From the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to the liberation of Shanghai, the situation in less than four years was the last journey of the central bank under the leadership of the Nationalist government to gradually decline. The president of the central bank took a turn of the post like a marquee, and they all wanted to "turn the tide of the tide and help the building to fall", but in the embarrassing situation of the soldiers rushing and the people not talking about life, they wanted to "continue their lives", but they were "urged" and almost "sent to their lives", and the days were quite difficult.
In December 1948, Shanghai citizens lined up at the gate of the central bank to redeem gold
Chaos Bezu cursed in vain
A generation of "exchange wizards" Pei Zuyi has been committed to foreign exchange management for many years and is regarded as the founder of China's foreign exchange system. After the triumph of the Anti-Japanese War, Song Ziwen, then the chief executive and in charge of financial power, admired Pei Zuyi, who was already the deputy general manager of the Bank of China, and on his recommendation, Pei Zuyi ascended to the throne of the president of the central bank in March 1946. Behind the surface gloss, it is full of dangers, and life hangs on the line.
Bezu cursed
The Foreign Exchange Administration of the Nationalist Government followed the rules established by the Foreign Exchange Review Committee of the Central Bank during the war, and was disturbed by the black market all day long, and affected the sensitive nerves of the gold market. In view of the fact that "there is no open market for buying and selling foreign exchange and foreign trade has come to a standstill, so industrial and commercial enterprises are waiting and seeing each other is actually a major obstacle to economic demobilization", the countermeasure is "the foreign exchange market should be quickly put on the right track, so as to promote economic development and stability of people's livelihood." In less than a year of office, in order to deal with inflation, Bezu praised the opening of foreign exchange, intending to stabilize the value of the currency, rebuild a unified economic system, and restore post-war economic vitality through financial marketization and foreign exchange marketization. At that time, there were 27 designated banks in Shanghai Beach operating foreign exchange, including 16 Chinese-funded banks, 11 foreign-funded banks, and the central bank listed 1 US dollar discount of 2020 yuan. Of course, the boots of these "financial new deals" cannot be separated from Song Ziwen's behind-the-scenes manipulation.
In 1946, Pei Zuyi sent a letter to Tongji Trading Company to resign as managing director in order to be transferred to the Central Bank (Shanghai Municipal Archives Collection)
According to Bei Zuyi's "Ruyi Abacus", what echoes the measures to open up the foreign exchange market is the synchronous implementation of the gold placement policy, which is compatible with open and secret sales, the coexistence of placement and acquisition, high selling and low advance, the quantity and price are not fixed, all change with the market supply and demand, which is flexible and flexible compared with the sale of gold during the War of Resistance. The "backstage boss" Song Ziwen believes that he has the "sharp weapon" to solve the price - gold and American cloth, and sells gold to cage a part of the legal tender back and forth, thus curbing the precarious inflation crisis.
In March 1946, Pei Zuyi convened the minutes of the talks of the heads of the bureaus and departments of the Central Bank (Shanghai Municipal Archives Collection)
For the first three or four months, everything was in Bezu's expectations. At this stage, the two parties are holding peace talks, and all sectors of society have placed high expectations on the prospects for peace, coupled with the relatively abundant supply of foreign exchange, the official price and the black market are not far apart, and the market is generally calm. Who knew that the good times were not long, and in July 1946, with the failure of Marshall's mediation, a large-scale civil war broke out, material consumption surged, prices exploded, and the official price of foreign exchange remained the same, resulting in "endless foreign goods rolling in", and the foreign exchange fund was on the verge of depletion.
The illness was rushed to the hospital, and incense was burned every time the temple was made. Seeing this situation, Pei Zuyi consulted With Song Ziwen overnight to discuss strategies, under the pretext of supporting domestic enterprises to produce and encourage exports, he hastily changed the policy and raised the foreign exchange rate to 1 US dollar at 3350 yuan on August 19, trying to change the trade deficit by export subsidies and additional taxes on imported goods. It doesn't matter if this trick is introduced, so that "Uncle Sam" is really unhappy, accusing China of dumping and threatening to "retaliate" with tariffs. Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to immediately preside over a meeting of the Supreme Committee for National Defense and adopt a plan of emergency economic measures to overthrow the central bank's foreign exchange and foreign trade policy.
