Who created the "Flour Kingdom"

At the beginning of the 20th century, when the trend of national capitalist entrepreneurship was in the ascendant, the first machine flour mill invested by Chinese national capital rose up here, thus achieving a once-famous flour legend and a shanghai hegemony.

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Wandering along the beautiful Suzhou River, surrounded by high-rise buildings makes people feel the vitality and tension of the modern city. From the other side of the river in the middle and far bays to the vicinity of the Hengfeng Road Bridge, you can see an ingenious building, the western-style eaves of the outer wall are bustling and eye-catching, but inside is a pure Chinese style inner courtyard patio. This is the former site of the Fufeng Flour Mill.

On January 27, 2018, Fufeng Flour Mill was selected as the first machine flour mill opened by Chinese national capital to be included in the "China Industrial Heritage Protection List". The main remains are: factory buildings and office buildings; Fufeng Lilifangmen (workers' residential area); fufeng flour mill site (located in the Fork Bag Corner area of Suzhou Creek, No. 120 Moganshan Road). The former site of Fufeng Flour Mill was built in the 24th year of Qing Guangxu (1898), covering an area of 227.1 square meters, with a construction area of 1045.92 square meters, four floors of brick and wood structure, north-south direction, Qingshui green brick and red brick interspersed with external walls, the bottom arch gate; the office building was built in the 25th year of Qing Guangxu (1899), covering an area of 641.6 square meters, with a construction area of 1241.39 square meters, sitting north and facing south, brick and wood structure on the second floor, Baroque decoration.

This natural delta, because of its unique natural conditions, once became a favored investment treasure land by businessmen. At the beginning of the 20th century, when the trend of national capitalist entrepreneurship was in the ascendant, China's first machine flour mill, Fufeng Flour Mill, rose up here, thus achieving a once-famous flour legend and a shanghai hegemony.

▲Fufeng Flour Mill (Source Network)

Fufeng Flour Mill is the first machine flour mill founded by China National Capital, with a long history, large scale, complete equipment, good products and many profits, and is an enterprise that maintains steady development.

From its early construction in 1898 until it ceased production in 2003, it used to supply 11 percent of the country's flour for more than half a century. During the golden period of the development of national capitalism before and after the First World War, the Fufeng Flour Mill became famous overseas. After the founding of New China, it once became the top flour mill in the country. Behind such a huge flour kingdom is a dismal history of family entrepreneurship, and it is also a microcosm of the history of the development of Chinese national capitalism. The brothers Sun Duoxin and Sun Duosen, who are famous in china's modern history, created this legend.

In Shouzhou, Anhui Province, there is a couplet known to women and children: "One door three jinshi, five sons and four dengke", which is about the local premier Sun family. The grandson of the Sun family, Sun Jianai, was the head of the ninth year of Xianfeng, the Guangxu Emperor, and the founder of the Beijing Normal University Hall (now Peking University). Five of the brothers in his generation were all readers, and they produced one title, three jinshi, and one lifter. Such a generational scholarly door, under the tide of changing times, at the same time completed the transition from a bureaucratic family to a commercial family.

All this is inextricably linked to Mrs. Li, the mother of the Sun brothers. Mrs. Li was the second miss of Li Hongzhang's eldest brother, Li Hanzhang, and was quite open-minded under the influence of Li Hongzhang's foreign affairs. She does not advocate that future generations follow the old path of the imperial examination, but ask them to learn foreign languages and run foreign affairs. She once educated Sun Duoxin and Sun Duosen brothers: "Today's European wind is gradually moving east, and if you want your children not to fall into the family and revitalize their family business, they must study foreign languages in order to understand the general trend of the world, then it is difficult to compete with people for fame in the dynasty and for the benefit of the city..." Under the influence of such an atmosphere, the eunuch family, which originally ate and wore well, chose a difficult road of entrepreneurship, and walked out of the future Sun family's business pioneers from the incense of books and ink.

Source: Xiaokang magazine in early December 2021

Author: Dongsheng

Editor-in-charge: Dina Zhao

WeChat editor-in-charge: Tian Yuan Weiying

(This article is the original article of Xiaokang magazine.) If you need to reprint, please leave a message at the end of the article to apply and get authorization. Please indicate the source and author of the reprint, thank you! ）