From the beginning of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the reason why opium was able to invade China on a large scale was due to the ineffective government's anti-smoking ban and the collusion between foreign businessmen and Chinese businessmen inside and outside.
Usually, foreign businessmen monopolize opium smuggling abroad, and when they cross customs and land, they are jointly completed by foreign businessmen and Chinese businessmen, selling them on the spot, basically for Chinese businessmen. As for the sale of opium from the coast to the inland provinces, it is the exclusive business of Chinese businessmen.
The opium trade in Hong Kong in the early 20th century
Hong Kong became a British colony, and the British authorities in Hong Kong listed the import and export of foreign medicines (opium) as legal trade in order to obtain taxes. The business scope of foreign businessmen and Chinese businessmen is still clearly distinguished. There are many tobacco houses in Hong Kong, all of which are monopolized by Chinese businessmen.
The opium business is very profitable, but the original soup is drunk by foreign merchants, and Chinese merchants can only make a small head. Despite this, this "small business" still makes money faster and stronger than other businesses. Many Chinese businessmen who have seen profit and injustice are happy to do so.
Opium is an underworld business and extremely risky. The famous Chinese banker Feng Pingshan once said a cautionary tale: "I often sell opium to make a fortune, but in the end it is still empty-handed, and although the progress of doing business is slower, it is reassuring." ”
The famous Li hysan family in Hong Kong should take care of this, but it has not fully taken care of this.
The Lihesan family, which originated in the 1920s, is one of the four major families in Hong Kong during the Era of the British Government
The Lixisan family was the only surviving family of many Chinese merchants engaged in the opium business in the early years
The Li family is originally from Xinhui, Guangdong Province, and has been farming for generations. In 1849, a large gold mine was discovered in the western United States, and the resulting gold rush blew into China in the western Pacific. Guangdong was the first to win the economic and cultural exchanges between China and the West, and the gold rush affected the nerve endings of poor farmers in Guangdong. Li Liangyi is still young, and the dream of panning for gold and making a fortune haunts his young mind all the time.
In 1860, Li Liangyi and his newlywed wife crossed the sea from Hong Kong to San Francisco to dig for gold. He worked as a miner in the Grand Canyon gold mine for many years as an adult. More than 10 years later, he already has a relatively large amount of money. The gold mine is a world of the weak and the robbers, and Li Liangyi did not dare to stay long, so he went to Hawaii to do business.
In 1879, the second son, Lixan, was born in Hawaii. Located in the heart of the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii is a world-famous stopover for air navigation and the most famous tourist destination in the United States. At that time, Hawaii was still relatively desolate, business was not good, and Ritchie was able to return home in 1896.
Li Liangyi, Wuyi Overseas Chinese, Guangdong Xinhui people. The famous opium king of Hong Kong at the beginning of the 20th century
Li Liangyi, who was accustomed to wandering, was not accustomed to the leisurely life of his hometown, so he returned to Hong Kong to do the cloth and shirt business. The paving ceremony was opened at 2 Queen's Road Central, and later set up another stall in Kowloon.
Business grew steadily, but he always felt that it was faster than opium to make money. So he got involved in the opium business, and the business grew, and Li Liangyi soon became a small rich man in Hong Kong.
Li Xishen drifted with his father from an early age. Born in Hawaii, USA, he socialized with foreigners as a child, went to the local primary and secondary school, and spoke authentic English. At the age of 17, he came to Hong Kong with his father and entered Queen's College to continue his studies, but because of his high english proficiency, he was exempted from taking English. After graduation, he was hired by the school board as a teacher at his alma mater.
Li Xishen was energetic and was a very restless person. He felt bored with teaching, so he resigned and joined HSBC in the United Kingdom as a clerk. Not long after, he felt that the bank work was monotonous and went to Nanyang alone. He worked as a newspaper interpreter, opened a wood processing plant, and worked as a shipping company clerk.
Li Xishen is a native of Xinhui District, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province. He is the founder of the famous "Li Xi Shen Family" in Hong Kong, China.
His father had the intention of letting him inherit the family business, so he bought a boat and gave it to him. With the only ship he had, Li Xishen opened the Nam Heng Shipping Company, which was both a manager, a captain, and a cargo owner. Lixisan purchased Nanyang timber for sale at the port. The wind and waves, wrestling his character of not being afraid of violence and daring to take risks.
The profits from timber trafficking were meagre, and Lixan began to traffic in opium. Myanmar is another major opium production base after India. Along the way, pirates are often infested, specializing in looting wealthy opium dealers. Lixen learned to make a gun. Perhaps fate was for him, and he had never encountered a pirate once.
The smuggling of opium at sea is basically a monopoly of foreign merchants. They used armed boats and were armed with guns. It is both against pirates and used to punish Asian opium dealers who are eating from the tigers. Li Xishen, with a straight-spoken English, only broke a small fortune and was actually safe.
At the beginning of this century, Li Liangyi passed away, and the family business was inherited by his four sons. The eldest divided his father's business into four large pieces, of which the opium business, the second eldest, Li Xishen, would not let him take over.
