A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

A 2700-ton, 40-year-old cargo ship was sailing in the waters off Shandong Province. The ship skillfully bypassed the Nationalist government's navy and headed towards the port of Weihai.

Zhao Tieyi of Global Shipping stood on the deck, feeling somewhat uneasy. He had secretly boarded the ship this time because he was carrying an important mission—to establish trade with the JF district.

Currently, Weihai and Shidao in Shandong Province belong to the JF District. Their ships are fully loaded with gasoline, medicine, rubber, steel and other goods, preparing to trade with the local area in exchange for agricultural products such as mung beans, peanuts, and soybeans, as well as gold.

"Manager Zhao, they're back!"

Soon, a small boat approached them. It was a 'spy' sent out by Global Shipping to gather information and negotiate in the JF area.

After the small boat approached, it was hoisted up, and two staff members immediately disembarked.

"Manager Zhao, the high-ranking officials there are very welcoming to our local trade, saying that all taxes will be waived and that they will also provide protection."

Zhao Tieyi was overjoyed and asked, "Do you have any proof or anything like that?"

The clerk handed over an envelope and said, "Yes, this is a document, it's stamped."

Another employee added, "Manager Zhao, you may not know this, but this area is under blockade by the Nationalist Navy, and supplies are extremely scarce. They were overjoyed to hear that we were able to bypass the Nationalist Navy, and they can't wait to trade with us."

Zhao Tieyi nodded. Their global shipping company had been a force to be reckoned with on the high seas for so many years, they certainly had that kind of skill. And even if they were detained by the Nationalist Navy, they had ways to smooth things over and get away with it peacefully.

They were worried beforehand that trade in the JF district was not protected and were afraid of the JF district, so he decided to come out in person.

Today, at Global Shipping, the owner's younger brother, Chen Guangcong, is in charge of four Liberty ships that operate on overseas routes; while Zhao Tieyi is in charge of four old, second-hand ships that engage in coastal shipping and trade, as well as trade in Southeast Asia.

In comparison, the shipping and trade issues along the coast are more complex, especially since they also engage in trade, so they need someone as experienced as Zhao Tieyi.

"If we manage to secure this route, everyone's future profit sharing will be substantial!" Zhao Tieyi said with a smile, trying to boost morale.

"We can definitely secure it. This is the route personally selected by the boss, who said it's very profitable."

"That's right, the boss is always very good at planning and can't be wrong."

Even when Chen Guangliang was not around, these employees still admired him greatly.

Chen Guangliang owns 51% of the 2700-ton ship, while the remaining management and staff of Huanqiu Shipping hold the remaining 49%. The trade route the ship is about to open is as follows: sourcing goods from Hong Kong—pharmaceuticals, gasoline, steel, cement, rubber, and other industrial products—then trading with local merchants in Weihai and Shidao; purchasing agricultural products such as mung beans, peanuts, and soybeans from Weihai and Shidao, then transporting them to Japan to exchange for steel and chemicals; finally, transporting the steel and chemicals back to Hong Kong.

This is a triangular trade. Industrial products in the JF area are very scarce, so they can be sold at high prices. Steel and chemicals are everywhere in postwar Japan because there is no need to develop the military, but Japanese agriculture has been basically destroyed, and agricultural products are scarce. Finally, Hong Kong is also scarce in steel and chemicals.

After the round, the ship had won over all three parties.

Before the large ship docked, Zhao Tieyi still put down the small boat and went ashore personally to confirm the details of the trade. This trade route was related to the welfare of all employees of the global shipping company, which was why the boss assigned him to handle the negotiations.

Because of Chen Guangliang's long-standing influence, Zhao Tieyi kept his distance from the JF district, and even felt some fear towards it. Therefore, he came here in person with the thought that he was in 'danger'.

Of course, his children are now grown up, and his eldest son has returned from studying in the United States, joined Ping An Bank, and become a promising junior manager, which is what he is most proud of.

After disembarking, Zhao Tieyi was welcomed by the highest-ranking official here, who expressed strong support for trade. Of course, the official also tried to find out which fleet Zhao Tieyi belonged to, but Zhao Tieyi did not reveal that it was a global shipping company, let alone mention the name of the boss.

In Kwun Tong, an industrial building rises from the ground.

This five-story industrial building is the tallest in Hong Kong, and its investor is Ping An Bank.

Ping An Bank's real estate trust department in Hong Kong owns more than 70 square meters of industrial land, which was rebuilt into three-, four-, and five-story reinforced concrete industrial buildings after the war, and then began to rent out the units to small business owners.

