Part III Venturing in Shanghai
With two dollars I bought a pair of foreign shoes
In three days the pair broken goes
Debts of foreigners I have to pay
A new pair of shoes I’ll buy another day
Foreign goods are not of aid
All the handy are home-made
——A Ningbo Ballad
1. Competing with Foreign Companies
Shanghai was once where foreign products were dumped. Ningbonese in Shanghai were determined to compete with foreigners in selling home-made products. Considering their advantage of shipping, Ningbonese first worked with food, cotton, sugar, sea food and groceries. And then they extended their business to foreign cloth, woolen fabric, hardware, machinery, horologe, spectacles, western-style food and clothes, and capital operation. Their enterprises were not only famous but also independent from foreign controls.
Lao Shun Hardware Store: Magnate of Hardware In 1862, Ye Chengzhong set up the first hardware store in Shanghai, Lao Shun Hardware Store. Besides hardware, the store also dealt in all kinds of foreign goods, especially Mobil’s kerosene. Later, there emerged 38 hardware stores such as Nan Shun’s, and Xin Shun’s. Ye Chengzhong was hailed as “Magnate of Hardware”.
Sun Meitang, Magnate of Horologe In 1876, Sun Tingyuan founded Hendry Horologe Store, which was one of the first in Shanghai. Sun Meitang, son of Sun Tianyuan, made the first clock in China, which won a gold medal in the Panama World Exposition in 1915. In 1917, Sun Meitang amalgamated French-funded Hope Brothers & co., and later he set up 25 branches in 11 cities such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Jinan, Hankou, Beijing, Hangzhou and Ningbo. Sun Meitang was later hailed as “Magnate of Horologe”.
Magnate of Capital Investment After setting up enterprises in Tianjin and Ningbo, Yan Xinhou from Cicheng participated in founding Shanghai Hwa Hsin Textile and the Imperial Bank of China in 1890. Later, he made investment to set up Shanghai Hwa Hsing Fire & Marine Insurance Company, Loong Chang Papermaking Works, Shanghai Water Supply Company, Tung Lee Gunny Bag Company, Tian Yi Land Company (Jinzhou), Shanghai ZiangYuen Hardware Store, Anglo-Chinese Dispensary and Jingdezhen Ceramics Company (Jiangxi). In 1902, he founded Shanghai Chamber of Commerce and served as general director. Yan was respectfully called initiator of commercial chambers in modern China.
Magnate of Eggs In 1901, Ruan Wenzhong from Zhenhai opened Yuen Foong Foodstuff Store with branches in Ningbo and Hankou. He also set up Yuen Foong Bean Dreg Factory. Later, he founded Yuen Foong Egg Factory and established its branches in Zhangde, Xuchang, Zhumadian and Zhengzhou. The egg factory was the largest one then and Ruan was praised as Magnate of Eggs.
Magnate of Cotton Yarn In 1901, Xu Qingyun from Cicheng set up the Fu Tai Cotton Yarn Store. During World War I, he spent a large sum of money to buy cotton yarn from foreign merchants, and thus became a magnate of cotton yarn. In 1923, he took over Dah Foong Cotton Mill and became the co-founder of Shanghai Yarn & Cloth Exchange and the inaugurator of Shanghai Chamber of Yarn. Later, he set foot in gold and finance, founding such money exchanges as Heng Loong, and Heng Lai. Xu was one of the richest nabobs of his time in Shanghai.
Baron of Coal Liu Hongsheng, praised as Baron of Coal, Magnate of Match and Tycoon of Woolen Textile, started from running Kai Luan Coal Mine. Since 1920, he set up Shanghai Cement Factory, Chang Hwa Woolen Textile Company and Great China Match Company. He also invested in docks, enamel, shipping, finance and insurance.
The First Chinese Stock Exchange in Shanghai In 1920, Yu Ya Ching and Shen Pihua, both natives of Zhenhai, founded the first Chinese-funded stock and goods exchange in Shanghai, which consisted of 7 sections engaging in securities, cotton, cotton yarns, cloth, gold and silver, grains and oil, and furs respectively, apart from conducting regular, dated and instant sales and purchases.
2. Under the Banner of Home-made Products
Foreign goods in Shanghai created a great pressure on national industries. With the invasion of Japanese troops after the September 18th Incident, economic crisis was deteriorating. Ningbonese tried to overcome the crisis under the banner of “National Products Preferred. They cooperated with each other to promote national industries so that they could help resist the dumping of foreign goods, thus maintaining the existence of Chinese economic right. In the economic struggle against foreign invasion, some of them even sacrificed their lives.
Nanking Road as a Stage for Ningbonese Nanking Road was a stage for Ningbonese to show their enthusiasm for protecting home-made products after the September 18th Incident. They became the mainstay force to resist Japanese goods.
Making Joint Efforts to Promote Home-made Products Ningbo businessmen were the earliest members of China Home-made Goods Protection Association. After the January 28th Incident, Fang Yexian, Wang Xingyao, Kui Yanfang and other Ningbonese founded China Home-made Goods Production and Marketing Association to promote cooperation among producers, sellers and financial institutions, and this greatly enhanced the production and marketing of national goods.
Successful Marketing of Home-made Products In 1932, the 1st anniversary of the September 18th Incident, 9 Ningbonese enterprises organized a temporary joint marketplace and held a successful one-week sale, creating a land-office business. In 1933, Liu Hongsheng released his new serge cloth, which met with a favorable reception.
