In the next five thousand years of Chinese history, there have been many bold words that have made the Chinese people feel angry. The two sentences that impressed me the most were, the first of which was "Although those who commit crimes against strong men are far away, they will be punished." This sentence was said by Chen Tang, a general of the Western Han Dynasty, during his expedition to the Western Regions, expressing the boldness and self-confidence that Chinese had when he was strong. Then the second sentence is "Before the enemy leaves the country, he will talk and talk is a traitor", which shows that our sons and daughters of China, even when they are not so powerful, still have the courage and determination to fight the invading enemy to the end. So, who said this second sentence? That is what Mr. Tan Kah Kee, the famous leader of overseas Chinese in Nanyang and the "rubber king" of Singapore, said.
An overseas businessman raised his arms when the War of Resistance fell into a low tide and the country was in danger. Why is there such an impact? These two words are the school motto "Sincerity and Perseverance" written by Mr. Chen Jiageng for Jimei School in his own handwriting. What do you mean? According to Mr. Wang's own interpretation, "sincerity" means that a person should be frank and selfless, and his words and deeds will be fruitful. "Perseverance" means that a person should do things without fear of difficulties and persevere to the end. These two words are not only Chen Jiageng's expectations for the students, but also the best portrayal of his own life.
On October 21, 1874, Chen Jiageng was born into an overseas Chinese family in Jimei Town, Tong'an County, Fujian Province. From the generation of his great-grandfather, the men of the Chen family had a tradition of going to sea to make a living. Tan Kah-geun's father, Chen Qibai, crossed the ocean very early and opened a large-scale rice shop in Singapore. At the age of 17, Tan Kah Kee also followed his father's request and went to Singapore to inherit his father's business and began to learn to do food business. In today's words, Chen Jiageng is a "rich second generation".
Unfortunately, he did not last long as this "rich second generation". Why? In 1898, Chen Jiageng's mother died of illness. According to the rules of the time, the son had to return to his hometown to keep filial piety for his mother for three years. After waiting for three years, Chen Jiageng returned to Singapore to learn that his father owed money because of investment failures and serious illness. Not only is it not a "rich second generation", but it also owes a foreign debt of 200,000 silver dollars.
In the blink of an eye, the "rich second generation" has become the "negative second generation". 200,000 oceans, even for the Well-to-do Chen family, it is almost an astronomical number. And the wall was pushed by everyone, and the situation at that time was as dangerous as an egg. Fortunately, Singapore at that time belonged to the British colony, and there was no such thing as "father's debt repayment" in British law. When the father owes more money, he will not be able to catch up with the son.
No one expected that this would have been a good thing. But Chen Jiageng, who was only in his early 20s, actually took the initiative to take this debt to himself. "My father borrowed money and owed money, I will pay it back", this is the traditional Chinese virtue. Even if it is the law of other countries, I must be worthy of my conscience. It's easy to talk big, but what about doing it? What does a hairy guy take?
Chen Jiageng really showed a rare composure and calmness at this time, as well as an outstanding talent for business. Without the ability, what is the use of light calm and calm. Relying on the good popularity that his father had accumulated over the years, he borrowed another seven thousand oceans, and then used the money to open a canning factory. It turned out that Chen Jiageng had long discovered that Europeans were particularly interested in pineapples in Southeast Asia, but fresh pineapples were difficult to transport over long distances. The canning technology that had just emerged at that time just solved this problem, and as soon as the factory opened, Chen Jiageng produced canned pineapples, which were continuously shipped to Europe.
This trick of "borrowing chickens and laying eggs" allowed Chen Jiageng to earn the first bucket of gold in the mall. However, he used all this bucket of gold to pay off his debts, and it took a full decade. In the best years of his life for ten years, Chen Jiageng paid off the last debt he owed to his father, which is a "sincere" word that he insisted on. Speaking of doing it, although the money earned was not spent by himself, it was exchanged for fame and credibility in the business field.
By 1914, when World War I broke out, the business of exporting canned pineapples to Europe was not doing well. Chen Jiageng, who has a keen sense of business smell, soon discovered new business opportunities. The U.S. economy, which had made a fortune from the war, began to take off, and demand for a variety of rubber products surged. So he first took out a loan to buy a large amount of land to grow rubber, and then set up a factory to produce rubber shoes, tires and other rubber products. The business was called a fire, and it was hotter than it was now.