The foreign exchange policy of "flipping the cake" has undoubtedly brought a chain reaction to the once soaring gold price. Ordinary people "pondered the extremes" and began to snap up gold. At this time, the price of gold and US dollar bills on the black market soared out of control, and the legal tender plummeted. Faced with disorder, Song Ziwen ordered an urgent halt to the sale of gold, but it triggered a terrifying and disastrous consequence. Just after the Lantern Festival in 1947, prices in Shencheng rose by an average of 80%, and some items rose by as much as 200%. In major cities across the country for several consecutive days, rice has no market, many stores are reluctant to sell, and vicious group incidents of citizens besieging and robbing rice shops have followed. This "golden tide" that cannot be bypassed in financial history marks the tragic end of the financial suspense drama of Bei Zuyi's "leading actor" and Song Ziwen's "executive director".
From March 1946 to February 1947, Bezuyao served as the president of the central bank for a year, because the financial opening policy was "square and round", it was not grounded, the National Government consumed a large amount of foreign exchange and gold reserves, allocated a dial of abacus beads, and used a total of 401.66 million US dollars, 17.63 million pounds, 27.87 million Hong Kong dollars, sold 3.53 million gold, and spent 60% of the gold in stock. This financial official, who was regarded as the most talented in the financial circles of the Republic of China, finally lost his reputation and lost Maicheng!
Dilemma · Zhang Jiaxuan returned to the sky and was weak
"Only since the Qingming Dynasty is self-exalted, born in the last days of the fortunes of the past." This poem from "Dream of the Red Chamber" aptly depicts the financial life of Zhang Jiazhang, the "father of modern Chinese banks".
Zhang Jiaxuan
In February 1947, Zhang Jiaxuan succeeded Pei Zuyi in charge of the central bank, and found that the official reserve of 800 million US dollars in the national treasury was only 400 million, and the sale of gold made the family almost "run out of oil", the fiscal deficit was as high as 60%, and Chiang Kai-shek asked him to go out again to save the "money bag" of the National Government, which was actually a mess! When meeting Zhang Jiazhang, Chiang Kai-shek believed that "the legal tender is falling day by day, the issuance of banknotes is increasing day by day, and the cash is too late to supply, and it is inevitable to issue another new currency to replace it", but Zhang Jiaxuan insisted on the premise: "This must have sufficient reserves of gold and silver foreign exchange, otherwise it is equivalent to issuing large banknotes." ”
As soon as he took office, Zhang Jiaxuan came up with the "Plan of Economic Emergency Measures," which, in contrast to the laissez-faire policy of Song Ziwen and Pei Zuyi, brandished the "three-plate axe" of strict financial management, quota distribution of materials, and issuance of public bonds to tighten deflation.
Central Bank Underground Vaults
The so-called gap between the ideal and the reality is that you think that it is a piece of meat when you clip it up, and you bite it to know that it is a piece of ginger. The follow-up effect of the three major tricks of "collecting bones" can only be that more legal tenders have to be issued, resulting in increased inflation, rapid price increases, and curses from the people. In an effort to get out of the predicament, the central bank headed by Zhang Jiaxuan announced on April 1 how to issue US dollar treasury bills and US dollar public bonds. The us dollar treasury bond issuance amount is 300 million US dollars, according to the central bank's quotation in fiat equivalent to purchase, repayment for 3 years, the US dollar public bond issuance amount of 100 million US dollars, must be purchased with US dollar deposits, US dollar bills or other foreign currencies and gold equivalent, repayment period of 10 years. Both are repaid every six months and are sold to the public by 75 banks.
In April 1947, Zhang Jiazhang sent a letter to Guo Linshuang to hire him as a member of the Shanghai Fundraising Committee (Shanghai Municipal Archives Collection)
In the past, when selling public bonds, major financial institutions were the main force in the purchase, and a small number of them were subscribed by the public. However, Zhang Jiazhang, who is accustomed to "technical analysis", knows that the National Government at this time has long been discredited, whether you are US dollars or legal tender, public bonds are not well received, institutions and citizens have avoided it. It is very pitiful, the original ambitious issuance of 300 million US dollars of treasury bills, so to say that it sold 23.55 million US dollars, of which 10 million US dollars is still his "old mother's family" Bank of China to get in the way of love.
