Jews have a special gift for business, and today we approach a self-made Jewish rich man in Shanghai, Osyai Hartung.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" >, a difficult childhood</h1>
Osyn Hartung was born in 1851 to an ordinary Jewish family in Baghdad. His family has 6 children, the mother has to teach the husband to teach the children to run the family, only the father works alone, so the family conditions are not good.
Fortunately, the local Jews were relatively wealthy, especially the Sassoon family, who were both rich merchants, chief financial officers, and religious leaders. Jews have long had no homeland of their own, scattered all over the world, and the total population is small, and there are even fewer Jews in the same city. Therefore, Jews tend to be more united and try to help each other. As a result, Ossai Hartung's grandfather and father both worked at Sassoon.
The Sassoon family
Although sassoon's business has always been good, it is still difficult to avoid the turmoil of the national movement, so in 1856, the Sassoon foreign company in Baghdad went bankrupt, the Sassoon family moved to Mumbai, India, and os'ai Hartung's father also led the family to Mumbai to continue to work at sassoon.
At school age, Ossie Hartung also attended a charity school funded by the Sassoon family. The school was far from home, and Osyn Hartung walked to and from school every day. The Jews were very particular about dressing etiquette, but Ossy Hartung only had one shirt, which would sweat in the summer, and when he arrived at school, he had to take off his shirt to dry before he could wear it again and enter the classroom. The hard life of the child made Osy a little bit of Hard and Simple habits, and he maintained it for a lifetime.
Osai Hartung
In fact, unlike Osai Hartung, some people suffer from snacks, and once they grow up, they want to make up for it, which is the so-called upstart psychology. The reason why different personalities are cultivated, in addition to the different nature and quality of people, is actually related to the degree of suffering. If it is too bitter, then it is easy to be mentally unbalanced. If although it is bitter, but there are always people who care, and life is slowly improving, then it is easier to maintain a grateful heart and a peaceful heart.
Osyah Hartung is fortunate to belong to the latter, and although he is not rich, he can also feed and receive education. And after a few years of study, he also came to work at Sassoon like his father.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > second, wealthy white-collar workers</h1>
In 1868, the 17-year-old Osson Hartung was sent to Hong Kong to work as a warehouse night keeper at the Hong Kong branch of Sassoon. Despite his modest position, Ossie Hartung soon showed great talent in mathematics and language. He was fluent in five or six languages and could communicate with trading partners everywhere. He was able to accurately and quickly calculate various trade expenditures and landing costs, winning the recognition of trading partners and Sassoon. As a result, Osiey Hartung was promoted to governor at the age of 21. When frederick Sassoon was sent to Hong Kong, the slightly older Osyah Hartung acted as a mentor.
Sassoon Foreign Firm
In 1874, at the age of 23, Ossai Hartung came to work at sassoon in Shanghai and soon learned the Shanghainese dialect. There were only a dozen Indo-Jews working in Shanghai at that time, so they were very close to each other. Osiey Hartung pays attention to savings in the process of working, and has begun to have a little money of his own. So he bought a simple hut at a low price and collected the rent by renting it out. After that, the salary and rent are pooled together, and the cottage is purchased for rent, so as to obtain income from the asset.
In 1882, at the age of 31, Osson Hartung left Sassoon to start a business, mainly investing in cotton. Although he has many years of work experience, the road to entrepreneurship is not smooth, due to limited funds, fierce competition and other reasons, after three years of struggle, Osy aero Hartung had to admit that the business failed. Osiey Hartung, 35, returns as manager of New Sassoon, responsible for the real estate business and involved in the opium trade.
Harmful opium
In 1886, Osy aeys Hartung harvested love and entered the palace of marriage. Osieh Hartung's wife is a Chinese-French mixed-race child, whose original name was Luo Lirui. Luo Lirui was a firm believer in Buddhism and renamed himself Luo Jia Ling according to the Buddhist "Kalinga Pinja".
Her father, Roluy, a French Jew, came to Shanghai in 1862 as a sous chef at the French Concession Police Station. Luo Jialing's mother, Shen Shi, originally worked as a maid in his father's house, and the two later gave birth to Luo Jialing. But when Luo Jialing was 3 years old, her father disappeared due to business failures, and her mother struggled to survive by cutting and washing others. Her mother died when Luo Jialing was 10 years old, and she was raised by distant relatives on the outskirts of Shanghai.
