Why "Ningbo gang" can make a fortune in modern Shanghai?

Modern Shanghai is China's most developed industrial, commercial and economic center, but also a city of immigrants, once known as the "Hakka monopoly of the stage". In the many immigrants in Shanghai, Ningbo immigrant groups occupy the most notable position. One of the important reasons is that the Ningbo industrial and commercial groups (hereinafter referred to as the Ningbo businessmen) in modern Shanghai has achieved great success, China's first machine ginning mill, the first oil mill, the first match, the first machine factory, the first bank, are in Shanghai Ningbo businessmen founded.

For example, Ye Chengyi, who founded the Xiechang Match Factory, Liu Hongsheng of the Great China Match Company, Xiang Songmao of the Five Continents Pharmacy, Fang Lixian of the China Chemical Industry Association, and Bao Guochang of the Xinyi Chemical and Pharmaceutical Factory have all achieved great success in the pioneering and operation of modern enterprises. And the likes of Yu Qiaqing in shipping, Huang Chujiu in western medicine and entertainment, Qin Runqing in money-changing, and Song Hanzhang in banking are also industry leaders, and many of them across various fields.

Ye Cheng-chen, who founded the Xiechang Match Factory; Liu Hong-sheng, of the Great China Match Company; and Xiang Song-mao, of the Wuzhou Pharmacy (from left)

The dominance of the Ningbo merchants is even more obvious when one looks at the internal structure of the group organizations that represented the interests of Shanghai's industrial and commercial workers. For example, in 1902, the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce was established (since then, it has been reorganized as the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce and the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce), which has been changed 18 times in 27 years, and there are 7 people from the Ningbo businessmen*** who have been elected to be the Prime Minister (President) 14 times, with a total tenure of 23 years. According to statistics, at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century in this period of time, Shanghai more than 20 Hakka merchant gangs in the total number of people, the number of Ningbo merchants accounted for seventy percent of the Cantonese merchants accounted for about 10%, and the other together accounted for 20%. It can be said that at that time, the Ningbo merchants in Shanghai was the leading one.

Why were Ningbo merchants able to make such surprising achievements in modern Shanghai? A few days ago, in Fudan University, Chinese antiquities protection research institute sponsored by the "China modern Yong businessmen in Shanghai economic activities seminar", Fudan University, professor of history ZhuYinGui to analyze this interpretation.

A strong cohesive hometown organization

Zhu believes that the reason why the modern Yong merchants were able to rise and succeed in Shanghai, there must be other merchant gangs do not have and Ningbo merchants unique features and advantages, otherwise it would be difficult to explain why it is the Ningbo merchants rather than other merchants to achieve this success.

These characteristics and advantages, the first point is that the Ningbo gang has a strong cohesive hometown organizations, the most famous of which is the Simei Gongshuo and Ningbo merchants in Shanghai hometown associations.

From the "Zhang let three handwritten Shanghai four Ming Gongshuo origin" in the article, we can see, Ningbo merchants in the Qing Jiaqing two years (1797) on the establishment of the hometown organization of those living in Shanghai four Ming Gongshuo, to each person every day, a text of the funds collected, used in Shanghai, "building C house (the storage of coffins in the house), set up a mound (public graves), back to the travel Sterculia (coffins), The hospital was set up" and other public welfare and charitable matters.

Siming Office

Siming Office naturally became the center of Ningbo people's activities in Shanghai and the center of shelter, and the majority of Ningbo people identify with it and maintain it very strongly.

The activities of the Ningbo-Shanghai Fellowship Association were mainly focused on two aspects, namely, social assistance and promotion of school education. In terms of social assistance, such as 128, 813 during the two wars in Songhu, the Association set up a special committee to handle rescue, shelter, repatriation of the victims of the aftermath of the work of fellow townspeople.

In terms of education, the Association set up and promoted primary and secondary schools, set up various scholarships, etc. In 1927, the number of elementary school established in Shanghai reached 10, with a maximum of 3,460 students. In addition, the associations also invested to varying degrees in public welfare projects such as building bridges, repairing roads and dredging rivers.

Zhu Yingui believes that in modern China, it is rare to find such an efficient social organization as the Ningbo-Shanghai Boys' Association, which, along with the four communal offices, was supported and embraced by the majority of the Ningbo people and thus had a strong cohesive force.

Geo-centric cohesion fuels the development of Ningbo business

China General Merchants Bank Five Dollars

In 1897, China gave birth to its first self-run bank, the China General Merchants Bank, of which three out of the nine directors were Ningbo people. Shortly thereafter, another commercial bank was born purely by the travelling Shanghai Ningbo merchants initiated the organization of a commercial bank - Simei Bank.

The bank had a capital of 1.5 million taels and the right to issue banknotes. Issuing banknotes was profitable, but also risky. Because the Chinese generally did not trust banknotes but silver dollars, a run on the banknote was likely to occur once the situation changed. The bank's capital was not strong, so it suffered a few runs, but each time it relied on the support of the Ningbo townspeople who traveled to Shanghai to get it through.

