[ { "id": 213882, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 234, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "208\n\nWhen the Chinese in Hong Kong representing other districts in China saw that the power in Canton was drifting into the hands of the Sye Yup [Siyi] Association, they organized societies of their own, preventing the Sye Yup [Siyi] Association from monopolizing political influence in Canton.\n\nOne consequence was that the number of regional chambers in Hong Kong was increased from two in 1909 to sixteen in 1913, and to twenty-four in 1920. Besides, the Governor also supported the establishment of a large association in the colony as \"an effort to hold all these societies [regional associations] into one society... to break the power of the Sye Yap [Siyi] Association\". This association was but the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce. The Governor specified that it was a gentleman called Liu Zhubo (1), who became the first chairman of this Chamber that he found trustworthy. It is to this Mr. Liu, and the leadership group with which he was affiliated that we now turn.\n\nLiu and his associates were a new generation of western-educated Chinese leaders. To illustrate the nature of this group of social leaders, I cite Liu Zhubo and Ho Tung (He Dong)'s personal histories. Both Liu and Ho were born in the China town of Hong Kong and both had very poor family backgrounds. They were raised by their widowed mothers. Ho Tung, for example, was the eldest of four brothers, who had different fathers. The four brothers shared the same surname only because they adopted their mother's family name. Ho Tung himself was a Eurasian and was always excluded by Chinese circles in the colony. But like Liu, he managed to gain a scholarship to study at the government-supported Queen's College and turned out to be an active member of the Alumni Association. After a brief career serving as instructors of the College, Liu and Ho were employed as compradores of Lapack Co. Ltd. and the Jardine & Matheson Co. Ltd., respectively.\n\nIn business terms, these new leaders were closely connected with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, as well as with the Hong Kong government. I cite one example to illustrate this point. In 1914, Liu Zhubo and Ho Tung established The Da You Bank (The Bank of Great Wealth) with their Eurasian friend, Lo Changzhao. In the same year, the three men were granted an opium monopoly within the Colony. All three partners were graduates of Queen's College and were active", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213883, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 235, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "209\n\nmembers of the Alumni Association. All of them had at one time or another worked as compradores for foreign firms; the two Eurasian families, Ho Tung and Lo Changzhao (E) had almost monopolized the compradoral posts of Jardines and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank up to the 1940s. Liu Zhubo, He and Lo's sons were at one time or another appointed Legislative Councillors of the Colony. When the First World War broke out in Europe, these three partners contributed a huge sum of money to the British Government for the purchase of an aeroplane. The plane, as requested by the donors, was named \"Da You Bank of Hong Kong\".\n\nThe wealth of this western-educated group did not derive from the joint-stock company. They owned their own native bank despite the fact that they were compradores in western firms. It seems likely that this was an attempt to avoid the disclosure of financial accounts as required by the company ordinance. As these Eurasian families monopolized the compradoral posts of many of the foreign firms, including the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, it is highly likely that capital was transferred between their accounts in the compradore offices and those in their private businesses.\n\nAs they had exclusive access to capital, they did not rely on a capital market in the same way as the overseas returning migrants did, though we cannot tell whether this capital market was governed by the invisible hand of the economy or the invisible hand of political intimidation, as the governor suggested.\n\nFollowing the example of the Siyi men, Hong Kong-born, western-educated groups participated in the political arena in China. In 1913, the Governor reported to the Colonial Office that \"several leading Chinese\" in Hong Kong had informed him that they would welcome the reorganization of the administration of the Canton Province under \"tactful and conscientious British supervision.\"\n\nAccording to Liu Zhubo's proposal, a loan of 25,000,000 taels was to be raised in Hong Kong to redeem unsecured currency in Canton. In return, Liu requested of the Beijing Government the privilege of establishing a central bank in Guangdong \"with a monopoly of the Provincial Government business\". To guarantee the smooth functioning of this arrangement, Liu suggested \"inviting the Government of Hong Kong\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213886, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 238, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "212\n\nthe return of Chen Jiongming from the neighbouring province of Fujian. Chen was the Governor-General of Guangdong in 1912 and 1913. After the failed \"Second Revolution\" in 1913 against Yuan, he escaped to Malaysia (while Sun to Japan) and developed his own anti-Yuan organization independent of Sun's party in Japan. When the Canton Government was established in 1917, nominally under Sun Yat-sen, he returned to Canton only to find that the guest armies had real control over the province. As a result, he gathered a small troop of soldiers made up of native Cantonese and moved to Fujian in early 1918, where he strengthened its fighting potential. Chen Jiongming's return was financially supported by a group of Chinese bankers, who were affiliated with Liu Zhubo, in Hong Kong. They advanced to Chen Jiongming an amount of $200,000 and promised to pay the Guangxi troops a “give-way fee”, if the armies retreated to their home provinces. The fighting could not wait for bargains, as in late October Chen Jiongming's army had forced its way into Canton. The Guangxi guest armies obtained the \"overdue army expenditure\" through a different means. The guest armies retreated westward to Guangxi, looting all the way home.