Zhang Zhenxun

Zhang Zhenxun

Zhang Zhenxun

(1841-1916) Bishi, zhaoxie, Bishi, born in Xihe Town, Dapu County, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, is a well-known overseas Chinese businessman, patriotic overseas Chinese leader, pioneer of modern China's "industrial rejuvenation" and founder of Changyu Wine. Born in 1841, he wandered alone in Nanyang at the age of 18 and achieved amazing success. He became the richest Chinese in Nanyang with assets of 80 million taels of silver At that time, the annual revenue of the Treasury of the Qing Dynasty was only 70 million taels, more than 10 million taels, which was called "Rockefeller" of China by the Americans. In addition, he was ordered by the Qing government to be the first consul in Malaysia to Penang, and later promoted to Consul General in Singapore. In 1892, Zhang Bishi began to invest and set up factories in China. He was the pioneer of wine industrialization in China.

Starting from the establishment of Yantai Changyu liquor making company, Zhang Bishi successively established Guangzhou Yatong weaving company, Foshan Yuyi sand brick company, Huizhou Fuhui glass company, Pinghai Fuyu Yantian company, Leizhou Pusheng kenmu company in China, and successively served as vice consul in Penang Island, Consul General in Singapore, general director of Luhan railway, General Office of Guangsan railway, general director of China Commercial Bank, and director general of Shanghai General director of Kangnian Life Insurance Co., Ltd. In the 29th year of Guangxu (1903), Zhang Bishi took the position of Sanpin Jingtang as an alternate and was awarded the title of Shi Lang. In 1904, he was appointed as the Minister of Commerce of the Ministry of Commerce to inspect the foreign cities and supervise the agricultural, industrial, road and mining affairs in Fujian and Guangdong. In 1905, the emperor ordered the headgear to be worn. In 1914, he was elected as a member of the treaty conference, a member of the Senate, and a senior adviser to the Ministry of industry and commerce. In 1915, Zhang Bishi led a Chinese tour group to visit the United States. During his visit to the United States, he reached an agreement with the American industry to co-operate Sino US banks and Sino US shipping companies. He was hailed as "Rockefeller of China" by the New York Times, and was selected as the cover character by American History magazine. He became the first Chinese entrepreneur to appear on the cover of a foreign magazine.

Profile

Zhang Bishi, an overseas Chinese in Nanyang, is not only one of the "eight sages of Hakka", but also one of the famous leaders of Chaozhou business group and one of the eight sages of Meizhou. He was born in Dapu County, Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province in 1841. In 1856, he made a living in Batavia, the Netherlands. After that, he was allowed to contract liquor tax, pawn tax and opium tax in some areas, and made huge profits. Since 1866, Yuhe, Aceh, liwang, wanyuxing reclamation company, Dongxing mining company, Guangfu, Yuchang shipping company, etc. have been established successively, becoming a rich man in Nanyang. After 1892, he successively served as the first consul of the Qing government in Penang, the Consul General of Singapore, the general director of China Commercial Bank, the general office of Guangdong Han railway and the general office of Foshan railway. After 1894, it invested and established Yantai Changyu grape wine company, Guangxia railway company, Guangxi Sancha silver mine, Huizhou Fuxing glass factory, Leizhou kenmu company, etc. In 1903, he was awarded the title of Shi Lang, and was the alternate of sanpinjing hall. He advocated boycotting foreign goods and taking back profits by commercial war. In 1905, he was awarded the title of "head ornament" and "head ornament" to Taipusi Zhengqing. He succeeded the Minister of Commerce of the Ministry of Commerce of the people's Republic of China in inspecting foreign cities and the Minister of railway supervision. In 1910, he was the president of the National Federation of chambers of Commerce.

After 1912, he served successively as adviser to the presidential palace of Yuan Shikai, senior adviser to the Ministry of industry and commerce, Nanyang mission and honorary president of the overseas Chinese Federation. In 1915, he initiated and organized an industrial investigation group to the United States and organized the Bank of China and the United States. He is also enthusiastic about donating money to run schools. He died in Batavia on September 12, 1916.

In his early 50s, Zhang Zhenxun was also a businessman and an official. He successively served as Consul General in Singapore and supervisor of Guangdong Han railway. In 1904, he was summoned by Emperor Guangxu for the third time, and was appointed Minister of agriculture, industry, road and mining in Fujian and Guangdong, and Minister of Commerce of the Ministry of Commerce. In November of that year, Zhang Zhenxun wrote a memorial to the Ministry of Commerce, telling the whole story of his plan to absorb and utilize overseas Chinese capital. There are three main points in his proposition

First, in terms of the starting point of work, because "the overseas Chinese businessmen, who are from Fujian and Guangdong, have ten people and nine people, and they have rich capital and good managers, and they can't be defeated", so "the revitalization of business can't start from Fujian, Guangdong and other provinces.".

Secondly, in terms of concrete methods, when Zhou Li, a senior official of the Ministry of Commerce, conducted practical guidance in various ports, he stressed that "the thought of ancestors' tombs should be moved, and the joy of returning home should be rhymed", so as to stir up the sensitive nerve of overseas Chinese's hometown feeling.