Bank of Four Masters

On one of these occasions, almost all the stores owned by Ningbo people accepted banknotes from the Bank of Four Masters. There were even many Ningbo workers who saw people waiting to cash in outside the Bank of Four Ming Dynasty, and they took the initiative to take out their cash and exchange it for Bank of Four Ming Dynasty banknotes. A few times down the line, the Shanghai people also know that the Bank of Four Ming Dynasty has the backing of all the fellow townsmen, will not be shaken, the confidence in its banknotes is also strengthened.

In the absence of external pressure, the ordinary Ningbo workers with little income were willing to take the initiative to help the Bank of Simei to diversify and bear the risk, which surprised Zhu Yingui, "Such a situation is extremely rare in modern Shanghai and even in modern China as a whole."

And then there is the Ning Shao Commercial Steamship Company, established in 1908, which was continually sidelined and dumped by foreign-owned shipping companies during its creation and development. After renting a pier on the Huangpu River from Japanese and French merchants with great difficulty, the company set a fare of 50 cents and announced that it would never raise its fares, which was supported by Chinese merchants. But the foreign businessmen to squeeze down Ning Shao, with strong capital, the fare from 1 yuan reduced 30 cents, and other means to attract customers.

Ningshao merchant shipping company set up a fare of 50 cents

In this case, the majority of Ningbo people in Shanghai outbreak of amazing unity, Ning Shao merchant gangs under the various industry groups have met to express their position and set up a code of conduct to support the Ning Shao merchant shipping company, at the same time the organization of "shipping industry to maintain the Association" to support Ning Shao merchant shipping company with foreign business The ship company to compete with foreign ship companies.

For example, the Ning Shao merchant gang silk Gu embroidered clothing industry colleagues, held a meeting, its industry director said: "If I Ning Shao company was really forced to fall, is my Ning Shao gang from now on the broken gas, will be other gangs laughed at? So today I invite you all to this, since then or to and from Shanghai and Ningbo, the need to take their own Ningshao ship, never see the current only a small profit, to take him on a foreigner's ship." At the same time also established five rules, including all goods must be shipped by the Ning Shao ship, the store year in advance to buy Ning Shao ship tickets.

It is in the majority of Ning Shao travel to Shanghai group of the same people's support, Ning Shao merchant shipping company not only stood firm, and later there is the strength to buy a foreign shipping company's merchant ships. In turn, in the majority of Ningbo townspeople support the development of Ningbo business, also as far as possible to the townspeople to give back. Such as 1911, the outbreak of the 1911 Revolution, Wuhan, the situation is very tense, the price of tickets soaring, Ning Shao commercial ship company sent a ship to Wuhan in time, to the urgent need to leave the townspeople to lend a helping hand to the poor to give free tickets.

The role of the Simei Gongsho and Ningbo Shanghai Fellowship

Ningbo businessmen clearly understand that finance is the blood of economic development, only financial and industrial interpenetration and support, in order to truly develop and grow up, as the Ningbo industrialist Liu Hongsheng said: "a bank, if there is no industrial and commercial enterprises, can not be long existed; and industrial and commercial enterprises, if there is no bank as a pillar of the bank, can not exist; and the bank, if there is no bank as a pillar of the bank, can not exist for a long time. Industrial and commercial enterprises, if there is no bank as a pillar, will also be limited to shut down."

According to statistics, 1912, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1934, Shanghai money changers, money changers of Zhejiang nationality accounted for more than half of these Zhejiang money changers and these Zhejiang money changers are mainly Ningbo nationality. The same is true of the banking industry, from China's first bank, the Bank of China General Merchants Bank was established, and since then a number of banks can be seen in the active figure of Ningbo people.

Ningbo merchants either started out in traditional commerce and then operated a bank to further promote industrial growth, or started out as a bank, financial industry, and then supported the development of industry and commerce to promote their own development, or industrial operators to invest in the financial industry in the form of equity. Either way, the end result is to promote the development and growth of the Yong business as a whole.

Zhu Yingui finally concluded that, like the Simei Public Office, Ningbo Shanghai Fellowship neither belongs to the government and different from the business associations, once played an important role in modern Chinese society, especially in the relief, education, medical care and help hometown construction and other public **** interest activities, undoubtedly make up for the lack of social security system of modern Chinese society, to a certain extent to replace and play a part of the government's role. played part of the government's proper role.

The cohesion they formed, centered on geography, enabled merchants of Ningbo origin to tide over difficulties and stand firm in a foreign land, which, together with the importance attached by Ningbo merchants to the combination of finance and industry, contributed to their ability to outperform other groups of merchants of other origins in leading the way in economic activities in modern Shanghai.

Source: Surfing.com

Author: Xu Xiao

Copyright belongs to the original author.