This trick is not smart, and Zhang Jiaxuan's other routines are also frustrated everywhere. For example, the introduction of new foreign exchange management measures, opening up the market price of foreign exchange in addition to the official foreign exchange, in an attempt to use economic means to increase foreign exchange and ban the black market, but at this time, military spending is rising day by day, inflation is intensifying, and the fiscal balance of payments and the international balance of payments cannot be balanced. Therefore, the black market has resurrected, smuggling has become unscrupulous, speculation has intensified, and the economic holes have actually become bigger and bigger; for example, the implementation of a high-pressure policy of financial and economic control to crack down on financial speculation, but in the years of glamorous and rampant, the non-official who participated in insider trading is expensive, the black hole is deep, and the black curtain is heavy, which is what the president of your central bank can afford to offend? Zhang Jiazhang reversed the dilemma and crashed headlong into the cold reinforced concrete of the Bund complex.
When all his thoughts were gray, Zhang Jiaxuan submitted his resignation to Chiang Kai-shek, "All the evil consequences of inflation, although all the evil consequences of inflation, although they are exhausted with wisdom, are difficult to avoid.", let's ask another wise man. In April 1948, the day he was allowed to resign, his inner monologue was suspected of being blamed, but also worried:
"Whenever prices rise, the central bank authorities are often blamed. The increase in the us dollar pair was also blamed by the central bank authorities. All the measures to alleviate the expansion are equivalent to a cup of water, how can we put out the fire of the fire. Therefore, although from morning to night, I was anxious, and I could not forgive people. To be able to leave your job now is like a relief. Although he was selfish and fortunate, he looked forward to the future of state affairs and was worried. Whatever. ”
After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Jiazhang reigned for 15 months, and his "life" was the longest. During his reign, he had many ideas, few methods, more sensibility, and less rationality, and his policies were "laughed at" more, fewer were "effective" in taking root, and his performance was unremarkable, which was a world away from his high-profile performance in commercial banks. Objectively speaking, at that time, the socio-economic ecology was already terminally ill, and even if he had the title of "financial doctor", I am afraid that he would not be able to return to heaven. As a farewell to the central bank, "waving a hand does not take away a cloud", Zhang Jiazhang lived overseas in the second half of his life and has been engaged in economic research. After cultivating and reading, I may secretly sigh: the financial circle is not worth it.
Yu Hongjun was powerless
In the position of president of the central bank, Yu Hongjun, who has excellent financial professionalism and English ability, can be regarded as "the second into the palace". This "Wenqing", who graduated from the Department of Western Literature at St. John's University in Shanghai, entered politics as acting director of the Shanghai Municipal Finance Bureau during the Northern Expedition, and served as mayor of Shanghai in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. After Zhang Jiazhang's retirement, Yu Hongjun was assigned by Chiang Kai-shek to return from Chongqing to Shanghai as a "fire brigade leader", instructing him to carry out currency reform to save the chaotic financial situation.
Yu Hongjun
The new president returned to Shanghai Beach, and immediately invited various "financial gods" to brainstorm and discuss good ideas, and formed a drafting group for the currency reform plan. Several "Zhuge Liang meetings" drafted several opinions: In view of the current civil war, the currency system is not suitable for fundamental reform, although the legal currency base is uncertain, but "the rusty ship still has a few pounds of nails" and can still be maintained for 1 year. At present, the problem that needs to be solved urgently is that the difference between fiscal revenue and expenditure is too large, and the tax cannot be put into storage in time, it is recommended to continue to use legal tender as the circulating currency, and at the same time issue another currency called the golden circle for the payment of taxes and the settlement of import and export trade, and is not in circulation in the market. In this way, the tax and settlement deferral days will not be affected by the increasing depreciation of fiat currencies, which will increase income to about 40% of expenditure. Speaking of which, this is only a temporary transitional motion, and it is hoped that the civil war will stop in about 1 year and that the political situation will be stabilized before it is considered.
