History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
Speaking of the representative figures of the foreign affairs movement, many people will think of Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang and other well-known officials, but in fact, behind the aura of these big figures, there is also a "humble" businessman, who has created a number of "China's firsts", which can be called the father of China's industry, and this person is Sheng Xuanhuai, a "red-top businessman" who was reused by Li Hongzhang.
Sheng Xuanhuai
In the 1860s and 1870s, when foreign capital continued to pour into China, the shipping in China's coastal areas was controlled by foreign capital, which caused a fatal blow to domestic shipping, not only the private shipping industry fell into the hands of foreign capital, but even the officials of the Qing court were also seized by foreign capital, resulting in a large amount of silver outflow. Under these circumstances, many people of insight advocate the establishment of China's own shipping industry to reverse this unfavorable situation.
Sheng Xuanhuai was a powerful promoter of this, he was li hongzhang's staff at that time, and Li Hongzhang was then the governor directly subordinate to the governor and minister of beiyang trade and commerce, and at the same time he was the initiator of the foreign affairs movement, Sheng Xuanhuai urged Li Hongzhang: The steamship industry, this great profit must not be unhappy! Li Hongzhang supported this and immediately solicited opinions for the establishment of the Steamship Merchants Bureau. At that time, it was divided into two factions, one faction believed that the China Merchants Bureau should be purely government-run, and the other faction believed that private capital should be introduced, and Li Hongzhang adopted a purely government-run plan with a minority obeying the majority.
Li
However, the purely official-run plan encountered a problem -- it could not attract the investment of businessmen, so Li Hongzhang once again asked Sheng Xuanhuai, who proposed to adopt the plan of foreign businessmen and organize the China Merchants Bureau under the shareholding system. Although Li Hongzhang, considering that Sheng Xuanhuai's seniority was still shallow, did not let him serve as the "general office", but managed the "meeting office" of caoyun and carrying, sheng Xuanhuai actually played a decisive role in the establishment of the steamship merchants bureau, and it can be said that under the mediation of Sheng Xuanhuai, the steamship merchants bureau was finally established in 1873.
Steamship Merchants Bureau
In 1874, the steamship China Merchants Bureau has developed nearly 20 sub-bureaus and achieved profits, and the profit in 1975 has reached more than 20,000 silver taels, which shows that Sheng Xuanhuai has a forward-looking idea of the "shareholding system" proposed by China Merchants. In 1876, Sheng Xuanhuai presided over the "big order" of China Merchants' acquisition of the American-funded Qichang Steamship Company, which was also the first time that a Chinese enterprise acquired foreign capital. Later, China Merchants successively invested in Kaiping Mining Bureau, China Commerce and Commerce Bank, Beiyang Public School, etc., and achieved good results.
In 1929, the Kuomintang controlled the Steamship Merchants Bureau, and after the founding of New China, the China Merchants Bureau was completely nationalized and later reorganized into the China Steamship Corporation. In 1985, China Merchants Group was formally established, and in 1987, China Merchants Initiated the establishment of China Merchants Bank, which was also the first joint-stock commercial bank in China. In 1992, China Merchants was listed in Hong Kong, the first Chinese enterprise to be listed in Hong Kong.
Steamship Merchants Bureau vessels
By 2009, China Merchants Group's annual profit exceeded RMB17 billion, with total assets of more than RMB260 billion and assets under management reaching more than RMB2 trillion, making it a "Big Mac" enterprise. Not only that, China Merchants Group has grown rapidly, with its total assets reaching 400 billion yuan by the end of 2012 and nearly 4 trillion yuan in assets under management, which shows its growth potential.
As a "century-old store" with a history of 100 years, China Merchants can survive in the long history, which shows the tenacity of its vitality, and I believe that in the future road, China Merchants will move forward with a more upright posture.