As the "richest man in the late Qing Dynasty", Sheng Xuanhuai, how are his descendants doing now?

Sheng Xuanhuai was a major political and business figure in the late Qing Dynasty and can be called the originator of Chinese business. Although Sheng Xuanhuai and Hu Xueyan are both political and businessmen, Hu Xueyan's second-rank official title is a false position, but Sheng Xuanhuai is different. He is a political and businessman who has the power in his own hands. From Yipin).

The Postal and Communications Department is not an ordinary unit. It is equivalent to a large unit formed by the National Railway Administration, the Ministry of Transport, the Telecommunications Network Department, and the Post Office Department. Sheng Xuanhuai is the largest leading cadre of the Postal and Communications Department. Sheng Xuanhuai made his fortune relying on Li Hongzhang, and later became a major political and business figure in the late Qing Dynasty. So how are Sheng Xuanhuai's descendants doing?

Sheng Xuanhuai was a well-known political and businessman in the late Qing Dynasty and made outstanding contributions to China's commercial services

Sheng Xuanhuai was born in Changzhou City. When he was 16 years old, the Taiping Army attacked Changzhou City and followed his father Sheng Xuanhuai. Kang fled everywhere and later lived in Hubei. After the Taiping Rebellion failed, Sheng Kang took his child Sheng Xuanhuai and returned to Changzhou to live. Sheng Xuanhuai served as a think tank (chief of staff) in Li Hongzhang's shogunate and gained Li Hongzhang's respect. Later, he became Li Hongzhang's most powerful assistant in establishing the Westernization Movement. In addition, Sheng Xuanhuai also assisted Li Hongzhang in many major events, such as the establishment of the China Commercial Bank, the Beijing-Hankow Railway, Nanyang Public School (the predecessor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Beiyang University (now Nankai University), etc., and founded eleven firsts in China. , which means that there are 11 items that were first founded by Sheng Xuanhuai.

It is not difficult to see that Sheng Xuanhuai has made great achievements in commercial banking, training industry, and mining industry, and introduced the best technology from Western countries into China. Later generations will call him the "originator of Chinese commercial services." But the good times did not last long. Later, he converted the private school railway lines into state ownership, which caused conflicts with regional rights and interests, which in turn triggered a road protection movement and accelerated the collapse of the Qing Empire.

As a result, Sheng Xuanhuai became the scapegoat of the Qing court. The whole country called for Sheng Xuanhuai's death. The Qing court reported on the work and concluded that Sheng Xuanhuai was not dead, which could not quell public anger. After Sheng Xuanhuai learned about it, he fled to Japan in a hurry. After the Qing emperor abdicated, Sheng Xuanhuai was invited by Mr. Sun Yat-sen to return to Shanghai and once supported Mr. Sun Yat-sen's great cause.

Sheng Xuanhuai

Sheng Xuanhuai had eight children

Sheng Xuanhuai successively married three wives and had eight children. The three sons born to his first wife used Their lifespans were not long either. The second and third eldest children died young, and the eldest brother only lived to be 46 years old. The second wife only gave birth to a daughter. Three wives gave birth to two sons, Tai Yuanyi died young, and Sheng Enyi was a well-known playboy. The eighth son, Sheng Junyi, was born to a side wife and died young.

Sheng Changyi was born in Hubei Province. When Sheng Changyi was four years old, he followed his father Sheng Xuanhuai back to his hometown of Changzhou to live. His mother passed away tragically when Sheng Changyi was fifteen years old. In the later years of the Qing Dynasty, the political situation was relatively turbulent. Sheng Changyi took the lead and went to the North Korean Arena to serve his country as soon as possible. Sheng Changyi participated in the imperial examination and served as a scholar in Hubei Province and successively as the county magistrate of De'an Prefecture (from the fourth grade). After Sheng Xuanhuai founded China Commercial Bank, Sheng Changyi was encouraged by his father to found Yushang Financial Institution. However, Sheng Changyi died of illness only a year after Yushang Financial Institution was founded. He died at the age of 46.

