How did Hu Xueyan, a financier, become the richest man with his "donation"?

Andrew carnegie, the American steel magnate, once said: It is a shame to die of great wealth. Therefore, he donated almost all his personal wealth to social welfare undertakings. In recent years, many American billionaires have chosen to donate their property naked.

While lamenting the naked donation culture in the United States, we can't help but reflect on the fundraising culture of the rich in China. Hu Xueyan, a famous red top businessman in the late Qing Dynasty, is undoubtedly the representative of China's donation. Between China's political and business culture and the complicated situation in the late Qing Dynasty, how did he become the richest man with donations?

Hu Xueyan didn't trust local businessmen and had to borrow money from abroad. Zuo Feng's imperial court transferred troops to the west, but the shortage of food and grass once made him nervous. Apart from the financial allocation, his military expenditure is facing a big gap. Fortunately, the development of foreign trade at that time gave Zuo a new way to plan military expenditure: the first way was to use tariffs as collateral for loans, which was of course very helpful to Zuo's western expedition, but it had a far-reaching impact on China's official debts. Second, with the deepening of foreign trade and the rapid development of the financial industry, a number of experienced and financially strong foreign businessmen and financial institutions entered China, making it possible for the army to seek funds through loans.

The question is, why did Zuo go further than others to raise more troublesome foreign debts? In fact, domestic private fundraising has been going on, borrowing and donating, but this is not enough to make up for the left military expenditure gap. 1878, Zuo borrowed from the west for the fifth time, and Hu Xueyan intervened, trying to imitate the form of foreign debt, trying to raise 3.5 million taels among Chinese businessmen with 5000 taels as one share. But in the end, only half of the quota was raised, and the remaining half could only be solved by HSBC.

Hu Xueyan's Calligraphy

The negative reasons of local businessmen can be seen from the report of British Consul General in Shanghai 188 1: a country with obvious resources is forced to borrow small loans from foreigners, such as 1 10,000 pounds, even if this insignificant amount cannot be borrowed, unless the interest rate is too high for almost any other big country. But people must remember that the people of China have great distrust of the ruling class. Therefore, although money owners, businessmen and gentlemen are not short of money, they would rather idle their money, or invest in land and houses, earning only a little more than half of the interest on foreign loans, rather than lend it to * * *, because whenever * * * only involves its own nationals, it can easily refuse to pay its debts at any time.

In short, despite the official efforts to lend money to local businessmen, the total amount of loans from 1866- 1883 reached11650,000. However, due to the decline of * * * credit, it is still impossible to completely make up for the shortage of military expenditure, so it is inevitable to borrow money from foreign investors at high interest rates.

Hu Xueyan, a financing talent wandering between * * * and foreign investors, has always been willing to cooperate with foreign investors in such a situation, and Hu Xueyan has become an indispensable financing talent. Hu Xueyan really has his skills. Unlike China's low credit rating at that time, Hu Xueyan, an entrepreneur who can freely roam the market, can win the trust of foreign businessmen. Officials seem to be bullish on Hu Xueyan.

Of course, Hu Xueyan is a businessman, and Hu Xueyan, as a middleman, is sure to get a slice of the high loan interest. For example, for the loan of 1877, the interest originally agreed with foreign investors was 10%, but Hu Xueyan quoted as much as 15%, which led to the investigation of the Prime Minister's yamen and was finally investigated. From now on, it is normal for a businessman to earn intermediary fees or spreads. However, in the late Qing Dynasty, domestic troubles and foreign invasion inevitably led to huge profits in the military, which made people sick and ruined the country.

In a sense, Hu Xueyan is hovering between fund-raising and arms. At that time, he was even an entrepreneur who influenced the overall situation. He is a great man who can really help Zuo directly. As a result, Zuo tried his best to raise Hu Xueyan in the DPRK, thinking that nuclear power was no different from that of former enemy generals. Since Zuo is so sure, Hu Xueyan's return to Zuo is amazing.

Former residence of Xueyan Hu

Huge returns are first and foremost power returns. Hu Xueyan is a privileged businessman, whether it is the control of official funds or the control of customs banks. In the late Qing Dynasty, customs taxes were specifically managed and paid by the Customs Bank. Hu Xueyan is at least directly or indirectly involved in the management of customs banks in Ningbo, Wenzhou, Xiamen and Hankou.

The second is the return of political status. For example, Zuo Tang Zong helped win the coveted yellow shirt officer position. In the fourth year of Guangxu, in view of Zuo's last performance, the court made an exception and awarded Hu Xueyan the title of minister in charge, wearing a yellow jacket and a top hat. This is the highest honor that China entrepreneurs can get in the imperial era when they always emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce.

Third, of course, it was economic returns, which made Hu Xueyan one of the richest people in China at that time. In cooperation with Zuo, Hu Xueyan made a profit by borrowing and opened Fukang Bank, which spread all over the trade circle along the Yangtze River. He was widely involved in pawnbroking, raw silk trade, medicine and so on, and his career reached its peak.

Hu Xueyan's huge expenditure may have the following three aspects:

The first is his luxurious life. Secondly, there are indeed historical facts about charity. This may be a strategy adopted by many China entrepreneurs who are good at combining politics with business, and it is still the case today. This is a common feature of modern entrepreneurs in China: they have market spirit, are good at integrating the relationship between * * *, and contribute to the world after achieving their goals. For example, from the Tongzhi period, Hu Xueyan participated in the construction of public facilities, and Hu Xueyan devoted himself to social charity at that time, which obviously had a good political effect.

In addition to charity, Hu Xueyan's direct donation, especially to the Left Army, is also amazing. Zuo said in the last performance that Hu submitted various donations, and the total price of money, rice, cotton-padded clothes and land and water transportation was estimated to be less than 200,000 yuan. The donation to Shaanxi and Gansu is particularly large, and it has been pointed out over the years that Shaanxi and Gansu military camps have cashed in ointment pills and authentic medicinal materials. Those that can't be found in the northwest have arrived at the right time, and the total amount has become huge.