1840, Ye Chengzhong was born in a poor farmer's home in Zhenhai Zhuang City. He lost his father at the age of 6 and studied in a private school for only half a year at the age of 9. 1 1 years old, he was hired as a shepherd boy in Hengheyan Oil Workshop in Zhuang City. /kloc-at the age of 0/4, he went to Shanghai to make a living and worked as an apprentice in a grocery store in the French Concession. /kloc-When he was 0/7 years old, he rented a sampan to ferry on the Huangpu River to sell groceries to foreign ships.
Founded the earliest match factory in China1In the middle of the 9th century, Ye Chengzhong was good at observing the business situation and thought that it was profitable to invest in the match market, so he planned to set up a match factory. Zhang Alai, an overseas Chinese returning from Japan and a fellow townsman in Zhenhai, proposed to open a match factory for Ye and introduced him to his Japanese wife. Zhang's wife works as a clerk in a match factory and knows the technological process of making matches. Ye listened to Zhang Loy's proposal face to face.
In the 16th year of Guangxu (1890), Ye Chengzhong invested 52,000 yuan to set up the largest Xiechang spontaneous fire fighting company in Shanghai at that time in Jia Zhu Bridge (now Tangshan Road), Hongkou, Shanghai. There are 800 workers and 360,000 boxes of matches a day. Its products are excellent, even better than those of British businessmen. Suichang factory closed down because of the failure of competition. (Shanghai annals, 1825 page)
Soon, when Japanese businessmen saw the closure of the British factory, they wanted to take the opportunity to enter, dumping a large number of Japanese matches in Shanghai, trying to overwhelm the Xiechang factory, and Ye lowered the price of each box of matches. Ye relied on enterprises in Hankou, Wuhu, Yichang, Zhenhai and other places to compete with Japanese businessmen, forcing Japanese businessmen to cut prices again and lose ground. In Wenzhou, the price of Japanese matches was forced to drop to 2.6 cents per basket, almost losing money. Japanese businessmen were both helpless and admired, calling Ye Chengzhong a "good businessman".
Ye Chengzhong's former residence in Shi Zhuang (built in the 14th year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty)
1896, Ye Chengzhong raised another 422,000 yuan and sent his fellow countryman Song to Hankou to set up a larger second Xiechang Match Factory. To this end, Song Te wrote to Zhang Zhidong, Governor of Liangjiang. Zhang Zhidong was very supportive of the newspaper and gave many favorable conditions.
Set up Hong 'an Shipping Company
1882, Ye Chengzhong reported to Li Hongzhang, Governor of Liangjiang that "I requested to build a ship and set up Guangzhou Transportation Bureau", and Li Hongzhang refused it on the grounds that "there is already a China Merchants Bureau, so it is not necessary to dominate". Later, Li Hongzhang went to Zhili to supervise the Beiyang Navy, and Ye took this opportunity to bring up the ship.
1889, he raised 200,000 yuan to set up Hongan Shipping Company. In order to guard against the interference of the Qing dynasty, he had to shelter foreign forces, belonged to British businessmen and Xingyang, and registered in Britain.
After one year's efforts, in the second year, Hong 'an Shipping Company owned first-class ships 1 1 ship with a net tonnage of over 7,000 tons, about1/2000 tons. The company has successively opened up the Shen-Han line of the Yangtze River, Tianjin, Yantai and Niuzhuang lines along the northern coast, and sea routes in Shantou, Danshui and Keelung along the southeast coast. Its scale is second only to Taikoo and Jardine Matheson, British businessmen, and China Merchants in China.
In Hong 'an Steamship Company, Ye is always the controlling shareholder. Before 1904, the shares of Hong 'an Company had been Zhongqi and Yingsan, among which Ye Chengzhong was the largest shareholder.
Create Shang Hu Hardware Kingdom
1862, with the help of British businessman Robert, Ye Chengzhong opened the first Shunji Hardware Foreign Firm (English name is Chengzhong Company) in Shanghai on Broadway (now Daming Road). The business scope started from ship hardware and canned hardware, and later expanded to steel hardware, mechanical hardware, manufacturing hardware, chemical hardware and military hardware. , also engaged in the sale of kerosene.
Create many industries
Ye Chengzhong founded the first foreign firm Shunji Hardware Foreign Firm in China, which not only occupied the hardware market in Shanghai, but also had market advantages in Tianjin, Liaoning, Yantai, Qingdao, Ningbo, Hankou, Xiamen and Fuzhou.