Thirdly, in the order of development, the supervisors first "gather Chinese capital, seriously advocate, choose important places, build a section of road, open a mining area" in Fujian and Guangdong, then "persuade Chinese businessmen to give their money, undertake various companies, and do their best to operate" and "gradually expand from south to North".

Zhang Zhenxun's memorial was approved by the Ministry of Commerce and submitted to Emperor Guangxu for approval. Of course, today's absorption and utilization of overseas Chinese capital can't be compared with the last years of the Qing Dynasty, but these views can still enlighten people even after more than 100 years.

Zhang Zhenxun not only put forward the idea of absorbing and utilizing overseas Chinese capital, but also went back to China to set up a factory. Among them, it is commendable that in 1894 he invested 3 million silver yuan to establish Changyu Wine Company in Yantai, Shandong Province. The company has continued to this day, and the top-grade wine produced by the factory is listed as one of the famous Chinese wines.

In September 1916, Zhang Zhenxun died of illness in badavia, Indonesia, at the age of 75. On the way back to his hometown for burial, the Dutch and British colonial authorities lowered flags at half mast to mourn, while the people ordered incense road sacrifices. People mourn this once powerful business genius in various ways.

In 1875, he founded a new reclamation company in AQI, Sumatra, and in 1877, he founded Yuye reclamation company in Yili, the Netherlands. In 1878, liwang reclamation company, founded in Rili, had eight rubber plantations and employed more than 10000 workers. According to records, in one of the rubber plantations, his family took a carriage and walked in a straight line for four hours to get out of the garden.

At the same time, Zhang Bishi also actively seized other business opportunities to establish various industries. In recent years, Zhang Bishi felt that the prosperity and decline of business all depended on whether the finance was smooth. However, the fluctuation of local exchange rate was controlled by outsiders, so he expanded to the financial industry and set up Riri bank to handle the exchange business of overseas Chinese. In the 24th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, he founded Dongxing Company in wendongbu, pengheng Prefecture, Malaya to mine tin. Thanks to the increase of the rich in Indonesia, he has built a large number of high-end Chinese and western houses in Medan and Penang, attracting a large number of European and Chinese businessmen.

The wholesale business of medicinal materials is another important business field of Zhang Bishi. He set up drug stores in Singapore, Bacheng, Hong Kong and Guangzhou respectively. He purchased valuable Chinese medicines in China, transferred them to Singapore and Bacheng, sold them wholesale at home and abroad, and transported Western medicines home from abroad. At that time, overseas Chinese markets, such as Bangkok, Tokyo, Hanoi, San Francisco, New York, the Philippines, Honolulu and other places, all placed orders with Zhang Bishi's drug stores, forming a huge wholesale network of medicinal materials at home and abroad.

In the more than 30 years since the 1860s, the enterprises run by Zhang Bishi have flourished, involving many important industries in Indonesia and Malaysia, and built a huge business kingdom. According to statistics, during the peak period (1869), Zhang Bishi's property reached 80 million taels of silver, 10 million taels more than the fiscal revenue of the Qing government (70 million taels of silver) at that time, and more than 50 million taels more than the property of Hu Xueyan, the richest man in the south of the Yangtze River at that time. He became the leader of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and the richest Chinese.

Although Zhang Bishi was a red top businessman who was highly valued by the late Qing government, and even could avoid kneeling when he met Cixi, he had a thorough understanding of the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government and the subsequent conflicts between the Northern Warlords. Therefore, he was not enthusiastic about participating in politics and devoted his whole life to "saving the country through industry".

Zhang Bishi advocated that "the sovereignty is in charge, and the benefits are not spillover". He often said to people: "born as a Chinese nation, we should serve the Chinese people." He did not hesitate to transfer a large amount of funds to various parts of the motherland to set up a large number of modern industrial enterprises. In 1892, Zhang Bishi was invited to return home to discuss the great plan of rejuvenating the country through industry and went to Yantai for investigation. After the inspection, he immediately decided to invest 3 million taels of silver to open up 3000 acres of vineyards. He built the first wine Industrial Park base in China, the largest in Asia and the third largest in the world, and established the "Changyu grape wine company" which started with his surname "Zhang" and chose "Yu" as the meaning of his motherland Changlong Xingyu. In 1905, the largest underground wine kiln in Asia was built for 11 years Yes. On January 20, 1914, Changyu's "double Qilin" wine was born. In 1915, at the invitation of US President Wilson, Zhang Bishi led the Chinese delegation to attend the Panama Pacific Expo held in San Francisco. Changyu's four wines (Keya brandy, red wine, vermouth and Riesling) won one gold award and three first-class awards at the Panama world expo! This is the first gold medal of Chinese products in the world! Since then, the Chinese people have won the gold medal brandy and a series of wine that Westerners praise, breaking the myth that foreign wine is invincible!

In addition to the establishment of Changyu grape wine company, Zhang Bishi has set up more than 10 modern industrial companies in China. According to the research of experts and scholars, Zhang Bishi was the manufacturer of China's first tractor and the founder of the first batch of industrialized domestic machine-made brick factories, glass factories and machine weaving factories.

Life of the characters

Former residence of Zhang Bishi in Ba City

The richest man in Nanyang

Zhang Bishi (1841-1916), 21 years of Daoguang in Qing Dynasty（

Chinese PinYin : Zhang Zhen Xun