Freemasons who have influenced the history of modern China (1)
The identities of Freemasonry members are unknown, but there are many heavyweights among them. Their actions have had a profound impact on the course of Chinese history.
This article lists only a few of the Freemasons who can be found in the modern International Freemasonic Information and Directory.
Robert Hurd
[Hurd, a Freemalist who controls the customs of the Qing Dynasty]
Robert Hart, known as Lubin in Chinese, is a member of the British Freemasonry.
In May 1854, at the age of 19, he came to China and first served in the consulate in Guangzhou. In 1859, he was recommended to serve as the deputy tax department of the Guangdong Customs in Guangzhou.
From 1861 onwards, Hurd held the position of General Taxation Department of the Qing Dynasty Customs in Shanghai.
In 1889, he was awarded the title of Yipin by the Qing government, and in 1901, he was awarded the title of prince and young prince.
Hurd served as the chief tax department of the Qing Dynasty for 50 years (1861-1911). During his tenure, he established a complete set of Chinese customs management systems such as taxation, statistics, dredging ports, and quarantine, built new lighthouses and weather stations in coastal ports, and created China's modern postal system.
In his heyday, he not only controlled the financial lifeline of the Qing government, but also directly influenced China's internal and foreign affairs, as well as cultural undertakings, and was the main figure in the financial colonial rule on behalf of Britain in the early stage of China's semi-colonial society. As he claims to be, he was once a "Taishang advisor" to the Chinese government in the late Qing Dynasty.
He made many proposals to the Qing government to reform the country, but these proposals did not resonate with the Chinese reformists until 30 years later. Among these proposals, he wrote: "If the policy changes, China can become the leader of the nation; If the policy does not change, it will become a slave to the nations. ”
In 1866, when Hurd returned to China to get married, he persuaded the Qing government to send personnel abroad for the first time.
In 1879, Hurd assisted the Qing Empire in the purchase of eight warships, which became the origin of China's Beiyang Navy.
During this period, HD was also honored by European governments. Hurd is a Scottish Freemason 33rd Grade Sir.
The governments of Sweden, France, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Prussia and other countries have conferred various honors on him, and the British government awarded him the knighthood of St. Michael and St. George's Grand Cross, and made him a baron in 1893.
In 1911, after Hurd's death, the Qing government conferred on the foreigner the title of Crown Prince Taibao, the highest honor of the imperial court, and only Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang had previously been awarded this title.
The Qing government erected a full-length bronze statue of him on the Bund in Shanghai. It can be considered that Herder was the Westerner who had the greatest influence on Chinese history in Europe in the 16th century since the Jesuit Matteo Ricci entered China.
The Qing government erected a bronze statue of Hurd in Shanghai after his death
【Profile】
Robert Hurd Hart (20 February 1835 – 20 September 1911) was a British politician; He came to China in 1854, served as the General Department of Customs and Excise in Shanghai in 1861, officially succeeded him as the General Department of Customs and Excise in 1863, returned to China on leave on leave in 1908, and died in Buckinghamshire, England in 1911. Hurd served as the General Taxation Department of the late Qing Dynasty for half a century (1861-1911), during which he created a set of strict customs management systems such as taxation, statistics, dredging ports, and quarantine, and he presided over the customs department to create China's modern postal system. He is the author of "Collected Essays on China" and so on.
[Shanghai Tang super tycoon, Freemason boss Yu Qiaqing]
Yu Qiaqing
Yu Qiaqing, a native of Cixi, Zhenhai, Zhejiang. In his early years, he went to Shanghai as an apprentice, and later made a career in business, serving as the general assistant of the Rothschild family's ABN AMRO in China.
Yu Qiaqing, who served as the head office of ABN AMRO (2nd from the right in the front)
On the eve of the Xinhai Revolution, Yu Qiaqing participated in the secret activities of the League, secretly organized the "Revolutionary Army Salary Recruitment Team", and actively raised money and salary for Chen Qimei.
In October 1911, Wuchang Shouyi. On November 3, Chen Qimei (a member of the Freemasonry) led the members of the League to burn Shanghai Road and capture the city gate of Shanghai, and the largest commercial city in China was declared to be recovered, and Chen Qimei became the military governor of Shanghai. Because of his meritorious assistance, he was appointed as an adviser to the Shanghai Governor's Office and the chief civil affairs officer of Zhabei, and also served as the acting director of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.
After the recovery of Shanghai, Yu Qiaqing, who had been involved in revolutionary activities, volunteered to go to Suzhou alone to plot against Cheng Dequan, the governor of Jiangsu.
In May 1916, Chen Qimei was stabbed to death in Shanghai. Chiang Kai-shek (Freemasons), who followed Chen Qimei, lost his backers in political circles. Later, Chiang Kai-shek's stock speculation on the Shanghai Stock Exchange failed. Forced into a desperate situation by creditors, Chiang Kai-shek turned to Yu Qiaqing for help. Yu Qiaqing asked him to leave Shanghai and go to Guangzhou to join Sun Yat-sen.
