Brief introduction of historical celebrity Zhang Jian

Zhang Jian (1853-1926), nicknamed Changtai, courtesy name Jizhi, nicknamed Si'an, was a native of Changle Town, Haimen. He was very talented since he was a child. At the age of 13, he could read "Book of Rites", "Spring and Autumn", and "Zuo Zhuan", and could compose "eight-rhyme poems" and eight-part essays. Once, the school teacher Song Pengshan asked him to go to the gate on a white horse, and Zhang Jian responded by saying, "I will come up on the golden turtle sea." In the seventh year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1868), he began to enter the imperial examination room. According to the old rules, a family with no one in the third generation who has not entered school as a student is called a "cold citizen". Children who take exams are often made difficult and blackmailed by many parties. In order for Zhang Jian to take the exam smoothly, he was introduced by someone and pretended to be Zhang Yucai, the grandson of Zhang Ju from Rugao, to take the exam and was selected as a scholar. However, it is illegal to take the exam under false pretenses. If exposed, not only will the scholar be dismissed, but he may also be imprisoned. Because Rugao Zhang took the opportunity to extort money from his father Zhang Pengnian but failed, he reported him and was detained by the Rugao County authorities for three months before being released back to Haimen. At that time, the family encountered financial difficulties and almost went bankrupt. With the great help of Wang Songqi, the dean of Haimen Shishan Academy, Zhao Juquan, the tutor of Haimen, Sun Yunjin, the magistrate of Tongzhou, and others, in the twelfth year of Tongzhi, the Ministry of Rites approved the "change of registration and return to the clan".

In the 13th year of Tongzhi, 21-year-old Zhang Jian began his career as a screen player. In the summer of the same year, he served as secretary of the Jiangning Development and Examination Bureau, where he met many celebrities, expanded his social scope and knowledge, and enhanced his personal cultivation. In the late twelfth lunar month of the lunar calendar, I went back to visit relatives. In the first year of Guangxu (1875), Zhang Jian was introduced by Sun Yunjin to Wu Changqing, the commander of the Qing army stationed in Pukou, as a confidential official. Later, he followed the army to Dengzhou, Shandong Province and garrisoned the Bohai Bay. In the eighth year of Guangxu's reign, he went to North Korea with Wu Changqing's army to assist in "managing the former enemy's military forces." In the summer of the 10th year of Guangxu's reign, he returned to his hometown. In the spring of the 11th year of Guangxu's reign, he passed the imperial examination and passed the examination at the age of 32. In the thirteenth year of Guangxu's reign, he was transferred to the staff of the prefect of Kaifeng. In August, the Yellow River burst near Zhengzhou, and I was ordered to go to the site to investigate in person. At the invitation of the governor of Henan, he drafted a river management plan on his behalf. He returned to his hometown at the end of the year and devoted himself to teaching and writing. He successively applied to preside over the Xuanqing Academy in Ganyu, Jiangsu and concurrently edited the county annals. In the same year, at the invitation of the magistrate of Taicang, he discussed the style of Taicang Prefectural Chronicles. In the 17th year of Guangxu's reign, he participated in the compilation of Dongtai County Chronicle. In the 19th year of Guangxu's reign, he presided over Chongming Yingzhou Academy. During this period, he failed in the ministry examination four times. In the 20th year of Guangxu's reign, the Qing government held the Enke Examination for Cixi's 60th birthday. He followed his father's order and went to Beijing to take the exam. In late February, the 60th Gongsheng student was selected in the Rites Examination; in the re-examination in March, he was ranked 10th in the first class; in the Palace Examination on April 22, he was ranked No. 1 in the first class. He was awarded the sixth rank of Hanlin Academy for compilation at the age of 42.

During the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, the Qing government failed and signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Seeing that the powerful ministers were in power and the country was deteriorating, he took leave and returned to his hometown to start looking for a way to save the country. He believes that China's weakness lies in poverty, and the way to alleviate poverty lies in industry and education, "using industry and education in combination." In March of the 21st year of Guangxu's reign, Zhang Zhidong, then governor of Liangjiang, instructed Zhang Jian to set up a cotton mill in Tongzhou, and Zhang Jian readily agreed. After his active preparation, by April of the 25th year of Guangxu's reign, a Dasheng yarn mill with 20,400 spindles (later known as Dasheng No. 1 Factory) was completed and put into operation in Tangzha, Nantong, and it was profitable every year. In the 28th year of Guangxu's reign, the number of yarn floss in the cotton mill increased to 40,800. In the 30th year of Guangxu's reign, the Dasheng Branch Factory (later known as the Second Factory) was established in Waisha, Chongming (today's Qidong City). It was put into production in the 33rd year of Guangxu's reign, with 26,000 pieces of yarn frayed.

In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu's reign, after the Dasheng Cotton Mill was put into operation, Zhang Jian began to prepare for the establishment of a reclamation and animal husbandry company along the coast of Tonghai. The following year, the Tonghai Reclamation and Animal Husbandry Company was established. By the 33rd year of Guangxu, nearly 100,000 acres of coastal land had been reclaimed, including more than 20,000 acres of arable land. By the 12th year of the Republic of China (1923), there were more than 90,000 acres of arable land. Zhang Jian's industrial activities expanded into a new field.

In that year, Zhang Jian founded Tongrentai Salt Company in Lusi (now part of Qidong City) to reform the production methods of the salt industry and create conditions for reclaiming wasteland and planting cotton. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Dayoujin Salt Industry Co., Ltd. was founded in Baochang Town, covering an area of ??more than 2,500 square meters, including 60 houses, covering an area of ??more than 1,200 square meters. There is a salt field square in front of the company, so it is known as the Salt Baochang.

In order to adapt to the development of industry and commerce and the transportation needs of various enterprises in Dasheng, Zhang Sai began to prepare for the establishment of a transportation enterprise. In the more than 10 years at the beginning of the 20th century, the Dadao River Steamship Company, Dasheng Steamship Company, Tiansheng Port and Shanghai Dadao Shipbuilding Company, Dadong Navigation Transport Company, Dadong Expressway and Zesheng Water Conservancy and Lock Company were successively established. Transportation companies.

In the 29th year of Guangxu's reign, Zhang Jian was still preparing for the machinery manufacturing industry of Dasheng system in Tangzha. He first built a smelting plant and then a pig iron plant, which facilitated the mechanical maintenance of Dasheng enterprises. He also imitated ginning cars, Weaving looms, cotton openers and inland river boats were equipped with cotton textile enterprises and inland waterway shipping enterprises. In addition, there are Guangsheng Oil Factory, Daxing Noodle Factory (later known as Fuxin Flour Company), Fusheng Sericulture Dyeing and Weaving Company, Hanmolin Printing and Publishing House, Yaoxu Glass Factory, Yisheng Can Company, Yisheng Brewing Company, Dalong There are more than 20 enterprises including Soap Factory, Maosheng Real Estate Company, Dachang Paper Factory, and Dacong Telephone Company.