Legend of Xiangjiang Tycoon

"Old Zheng, in addition to these Shanghai textile bosses, who else is dealing with textile raw materials in Xiangjiang?" Li Zhiwen asked.

Li Zhiwen's question is also very simple. Textiles are not the patent of the Chinese. In fact, many industries in Xiangjiang were started by the old ghosts, and then gradually started by the Chinese.

And Li Zhiwen thought that since you guys in Shanghai helped me and wanted to solve the problem for a long time, it was natural to defeat them.

But the most important problem of Kirin Group at present is to obtain textile raw materials, so defeating them is not suitable for short-term use.

So Li Zhiwen plans to start with Gui Lao and see if he can get a batch!

"Boss, there is a Taikoo textile factory under Swire Pacific, and the textile raw materials account for about 20% of the entire textile industry in Xiangjiang." Zheng Chao said.

"Twenty percent is not too much." Li Zhiwen said, groping his chin.

"Boss, in fact, Swire Group used to dominate the textile industry in Hong Kong, but because of the help from Shanghai and Hong Kong in the 1950s, and the small profit in textiles, Swire Pacific gradually gave up the textile industry." Zheng Chao said with a wry smile.

Swire Pacific is the property of the Shi Huai Ya family. It is not like many foreign companies in the early days, which changed their flags and changed their names, and the descendants of the founders have long been excluded. For more than 100 years, the Shi Huai Ya family has been firmly in control of Swire Pacific.

The Shi Huai Ya family has a long history of doing business. After the British bourgeois revolution, the status of businessmen greatly improved.

Colonial expansion is strategically based on force and trade. In the eighteenth century, the ancestors of the Shi Huai Ya family went to North America, the largest British colony at that time, to engage in trade.

In 1816, John Sr. founded the John Shyer & Sons Company. The company is headquartered in Yorkshire, central England.

The company's business is mainly cotton trading and garment production. The southern United States is the world's largest cotton production base, with high quality cotton and low prices.

Old John often commutes between Savannah in the United States and Hull in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is the world's largest textile producer, and there are many textile mills in the small city of York.

Old John didn't want to be in the competitive textile industry, so he opened a garment factory in Yorkshire, run by family members.

John Sr. had two sons, the eldest son, Johansson Shihuai, was born in 1825, and three years later, the second son, Williamson Shihuai. They both went to aristocratic schools in Yorkshire.

In 1847, John Sr. died. Johnson, who was only 22 years old, and Williamson, who was less than 20 years old, inherited his father's business.

Johansham closed down the barely profitable garment industry, specializing in the cotton trade, which was very profitable and sold in various Western European countries.

Cotton in the United States was mainly grown by slaves. In 1861, the civil war broke out between the northern and southern manor owners. The cotton warehouse of the Shi Huai Ya family was destroyed by fire.

During the war, cotton cultivation was halted, the sea frontier was blocked, and cotton exports were interrupted. The Civil War lasted until 1865.

The family business suffered a heavy blow, and the Shi Huai Ya brothers were helpless.

At this time, a businessman named Robert Bedarfield encouraged Shi Huai Ya to go to the Far East to develop. Bedardfeld had been to China. Like many businessmen who had just arrived in China, he bet on blocking, but he soon discovered that blocking business was not easy to do, and it was basically monopolized by Great Ocean, and small traders and hawkers could only do it. Eat their leftover scraps.

Bedafield turned to other businesses, and when he returned to his hometown to marry a wife, he was already an enviable little rich man.

As a China expert, Bedafield introduced the myth of the Far East Nuggets to the Shyre brothers. At that time, it was a fever in the Far East, and when the Civil War in the Beautiful Country would end, Johansham learned through the media that the Far East trade was indeed promising, and agreed to Bedardfeld's suggestion.

In 1864, the Bedfordshire & Swarya company was established. Bedafield is chairman and Johansham is general manager.

The following year, the two came to the Far East for a business inspection tour. They arrived at Xiangjiang first, and Bedardfeld believed that the size of the world of Xiangjiang, except for entrepot trade, the local market was too small.

They went north along the coast and stopped briefly in Mindu, Fudu, and Ningbo, thinking it was not ideal. Finally arrived in Shanghai, immediately attracted by the vigorous development momentum in Shanghai, decided to set up camp in Shanghai.

The two statements, which are right and wrong, are not clear to the descendants of the Shi Huai Ya family. For them, researching the name of the company has no meaning. Swire Pacific has long been a well-known company name in Heungkong, and Dagu Yangxing is a symbol of the identity and wealth of the Shi Huai Ya family.

Bedafield and Swire have only had a one-year relationship. Although he has suffered from the loss of the block, the dream of getting rich by the block has always lingered in his heart.

He believes that he is now rich in financial resources, and has a business hall in Shanghai as a stronghold, just in time to compete with the big businessmen who are getting carried away.