Of course, these industrial sites are currently under construction and are expected to be completed in the early 1950s, with an estimated floor area of ​​over one million square meters for industrial buildings.

Chen Guangliang led his men to the industrial building invested by Ping An Bank. Hehe Zipper rented an entire floor of factory space, covering an area of ​​tens of thousands of square feet.

"boss"

Wang Feichao and his men hurriedly came to greet them.

"How are the tests for the new machines going?"

"Very good, the zipper is of excellent quality and very attractive. Please..."

Subsequently, Chen Guangliang visited the production workshop and saw a total of 14 automatic rice-making machines, which were worth more than US$52.

Currently, zipper production is actually only semi-automated. The only step that can be truly 'automated' is 'rice stacking' – which involves neatly fixing copper 'rice' grains one by one onto the fabric.

However, this copper "rice" requires purely manual equipment such as a bench vise, hammer, and rice-washing machine to manufacture; if an "automatic rice-washing machine" can be successfully developed, sales will increase significantly; in addition, the "pulling head" also needs to be produced automatically.

On the other hand, in addition to the 'automatic rice rinsing machine' and 'automatic zipper machine', the problem of 'aluminum alloy zippers' still needs to be solved.

"Boss, look at our zippers, sewn perfectly onto the trousers. I believe that soon all of Asia will need such exquisite zippers for trousers." Wang Feichao took out a pair of trousers and showed them to Chen Guangliang.

In the past, men's trousers had buttons at the crotch, with a drape over the buttons to cover them; this could hide their imperfections, but men had to unbutton them to use the restroom, which was quite inconvenient.

Before World War II, zippers were primarily used by the military; it was only after the war that they gradually became available to the general public.

Chen Guangliang said, "So when we promote zippers, we have to carry these samples with us to sell them."

Wang Fei nodded and said, "Overall, it's very popular. However, copper zippers are commonly used in mid-to-high-end clothing. To make them more widespread, we need to develop aluminum alloy zippers. We have already established a research and development team, and we will definitely be able to develop them next year."

"Great, having confidence is a good thing!"

The entire development plan was formulated by Chen Guangliang, so everyone had a goal and just needed to go for it.

Developing aluminum alloy zippers is not difficult; the only problem is that the aluminum alloy needs to be imported.

Afterwards, Chen Guangliang visited the research and development studio, which was actually researching how to make 'rice' using aluminum alloy. The research and development personnel were all mechanical talents invited from Shanghai.

At that time, China did not lack talent; it simply lacked a good environment to develop science and technology.

Now that Chen Guangliang is developing industries in Hong Kong, he will inevitably have to poach a large number of technical talents from the mainland, which is of course also to protect everyone.

"How are preparations going for the Japanese market?"

"We've already commissioned Global Trade to take some samples to Japan, and we'll set up an office there later." "Yes, the machines are all bought back. We need to hurry and disrupt Japan's zipper industry, and bankrupt them as soon as possible."

"Yes"

Of course, if you really want to make a splash in the Japanese zipper market, you need aluminum alloy zippers, which are inexpensive and would be a major blow to Japan.

However, copper zippers can also be used to penetrate the zipper market for mid-to-high-end clothing in Japan.

After the war, Japan's agricultural system was completely destroyed. If it weren't for American food aid, countless more Japanese would have died. Food shortages were widespread in Japan for a short period.

On the other hand, postwar Japan was in an economic depression and there was a severe shortage of goods. If there were goods, there was no worry about not being able to sell them. However, this refers to the domestic sales situation. As for imports, due to a lack of foreign exchange, they were only about 8% of what they were before the war.

For about a year after Global Trade entered Japan, it mainly conducted trade through a "barter" system, transporting agricultural products to Japan in exchange for "useless materials" after the war, such as steel and chemical products.

In this way, both parties were very satisfied, and the profits were substantial.

To this end, Global Trade has long established a 'branch office' in Japan, with resident staff responsible for trade-related work.

"Guo Jun, how many of these zippers can you supply?"

A Japanese man named 'Takeda' came to the office of Global Trade, his eyes filled with eagerness.

Takeda is the head of a family business in the clothing industry. Some time ago, Global Trade sent him zipper samples and wholesale prices, which made him rush over without hesitation.

It's very simple: each zipper costs only a quarter of the price in Japan, and more importantly, the quality is a hundred times better.

Takeda immediately realized that the sample provided by the Hong Kong trading company must have been machine-made.

However, Takeda also saw the huge profits involved and wanted to become the Japanese distributor for this product.