Because his family was poor, Luo Jialing did not receive a formal education. But she was gifted, able to recite Buddhist scriptures through self-study, and spoke some English and French, but she was not very good at writing in either language. Like his mother, Luo Jialing mainly lived by sewing and washing. It was the same Jewish origins, the same poor origins, the same talents and cleverness that brought Osyah Hartung and Roccane together. They had a Jewish and Chinese wedding and stayed in a new Sassoon's dorm.
Rocca Mausoleum
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > third, business wizards</h1>
Osson Hartung has a strong performance at Neo-Sassoon & Co. and continues to improve his position, eventually becoming Managing Director and Partner of Neo-Sassoon & Co. But the Jewish business acumen doomed him not to be willing to be a professional manager, but to expand his assets through investment.
At that time, many people thought that the most promising place in Shanghai was the south, and they bought and landed in the south. However, Osai Hartung and Luo Jialing believed that the future of Shanghai must be on Nanjing Road, so they bought land in the north, and after years of accumulation, they finally bought nearly half of Nanjing Road. Later it turned out that they had the right choice, and it became the downtown area of Shanghai, and they got huge profits from it.
Nanjing Road, Shanghai
In fact, the reason why Osai Hartung is different from everyone's choice in terms of buying a house and buying land, in addition to his unique vision, the more important reason is that at that time, his financial strength was not very strong compared with other foreign firms, so he specifically bought those potential plots with relatively remote locations.
After buying the land, Osysa Hartung either rented it out or built his own house. The first choice is to rent the whole block to others to build a house, not only to collect rent, but also to return it together with the house after the agreement expires. Later, after accumulating a certain amount of money, he began to build more than 600 houses for rent in the western part of the concession, where the land price was relatively cheap. At that time, the security and conditions in the concession were better than outside the concession, but the original Western-style houses had relatively high rents, and the houses built by Osai Hartung were both spacious and cheap, so they attracted many Chinese to stay.
After the number of people staying in, Ossy Hartung set up a wet market, a school and a company. To some extent, it was The real estate development of Osy aehan Hartung that slowly changed the urban form of Shanghai at that time.
In 1901, Osiey Hartung invested 2 million yuan to open his own Hartung foreign firm, mainly engaged in the real estate industry, but the second venture Osai Hartung was very cautious, and it was not until 10 years later that he quit his job at Sassoon. At the beginning of the business, the conditions were still relatively difficult, although the house was its own, the location was good, but the interior decoration was very simple, the floor was not painted, there was no carpet and curtains, and no heating was installed.
Former site of Hartung&D
At the beginning of his career, Osysee Hartung was engaged in the real estate business, but also acted as an agent in the insurance business and the opium trade. Osy's Hartung has been operating in Shanghai for many years and not only has close ties with the Jews of Indochinese, but also has many friends in China's political, military, and business circles. In 1906, Rui Zheng served as the Daotai of Shanghai, and he used his power to briefly withhold the local Gengzi reparations raised and give these reparations to Osai Hartung to buy opium, although it was only more than 10 days, but it was very profitable. Yang Shande, the overseer of Zhejiang, also participated in such activities. Through such channels, Osysa Hartung not only consolidated his relationship with the local powers, but also amassed a great deal of wealth for himself.
In 1920, Hartung & Co. bought the old Sassoon & Co.'s real estate in China, and in 1930, it purchased the Shanghai City Hall, becoming the largest individual real estate developer in the Far East. By the time of his death, there were 450 acres of land and 1,200 buildings, with a total value of about 1.5 billion.
Shanghai City Hall
In addition, Osysip Hartung is also involved in the rubber cultivation and coffee farming industries in Southeast Asia, and invests in the financial industry.
In the process of developing his career and gathering wealth, the social status of Osy's Hartung has also been continuously improved. As a director of the French Concession Public Council, a director in the Public Concession Ministry Bureau, and a juror in the British Court in China, he gradually became a bridge and link between foreigners and Chinese, and successfully became a high society.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > fourth, widespread impact</h1>
In 1901, Osiey Hartung bought a large plot of land southeast of The Jing'an Temple in Shanghai. Beginning in 1904, Osyai Hartung and Roccaring began to build private gardens here. They hired Huang Zongyang, a famous monk at that time, to build his own private garden by imitating the Grand View Garden in the Dream of the Red Chamber, which covers an area of 360 acres, the size of 33 football fields, and 82 scenic spots, which took 5 years to complete. The garden is named Ai Li Yuan, taking the love of Osai Hartung and the original name of Luo Li Rui of Luo Jia Ling, which is both representative and expresses the love between husband and wife.