In 1946, after the resumption of publication, the "Central Bank Monthly" Vol. 1, No. 1 (Shanghai Municipal Archives Collection)
In 1946, Yu Hongjun published a republished speech in the first issue of the first volume of the Central Bank Monthly (Shanghai Municipal Archives Collection)
Obviously, Chiang Kai-shek was not satisfied with Yu Hongjun's "conservative therapy." At about the same time, he also asked Wang Yunwu, then minister of finance, to make a set of currency reform plans "back to back," that is, economic emergency decrees led by gold yuan coupons, including: the issuance limit of gold yuan bills is 2 billion yuan; the adoption of a full reserve system, with 500 million US dollars for preparation; gold yuan coupons 1 yuan against legal tender 3 million yuan; freezing wages, freezing prices; the people's gold and silver foreign currency should be exchanged for gold yuan bills with the local central bank before the prescribed date, and so on. Despite the explicit opposition of the Kuomintang top brass and financial and economic experts, Chiang Kai-shek decided to take the risk and hastily announced the reform of the currency system on August 19, 1948.
"The ideal is the arm, the reality is the thigh". After years of war and turmoil, the currency reform carried out at the wrong time and in a bad environment can only suffer the bitter fruit of failure. Gold and silver foreign currency is a tool for storing the purchasing power of money in the hands of the people, the government forced the use of gold yuan coupons to exchange gold and silver foreign currencies, resulting in a lot of gold yuan coupons outflow, and although measures such as increasing taxes and selling state-run stocks were later adopted, it had little effect, not only could not return huge amounts of floating funds, but made the people lose the basis of peace of mind. Coupled with the price limit policy at that time, "cut enough to be performed", which was not appropriate, forcing the price of many items to be "flying kites under the bed", which further stimulated the psychological trend of the people to chase materials, resulting in a rush to buy in the late stage of the currency reform, and finally there was no price, people were afraid, and the interests of all classes of society suffered losses, especially the bottom of the toiling masses pushed to the abyss of suffering.
"Deposit and Exchange of Gold and Silver Disasters Yan Central Bank President: Nepotism Blows Down Yu Hongjun", by Kang Tai, published in News Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 6, 1949 (Shanghai Municipal Archives Collection)
Of course, what made Chiang Kai-shek get his wish and "make a steady profit without losing" was the "riot operation" of issuing gold yuan coupons, and a huge amount of gold and foreign currency was exchanged throughout the country, and Shencheng alone received 1.1 million taels of gold and 34 million US dollars. To this end, he also sent Chiang Ching-kuo to Shanghai, together with Yu Hongjun, to take charge of economic control in the Shanghai area. At this moment, the central bank president is just a "marionette" who is subject to manipulation.
During the reign of the Nationalist Government, starting from the "abolition of the two yuan", there were four currency reforms. The protagonist of the "magic coin reform", the golden yuan coupon, is undoubtedly the shortest-lived currency in financial history. Yu Hongjun's "back to the pot meat", mixed with helplessness, frustration and pity, the taste is not wonderful. He once lamented to Chiang Ching-kuo:
"The business of the layman must not be done, that is, the business of the insider, if there is no real power, it cannot be done."
The release and bankruptcy of the golden yuan coupons shows that the National Government has completely lost its responsibility for the normal operation of society and the livelihood of the people, and has fallen into the quagmire of no return, and the legitimacy and authority of its rule have been lost before the People's Liberation Army entered the city. Under the direction of Chiang Kai-shek, The anxious Yu Hongjun could only be busy rushing to the other side of the strait to transport gold.
Endgame Liu Chengyun measured the time and strength
In January 1949, Chiang Kai-shek was forced to step down and Li Zongren acted president. While Yu Hongjun was secretly carrying gold, Liu Jingyun succeeded him as president of the central bank. As early as half a year ago, Liu Jingyun expressed a serious and professional position of resolute opposition to Chiang Kai-shek's reform measures to "give birth" to gold yuan coupons, believing that gold yuan coupons and legal tender were also facing the dilemma of lacking sufficient gold preparations, and issuing gold yuan coupons was tantamount to drinking and quenching thirst.