John Francis Davis took office on 8 May 1844 as the second Governor-General of Hong Kong and concurrently served as British Minister to China.
The opium business in Hong Kong was patented during the tenure of davis, the second governor of Hong Kong, and patents were subject to open bidding. The one who raises the level wins. The patents are divided into opium import and export trade, local wholesale, and tobacco retail.
All opium dealers had to pay a separate luxury tax on the excitement of foreign medicines. At that time, foreign merchants had a lot of money and monopolized the first two patents. Chinese businessmen ate the scraps of foreign merchants and engaged in the small business of opening tobacco shops, and in this century, the Hong Kong government succumbed to all kinds of pressure and stopped the public auction of opium patents, but the original patents were still valid.
Li Liangyi did not have the "legal" right to monopolize opium, and he and his son joined forces to carry out the opium business, which was illegal smuggling that the Hong Kong government did not allow.
Probably tired of life at sea, Li Xishen, after inheriting his father's business, spared no effort to go to Macau to fight for the opium monopoly.
Li Xishen was a brash and generous man, and with his standard English, he was quite popular with opium merchants. Opium patents in Macao are not granted by means of public auctions, but are decided by administrative means. Opium merchants needed a Chinese like Li Hysan to open up the local and mainland markets, so they actively promoted Li Hysan to obtain the opium monopoly rights in Macau.
Opium merchants
Li Xishen did not live up to expectations and re-sprinkled opium all over the country. Lee became a huge opium richman, but he was still not a well-known figure in Hong Kong.
What really made Lihishen famous were the two opium lawsuits.
The first lawsuit took place in 1914. The cause was a dispute between Li Xishen and his partner and another group of opium dealers for ownership of 98 boxes of raw opium. These 98 boxes of raw opium are worth 1 million oceans, which is undoubtedly a huge amount of money. Li xishen sued another group of opium dealers who had argued with him. The lawsuit lasted for six months, and the Macau court ruled that Li Xishen won.
This kind of opium lawsuit can probably only happen in Macao and Hong Kong, where the production and sale of opium is legal and the law protects the legitimate rights and interests of opium dealers. If in the interior, opium dealers are fighting for power and profit, and they will never dare to resort to the law, and they will adopt the most primitive method - the use of violence.
This lawsuit has made Li Xishen famous in Hong Kong and Macao, and has also made Li Xishen sit back and relax. He once proudly told a newspaper reporter: "Only Hong Kong and Macao are the safest in this kind of foreign medicine business." ”
Opium addicts in the early 20th century
Li Hysan's second lawsuit was against Macau Opium Commissioner Pedro Lo Bao, whose role was that of the defendant.
Li Xishen's opium business was carried out in the name of Yu Shengxing, one of several trading houses controlled by the Lee family, with branches in Hong Kong and Macau.
In March 1927, the Government of Australia announced that, in view of the Geneva Conference on the Control of Opium, the patents previously granted to individuals or companies for the import, refining, sale and wholesale of opium must be terminated. The Australian government will terminate the opium monopoly contract signed with Yu Shengxing from the 7th and 1st. Subsequently, patents relating to opium shall be managed by the department collecting the consumption tax, and an opium commissioner shall be set up to deal with it.
In May, the Australian government appointed Pedro Robb as Opium Commissioner.
Ending the opium monopoly contract signed by Yu Shengxing and the Australian government is equivalent to cutting off the main financial road of the Li family. Li Xi was cautious and worried, but he gave up. Originally, for the new monopoly rights, Li Xishen had a great deal of certainty. Instead of making an active effort, he adopted a passive wait-and-see attitude.
Cartoons of the British satirizing the opium trade
Why is Lixian, who made his fortune from opium, like this?
He was well aware that opium was a business under the underworld, and he often heard about the opium massacre in his dealings with opium dealers in the interior. Some greedy people are either ruined or killed. The clever opium rich always wash their hands at the right time, or enjoy the blessings, or turn to the main entrance business.
In Hong Kong and Macao, although the opium business is legal, many Chinese businessmen think that it is a skewed door and despise it. Li xishen was a great rich man, but he did not receive the respect that matched his wealth. Many Chinese businessmen who pride themselves on making the right money have excluded the Li family from their circles.
Li Xishen had already made a lot of money, and he heeded the advice of his best friend, planning to recuperate and choose him to develop directly. "The rapids retreat bravely, and when you see the good, you will receive it", which is even the most reasonable quote given to him by his friends.
However, when he heard that the opium monopoly in Macau would be obtained by Liao Jianbi, he was furious and did not give up any longer.
Opium addicts of the Qing Dynasty
Liao Jianbi is the former manager of Yu Shengxing. The Ritchie family owns 2/3 of Yushengxing's shares, and the control is in the hands of Li Xishen. Liao Jianbi found out that Li Xishen did not intend to start an opium business, so he resigned his post and set up a business in Hong Kong.