Love Li Garden partial
Since then, Ou Si'ai Hartung and Luo Jialing have established Huayan University, the first Buddhist university in China, as well as Cangsheng Zhizhi University, Cangsheng Zhizhi Women's School, Industrial Jindekai and affiliated primary and secondary schools in Ai Li Yuan. They also founded the Guangcang Society, hired cultural celebrities to study and publicize traditional culture, and Guo Guowei, a master of traditional Chinese studies, Luo Zhenyu, an oracle bone expert, Zou Jingshu, a gemologist, Xu Beihong, a painter, and Kang Youwei, a representative of reform, were his regular customers.
Osai Hartung and Rojaling not only worked hard in Buddhism, education, and philanthropy, but also actively pursued political status. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Luo Jialing was adopted as a righteous daughter by the mother of Empress Dowager Longyu, and she became a dry sister with the empress dowager, and Ousiai Hartung also received the title of "Grand Pro-Minister", and many Manchu Qing officials also trusted Ousi'ai Hartung. However, Osiey Hartung and Luo Jialing were not the ones who put their eggs in the same basket, and while they befriended the Qing Dynasty royal family, they also established contacts with revolutionaries such as the League and the Guangfu Society, and established friendship with Zhang Taiyan, Huang Yuanpei, Sun Yat-sen, Wu Zhihui and others through Huang Zongyang, and provided financial support for their revolutionary activities. Sun Yat-sen's impression of Huang Zongyang is very good, and it can be said that it is the same at first sight. The wedding of Zhang Taiyan, a scholar of the Republic of China, was also held in the Ai Li Garden, and the epitaph after the death of Ou Si Ai Hatong was also written by Zhang Taiyan, who was a teacher of Lu Xun and Qian Xuan.
Sun Yat-sen
There are three main reasons why The Ai Li Garden of Ou Si Ai Hartung and Luo Jia Ling has become a social activity place for many Chinese: First, because the status and influence of Ou Si Ai Hartung in the public concession ensure the safety and privacy of the Ai Li Garden, and even wanted people can hide in the Ai Li Garden, just like Chai Jin, who has Danshu iron coupons. Second, because Osie's Hato has a wide range of friends, the two sides of the enemy and the two sides with different opinions are often his friends, and they all have great trust in him and can hold talks in the Ai Li Garden. Third, the love garden is large enough to meet many people at the same time, party and not be disturbed by each other.
At the end of 1911, representatives of the Revolutionary Party of the Thirteen Provinces met in the Ari garden to discuss matters related to the establishment of a new regime. When Sun Yat-sen arrived, Osyah Hartung gave 30,000 oceans. After Sun Yat-sen stepped down as the provisional president, he came to Ai Li Garden again and convened relevant personnel to meet and discuss, while Ou Si Ai Hartung funded his struggle against Yuan. He was not only close to Sun Yat-sen, but also to the Beiyang warlords in the north, and after Cao Kun was elected president in 1924, OuSi'ai Hartung and his wife paid special visits to the meeting, and the two sides exchanged gifts. In 1925, Zhang Xueliang stayed in Ai Li Garden. After Sun Chuanfang lost power, he also set up an office in Ai Li Garden. On the whole, Ai Li Yuan is a relatively neutral role, so the two sides held peace talks in Ai Li Yuan, and Ai Li Yuan became an important political stage in China.
Sun Chuanfang
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="17" >5, the last evening scene</h1>
Osai Hartung and his wife have a very harmonious relationship, and Osiey Hartung is not only concerned about the food and life of rojaling, but also has great respect for the Buddhist beliefs of rojaling, although his belief is Judaism. He knew that Luo Jialing's temper was relatively large, so he specifically instructed the maid to be careful and not to provoke the master mother to be angry. Luo Jialing was gifted in social life, often accompanied Osieh Hartung to various events, and with the help of others, was responsible for running education and charity, and was able to keep the ai li garden in good order.
However, Osai Hartung and Luo Jialing could not have children, luo Jialing adopted 10 Chinese children, 5 men and 5 women were surnamed Luo, and later Osai Hartung also adopted 10 foreign children. The couple often set up small beds under the trees and watched the children sing, dance and tell stories.
However, due to the excessive adoption of children, the source channels are relatively wide, and the relationships involved in education, customs, status, and laws are more complicated, laying the groundwork for the subsequent inheritance competition.
Ossie Hartung died of illness in 1931 at the age of 80. After the death of her husband, Luo Jialing had no psychological affairs, and the Ai Li Garden gradually became desolate. In 1941, Luo Jialing also passed away at the age of 77. However, the battle for the inheritance of their adopted sons and daughters was not finally settled until 1947.