By 1925, Chen Jiageng's rubber business covered more than 100 cities around the world, with total assets of up to 12 million silver dollars. How much is the twelve million silver dollars of that year? Converted into gold at that time one million taels. Such an asset size can be ranked in the whole of Southeast Asia. However, Chen Jiageng can only be regarded as a big boss, and he has never been a rich man. Because he is just a "passing god of wealth", this side earns money in, and the other side spends it quickly. And the key is not to spend on their own business, where to spend? Couldn't it be that he still had bad habits? It all started decades ago.
It was still 1894, and Chen Jiageng, who had been in Singapore for four years, received a letter from his old mother, saying that he had booked a family affair in his hometown and hurried home to become a relative. Therefore, Chen Jiageng returned to Jimei Town with the 2,000 pieces of ocean saved from working in his father's shop. 2000 oceans, in the town of Jimei, that is not a small amount, more than enough for marriage. Who knew that the marriage had not yet been done, and Chen Jiageng had spent all the money. Where did the money go?
It was said that one day, Chen Jiageng had nothing to do but walk around the village to see. When he went to the place where he was a private school when he was a child, he found that the house was about to collapse. After inquiring again, I learned that because there was no money to maintain it, the private schools were closed for more than two years. The children in the village either have to run far away to go to school. Or simply stop studying and follow the adults out to sea to fish. When Chen Jiageng was a child, he studied at a private school in the village, and his grades were good, but didn't he go to business later? He didn't want the next generation to be like himself, and he would go out to make a living before he finished reading.
So he gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, and donated all 2,000 pieces of ocean that he was going to use for marriage. Let the village build a decent primary school, it is estimated that he did not expect at that time, this donation can not be stopped.
After returning to Singapore, Tan once saw an investigation report from a magazine. The report says that in Britain, the United States, France, and Germany, there are less than 10 illiterate people per hundred. Japan, Then, China's neighbor, has less than 30 per hundred people. In China, 96 out of every 100 people are illiterate. This report made Chen Jiageng sleepless at night, and it is no wonder that china, which is in the ascendant of china, has not only been arbitrarily slaughtered by the Western powers, but even a small Japan can force China to cut land and pay reparations. In the final analysis, it is a loss of no culture.
On this day, Chen Jiageng secretly made up his mind not only to let the children of Jimei Village go to school and read, but also to let more Chinese children go to school and go to college. For Chen Jiageng, for this generation of overseas Chinese leaders, they feel that they have a responsibility to the Chinese nation. He felt that the reason why China was poor and weak, why it was beaten by others, and why we could not beat others, was because our people were ignorant. Therefore, through education, he must enlighten the people's wisdom to solve the problems of Chinese society.
As Chen Jiageng's business grew bigger and bigger, he built more and more schools in his hometown. In addition to the Jimei Primary School, which was first donated, a normal school, a navigation school, and a girls' middle school were later established. In addition, he has donated more than 70 primary and secondary schools throughout Fujian Province. Now we say that this is just a string of names and numbers, but for Chen Jiageng, it is a lot of real money and silver that has been earned hard. And this school is not the same as running a factory, and the money spent to run a factory is called the cost. Not only is there a high probability that it can be recovered, but it can also make money and make more money. But to run a school, that is only to go in and out.
You have to ask How did Chen Jiageng persist? Then we have to say the second word in "sincerity" "yi". That is to say, do not be afraid of difficulties, do not hit the south wall and do not turn back, and do not turn back when you hit the south wall. As we all know, the greatest achievement of Mr. Chen Jiageng's life is to build a century-old xiamen university for us. But how was this Xiamen University built? I'm afraid not many people know.
In fact, at the beginning, Chen Jiageng did not plan to rely on his own strength to run a university, but prepared to raise funds among overseas Chinese in Nanyang. Unfortunately, not all overseas Chinese have the same idea as him. Throughout the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, there was corruption and warlords running rampant in China, and overseas Chinese had a very low sense of identification with the motherland. A wealthy businessman directly said to Chen Jiageng, "I have the money, but I would rather be collected by the British for inheritance tax than use it to fill the bottomless pit."
As a result, Chen Jiageng launched three fundraising campaigns before and after without success. Replace it with someone else, and this will end there. I did my best, what else can I do. But Chen Jiageng was a person who hit the south wall and did not look back, no one responded, I came to run a university alone, and I also wanted to run the best university. In 1919, Chen Jiageng announced that he would pledge 4 million oceans, and initially invested 1.2 million oceans to establish Xiamen University. Although this Xiamen University is a private university, this shot has shocked many national universities.
