A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Time flies, and almost a year has passed.

this day.

The Chan family is having a gathering at their villa on Conduit Road in Hong Kong, and Chan Kwong-chung, the younger brother, and his family of four are also there.

The second generation of the Chen family maintains a structure of five sons and two daughters, among whom:

Of Chen Guangliang's two wives, Yan Renmei bore him three children (Chen Wenjie, Chen Wenming, and Chen Wenkai), and Jiang Meiying bore him two children (Chen Wenjin and Chen Leyi).

Chen Guangcong and Yang Xiuying have two children—Chen Wenbo and Chen Meiyi.

It's clear that Chen Guangliang is quite fond of his nephews and nieces, giving them the same generational names as his own children: boys with the generational name "Wen" and girls with the generational name "Yi" (listed at the end).

All seven children can walk now. The oldest, Chen Wenjie, is six and a half years old, while the youngest, Chen Wenkai, is only one year and two months old.

"Guangcong, before Hong Kong falls, take your mother, Xiuying, and the others to the United States for temporary refuge!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Chen Guangliang nervously, after all, war is a very cruel affair.

Chen Guangcong asked, "When do you think Japan will go to war with Britain?"

Chen Guangliang didn't hide anything from him, saying, "I think there are still 1 to 2 years left. At this point, Japan hasn't reached the point of desperation. So you should be mentally prepared. I will make arrangements regarding the timeline."

There was some good news in the last two years: the Nationalist government didn't summon him to Chongqing, but they hadn't forgotten him either. They mainly assigned Chen Guangliang to Hong Kong to assist with transportation and trade coordination. Chen Guangliang had some contact with Song Ziliang, who was in charge of transportation, and also with Xu Shiying, who was in charge of disaster relief. These were all light-duty jobs, quite suitable for Chen Guangliang's position.

Chen Guangcong then asked, "What about Second Sister-in-law, Wenjin, and Leyi?"

Chen Guangliang said, "Naturally, we will go to the United States in batches. After arriving in New York, you can take care of each other. Also, I have already arranged for my second uncle and Xiao Hu to come to Hong Kong at the end of this year. They can temporarily stay in Macau afterwards."

Upon hearing this, Yang Xiuying was immediately overjoyed, finally able to see her parents and younger brother's family again.

Chen Guangcong knew that this was a serious matter and that he bore a heavy responsibility, so he said earnestly, "Okay, I will be careful in everything I do."

"Caution is certainly warranted, but there is no need to panic. Compared to our compatriots on the battlefield, we are undoubtedly much luckier."

"yes, Sir."

"After the victory of the War of Resistance, I will support you in establishing a shipping company, so you need to study more about shipping."

Upon hearing this, Chen Guangcong said somewhat awkwardly, "I think it's good enough to work for my elder brother. Besides, my elder brother's shipping business will need people after the war!"

Chen Guangliang waved his hand and said, "During this period, we brothers naturally need to stick together. When the war ends, it will mean that there will be no more large-scale wars in the world, and commerce will flourish. At that time, I would be happy to see you do it yourself."

Seeing his elder brother's resolute attitude, Chen Guangcong said, "I'll listen to you, brother."

In truth, he longed to venture out into the world in the future, but he couldn't have such thoughts because of his elder brother's position in his heart.

Yang Xiuying, on the other hand, was much more cheerful. She asked from the side, "Big brother, when will this war end?"

Chen Guangliang laughed and said, "Who knows? But it will eventually end, and China will ultimately prevail. We must hold onto this idea in order to have a positive outlook on life."

Inspired by his attitude, people will be less afraid of war.

the next day.

Chen Guangliang called Chen Guangcong to his office and said, "I have a batch of gold worth 50 US dollars. Go to Macau and deposit it in the safe deposit box of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino and lease it for ten years."

This portion of the funds consisted of gold that Chen Guangliang exchanged for dividends from Xinfeng Textile last year.

His idea was correct. From January to May of this year (1939), the legal tender could still maintain an exchange rate of 8 pence, but after June, the black market rate was only around 6 pence.

It remains to be seen how low the price will fall next.

Chen Guangcong asked, "Why not transfer it to the United States? Besides, depositing it in the Atlantic Bank's safe deposit box in my brother's name would be the same thing."

Chen Guangliang stood up, patted his younger brother on the shoulder, and said, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket. You go and do it!"

Over the years, Chen Guangcong has been working for his elder brother and receiving a salary every year.

Of course, Chen Guangliang also gave him some assets, such as a house in Shanghai and a house in Hong Kong, as well as other miscellaneous items, which amounted to about 10 silver dollars.

Therefore, this $50 worth of gold was a huge sum of money for Chen Guangcong, which made him somewhat uneasy.

"Okay, big brother!"

In fact, this money was not intended for Chen Guangcong.

However, when Chen Guangcong becomes independent, Chen Guangliang will give him at least two ocean-going ships, which will certainly be quite valuable. How far he can go with just two ships depends on his abilities.

A few days later, Ye Ximing and Zhang Shounian from Shanghai also arrived in Hong Kong.

