With the development of modern capitalism, the commodity market formed a worldwide circulation, and at the same time, labor force also achieved a worldwide circulation. Since the Opium War, China's doors have opened and it has joined in. At that time, not only did a large number of Chinese labor exports, but also many foreign laborers imported into the Chinese market.
Before modern times, although the Qing court was closed to the country, it was not exclusive. For foreign advanced technologies and ideas, China at that time did not lack the courage to learn. In the history of China's feudal society, foreign talents have appeared in many departments of the imperial court, and these people are deeply trusted by the Chinese government. The defeat in the Opium War prompted Chinese to reflect on the national crisis, and many people at the time suggested that they should learn from the Western experience.
There are many representative figures among them, such as Wei Yuan, who explicitly suggested that the Qing court hire foreigners in an attempt to strengthen itself. He suggested choosing craftsmen from Western countries such as France and the United States to teach China's advanced shipbuilding methods and "teach the method of conducting ships and cannons", so that "the long skills of the West are the long skills of China". Zheng Guanying also put forward a similar point of view, where the Modern Chinese do not understand the new style of business, so they have suffered repeated setbacks in their founding, and it is inevitable to take detours. Talents from the West who are good at new-style undertakings should be borrowed to help China rise up modern industry.
Indeed, modern industry is too foreign to Chinese. In order to create a successful modern industry, it is necessary to rely on external forces. In 1872, Shen Baozhen said: "When Zuo Zongtang's proposal was established, no one in China had ever experienced it, and had to ask the foreign smith. In 1904, Wei Guangtao, the governor of Liangjiang, said: "China has never paid attention to the science of manufacturing, so every machine factory has to recruit foreign engineers and craftsmen." ”
In the late Qing Dynasty, when the great powers were surrounded, and faced with increasingly severe forms, many important ministers realized the importance of bringing in foreign talents. Li Hongzhang once pointed out: "Sincerely surround our neighbors, negotiate in many ways, do not accept their handsomeness, and cannot win the affection of the enemy; if we do not give them help, we cannot respond to changes in the opportunity." Zhang Zhidong also stressed that as long as foreign talents are properly managed, they will certainly be able to use them more for me.
Since the beginning of the Western affairs movement, at the beginning of the establishment of modern enterprises in China, there have always been foreigners' participation, and there have always been foreigners' activities in modern enterprises in the late Qing Dynasty. The forms of employment of foreigners during this period were mainly divided into two categories: direct employment and indirect employment. The so-called direct employment means that the Chinese party and the foreign employer directly enter into an employment agreement to form an employment relationship.
For example, the Deke Monument of the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau and Ri Yige once met Zuo Zongtang when suppressing the Taiping Army. In 1864, Zuo Zongtang tried to build a small steamship in Hangzhou, and due to technical problems, he consulted Dikebei and Riyige, and the two took the opportunity to reply to the letter to introduce themselves, and finally were summoned by Zuo Zongtang to the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau.
Magri of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, a former military doctor, also met Li Hongzhang during the suppression of the Taiping Army and won his trust. The predecessor of the Jiangnan General Manufacturing Bureau was the Meishang Qiji Iron Factory purchased from Shanghai in 1865, and among the first foreigners employed by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau later, 9 foreign craftsmen of the Meishang Qiji Iron Factory were used. The Englishman Fei Shibo, a classmate of Wei Han, an engineer at the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, came to China, and Wei Han knew that he had the ability to serve as a steward, so he signed an employment contract with him.
In addition, the Qing court often introduced new people through serving foreign employees. When the Yunnan Mining Bureau needed to increase the number of miners, the Japanese miner Fujinozu Zori recommended his colleague Fujiwara House in Japan. The Yunnan Mineral Inspector knew that Fujinozu was able to do things, so he believed that the people he recommended must also be reliable. Not only is this the case in Yunnan Mining, but it is also similar in the Yanchang Oil Mine in Shaanxi, "introduced by the Japanese Naito Hisahiro to hire Dr. Otsuka as a mining surveying technician, and the technician undertook tamura Assei as a surveying and mapping technician."
Hiring foreign employees through traditional social relations has even become the regulation of some modern enterprises, such as the Shanghai Machine Weaving Layout "Charter of Merchants and Stocks", which clearly stipulates that to hire foreigners, it is necessary to act properly and be recommended by foreign employees. There are also some foreign craftsmen who are employed by Chinese industries through market channels.
For example, a foreigner named Ba Bao heard the news that the Shanghai machine weaving layout was recruiting an engine engineer, so he came to the door and introduced himself. At the beginning of the establishment of the Hubei Coal and Iron Mining Bureau, the British Ma Lishi recommended himself as a miner. This method of employment was recognized by many people at the time. In 1875, Xue Fucheng replaced Li Hongzhang, and in his reply to Sheng Huaixuan's letter, he pointed out that when selecting foreign craftsmen, those craftsmen who learned from newspapers and other channels and recommended themselves could often be selected.
The employment of foreigners in accordance with the provisions of international treaties is also a way of directly employing foreigners, but in a more special form. This form of employment first appeared in the 1880s, when in 1885, during a loan between the Steamship Merchants Bureau and HSBC, HSBC made this request: send a superintendent to the Bureau, grant it the right to check the bureau's books and inspect the shipping industry, and the salary was paid by the Merchants Bureau.
