Chapter 34 Section 2 Zhang Zhenxun "Industry Prospers the Nation"

The establishment of Changyu Brewing Company was 20 years later than Jichanglong Silk Reeling Factory. It is an important project among the many investments made by overseas Chinese capitalist Zhang Zhenxun in the motherland. Zhang Zhenxun (AD 1841-1916), courtesy name Bishi, was born in Dapu, Guangdong.He was born in a poor family and dropped out of school after receiving only three years of enlightenment education in the village school.Under the age of 20, Zhang Zhenxun traveled south to Batavia (now Jakarta) alone.There he worked as a miner and handyman, and his early life was quite difficult.Later, after gradually saving up and inheriting a considerable amount of inheritance from his father-in-law, he began to establish his own business. He not only opened up reclamation farms in Indonesia but also in Malaya to grow food and tropical crops. He also concurrently operated tin mines and founded a shipping company.Beginning in the 1860s, after 30 years of operation, Zhang Zhenxun owned a huge amount of 70 to 80 million taels of silver, and became the leading overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia at the end of the 19th century.

Zhang Zhenxun has become a wealthy man, but he never forgets his motherland in disaster.Most of his life was spent overseas.Overseas, he deeply realized that if the motherland is not prosperous and strong, overseas Chinese can only be "overseas orphans" who are discriminated against.Zhang Zhenxun had such an experience: In 1898, he went to Singapore from Jakarta with two senior staff and a German family doctor, but the German ship sold them a first-class ticket and three steerage tickets. According to the company's regulations, overseas Chinese cannot take the first class, only Germans can enjoy this privilege, so the first class ticket was sold to his family doctor.This incident deeply hurt Zhang Zhenxun's national self-esteem.In a fit of rage, he tore up the ticket and founded his own shipping company, flying the dragon flag of the Qing Dynasty to compete with foreign ships.He loved the motherland and put forward the idea of ​​"rejuvenating the country through industry", and actively established industries and developed production in the motherland to revitalize China.He repatriated a large amount of funds from overseas. Under the principle of "self-control, no profit spillover", he introduced advanced equipment and technology from the West, and successively established machine weaving, mining, shipping, farming, and glass manufacturing in Guangdong and other places. Enterprises, the most famous of which is Changyu Brewing Company in Shandong.

There is such a reason for choosing Yantai, Shandong Province to set up a winery. In 1890, when he had dinner with the French consul in Jakarta, he tasted famous French wine.The French consul told him that if the grapes produced in Yantai can be used to make wine, it can produce good wine that is not inferior to the famous French brand.The French consul didn't mean anything, but Zhang Zhenxun, who was listening to the lecture, had intentions. After asking about the reason, he secretly made up his mind that he must set up a wine factory in Yantai in the future. In 1892, he hired a group of experts to conduct on-the-spot investigations. After making sufficient arguments, he decided to establish Changyu Brewing Company.He invested more than 3 million silver dollars and bought two barren hills suitable for grape planting. After three years of small trial planting, he bought a large number of good grape varieties from abroad and planted them on a large scale.At the same time, actively build factories, install machinery and equipment, recruit workers, hire foreign winemakers, and start to carefully brew wine.The products of Changyu Brewing Company initially only had brandy and wine. In 1915, brandy won the gold medal and the highest quality certificate at the "Panama International Commodity Competition".Since then, the brandy of Changyu Distillery has been known as the "Gold Award Brandy" and has not declined to this day.It is said that Zhang Zhenxun, who was leading a Chinese industrial inspection team in the United States at that time, said excitedly when he learned that the product had won the award: "The Tang people are amazing. As long as they work hard and catch up from behind, the products of the motherland will become world famous brands!"

Zhang Zhenxun also held many official positions.Since he was appointed as the first consul in Penang, Malaya in 1892, he has successively served as the general office of the Guangdong-Han Railway, the general manager of the China Commercial Bank, the Minister of Commerce of the Ministry of Commerce, and the Minister of Penang Management. He is a businessman and an official. However, he also secretly funded Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary activities, and was very enthusiastic about social welfare and overseas Chinese education.