At the same time, pay attention to Shanghai kerosene market and become a kerosene tycoon. Ye Chengzhong started from an Asian company and put kerosene into the Shanghai market outside the concession.
At 1870, Ye bought coal and iron from Kochi. And change the word "can be blazing" to "can be blazing". Kechi Shunzhi became the first firm in Shanghai to import coal and iron, and made a lot of profits.
1894, Ye Chengzhong invested 2 million taels of silver to open the earliest and largest silk weaving factory in China-Hua Lun Silk Reeling Factory. This factory not only protects Jiangsu and Zhejiang silkworm farmers from the suffering of silkworm traders' speculation and price reduction, but also plays a balanced role in exporting silk.
In his later years, Ye Chengzhong, Yan Xinhou, Zhu and others founded China people's own bank, China Commercial Bank, and served as executive director. This bank, located in Shanghai, has given the green light to Ningbo businessmen in Shanghai and provided many conveniences and preferential conditions.
Enthusiastic education donation
187 1 Ye Chengzhong said frankly at a charity meeting in Shanghai: "The benefit of prospering the world is greater than the benefit of prospering learning." Immediately after the meeting, he organized Shunji Business School. The students enrolled in this school are mainly primary school graduates, with a term of one year. After graduation, they were all hired by bidding, and most of them worked in foreign companies around the country after internship. This is Ye Chengzhong's first practice of cultivating talents with reference to business culture.
1875, the Ye family founded a business school in Shanghai, located in an alley on Jinling East Road on the Bund in Shanghai.
In the midsummer of 1898, Ye announced that he planned to set up a school to educate his children, and announced that he would allocate 65,438+two million yuan of silver, and asked Fan Shixun to be the person in charge to prepare for the purchase of 18 mu of land in Zhangjiabang, each mu of which was about 200 yuan. Fan Shixun, Chen Zulie, Wang Yufang, Cao Yu, Wu Xunfu and John Yap were appointed as directors of the school. Yuji's foreman contracted the construction of school buildings, built 42 Romanesque two-story buildings, 26 classrooms, dormitories, canteens, 15 bungalows and set up a book printing office in Xiaoyangzhengli.
1in the autumn of 902, President Liu became an observer in Wuhu, Anhui Province, and the post of President was represented by President Cai Yuanpei. Later, due to the expansion of the school, Ye Songqing, the eldest son of Ye Chengzhong, contributed 65,438+2 million yuan. Soon, Ye Chengzhong's other sons, such as Mianqing, Jpua, Xinxin and Tieqing, contributed * * * 65438+ 2 million yuan.
1May, 903, President Cai left Japan, with Zray as the principal, followed by Bai Zhenmin, Jiang Zifan and Xie. 19 1 1 Cao Liuri, a native of Shangyu, returned and was hired as the principal. Cao served 16 years.
When the school officially opened, the Qing Dynasty Inspectorate issued a plaque "Kaiguangde" as a token of encouragement, which was the imperial pen of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. There is also a four-word plaque "Park Yu Quan", which was written by King Katz Qin.
Ye also asked his son to donate 5,000 yuan to Chongzheng Academy in Zhuang's hometown, and changed the 17 private school, learning museum and academy in the township into western-style schools.
Ye's family is poor, young and out of school, and he is deeply painful. So I went back to my hometown with my cousin An and others, and discussed with the Ye clan to establish a guild hall, Ye Yizhuang and Ye Yishu. The agreed projects include: relief office, coffin collection office, vaccinia bureau, fire club, Yip's medical skills, etc. Ye allocated thirty-two thousand silver and asked his brother Ann to take charge of the preparations. YiShu YiShu was built, located in YiZhuang YiShu, with auditorium, classroom, office, dormitory, kitchen and other facilities. The first batch enrolled 20 children from the Ye family. Later, this school developed into Zhongxing School, and as early as the 1920s and 1930s, it trained a large number of outstanding students such as Bao Yugang and Shao Yifu.