Because of the lack of plate fees, Chiang Kai-shek again turned to Yu Qiaqing for help. Yu Zhiqing then introduced Chiang Kai-shek to worship Huang Jinrong.
Yu Qiaqing had a high status and great influence in the Shanghai business community at that time, and Huang Jinrong also wanted to befriend him, so he unconditionally agreed to Yu Qiaqing's requests. Huang Jinrong learned about Chiang Kai-shek's difficult environment and the purpose of apprenticeship from Yu Qiaqing, and in order to marry Yu Qiaqing, not only did he not care about Chiang Kai-shek's lack of fees for pressing posts and paying respects, but also generously gave Chiang Kai-shek 200 yuan for his travel expenses, encouraging him to go to Guangzhou to serve Sun Yat-sen. This was the beginning of the turning point in Chiang Kai-shek's life.
In 1923, Yu Qiaqing was appointed by Duan Qirui's government as the president of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce and the vice president of the China General Chamber of Commerce.
In January 1927, Chiang Kai-shek led the Northern Expeditionary Army into Shanghai. After secret consultations with Shanghai business tycoons, the Shanghai International Freemasons decided to send Yu Qiaqing to meet Chiang Kai-shek. Because Yu Qiaqing was not only a fellow countryman of Chiang Kai-shek, but also helped him a lot when Chiang Kai-shek was in Shanghai before.
Yu Qiaqing was a member of the Freemascus as early as when he was a comprador in a foreign bank, and became a guest of honor at the Shanghai General Association.
In early February 1927, Yu Qiaqing rushed to Jiujiang to meet Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek put forward two demands: First, he asked Yu Qiaqing to "talk to Mr. Du (referring to Du Yuesheng) and Mr. Huang (referring to Huang Jinrong) after returning to help me maintain public order in Shanghai." The second is to raise a military salary for the national army.
A month later, Yu Qiaqing arrived at Chiang Kai-shek's camp in Nanchang with 3 million ocean bills raised by foreign banks of the Freemasons (ABN AMRO, Bank of England, HSBC, Citibank, etc.) and the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce, and agreed on a security plan for the Northern Expeditionary Army after it entered Shanghai.
On March 26, the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Shanghai, and Yu Qiaqing met with Chiang Kai-shek that night.
On March 29, Chiang Kai-shek publicly made it clear that "the success of this revolution was secretly assisted by the Shanghai business community, and it will continue to be assisted for a period thereafter." As for the labor issue, there was a solution in Nanchang. All the regulations for the benefit of the company may be promulgated in due course. ”
On April 1, Chiang Kai-shek once again received a 3 million yuan silver ticket from a foreign bank and the Shanghai business community.
On the 12th, Chiang Kai-shek launched a purge of the party, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party split, and the "April 12" coup broke out.
Afterwards, Yu Qiaqing, as a representative of foreign banks and Shanghai business circles, paid Chiang Kai-shek another 3 million yuan in silver bills.
Not only that, after that, Yu Qiaqing also came forward three times for Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government to issue a total of 70 million yuan in the "Second Five-Year Taxable Treasury Bills of the Jiangxi Customs," most of which were subscribed by foreign banks and Shanghai business circles in Shanghai.
Yu Qiaqing was a special link between the International Freemasons and Chiang Kai-shek, which changed the course of modern history.
Shanghai Tang Boss
【Introduction】
Yu Qiaqing (1867 - April 26, 1945), a native of Cixi, Zhejiang, was a big capitalist in modern China and a giant in the shipping industry.
In 1881, he went to Shanghai as an apprentice. From 1892 onwards, he successively served as the comprador of the German merchant Lu Lin & Co., the Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank, and the ABN AMRO Bank.
In 1906, he initiated the organization of the Chinese team of the International Chamber of Commerce, opened Siming Bank in 1908, and later organized the Nanyang Industry Association, serving as the vice president. He has successively founded Ningshao, Sanbei and Hongan Steamship Company, and the three companies have more than 30 ships with a total tonnage of more than 91,000 tons, which is the first private shipping in China at that time.
During the Xinhai Revolution, he supported the recovery of Shanghai. In 1920, he initiated the establishment of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and served as its chairman. He also served as the president of the National Association of Industry and Commerce and the president of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce.
In 1927, Yu Qiaqing, on behalf of the Freemasonic banking industry, supported Chiang Kai-shek in launching the "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup d'état. After Chiang Kai-shek took control of China, Yu Qiaqing later served as a director of the Senate of the Shanghai Special City, a supervisor of the Central Bank, a member of the National Economic Commission of the Kuomintang government, and a director of the Public Concession Industrial and Commercial Bureau.
During the Anti-Japanese War, he organized the Sino-Italian Steamship Company in Shanghai, and served as the president of the Shanghai Refugee Relief Association, handling flat rice to obtain profits.
In 1941, he went to Chongqing. It successively organized the Sanmin and Sanbei transportation companies to transfer materials and support the Anti-Japanese War.
On April 26, 1945, he died of illness in Chongqing. After the recovery, he was buried in Longshan in his hometown of Cixi, Ningbo, in November of the following year.