Johansham disagreed. He had already made his first pot of gold with cotton and was reluctant to take the risk. Johansham doesn't think that blocking is a sin, he just thinks that if you want to settle down in one place, you must do business in the right way. Chinese people hate blocking businessmen, and doing this kind of partial business will not last long.

The two of them disagreed with Ji Ni, and they often blushed and had a thick neck. Seeing that the company's business was extremely sluggish, Bedarfield proposed to withdraw his shares and parted ways with the Shi Huai Ya brothers. Bedafield said that without him, Swire Pacific would be unsustainable.

Bedafield withdrew from the shares, and Dagu Yangxing was indeed in trouble. The Shi Huai Ya brothers went to the British businessmen in Shanghai to offer shares to maintain the survival of the foreign firm.

In the following years, Swire Pacific also formed a joint stock limited company to continuously increase capital and expand shares. The largest shareholder is still the Shi Huai Ya family.

The brothers were operating miserably, and the foreign trade gradually improved. The boss, Johansham, actively expanded beyond Shanghai without waiting for the foreign firm to be strong.

He explained to shareholders this way: "The lessons of the cotton trade must be learned, and the company cannot be trapped in one industry and one place."

In 1869, Swire Pacific established branches in Yokohama and Xiangjiang, Japan. Its business is still commodity trading, transporting British industrial products to the Far East, and exporting the primary products of the Far East to the country.

The manager of the Heung Kong branch is held by someone outside the Shi Huai Ya family. Sweeney Brothers. One is based in the head office in Shanghai, and the other is patrolling overseas all year round.

Heung Kong Taikoo & Co. quickly became a star among the branches. First of all, this is due to the unique geographical location of Hong Kong and the free port policy pursued by the Hong Kong government; secondly, Johnson found an excellent comprador to help the branch business.

This comprador is Mo Shiyang. At that time, he went to and from Yangcheng to do foreign goods business, communicated widely with businessmen from all over the world, and was proficient in English.

Johansham hired him as a comprador for Swire Pacific, and the Mo family also became a famous comprador family in the province and Hong Kong. There were more than 10 compradors of Swire Pacific.

According to his investigation of the British businessmen in the port, Moshyan suggested that the head office Taipan Johansham should join the Hong Kong government. This proposal was adopted by Johansham and determined to be the foundation of development in Hong Kong.

In the future, Swire will express any public welfare and charitable cause that the Governor of Hong Kong attaches great importance to. As long as the policies of the Hong Kong government do not seriously harm Swire's interests, Swire will always vote for it.

In 1872, Johansham strongly invested in the shipping industry. Many shareholders expressed doubts that the shipping industry is becoming saturated and competition is fierce.

Johansham cites the history of world shipping. World trade is always expanding, and shipping will be busy with it.

Taikoo opened two steamships at the same time. One is the Black Chimney Shipping Company, which opens up China's coastal routes and is involved in the inland shipping of the Yangtze River; the other is the Blue Chimney Shipping Company. route.

Various shipping companies in China have established branches in Hong Kong and other commercial ports, among which the Hong Kong branch is the strongest.

Prior to this, Hong Kong had: the provincial-port line developed by the Hong Kong-Guangzhou Shipping Company, the Shanghai-Hong Kong regular flight of the Tiehang Shipping Company, the day-night provincial-port line operated by Qichang Yanghang, the European Hong Kong regular route of the French Cruise Line, Hong Kong and Macau Shipping Company's Hong Kong and Macau routes, Pacific Shipping Company's San Francisco Hong Kong route, and so on.

In the face of many powerful opponents, Dagu has set its strategy on high-quality services. It purchased luxury steamboats from the United Kingdom and joined the Shanghai Hong Kong and Hong Kong Internet Cafe routes.

Swire Steamers are well-known for their service, and although the fares are set a little higher, wealthy passengers are happy to take Swire Steamers.

The captains of the Swire fleet are all hired from Britain with high salaries. They have undergone modern navigation training, and marine meteorology is their compulsory subject.

At that time, there was no marine weather station in Huaxia, and many shipwrecks were caused by bad weather. The Swire fleet suffered the least damage in all tropical hurricanes.

In July 1881, Swire Pacific purchased land in Quarry Bay and established Swire Sugar Factory. The Eastern District, where Quarry Bay is located, was a desolate place on Hong Kong Island at that time.

Since Swire has set up many industries in Quarry Bay, the Eastern District has become prosperous, and the Eastern District has gradually become a prosperous place on Hong Kong Island.

One year before Swire's foray into the sugar industry, Dongjiao Sugar Co. merged with other sugar factories and became the giant of Hong Kong Sugar Industry in one fell swoop.

Dongjiao Sugar transports brown sugar from the Pearl River Delta, and after refining it into white sugar, in addition to supplying Hong Kong Island, it is mainly sold back to the Pearl River Delta.