"Based on the current situation, Xinfeng Textile's profits this year can exceed 1200 million yuan, with the Shanghai factory alone generating over 800 million yuan in profits."

"The sugar and alcohol factories in Sichuan have also deposited 450 million yuan in our Ping An Bank (Chongqing) account."

Making money was inevitable, since alcohol was a military supply. In the past year, Chen Guangliang's alcohol factory had made great contributions, and even Kong Xiangxi went to his alcohol factory to inspect it.

Needless to say, the sugar factories have seen their prices rise again and again since the coastal sugar factories were bombed last year.

Most importantly, the 2 jin of sugarcane seeds that Chen Guangliang transported to Neijiang and Zizhong back then have increased the sugarcane production in Sichuan over the years, allowing the sugar industry in the entire anti-Japanese war zone to develop to a certain extent.

“Then use the 450 million to pay off the bank debt. Ping An Bank will invest another 600 million to buy my factory, and I will withdraw the 600 million from the Shanghai Stock Exchange.”

Ye Ximing said, "No problem. Ping An Bank has ample funds right now, especially its stock market holdings, which are worth 400 million taels of silver and have appreciated significantly."

Four million taels of silver is equivalent to about 1.8 million US dollars or about 12 million Chinese yuan today, while the initial investment was only 3 million Chinese yuan.

Much of the appreciation here is actually due to the devaluation of the fiat currency, causing funds to flow into the stock market.

Chen Guangliang suddenly remembered the upcoming 'European battlefield' and immediately said, "This 600 million will remain in Ping An Bank in Shanghai, but you should use it to buy stocks. I've entrusted you to primarily purchase foreign-owned stocks, but you can consider Chinese-owned stocks (like Yong'an Textile). Also, given the current situation of Xinfeng Textile, I should be able to receive a personal dividend of 500 million this year, so I'll use that to buy stocks as well."

With the European war imminent, overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia and Hong Kong would flee to Shanghai with large sums of money. Later estimates put this at approximately 30 billion yuan, equivalent to 2 million US dollars.

A significant portion of this money flowed into the Shanghai Stock Exchange, where foreign-invested stocks were driven up to very high prices. At present, 1100 million yuan is not considered valuable; it's only worth about 160 million US dollars.

"Why doesn't the boss take this opportunity to transfer the funds to a more authoritative location—the United States?" Ye Ximing asked, puzzled.

At that time, among the senior executives of Ping An Bank, only the United States was the safest place.

Chen Guangliang calmly said, "Let's wait a little longer."

"Okay, we'll make the arrangements when we get back."

A month later.

In September 1939, the outbreak of the European war brought about profound changes. Funds that had fled overseas due to the outbreak of the war began to flow back to Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and other places due to the strengthening of foreign exchange control. In addition, Shanghai was one of the few cities in the world that maintained free capital flow at that time. This also led to other overseas Chinese capital gathering in Shanghai through different channels, making Shanghai a place where speculative capital was concentrated for a time.

Although the size of these funds is still unknown, it is clearly an astronomical figure.

Regardless of the exact amount of funds flowing back, it is certain that the Shanghai Stock Exchange is currently attracting a massive amount of speculative capital far exceeding normal levels.

With so much speculative capital converging on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in a short period of time, it was naturally difficult to find a legitimate outlet, which led to foreign exchange, stocks, government bonds, gold, and even commodities such as cotton yarn becoming targets of speculation.

The November 1939 issue of the *Monthly Economic Statistics Journal* commented: "One of the effects of increased speculative capital is the booming securities market. Because the fluctuations in foreign exchange have recently become relatively limited, the general bourgeoisie, instead of speculating on commodities, invest in securities, leading to extremely thriving securities trading. Previously, the highest monthly trading volume of company stocks (at the General Chamber of Commerce) was 4,394,000 shares in December 1936, while this month's figure is 4,924,000 shares; the trading value of corporate bonds is higher than the previous five months, reaching 1,785,000 yuan; the securities market price index, which had never exceeded 75.61 since January 1933, is 76.28 this month. The booming trend of these figures is evident here."

The Shanghai Stock Exchange is experiencing a major surge in stocks.

Another six months passed.

That is, in early April 1940.

In the conference room of Ping An Bank (Shanghai Stock Exchange), three core senior executives—Xia Gaoxiang, Ye Ximing, and Zhang Shounian—were present.

Xia Gaoxiang asked, "Have we calculated the value of our assets in the stock market?"

Ye Ximing nodded, and then said:
“The 300 million yuan that Ping An Bank initially invested is now worth 1000 million taels of silver, or about 450 million US dollars. In terms of the legal tender standard, the increase is more than tenfold.”

"The 1100 million yuan that the boss invested in the market last year is now worth 1000 million taels of silver or 450 million US dollars, a rise of about three times."

Although the three knew the approximate data, they were still greatly shocked.

Xia Gaoxiang said, "The boss told us to cash out these stocks immediately, and at the same time exchange them for US dollars, gold, or pounds, and then prepare to transfer them to the United States. Currently, the official and British-American cooperation is still able to maintain the exchange rate of 1 franc to 4 pence, including the black market, but the boss expects that this exchange rate will not be able to be maintained in a month or two. He told us to act quickly."