When Gu Jiegang was at Peking University, he was a rising star in the field of historiography and a young teacher. His salary at Peking University is 50 oceans, and after he goes to Xiamen University, his salary is 150 oceans. Later, he was hired as a professor at the institute, giving him 200 oceans. Lu Xun, Lin Yutang, Shen Jianshi, gu Jiegang, whether at that time or today, were all well-known academic masters. For a while, there were no two characters, and for a while, the main building of Xiamen University, Qunxian Building, was a veritable group of talents. Teachers and students have a good life here, and Chen Jiageng himself does not live like the life of the "rubber king" at all.
Throughout his life, Chen Jiageng dedicated a lot of his money to public welfare undertakings and schools, but his life was very frugal. An umbrella was replenished again and again, and his relatives had suggested that they should be replaced, but Chen Jiageng insisted on refusing. Including a lot of clothes, including socks, there is a pair of socks is also very torn. Relatives told him that you make up for it again and again, and he said that the seams and seams were patched up for another three years, so his feelings made us people today very moved.
Of course, if you want to run a good university, it is not enough to have money and good teachers. As the saying goes, "the train runs fast all by the headband", in order to equip Xiamen University with the most cattle locomotive, Chen Jiageng even dug up the "corner" of Sun Yat-sen. What's going on here?
The person in the photo is estimated that most people do not know. But 100 years ago, this man was a legend in China. Lin Wenqing, an overseas Chinese in Singapore, was one of the first Chinese to receive a master's degree from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. After graduating with a master's degree, Lin Wenqing first became a doctor, but after becoming a generation of famous doctors, he ran to politics again. From Singaporean parliamentarians to foreign ministry advisers, the officials are getting bigger and bigger, and when the officials are almost ready, Lin Wenqing began to do business again. Not only did it open the first Chinese bank in Singapore, but it was also the first to introduce rubber trees originating in Brazil to Nanyang for cultivation, which was called "the father of Nanyang rubber" by posterity.
It was also chen jiageng who was influenced by him to embark on the road of operating the rubber industry. When the business was booming, Lin Wenqing thought about revolution and joined the Alliance Led by Sun Yat-sen. In today's words, this Lin Wenqing is simply learning from Both Chinese and Western, and is proficient in all kinds of cultural and financial medicine. Yes, if it weren't for that, he wouldn't be able to toss much of a storm. It is most appropriate to find such a cattle person to preside over Xiamen University. So Chen Jiageng sent a telegram to Lin Wenqing, inviting him to become the president of Xiamen University. However, after Lin Wenqing received the telegram, he hesitated and hesitated, and paced in a circle in embarrassment.
Coincidentally, before receiving Chen Jiageng's telegram, Lin Wenqing had just received another telegram. Sun Yat-sen, the great president of the Republic of China, urged Lin Wenqing to go to Guangzhou and become the foreign minister of the Republic of China, should he become the foreign minister of the Republic of China or the president of Xiamen University? Lin Wenqing was hesitating here, and as soon as Chen Jiageng knew the situation, he directly sent a cover telegram to Sun Yat-sen. Lin Wenqing is the person I want, you don't grab me, the tone is very straight and stunned.
After Sun Yat-sen read the telegram, instead of getting angry, he smiled. A great man is a great man, it is different, the heart is different. He also sent a telegram to Lin Wenqing, saying that Mr. Chen was no longer used in Guangzhou, so he should go to Xiamen to make Mr. Chen the principal. Tangtang Sun Da, someone robbed people from him, how could he be so generous? On the one hand, of course, he said that he had a big heart. Mainly because of what? Or because Chen Jiageng was generous first, this has a source. Whatever made him feel that he could save the country and save the people, he never blinked when he spent money. We know that before the Xinhai Revolution, Sun Yat-sen spent a long time overseas to raise funds for the revolution.
Although Chen Jiageng was just starting out at that time, as soon as he heard that it was a revolution to save the country, he immediately donated 50,000 oceans to Sun Yat-sen. From this time on, Chen Jiageng and Sun Yat-sen became friends. Although it doesn't matter if the tone is a little rushed, Chen Jiageng, you want to ask Lin Wenqing to be the president of Xiamen University, Sun Yat-sen, I can't bear to cut love, but also have to smile. It was thanks to Chen Jiageng's strong financial resources and deep and extensive contacts that Xiamen University was first enrolled in 1921. It only took a decade to become one of the top universities in China. Unfortunately, just when Chen Jiageng wanted to continue to build Xiamen University into a world-class university, a series of blows followed.