In addition, HSBC also proposed that two people who are in good order need to be dispatched every year to assess the fixed assets of China Merchants. The travel and other expenses incurred by these two people are also paid by China Merchants. Zhang Zhidong once borrowed 10 million yuan from the German Gaolin Foreign Firm as a capital for the establishment of the Hubei Gun Factory. At the request of Gao Lin, Zhang Zhidong also had to hire a German as a casting engineer.
This form of employment became more frequent in the 1890s, such as the Appendix to the Sino-French Renewal of The Commercial Articles, which stipulates: "When China mines in Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong in the future, it may first consult with French manufacturers and miners." "The Sino-German Jiao'ao Lend-Lease Treaty stipulates that all Chinese businesses in Shandong, if foreigners need to be used, must first consult whether German businessmen are willing to contract. Sheng Huaixuan's contract with Japan for the loan supply of iron stipulated: "Daye Mine shall employ a Japanese engineer. ”
These employment treaties have different reasons, but they all have one thing in common, that is, they all define the nationality of the employment object in the treaty, which means that China has lost the initiative in the employment relationship.
The so-called indirect employment means that the Chinese enterprise entrusts a third party to handle the relevant procedures for hiring foreign craftsmen. The reason for this kind of employment relationship is the employment method adopted by Chinese enterprises that do not understand the situation abroad and in order to avoid some foreigners from indiscriminately charging up. In different historical periods, indirect employment has been approached differently.
Where there is a movement in foreign affairs, foreign business enterprises have to hire foreigners, most of which are handled through Western foreign firms in China. For example, when yunnan copper mines needed foreign miners, Sheng Huaixuan entrusted Shanghai Ocean Bank with full responsibility for this matter. There are also some foreign craftsmen who are hired through foreign personnel who have already been hired by Chinese companies. For example, in 1875, Zhai Sa, a miner hired by the Keelung Coal Mine in Taiwan, went to Britain to handle the hiring of a miner. In May of the following year, the first foreign craftsman he hired arrived. The foreign craftsmen of the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau were handled by Riyige and Dirk and hired from France.
Whether directly or indirectly, most of the foreign craftsmen hired by these two methods are employed by modern Chinese enterprises through customs. Typically, almost all the miners in China's first new coal mines were recommended by HURD or from HURD. Founded in 1875, the Hubei Guangji Xingguo Coal Mine was "run by the General Taxation Department heide hired in Britain on behalf of the miner Guo Shidun and three foreign craftsmen to come to China for a trial operation"; in 1876, the Keelung Coal Mine in Taiwan was founded, and the miner Zhai Sa was a British miner who entered the customs the previous year and was assigned to Taiwan Freshwater.
Through this kind of employment, there are some drawbacks to the hired craftsmen, generally speaking, the skills of the technicians are not exquisite, and there are many cases of indiscriminate counting, which is the most troublesome problem for the Chinese government. For example, the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau "foreign supervisor Ri Yige is not a vegetarian essence in the manufacture, and it is not a foreign craftsman who is not selected." To avoid this, Chinese companies have tried to hire craftsmen directly from abroad by their own envoys abroad, avoiding foreigners in China.
There are two situations in which craftsmen are hired directly from abroad by relying on their own envoys stationed abroad, and some envoys are very familiar with their countries, so naturally they can find craftsmen who are worthy of responsibility in accordance with the requirements of their own countries. For example, when Zheng Guan was preparing for the Shanghai machine weaving layout, he wrote a letter to the deputy envoy in the United States and asked him to hire a foreign craftsman with rich experience and reputation on his behalf.
After some operation, the American technician Danko came to the field to investigate, and the weaving layout recognized his ability after understanding his ability and confirmed the employment relationship with him. In addition, the Qing government once ordered Zeng Jize, the Chinese minister to Britain, to find an ordnance engineer in Britain, requiring exquisite skills, and Connie Huishi eventually became an employed person and signed a employment treaty with the Qing government.
There is also a case where envoys abroad do not know much about their country and are therefore overwhelmed when they are tasked with finding foreign craftsmen abroad. For example, at the beginning of the establishment of the Guangdong machine weaving layout, Zhang Zhidong's famous envoy to Britain, Liu Ruifen, hired 10 foreign craftsmen on his behalf, requiring the leader to be very familiar with the factory construction project and be able to install the machine. Zhang Ruifen had to sign a contract with a foreign manufacturer, and they sent someone to install the machine. Later, all the factories founded by Zhang Zhidong in Hubei used this method when they needed foreign craftsmen, and foreign manufacturers hired foreign craftsmen on their behalf.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the number of foreign craftsmen employed often varied depending on the size and nature of the enterprise. In general, most enterprises at the beginning of their establishment employ foreigners to guide management.
However, the number of foreigners employed by government-run enterprises is much higher than that of commercial enterprises. From the perspective of enterprise form, the number of foreign craftsmen employed by heavy industrial enterprises is different from that of light industry, and in general, the number of foreign craftsmen employed by light industry is smaller than that of enterprises of similar size.
Although the absolute number of foreign craftsmen employed by some heavy industrial enterprises is not high, the proportion is very high. In order to facilitate the lives of foreign craftsmen, heavy industry enterprises will also employ some auxiliary personnel such as lifelong to provide services for foreign craftsmen.