幅度相当于1914年出口总额的6%。美国学者的研究认为，《二十一条》对日本经济来说是个亏本买卖，其从中国抵制日货所遭受的巨大损失，或许并不亚于从《二十一条》所得到的好处。更为严重的是，此后每年的5月9日“国耻日”都成为了抵制日货的动员运动。抵制日货成为中国社会的常态，中国将日本牢牢地定位为头号敌人。 1915年的反日货只是一个序幕，一场更猛烈的抵制风暴正在酝酿中。