Corporate Operation of Home-made Products Promotion In 1933, Fang Yexian, Kui Yanfang and Ren Shigang invested 100,000 Yuan in the founding of China Home-made Product Co., Ltd, which had 40 different counters in their marketplace. In 1937, they established China Home-made Product Consortium with branches in other cities like Chongqing and Fuzhou.
Active International Marketing China Home-made Product Co., Ltd set up a mail-order department so that they could expand their market to foreign lands. Ningbo businesses developed a large number of well-known products like Dragon Tiger Rendan, Tian Chu gourmet powder, Three Star toothpaste, West Lake towel, Shuangqian shoes, and Goose shirt, which greatly supported the promotion campaign of home-mades.
3 Culture as an Emerging Industry
In the 1930’s, new art forms and communication means from western countries were introduced into Shanghai. This provided Ningbonese in Shanghai a great opportunity for development. Some of them began to set foot in the movie industry, which helped Shanghai become “Hollywood in the East”. Due to the profound influence of the May Fourth Movement, Chinese vernacular became very popular, and publishing enterprising gained a rapid development. In the entertainment circle, Ningbonese helped create a wonder of night life in Shanghai. Their achievement had a lasting effect for as long as a century.
The Pioneering Times of Chinese Movies The early Chinese movies owed a great deal to Ningbonese. Among early film makers, 120 were from Ningbo, including Zhang Shichuan, inaugurator of Chinese film, Runje Shaw, Runde Shaw, Run Me Shaw and Run Run Shaw, who created the Shaw Brothers Studio, as well as Yuen Yeung-On, Yuan Muzhi, Ying Yunwei and Sang Hu. At the same time, there appeared a large number of well-known Ningbo actors and actresses, including Han Fei, Shu Shi, Qiao Qi and Wang Danfeng.
Early Development of the Publishing Industry In 1897, Bao Xianchang and his brother Bao Xian’en founded the Commercial Press, the first publishing enterprise in China integrating translating, editing and publishing. Zhang Jinglu launched the magazine Novels and Stories, and later, Guanghua Bookstore, Modern Bookstore, Shanghai Joint Bookstore and Shanghai Periodical Company. Then Chen Xingsun launched Current Affairs Bulletin, Shanghai Ningbo Bulletin, which were the immediate outcome of the May Fourth Movement.
Founding the Largest Amusement World in China In 1912, Huang Chujiu from Yuyao started Hsin Hsin Theatre in Shanghai. In the following year, he set up the first Garden-on-the-Roof in China. In 1917, he invested in the launching of the Great World Amusement Park that witnessed the development of Chinese films, from silent one to voiced and colored ones. Ningbonese in Shanghai became an important force in promoting the development of the Chinese cultural industry.
4. Western-style Clothing Revolution
Most of the business immigrants from Ningbo worked as barbers, cooks and tailors. They left their hometown and worked hard in Shanghai and other parts of China, even in many big cities in the Far East. They adapted themselves to modern life and established the western-style service industry known as Hong Bang. The Hong Bang tailors, following the spirit of Chinese traditions and accepting western ideas, was a major force in the industry.
Emergence of Hong Bang in the Introduction of Western Civilization Portuguese were the first westerners Chinese knew. They were called “Red Hair” at that time. Later, in Ningbo dialect, “Red” was used to mean “foreign-style” or “western-style”. A cook working for a western-style restaurant was called “red cook”. There were also “red coppersmiths” and “red tailors”.
Red Tailors’ Western-style Clothing Emerging in Japan In 1795, a shipwreck brought Zhang Shangyi, who went out for a living from Yinxian, to Yokohama, Japan. From sewing and mending clothes for mariners, he learned how to make western-style clothes. He later founded his own clothing enterprise in Yokohama.
Business Immigration from along the Fenghua River In developing his clothing enterprise, Zhang Shangyi opened branches even in Vladivostok. Zhang brought with him a lot of young men from his hometown. Sun Tongjiang, also from Yinxian, set up “Yi Tai Chang” a foreign-style clothing store in Kobe. Zhang Shangyi, Sun Tongjiang and their followers were the earliest red tailors.
Red Tailors’ Returning to Shanghai At the end of the 19th century, employees and students began to wear western-style clothes. In 1891, Wang Ruimo from Fenghua opened “Wang Rong Tai”, a western-style clothing store, in Shanghai. In 1896, Jiang Liang from Fenghua returned to Shanghai from Japan and set up his Ho Chiang Western-style Clothing Store. In the following years, Red tailors were found in more than 20 cities in China, including Harbin, Changchun, Dalian, Beijing, Tianjin, Hankou, Qingdao, Jinan, Nanjing, Suzhou and Chongqing.
Sun Yat-sen Suit, Red Tailors’ Revolutionary Achievement In 1905, Zhang Xuecheng from Yinxian designed the first Sun Yat-sen suit following the advice of Sun Yat-sen. In 1913, Wang Caiyun from Fenghua in “Rong Chiang Ziang” Suit Store improved Zhang’s design and made the first Sun Yat-sen suit in China.
Red Tailors’ Promotion of the Chinese Clothing Industry Red tailors in Shanghai made the first western-style suit and the first Sun Yat-sen suit in China. They set up the first western-style suit store and the first clothing school in China. Besides, they compiled the first textbook on clothing in China. All in all, they made great contributions to the Chinese clothing industry.