Guo Pinyan is the head of Global Trade in Japan. He is fluent in both Japanese and English and is an important member of Global Trade's management team.

He knew all along that once Hehe Zipper Factory's products entered the Japanese market, they would definitely impact the local handmade zipper market.

But this is also what he wanted to see.

“There are many. Our factory in Hong Kong produces the equivalent of 2000 workers making zippers every day, and the quality is the same because we produce them by machine. So, Mr. Takeda, you seem quite interested?”

Takeda, whose intentions had been seen through, didn't mind at all. He bowed and said, "Mr. Guo, I want to become a distributor for this product. I can sell this product throughout Japan."

Guo Pinyan immediately said, "Mr. Takeda, I can't make decisions about the distributors, but we can supply you with a large quantity of goods right now. We can cooperate for a period of time, and then the manufacturer will contact you. We are the same boss, so I can introduce you. But what I can say for sure is that we won't only have you as our distributor."

"Good" Takeda also knew that whoever controlled the best channels would be able to secure better agency contracts.

However, he also felt a pang of sadness. When had the Great Japanese Empire fallen so low that it needed Chinese industrial products, yet Japan itself couldn't produce them? He concealed his thoughts well, not revealing them, and instead worked with Guo Pinyan to establish a sound cooperative agreement.

Since Takeda couldn't produce the foreign currency, he whispered again, "Mr. Guo, it's just about the foreign currency."

After saying that, he looked embarrassed.

Guo Pinyan smiled and said, "We can handle the foreign exchange issue. We'll exchange it for Japanese steel, chemicals, and other materials. You just need to cooperate in that regard."

In the short term, global trade in Japan was based on "bartering," although a small amount of foreign exchange was also collected; in short, trade was maintained as much as possible.

"Thank you very much"

In late October, Zhao Tieyi of Global Shipping returned from Japan with a 2700-ton cargo ship loaded with steel, machinery, chemicals, oil, rubber, cotton and other supplies. These supplies were looted during the war and were now in surplus.

The profits from this trip would be enough to buy a secondhand ship of about 1,000 tons, and the journey would take about two months. The profits are high, but the risks are also high. If they are captured by the Nationalist government's navy, the people might be ransomed, but the ship might be lost.

Taking advantage of the situation, Chen Guangliang convened a management meeting of Global Shipping and Global Trade. The two companies are actually 'parent and subsidiary companies', with Global Shipping holding a controlling stake in Global Trade.

On the other hand, Global Shipping also holds controlling stakes in the various ships under its control, and Global Shipping itself is wholly owned by Chen Guangliang.

In the conference room, Chen Guangliang, Chen Guangcong, Zhao Tieyi, Wu Hao, Yang Xiaohu and other management members gathered together, about twenty people in total.

"The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the current situation, which is also related to our business direction. Everyone should understand that the balance of power between the two forces in the country has shifted, so we need to adjust our trade direction and trade with the JF region. This is an important direction for us going forward."

When people heard this, they were not surprised, after all, businessmen are always looking for profit, and the boss was not a member of the Nationalist government.

Zhao Tieyi said, "JF District generally lacks industrial products, but can provide gold, silver and local specialties."

He personally took a boat to JF district to deal with things since August, so he has some understanding of it.

Chen Guangliang said, "In short, we are just trading, not arms dealers, so everyone just needs to know this direction."

"Ok"

Chen Guangliang knew that the US blockade of the mainland would likely continue until around 1950, during which time he could still trade with the mainland. This was how he was able to maintain his fleet and trading company.

Once the United States issues a ban, Chen Guangliang will no longer take the risk, because if he is prevented from entering the country by the United States, he will be in trouble in the future.

"What is the specific progress of the various trade offices in Southeast Asia?"

Subsequently, Wu Hao and the others began to report.

When trade channels in mainland China are closed, the center of global trade will naturally shift to Southeast Asia, and even the West. This shift is not something that will begin on that day, but rather something that needs to be planned in advance.

Industrial products from Hong Kong, glutinous rice and fruits from Thailand, rice from Vietnam, and local specialties from mainland China—these locally sourced products can appear in another place as long as they are in the hands of global trade.

After the meeting, everyone continued working in high spirits, full of hope.

While making a fortune, Chan Kwong-leung not only gave them high salaries, but also gave them the opportunity to participate in shareholding and profit sharing, thus creating a middle class in Hong Kong.

Almost all of these employees settled their families in Hong Kong, wholeheartedly following Chen Guangliang. (End of Chapter)