Soon, the news came out that Youshengxing had obtained the monopoly right to opium in Macau. The office of Youshengxing in Macao is located in the Macau Business Building together with the office of Luo Bao, the opium commissioner of the Macao Government. Luo Bao asked Liao Jianbi, the owner of Yousheng Bank, to take out a deposit of HK$70,000 at a time, and Liao Jianbi was ready to go to Hong Kong, Macao and Guangzhou immediately to raise funds. Rumor has it that Liao Jianbi is ambitious and has the potential to replace the opium tyrant Li Xishen.
Li Xishen originally had a grudge with Liao Jianbi, who believed that Liao Jianbi was a despicable villain, and he was not willing to see the villain succeed, let alone see the "enemy" of the Australian government handing over the lucrative opium monopoly to him. Li Xi filled in the advice of his best friend to the cloud of nine clouds, and vowed to take back the monopoly.
Li Xishen went to the Macau Governor's Palace and submitted a petition to the Macau Governor. The letter stated that he was a law-abiding businessman under the patronage of the Portuguese and Australian governments, and that Yu Shengxing had been exercising his obligations in fulfilling the opium monopoly contract.
Macau in the early 20th century
Li Xishen strongly criticized the opium commissioner Luo Bao for not taking into account the due rights and interests of the whole Australian government, and giving the monopoly right to you shengxing with a deposit of just 70,000 Hong Kong dollars, which was at the expense of the interests of the Australian government and protecting youshengxing, which made people really puzzling.
Li Xishen urged the Australian government to give a fair explanation, and if there is no fair answer, it will go to Paris Lisbon, New York, Hong Kong and other places to petition.
The petition was sent in duplicate to 16 Macao lawyers involved in amending the Opium Legislation. The Portuguese government was sent to the Portuguese government, which ordered the Portuguese Consulate in Hong Kong to investigate the matter
After Liao Jianbi was investigated, he immediately called Luo Bao,
Instead, Luo Bao filed a complaint with the Macau Court, accusing Li Hysan of distributing a petition to his lawyer, which damaged his reputation, and That Li Hysan had committed the crime of defamation, and demanded that the defendant compensate him for the loss of his reputation.
The matter was raging in Hong Kong and Macao. Some people believe that Luo Bao must have accepted Liao Jianbi's bribe, otherwise he would not have given Liao Jianbi the coveted monopoly right so easily.
In early 1928, the Macau court heard the case, and the lawyers on both sides engaged in a fierce debate. During the trial, the representative of the Australian government testified in court, stating that the Australian government did not transfer the exclusive monopoly to Youshengxing, but only the opium trading plan proposed by Youshengxing.
Before Luo Bao wanted to give the monopoly right to Yousheng, did he ever tell the Australian government? Does the Australian government agree? It's a mystery so far. The attitude of the Australian government shows that it is not willing to get involved in this lawsuit. In this way, it is very unfavorable to Luo Bao, which is equivalent to saying that even if Luo Bao agrees to transfer the monopoly to Liao Jianbi for 70,000 Hong Kong dollars, it is a matter between the two of them.
The court ruled that the plaintiff's allegations of defamation were not established and that the defendant, Li Xishen, won the case.
In one day, Li Xishen once again became a big celebrity in Hong Kong and Macao. People not only know Thatheysson, the opium magnate, but also that he is a blessed general, and the opium laws of the Portuguese and Australian governments seem to have been formulated specifically for Lihesan, and only Lihessian is protected.
Who knows, Li Xishen, who is protected by law, cannot escape the assassination of the enemy - half a month later?
Lixishen family mansion
Before the crime, Li xishen's life reached the peak of glory. He won this lawsuit that was thought to be lost, and it was a good story among the opium merchants in the province, Hong Kong and Macao, and people respected him as the godfather, and the opium merchant had a noble son, so he asked Li Xishen to take a name. For Li xishen is a blessed man, and the name given by the blessed man will be blessed by the noble son.
Yu Shengxing's desire to obtain the opium monopoly rights in Macau again seems hopeless. However, those opium dealers who want to compete for the monopoly right have agreed to Li Xishen's private gentleman that once they obtain the monopoly right, they will ask Li Shi to be the major shareholder.
Li Xishen understood that they had to rely on him, that he already had a large and confidential sales network, and that without him, they would achieve nothing.
Li Xishen did not intend to give up the opium business, and his close friend knew that the persistent Li Xishen would never wash his hands and do nothing, so he had to advise him to be more careful, saying that opium was a demon, and it was most likely to make people lose their minds and fight for themselves. They say that the success of one group of people means that another group of people is frustrated, and the hatred of cutting flesh often leads to vendetta.
Li Xishen laughed it off.
Opium addicts in the Qing Dynasty
A few days before the incident, Lihshen received an anonymous threatening letter denouncing Lixen for his misdeeds and desiring death; threatening to drop a bomb at his son's wedding.
The family was very worried and advised Li Xishen to show his face less or go to the mainland to avoid the wind. Li xishen said: "This is a trick of the villains, and they have the courage to do it with me face to face." Don't worry, what kind of risks have I not encountered in these decades? ”