Liu Jingyun
Like Song Ziwen and Yu Hongjun, Liu Jingyun also studied at St. John's University in Shanghai, and then studied abroad and received a doctorate in economics from the University of London. After returning to China, he turned to major financial institutions, during which it is said that because he called for the launch of the national savings activities, the implementation of the "savings voucher for the founding of the country", and the absorption of a large amount of funds from the people, he was appreciated by Chiang Kai-shek. During the Period of the National Government, he was famous for his "Four Lines and Two Bureaus", and he successively served as the director of the "Two Bureaus" (Postal Savings and Exchange Bureau and Central Trust Bureau).
Bad luck, the central bank at that time, due to financial management and currency reform setbacks one after another, foreign exchange completely depleted, gold almost bottomed out, liu jingyun after taking office the only way to hope to "continue life", is to grasp as many materials as possible, find a way out from it, and strive to "full of blood resurrection". Therefore, he decided that the central bank would directly control and use the materials, and reorganized the material committee.
According to Liu Jingyun's revitalization "attack" strategy, the first thing to bear the brunt of it is to tighten the control of cotton spinning. He considered that the central bank would control the cotton, change the yarn with flowers, change the yarn with the yarn, and authorize the central bank of the Executive Yuan to join hands with the private cotton spinning industry in the country to form the National Cotton Joint Purchase Committee and implement the unified purchase of cotton. However, the private cotton spinning industry is not interested in Liu Jingyun's "wishful thinking", and although it has been mobilized and negotiated many times, it is still unwilling to participate in joint purchase and joint sales. With nothing to do, the central bank and the China Textile Construction Company "lalang match", originally scheduled to purchase 3 million cartons of cotton, as of the eve of the liberation of Shanghai, successively purchased more than 2 million cartons for use by the China Textile Company; and the cotton yarn and cotton cloth produced by the China Textile Company were sold by the central bank, and the remaining cotton was 250,000 cartons, which was handed over to the East China Textile Administration after the establishment of the new regime.
In addition, Liu Jingyun's control steps include:
The $70 million of cotton aided by the United States will be spun and yarned by substitute weaving, and the cotton yarn will be swapped with the relevant spinning mills
Expand the Placement Committee
Stop currency lending
After the loan is made, the finished products are purchased, and the cotton yarn, cotton cloth and other materials obtained are sold by the central bank
……
However, in the end, due to the cramped timing, the rush to battle, all kinds of materials are stretched, and the landing effect cannot arouse a few waves.
"Liu Gongyun Has Not Yet Ace", by Jianbai, published in Innovation Magazine, No. 17, 1949 (Shanghai Municipal Archives Collection)
As the "last president" of the Central Bank of the Nationalist Government on the mainland, although he won chiang kai-shek's promotion all the way, Liu Jingyun often seemed to show "disrespect" to Chiang Kai-shek, which may be related to the fact that his previous suggestions and suggestions were not taken seriously. Before Chiang Kai-shek withdrew, he issued a secret order to snatch the gold, and Liu Chengyun once violated the yin and yang, pushing three and blocking four, causing Chiang Kai-shek to shine, and the rumors even angered Liu Jingyun in person, and the scene was very stiff. Before "a million heroes crossed the river", Liu Jingyun, who heard the wind, entrusted the relevant work to the executive committee to take care of it, flew to Taiwan through Guangzhou, and later went to Hong Kong and Singapore to spend the rest of his life.
In 1949, the Nationalist government shipped the central bank's stockpile of gold from the mainland to Taiwan
On May 27, Shanghai ushered in the liberation of Shanghai, and the Central Bank Building, which has been standing on the Bund for 21 years, was taken over by the People's Liberation Army Military Control Commission. History proves that the devastating and ruined situation must be cleaned up by the people's government, and the renminbi that has been exchanged for gold yuan coupons has finally gained a firm foothold.
Magazine Editor: Wang Lianglei
New Media Editors: Lei Lei, Zhou Xiaoying