Entrepreneurial experience
There are four basic experiences in getting rich:
hard work
Ye was born in poverty. 1 1 year-old worked for the oil mill, 17-year-old went to Shanghai to work for others to open a small boat. /kloc-started to get rich at the age of 0/7. At the age of 22, with the help of foreign businessmen, he opened a "Shunji hardware grocery store" in Shanghai and started to be a small boss. But he never rides a car or a horse. He always walks on two legs. Later, when he became a big boss, foreign businessmen gave him a foreign car, declined politely, gave him five suits, and he also gave them to the counselor. His granddaughter Ye Jimou told me personally: "My grandfather wears an old cloth shirt all his life." Grandpa often says to others, "You won't forget your ancestors if you wear an old cloth shirt and an old coat."
Start with honesty
Ye's honesty has not only been praised by colleagues, but also won the praise and trust of foreign businessmen. He made his fortune at the age of 17. He sailed in a boat on the Huangpu River and did some small business with KATTO. One day, a foreign businessman transited to the other side of the sixteenth shop on his boat. When he went ashore, he forgot to bring a small handbag. After Ye found out, the foreign businessman had already left. Ye opened his wallet and found a lot of money and checks in it, so Ye waited for him to pick it up at Store 16. In the evening, the foreign businessman hurried to meet Ye and looked for the official document bag. As soon as Ye saw that he was a foreign businessman, he returned all the parcels. The foreign businessman opened his wallet and gave Ye a thick stack of money to show his gratitude, but Ye politely declined. This foreign businessman used to be the head of British kerosene company and the manager of China department. Seeing Ye Laoshi, Yuzryha managed the kerosene warehouse and hired a Chinese teacher and an English teacher to help Ye learn culture. From then on, Ye had a more comprehensive understanding of Western Europe and had a backer in the hardware kerosene business.
A strong sense of openness
After the ban on the opening of Shanghai beaches, many China people and officials of the Qing court remained hostile to foreigners. Ye's attitude is different. At first, I just did some small business on the sampan to contact foreigners. Later, I was educated by foreign teachers. I quickly accepted new ideas and learned that doing business with foreign businessmen can make a fortune. So I accepted the help of foreign businessmen and opened a "Shunji hardware grocery store" in Shanghai, and obtained the patent right of kerosene business. Judging from the enterprises run by Ye, he is good at accepting new ideas and does not take the traditional path. Many enterprises are leading in China, such as kerosene industry, hardware industry, leather industry, silk reeling factory, match factory, small steam engine, China Commercial Bank and so on. So as to ensure the prosperity of the cause.
Ye's diplomatic career, without losing national dignity, has a flamboyant personality and is neither humble nor supercilious. The article "Ye Gongcheng's Honesty, Prosperity and Decline" once commented on Ye Chengzhong: "Since the maritime trade, Chinese businessmen have been able to compete with foreigners, with Ningbo as the first and Hu Ya and Ye Juncheng as the leaders. Both of you are independent of it. " It has promoted the development of national capital and national industry.
Take the road of Confucian businessmen
After Ye's success, he deeply felt that he lacked culture, so he recruited students with a certain Chinese foundation in Shanghai, Hankou, Tianjin, Hangzhou and other places to hold short-term English training courses, all of which were fully funded by Ye's enterprise, and the study period was one year. After the completion of my study, I will be assigned to practice in enterprises around the Ye family, and one year later I will be sent to local enterprises and large and medium-sized foreign enterprises to be a "co-organizer", "assistant" and "comprador". A large number of talents have been trained for enterprises.
Social assessment
Ye Chengzhong was an early industrialist in China. He founded Shang Tong Bank, the first bank in China, and operated Kechi Shunji, which supplied steel and coal to Jiangnan General Manufacturing Bureau and several shipyards, and founded dozens of hardware stores, as well as Hua Lun Silk Factory and Xiechang Match Factory.
Ye Chengzhong is also a philanthropist. Established the first formal modern education school founded by China people-"Dream of Success School", which is the predecessor of the middle school in the city. /kloc-over the past 0/00 years, this school has trained more than 40,000 students for China, many of whom are famous scholars, scientists and entrepreneurs, such as Hu Shi, Ni, Zhu Kezhen, Le Jialing and Li Dasan. In addition, as early as 187 1, he invested 32,000 silver to set up Yes Yizhuang in his hometown, helping poor children to study for free and receive modern education such as English. Bao Yugang and Shao Yifu both received enlightenment education in this Yizhuang, and Ye Chengzhong's ideal of rejuvenating the country through education lasted for more than a century through his students.