Taikoo Sugar can avoid confrontation with East Point Sugar as much as possible. It imports brown sugar from Cuba, Australia, Mauritius, Taiwan and other places, and the processed white sugar and cube sugar are mainly sold to non-sugar-producing countries and regions.

According to Mr. Mo Yinggui, a former comprador of Dagu, “Taigu Sugar Factory has two sets of sugar refining equipment, 100 tons of soluble sugar per day and 125,000 tans of refined sugar per month. At the beginning, it once monopolized the Far East refined sugar market.”

By the end of the nineteenth century, the production scale of white sugar in the Pearl River Delta was expanding, and the sales of imported white sugar dropped sharply. The Dongjiao Sugar Industry declined, and Taikoo Sugar Factory came to the fore and became the giant of Heung Kong Sugar.

Although Swire & Co.'s business in Heung Kong has grown by leaps and bounds, Johansham is still not optimistic about Heung Kong, and has always focused on Shanghai.

Johansham said: "Xiangjiang and Shanghai can both become a link to communicate the world. If we talk about the radiation power of China, Xiangjiang can only radiate the two regions of southern China, while Shanghai, the radiation surface covers almost the whole of China."

In China, there is a group of British businessmen who are like Kadoorie, the family of Heung Kong Electric, whose entire family has settled in Hong Kong and has taken root thoroughly; there is a group of British businessmen who still keep their homes in the country and only regard China as a business field. The most typical family, most members of the family still live in Yorkshire and other places, and have another family business.

In 1898, Sir Johansham died at the family manor house. Before he died, he said to his sons John and Warren: "Although Xiangjiang is a British colony, the land is too small, and the focus of the family business can only be placed in Shanghai."

Brother Shi Huai Ya came to the far east. Like their father, they first stayed in Xiangjiang, and then went north along the coast, visiting Swire's branches and offices in Mindu, Fudu and Ningbo along the way. The Shi Huai Ya brothers entered the Taikoo Commercial Building in Shanghai and listened to the reports of the agent Taipan and the comprador.

The shipping company of Swire Pacific has become the most powerful shipping company in the Yangtze River Basin and the eastern coast.

However, Swire's overseas trade has encountered unprecedented setbacks. Huaxia's tea has been severely impacted by Indian tea, which is more in line with European tastes. Now Huaxia's tea export business is getting worse.

Huaxia's silk output is basically in this situation. The Japanese silk reeling industry has risen, and the cost of its modern factory operations is much lower than that of ancient Chinese workshops.

The silk business of the Yokohama branch was strongly challenged by a Japanese trading company. Therefore, Swire Pacific's silk business is unprofitable.

Now, there is only one way for the Shyre brothers to shrink trade and strengthen industry. The industries of Swire Pacific include the shipping industry centered on Shanghai, as well as the sugar industry and refrigeration industry in Heung Kong.

The Silvia brothers decided to invest in shipbuilding. The preferred location is Shanghai. Huaxia has become the largest shipbuilding center in the Far East. Although there are many shipbuilding facilities, competition is fierce.

Pudong has a large area of ​​paddy fields and vegetables that can be used to set up factories. Since foreign merchants are optimistic about Shanghai, the price of land is not cheap.

The Shi Huai Ya brothers went south along the coast, and several commercial ports were not ideal. When I arrived in Xiangjiang, I didn't expect the land to be settled so quickly.

Taikoo leased 53 acres of wasteland from the Hong Kong government at a price of 3 cents per square foot. The site is Taikoo Shing in today's Quarry Bay.

It took 9 years for Taikoo Dockyard to be built in 1909. To raise funds, Taikoo had to sell the cold storage to the milk company founded by Dr. Winson.

At that time, the largest shipbuilding company in Hong Kong was still the Whampoa Dockyard with the longest history. To compete, Swire Shipyards hired shipbuilders and craftsmen from England.

On the shore of the dock, there is also the Taikoo Machinery Company, which is matched with shipbuilding and develops and manufactures textile machines.

During the First World War, large shipyards in Europe switched to manufacturing warships. The Far East ship merchants, who have always depended on the European shipbuilding industry, had to purchase new ships in the Far East.

The shipbuilding industry in the Far East entered a golden age, and Taikoo Shipyard took the opportunity to expand its scale, with as many as 4,000 workers, keeping pace with the Hong Kong shipbuilder Da Huangpu Dockyard.

In 1916, the Huangpu Dockyard built a 10,000-ton sea-going ship. In March 1917, the Aturigas built by Swire Shipyards was launched and sailed to San Francisco. The ship was owned by the Blue Chimney Steamship Company in which Swire participated and was the largest merchant ship by tonnage at that time.

John and Warren had no intention of violating their father's will, and the headquarters of the firm was still located in Shanghai. But in fact, the focus has gradually shifted to the fait accompli of Hong Kong.

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