The earliest crisis occurred in 1928, when the Northern Expeditionary Army approached Jinan in May, while the Japanese were protecting the expatriates. Preemptively dispatched troops to attack Jinan, slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent citizens, and created the appalling "Jinan Massacre." Upon hearing the news, Chen Jiageng was filled with righteous indignation and led the overseas Chinese in Nanyang to launch a huge "boycott of Japanese goods" campaign. The Japanese military, which has a grudge in its heart, naturally wants to retaliate madly. They sent agents to set fire to several factories in Chen Jiageng at the same time, and several fires suddenly cost Chen Jiageng hundreds of thousands of yuan. Immediately after, the economic crisis that swept the world in 1929 broke out.
The global economy is in a slump, and the rubber industry is doomed. There are complete eggs under the nest, and Chen Jiageng lost more than 3 million yuan this year. The company he had worked so hard to build was on the verge of bankruptcy. At this time, someone took the initiative to throw a "life-saving straw", and the deputy general manager of HSBC came to Chen Jiageng. In other words, he can continue to support Chen Jiageng's business. But there is a condition, that is, Chen Jiageng will stop running Xiamen University and Jimei School.
Why did HSBC make such a request? Because they did a careful investigation beforehand. The results found that the total amount of Chen Jiageng's expenditure for more than 20 years was 13.3 million yuan. The money spent on running a school is as high as 12.17 million yuan, which means that more than 90% of the money Chen Jiageng earns from doing business is used to run a school. If he no longer invests money in the school, with Chen Jiageng's business ability and shopping mall connections, it will not be a problem at all to make a comeback. This HSBC abacus is playing very well, you Chen Jiageng are almost out of production, can you not accept our conditions? It can't not be non-existent.
Unexpectedly, Chen Jiageng repeatedly replied with a sentence: "My company can not do it, but the school must not stop." In February 1934, Chen Jiageng announced the liquidation of the company, and the legend of a generation of rubber kings in the business field came to an end. After the bankruptcy, he realized the last bit of assets, and still struggled to maintain the normal operation of Xiamen University and Jimei School Village, which was another three years.
By 1937, Chen Jiageng had no assets to be sold, which made him reluctant to donate Xiamen University to the National Government free of charge, and Xiamen University became a national university from then on. The money was gone, but Chen Jiageng's heart was still there. Decades of hard work have accumulated another wealth for Chen Jiageng, that is, among overseas Chinese, no one has unparalleled popularity and appeal. Relying on this wealth, Chen Jiageng embarked on another path to save the country and the people.
In July 1937, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out in full swing. Chen Jiageng initiated the establishment of the "Nanyang Overseas Chinese Relief Association for Refugees from the Motherland" in Singapore, and contributed money and strength to the domestic war of resistance through various means. Under his efforts, in 1939 alone, overseas Chinese in Nanyang donated more than 360 million yuan to the motherland, which greatly supported the cause of the War of Resistance. After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered the stage of stalemate, Wang Jingwei, as the number two figure of the Kuomintang, vigorously propagated the so-called "curve to save the country" theory on various public occasions, in fact, in order to break the anti-Japanese fighting spirit of the Chinese military and people and achieve the goal of betraying the country and seeking glory.
Wang Jingwei held a high position of authority, and Chiang Kai-shek did not show his determination to resist to the end at this time. Suddenly, the capitulators at the top of the Kuomintang had the upper hand. It was at such a critical moment that on October 28, 1938, Chen Jiageng, as a suffragan of the National Committee of Political Participation, sent a telegram proposal to the National Participation In Chongqing.
The content is like this: "Before the Japanese Kou withdrew from our territory, all public servants talked about peace conditions to anyone, and they were punished as traitors and traitors to the state." In just two sentences, after being reported by the media, it was a sensation throughout the country. It is said that after Wang Jingwei saw the proposal, his face turned white. Not only Wang Jingwei was the only one who changed his face when he was angry with Chen Jiageng, but Chiang Kai-shek was also angry.
