Chapter 32 crazy prices

It seems that 1911 got off to a bad start. Just after Wuhan calmed down, Shanghai became noisy again. Shanghai, the financial center of the Far East and a paradise for countless adventurers, is vigorously launching a "discussion on money and outlook on life". There are no gratuitous questions and no gratuitous discussions. Over the past year, the level of living income has been far behind the rise in the price index, and the happiness index has been greatly reduced.Accompanied by the sound of firecrackers, everyone silently chanted New Year greetings in their hearts: the louder the firecrackers, the lower the prices; the lower the price every day, the better it is for everyone.

In the twelfth lunar month of the Chinese lunar calendar, the New Year of the Xinhai is about 20 days away. In previous years, this was the best business opportunity for merchants, but this year, Shanghai, the financial center of the Far East, is very special.The street is quiet, but if you look carefully, you can see that there are red notes pasted on many facades, with four large characters written on them: "This house is for rent". Why are the streets empty and the plague is still far in the northeast? Why is there no one renting the prosperous shop? Why is it closed at the end of the year when the business is the best?

According to the usual practice, renting houses are generally not returned at the end of the year, because the best time of the year for business has just arrived. Don’t you all want to make money?But in this world, if you play politics, there is no one above; if you play excitement, you have no money in your pocket, what else can you do besides make money honestly? If you want the answer, you have to find someone, Liu Baochang. Who is Liu Baochang?An ordinary and unknown man, he and Wu Dalang were in the same company, selling sesame seed cakes.He is not as lucky as Wu Dalang, he can't find a wife who is as beautiful as flowers and jade, and there is only a yellow-faced woman at home; but he has the happiness that Wu Dalang never had, and the red apricots in his family will not cheat.

A sesame seed seller will have a say in Shanghai's financial direction?Don't worry, listen to me slowly. Working at sunrise and resting at sunset every day, Liu Baochang has always been very satisfied with this kind of life. At least he found his own nest in the Far East Financial Center. Although it is small and simple, it is very warm.Just wait until the child grows up, study in a school in Shanghai, and then settle down in Shanghai, becoming an authentic Ara Shanghai native. Even if he can't become the rich second generation, he must get rid of the identity of the second generation of sesame seed cakes.

Once, the youngest son said happily: "Father, I want to take over the biscuits in your hand, and I will call them 'Xiaoliu biscuits' from now on." As soon as the words fell, Liu Baochang slapped him and said, "If you are worthless, you will know Sell ​​sesame seed cakes.” The son was puzzled, the sesame seed cakes at home were crispy and fragrant, everyone agreed, why didn’t you let me make them? But now Liu Baochang couldn't do it anymore, and was going to close down because the rent had risen again.In half a year, it has tripled. Why is it going up?Because the rent of the foreign firms in the concession has risen, but Liu Baochang lives in the Huajie, the territory of China.However, the landlord gave a good reason: Shanghai is an open city, and according to international practice, I will also go up when it goes up.

In fact, the rent in Shanghai was not so expensive before, all because of the war, the war with the Eight-Power Allied Forces in 1900.War is the most frightening thing for the rich. The rich are not only afraid of losing their lives, but also of losing money. On the front line of the war, political and business leaders in the Beijing-Tianjin area brought huge sums of money to settle in the Shanghai Concession.When more people came, the land price went up, and the rent naturally followed. The rent rose from ten yuan, twenty yuan, all the way to hundreds of yuan.Crazy rents are far beyond the affordability of ordinary residents, and rent arrears, rent evasion, and rent arrears emerge in endlessly.

The landlord refused to agree, and sued the government, and the judgment came down: if the rent is owed for more than three months without reason, the landlord can apply to seal off the house and pay off the rent within a time limit; Rent. The tenant refused to agree, and it was all a small business. I really couldn’t afford such a high rent, so I sued, and the government’s verdict came down: We understand and sympathize with your situation, but the house belongs to the landlord, and they have the final say. We have no property rights, so what we say doesn't count. The two sides are secretly fighting, a person came, a big man, Zhang Renjun, governor of Liangjiang, came to Shanghai for inspection.The tenants seized this opportunity and recommended representatives to complain to the top leaders of the East China area: We can bear the high prices, and we have vegetables and radishes every day;

The rent has been rising, and we are very hurt; the rent has been reduced, and everyone laughs. Under the personal intervention of the governor, things quickly turned around.Shanghai Daotai personally grasped the matter, and immediately set up a rent reduction office, inviting landlords and tenants to discuss and resolve it together.Everyone has a good attitude, but when it comes to money issues, they can't agree. The tenant just wants to downgrade, but the landlord just doesn't. Shanghai Daotai spoke, took a step back, and everyone gave way to each other, long live the understanding.

take a step back?If you don't have food, who can you find? Your Daotai yamen is very spacious, why didn't you think of giving up some of it as welfare housing and low-rent housing? So the rent kept going up, and the tenants kept suing. Big people talk about ideals, while small people talk about life.If you want to live, you must act, and if you want to act, you must act early. At dawn, Liu Baochang hired a rickshaw with two bright red flags on it, one with "survive" and the other with "rent reduction".He was still holding a stack of leaflets in his hand, which read, "Rent reduction is justified, objection is invalid; if rent reduction is not made, the door will be closed."

The rickshaw circled round and round along the busiest business district in Shanghai. The driver was dizzy, but the result was not obvious.Everyone on the street looked at Liu Baochang suspiciously, this guy is wrong. The next day, Liu Baochang came again, but this time he made a little adjustment, and shouted while handing out leaflets: "Come here, take a look, take a look, and you can try free sesame cakes." This trick really worked, and the crowd flocked to it, holding sesame seed cakes in their left hand and leaflets in their right, and read them while eating sesame seed cakes.After reading it, I just took the leaflet to wrap the biscuits.

On the third day, Liu Baochang hired two cars, one for leaflets and the other for biscuits. It seemed that he was going to expand his business.But not long after he left, he was arrested, "distributing leaflets illegally, with bad intentions, and disturbing public order", so let's stay in the cell. The arrest of Liu Baochang finally ignited the anger of the tenants. On the evening of January 6, 1911, the tenant representatives held a meeting and decided to close all shops the next day to protest. On January 7, 1911, all shops in prosperous areas such as Nanjing Road and Zhejiang Road were closed.Of course, there were some who were unwilling to close the door at first, but just after opening a small crack, angry stones were thrown over like raindrops, and it was impossible not to close it. If the financial center does not do business, the impact is not small.Shanghai Daotai said that everyone should be a good citizen who abides by the law. After "persuading and enlightening", Liu Baochang was also released soon. Liu Baochang had just been released and appeared on Nanjing Road again.This time I didn’t take a car, and I didn’t bring any biscuits. I held up a white cloth in my hand, which read, “The government has promised to reduce the rent, and the shops will open quickly.”People on the street wondered, you were still clamoring to close the door two days ago, why are you opening the door now?It seems that there is something really wrong; Daotai is also wondering, who promised to reduce the rent?Mouth full of nonsense, fault.The government concluded that Liu Baochang was suspected of being mentally ill and would not bear civil liability, and issued a notice: If the door continues to be closed, the rent will continue to rise, and I don’t care about the loss. Even the mentally ill will still be arrested. The shop opened again, Liu Baochang continued to bake sesame seed cakes, and everyone washed up and went to bed at night. This is the end?Why no slogans, no tears, no patriotic rhetoric? You think you are acting, there are not so many ordinary people, they only know how to live a good life, if you can't live a good life for the time being, then bear with it. Thus passed the first financial shock wave in 1911.