No one ever doubts the boss's judgment.

Ye Ximing nodded and said, "Since September last year, the amount of overseas funds flowing into the Shanghai stock market has been about 200 million US dollars (a little over 3 billion yuan), which is the reason for this wave of stock market surge. Now they are cashing out and exchanging money at the same time, which is quite convenient."

The funds flowing into the Shanghai Stock Exchange from overseas are mostly foreign exchange. Naturally, the stocks they buy are also mainly denominated in silver, pounds sterling, and US dollars. Therefore, foreign companies' stocks have seen the largest gains in this wave.

Zhang Shounian also said, "The boss also said that foreigners will probably take the opportunity to cash out during this stock market boom. I think we should take our profits before the foreigners do."

The three quickly agreed on an opportunity and then began to take action.

In fact, although this wave of stock market boom may see a sharp drop in May, it can still rebound next year.

However, Chen Guangliang considered that transferring assets again next year would be too risky.

A month later.

陈光良一脸喜色的看着沪市发来的电报，这一波股票涨得太狠了，例如：1940年初每股价值28元的怡和纱厂股票，在1940年四月末五月初旬的热狂投机期达到82元；1939年9月价格仅仅5元的上海地产股，此时价格腾跃到40元；再如1940年2月价格3.2元的橡胶信托股，此时达到16元，同期0.8元的地傍橡胶股，此时为3元，13.8元的英渣华股票达到60元等等。

As a result, both Ping An Bank and his personal stock investments were cashed out at the peak, yielding a return of US$450 million.

As for the entire stock market, it has become completely disconnected.

After converting the cash from this round of transactions into US dollars and gold, they naturally prepared to transfer the funds to the United States immediately.

这样一来，陈光良在美国的财富就变成：早期投资的680万美金，已经在1000万美金以上；第二波转到美国的是价值450万美金的黄金（11.8万两）以及450万美元（平安银行）；现在将是第三波存入美国，陈光良和平安银行共计900万美金和黄金。

This means that Chen Guangliang already has a fortune of US$2800 million in the United States (of which US$900 million is in Ping An Bank).

Chen Guangliang felt like he was dreaming when he made this money.

In mid-May, Shanghai sent another telegram to Chen Guangliang, saying that due to the outbreak of the "Battle of France", Shanghai merchants began to hoard cotton yarn bales, and the price started to rise from 1000 yuan per bale.

The general consensus was that the outbreak of the "Battle of France" would inevitably cause an international cotton shortage, and at the same time, Shanghai merchants would hoard cotton yarn, which would indirectly prevent European merchants from taking cotton away from China. As long as the war dragged on, cotton prices would skyrocket.

Chen Guangliang decisively instructed his family members in the Xinfeng Textile Industry to stockpile the goods, starting by absorbing them at 1000 yuan per pack.

By the end of May, when cotton yarn bales had risen to 2000 yuan, Chen Guangliang telegraphed Xinfeng Textile to start selling off its stock.

Throughout the process, Xinfeng Textile earned a profit of 150 million yuan.

Chen Guangliang's actions were naturally different from everyone else's views; the "battle in France" would not be protracted but would end quickly.

As Chen Guangliang predicted, France surrendered in mid-June, and cotton yarn prices in Shanghai subsequently plummeted.

The large number of Shanghai stock market speculators going bankrupt was a scene that Chen Guangliang in Hong Kong found quite amusing.

What Chen Guangliang and others found even more 'funny' was that the stocks on the Shanghai Stock Exchange experienced a catastrophic crash, causing many speculators to go bankrupt in an instant.

The main reasons for the subsequent plunge in the Zhongye Stock Exchange were the unfavorable situation of the Allied powers in the European theater, the large-scale cashing out by those who profited in this round, and the banning of foreign stock trading by the Wang Jingwei regime.
Chen Guangliang and Ping An Bank were the biggest winners, cashing out and leaving the market, and they were even one step ahead of everyone else.

With Ping An Bank depositing large amounts of US dollars and gold into Chase and Citibank, the Chen Guangliang family and their businesses' wealth of US$2800 million was essentially transferred to the United States.

This $2800 million is equivalent to 7% of the total $4 million in savings that Chinese people had in the United States in their previous lives.

This information is basically impossible to hide from those in power in the United States, although the exact figures will require investigation to be known.

However, Chen Guangliang wasn't worried. He still believed that the US government at the time would protect his wealth. After all, as far as Chen Guangliang knew, the later Southern Expeditionary Government had always hoped that the US would transfer all 4 million dollars in Chinese savings to the Nationalist government for the war effort and post-war economic reconstruction, but the US had never agreed. The biggest favor they showed was freezing these assets in 1941, and more importantly, preventing Chinese from transferring wealth overseas. They were all unfrozen in 1947.

Meanwhile, Chen Guangliang still maintains substantial assets in mainland China, including textile factories, sugar refineries, alcohol factories, and numerous properties such as the Shangri-La Hotel and the Ping An Bank Building. (End of Chapter)