It was the spring of 1940, and Chen Jiageng led the Nanyang Overseas Chinese Condolence Group back to China to comfort the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians. Although Chen Jiageng himself was bankrupt, the "Southern Overseas Chinese Association" he was chairman would give a large amount of money and materials to the Nationalist government every year. For such a god of wealth, Chiang Kai-shek certainly could not be neglected. From the day Chen Jiageng arrived in Chongqing, all kinds of large and small banquets, mountain treasures and seafood were less than half a month, and the hospitality fee alone cost more than 80,000 yuan. What Chiang Kai-shek did not expect was that he took pains to entertain Chen Jiageng, and as a result, this Mr. Chen not only did not appreciate it, but also openly punched his "face" and snapped. How did you play it?
Chen Jiageng paid for it himself and published the same "strike statement" in the JoongAng Daily for three consecutive days. The content is as follows, "In this difficult and difficult period of the War of Resistance, I hope that the government and the people will practice economy and do not consume material resources." Although he did not name names, he was clearly criticizing Chiang Kai-shek and the Chongqing government. Can you say that Old Jiang can not be embarrassed at this time? Can embarrassment not be angry? What made Old Jiang even more angry was the one.
In June 1940, the Nanyang Overseas Chinese Condolence Group came to Yan'an after several turns. On the evening of June 1, Mao Zedong hosted a banquet to entertain Chen Jiageng and his party. What Chen Jiageng did not expect was that the so-called banquet, the banquet was actually an old square table in the courtyard outside Mao Zedong's cave, and the dishes on it were all cabbage and beans grown in his own vegetable garden, and the only meat dish was a bowl of chicken soup per person. Mao Zedong also told Chen Jiageng that this was because the landlord's wife heard that there were distinguished guests from Nanyang and specially sent an old hen that was laying eggs, so that everyone could eat meat and dip some meat.
With this shabby meal, Mao Zedong painted Chen Jiageng what the Chinese Communists envisioned a future China in mind, which made Chen Jiageng feel a shock he had never felt before. As soon as he returned to Chongqing, he immediately held a press conference to publicize what he had seen and heard in Yan'an, and repeatedly expressed China's hope in Yan'an.
After returning to Singapore, Chen Jiageng vigorously propagated the CCP's anti-Japanese national united front policy among overseas Chinese. The various materials donated were continuously sent to the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines. In 1942, when the Japanese army attacked Singapore, Tan Washigeng was forced to take refuge in Indonesia, in order to show his determination not to share the sky with the invaders. He hid a small packet of highly toxic "potassium cyanide" in his pocket every day, ready to be martyred. To this end, a poem was deliberately written. "Java has been in hiding for two years, and it is difficult to keep the sneaking trail a secret. When it is unfortunate to be captured, there is no shame in death."
Fortunately, the poison did not come in handy, and Chen Jiageng, who was on the run, ushered in the victory of the War of Resistance and the establishment of New China. In May 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong personally sent a telegram inviting Chen Jiageng to Beijing. As the chief representative of overseas Chinese circles, he participated in the preparation of the first political consultative conference. At the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China on October 1, Chen Jiageng climbed the Tiananmen Tower as a guest of honor.
After the founding of New China, Premier Zhou Enlai repeatedly retained Chen Jiageng to live in Beijing to enjoy his old age. However, Chen Jiageng proposed that he would not return to Singapore, but he could not stay in Beijing and he would return to Xiamen. But instead of going back to his hometown to retire, he wanted to do something more important. The campus of Xiamen University was severely damaged during the War of Resistance, and as the founder of the school, he decided to spend all his remaining time on the restoration and expansion of Xiamen University.
In 1950, in front of all the teachers and students of the university, Chen Jiageng showed the blueprint of the new Xiamen University. In the following ten years, the busy figure of this old man could be seen almost every day on various construction sites of Xiamen University. At this time, Chen Jiageng was no longer a rich businessman, and his only income was the 500 yuan salary paid to him by the state every month.
On this money, Chen Jiageng only left 15 yuan as living expenses, and the rest was donated to Xiamen University as a fund. On August 12, 1961, Chen Jiageng died of illness, and the only inheritance left to his children and grandchildren was a small seal. But the old man, who died in poverty, had a very solemn funeral.
Chairman Mao personally wrote an inscription for him, "Overseas Chinese Banner National Glory," and Zhou Enlai, Premier Zhu De, Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, and many other party and state leaders personally paid tribute to the coffin, and tens of thousands of deputies from all walks of life wept down the Long Street to bid farewell to Chen Jiageng. In 1990, the International Minor Planet Naming Center named asteroid 2963 "Chen Jiageng Star", and the name Chen Jiageng and the legend and story of his life will live forever in the sky with the starlight.