Zi de Zhuang Jia

Gao Fengchi, one of the founders of the Commercial Press, once said: "I think there are three kinds of undertakings that are very important in society. One is a bank, the other is a newspaper and the other is a book. These three undertakings are closely related to the national society and the nation, which is enough to transfer the success or failure, rise and fall or advance and retreat of the national society. "

In China, these three modern undertakings started almost at the same time, and almost all of them were in Shanghai. China people's participation in modern banking began with the comprador of foreign banks represented by Shanghai Dongting Jia. In the 1920s, in Shanghai, the financial center of China, the banking sector formed a confrontation between Ningbo Road and the Bund-the Bund was crowded with foreign banks, while Ningbo Road gathered a large number of Chinese banks. This is the rising period of China's private financial industry. The first generation of bankers like Li Ming, Xu and Zhang Gongquan are in high spirits, and the second generation of bankers like Zi, who is younger than 19, also appeared at this time. 1In August, 928, 28-year-old graduate of Kyoto Imperial University was appointed as the director of the investigation department of Shanghai Bank.

"But he really became a banker in Tianjin on 15." Zi Zhongyun said: "1935, when I was 5 years old, my father was transferred to the manager of Tianjin Branch. Especially in the first two years before the start of the Anti-Japanese War, he was in high spirits. "

Although both have concession culture, Tianjin and Shanghai are very different cities. According to Feng, a professor of history at Nankai University, "If you want to study Tianjin, you can't avoid a question-why is Tianjin underdeveloped when Beijing develops, and Beijing underdeveloped when Tianjin develops?" At that time, Tianjin was in a developed period and was the financial center of North China. Jiefang Road Financial Street still vaguely retains the style of that year. But the temperament and atmosphere of this city are very different from those of Shanghai. Shanghai is a foreign culture. According to Mr. Lin, a writer in Tianjin, Tianjin is a dock culture, which is more common and less particular. A rickshaw driver who has a pancake fruit to eat today will never go to work. Pancake fruit is eaten while walking, and Shanghai ribs rice cake is sat down to taste.

Sun Yaodong, a former president of Fuxing Bank and inspector of China Bank, once recalled the lifestyle of Shanghai bankers at that time: interacting with salt merchants, paying attention to eating and drinking, even eating eight major cuisines, and even chopping and cutting lion's head, which was not as delicious as cutting; He has close ties with political circles. In 194 1, there was even a bloody case between the military government and Bank No.76 for several weeks. He also had contacts with the underworld, and everyone in the bank was arrested, so the President had to count on Du to solve it, because his relationship with Dai Li was unusual.

In the memory of the daughters, the life of the Zihuayi family is not like this at all. Life is simple: the house at home is rented from the "North Fourth Line", so the rent is cheap. It is a fake three-story building on Chengdu Road, Fifth Avenue in the British Concession, "that is, the pattern of Lu Xun's former residence". As a banker, he never cares about personal wealth or the financial situation of his family. When he died, he had neither a house nor a deposit. He seldom eats at home and has a lot of social activities, but he is not a gourmet and is not picky about food at all. When he eats, he just eats a small dish, Chili sauce with lobster sauce and garlic, and dips everything in this. He is not a politician. When he got married, his wife made three rules, one of which was never to be an official.

Although he has no contact with politics, as a banker, he must face the problem of personal connections in order to absorb deposits and business contacts. What's more, Tianjin was a very complicated wharf-1927, after the National Government made Nanjing its capital, the old Beiyang system did not exist. At that time, its economy and education developed rapidly. From the 1920s to the early 1940s, warlords, former Qing bureaucrats, children of the Eight Banners and southern immigrants set up factories in Tianjin, or bought houses near the British Concession and Fifth Avenue. Tianjin has become the back garden of Beijing. According to Professor Feng, "this is a city always shrouded in the shadow of the capital".

Zi Hua Yao's method is to join groups like YMCA and Youth Federation-many members are factory directors and managers. In addition, he also organized a branch of the People's Society in Tianjin. The members of this club are all students studying in America. For this social circle in those days, Zi Zhongyun was very impressed: "My father has two kinds of friends. One is that my father and I only have business contacts and are friends at the scene. The other is that I can also keep in touch with my family. For such friends, my mother has her own choice-they are all well-educated nerd families. At that time, these families formed a small social circle in Tianjin. Everyone usually walks around and visits them on holidays. "

There are many entrepreneurs in the circle. Song Feiqing, director of East Asia Wool Mill, can produce wool with the brand of Arriving Sheep, and can compete with the British brand of bee hair. His factory has business dealings with Shanghai Bank, and Hua Yao also owns part of the shares in the factory. At the end of each year, capitalists will receive a large number of wool under the brand of arrival sheep. Joe Chu, director of Ren Li Carpet Factory, is an American student. Like Zi Hua Yao, he is also a member of the Society. His daughter is two years older than Zi Zhongyun, in Class One. She is a classmate of Hua Yao Middle School, and it is particularly good to learn the piano with the same teacher. The giants of the chemical industry were the best friends at that time. The two companies have frequent contacts, and Shanghai Bank has also issued loans for Yongli Soda Factory.