Sheng Enyi was Sheng Xuanhuai’s favorite child, and was named by Cixi. Sheng Xuanhuai later gave the residence garden in Suzhou to his fourth son, Sheng Enyi. Sheng Enyi went to the United States and England to study abroad earlier and was a well-known playboy. Later, he married the daughter of Sun Baoqi, the prime minister of the Republic of China. Sheng Enyi has been spoiled since he was a child and has developed the bad habit of extravagance and waste. He spends money to enjoy himself. It is well known in Shanghai that because he is ranked fourth, his license plate number is four "4" and he is nicknamed Sheng Laosi.

Sheng Laosi provided each of his wives with a house and an imported luxury car, and sent a large number of nannies to serve them. Sheng Xuanhuai's first three sons passed away early, so he had high expectations for his fourth son and devoted himself to raising his son. However, the child was ineffective and played all day long. After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Sheng Enyi fell into poverty and had no money to pay for the entrance fee to the ecological park. Sheng Enyi passed away in Suzhou Liuyuan at the age of 66. The fifth son, Sheng Chongyi, is Sheng Xuanhuai's most stable child. He sticks to his ancestral business and rarely interacts with politics. He later inherited his father's villa in downtown Shanghai.

After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Sheng Zhongyi went to Hong Kong to do business, but it went bankrupt within two years. He was impoverished in his later years and died in Hong Kong, China. Sheng Shengyi was born to Sheng Xuanhuai's concubine, Mrs. Liu, and later married the daughter of a well-known strategist. Sheng Shengyi was closely related to Kong Xiangxi, the Kuomintang's Minister of Finance. During the Anti-Japanese War, Sheng Shengyi served as the Kuomintang's Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui Province Taxation Bureau. He held the position of chief and was in charge of the taxation power in the Jiangnan area. He was a key figure in Kong Xiangxi's faction.

The third generation grandson of Sheng Xuanhuai

The more well-known among Sheng Xuanhuai's grandchildren is Sheng Yudu, who is the child of Sheng Xuanhuai's fourth son, Sheng Enyi. Sheng Yudu went to Japan to study abroad at the age of 20 and graduated from Kyoto University. He then started his own business in Japan and founded restaurants and food with Chinese characteristics. He was loved by local people and successfully introduced Chinese food to Japan.

Sheng Yudu is a patriot. He went to Japan to do business and did not change the status quo of his nationality. Although Sheng Yudu is an entrepreneur, he is not lacking in the style of an expert and scholar. He usually wears cloth clothes and a Confucian scarf, and is respected by everyone.

Sheng Yudu paid great attention to China's basic education. He established academic scholarships at Shanghai Jiao Tong University to encourage students to work hard, and supported the establishment of a foreign garden in Shanghai Jiao Tong University's new teaching area to contribute to China's basic education. Although Sheng Yudu lived in Japan, he never forgot his motherland. This national spirit is commendable. Sheng Yudu passed away in Tokyo at the age of 80.

The fourth generation grandson of Sheng Xuanhuai

Sheng Chengmao is the great-grandson of Sheng Xuanhuai. He graduated from Beijing Normal University. After graduating from university, he worked as an intern at the Central Education Research Institute and became an assistant at Anhui Normal University at the age of 31. After taking the class, five years later, he went to Jiajia Publishing House to publish and write, and then taught at Suzhou Science and Technology School. He previously served as the director of the Real Estate Industry Research Office of Suzhou Science and Technology School. After retiring, he engaged in real estate research and published more than a dozen books related to the real estate industry. Sheng Guangzu is the great-grandson of Sheng Xuanhuai. Sheng Guangzu is not a simple role. He is involved in work. At the age of 45, he served as the chief economist of the National Railway Administration and was later promoted to director of the Political Department and minister.

After working for the State Railway Administration for five years, Sheng Guangzu took a job at the General Administration of Customs, successively serving as deputy director, deputy director, director, and director of China Customs. He served as Minister of Railways, and then manager of China Railway Corporation for two years. Sheng Guangzu was promoted step by step at work and was very successful. Not long after Sheng Guangzu retired, he was appointed as deputy chairman of the Financial and Economic Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Sheng Xuanhuai should be proud to have such descendants. The above are the more well-known characters among Sheng Xuanhuai's descendants. After Sheng Xuanhuai passed away, the Sheng Mansion slowly declined and fell into the poor class. Although few of Sheng Xuanhuai's three sons were promising, his descendants were full of talents, which did not disappoint Sheng Xuanhuai.