\n\nThe return of the Cantonese troops under Chen Jiongming was welcomed by the Cantonese. The atmosphere in Canton, as reviewed in the newspapers, was that Chen Jiongming should be the Provincial Governor. Funds for a new government were promised by the merchants.\n\nAt this juncture, on November 25, Sun Yat-sen and his key supporters left Shanghai and triumphantly returned to Canton. He prepared to assume power again. After all, Chen was Sun's subordinate in 1913 and 1917. The situation Sun found on his return to Canton was not to his liking. Sun was made Director and Minister of the Interior in the restored government. Wu Tingfang was made Minister of Foreign Affairs. But Chen Jiongming had been planning for the future in Canton, and his list of titles was impressive. Chen was the Minister of War, Governor of Guangdong, Commander in Chief of the Guangdong Army, and High Inspecting Commissioner of Guangdong and Guangxi. In January of 1921, Sun summoned all available parliamentarians to a meeting in Canton. There was no quorum, but they voted anyway. At the end, the Parliament elected Dr. Sun Provisional President of China. Chen Jiongming was in no hurry to act, nor was he ready to listen to Sun. In an interview with the British Consul, Sun described his", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213887, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 239, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "213\n\nrelationship with Chen - they \"did not see eye to eye... [they] thrashed out their differences round the Council table which... they thumped.\"\n\nTo arrange the finance of the new Government, Sun decided to reorganize the province's currency. The new policy was a total abolition of the existing currency and the introduction of a brand new currency under a new government bank. Originally, the new bank was to have had a reserve of $10,000,000, but it turned out that the Canton government could only put up 30% of the original amount. As a government bank, it had the right to issue new currency, to control the treasury and the salt gabelle in Guangdong. The crucial thing it lacked, as shall be seen, was credit worthiness. The merchant's prediction proved correct. In response, the chambers of Commerce wrote a joint letter to Sun, stating that \"to cancel the existing currency (issued by the Bank of China in Canton) was equivalent to an act of sentencing them to the death penalty.\" Ending the letter, the chambers warned the government that \"if the creditability of the Government was shattered [by this incident], the new notes issued by the Provincial Bank of Guangdong may suffer too.\" The brand new currency issued by the new government bank, amounting to $1,500,000, depreciated sharply once it began circulation.\n\nIt was in March 1921 that Chen Jiongming secretly approached \"the leading Chinese merchants in Hong Kong,\" requesting them to form into an advisory council for the Guangdong Government, which was responsible for giving advice on the \"administration of the province in relation to civil and financial matters.\"\n\n**\n\nCoinciding with Chen's move, it was Liu Zhubo who submitted a confidential report to the Governor of Hong Kong on a scheme to finance a new government in Canton - \"the object of the proposed organization was to finance Chen Ch'iung-ming (Chen Jiongming) and enable him to sever [his] connection with Sun Yat-sen.\" According to Liu Zhubo's proposal, this new Canton government was to be modelled \"after the form of government of Hong Kong\" under the supervision of the Cantonese merchants. In Liu's words:\n\nThe Political ship of Canton - officiated, manned and navigated as it now is - is bound to strike rock... what the Chinese merchants in Hong Kong and Canton should do, and do at once, is to prepare and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213888, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 240, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "214\n\nequip another ship for their own salvage purposes\n\nLiu emphasised that all the influential Cantonese merchants agreed with him - \"at the request of 100 odd men in Hong Kong\", a merchant's society was formed “to protect their properties and industries in Canton\". \"For these men cannot afford to sit tight and see their interests seriously impaired by unscrupulous or theory-laden politicians.”\n\nThe Governor was obviously impressed by the scheme. He passed the scheme immediately to the British Consul in Canton, and thence to the British Consul in Beijing. He also informed London that Liu Zhubo was requested by Chen Jiongming to organize an Advisory Committee for the Canton Government. This committee was modelled after the Legislative Council in Hong Kong and would “possess the power of the executive Council\" for the new Canton government.\n\nFor this proposed co-operation, Liu Zhubo planned a three-day trip to Canton in March 1921. On this trip, he submitted a six-page report to the Governor of Hong Kong. During his stay in Canton, Liu recorded that - while Sun Yat-sen and Wu Tangfing gave him little attention, it was General Chen Jiongming who, according to Liu, \"accompanied me whenever I went\". While \"the veteran Doctor Wu discoursed on spiritualism... the redoubtable Doctor Sun gave a dissertation... on what appeared to be a form of communism\", it was General Chen that discussed in secrecy with Liu on the scheme of a proposed new government.\n\nThe meeting ended with the agreement that Liu's son would be appointed member of the Executive Council for the new government \"so things could be done in his name\". Liu Zhubo, as well as the Governor of Hong Kong, however, doubted the leadership qualities of Chen Jiongming who was \"neither by birth nor by temperament fit to be the representative of Kwangtung (Guangdong)\". When the Governor suggested Liang Shiyi, the \"ablest Cantonese of whom I [he] had recognized\", Liu replied that \"he was aiming at far greater things than a provincial Governorship\".\n\nUnsatisfactory as Chen Jiongming's leadership quality was, Liu Zhubo went to great lengths in his report to impress the Governor that all the important merchants in Canton were \"inducing\" him not to drop\n\nPage 240\n\nPage 241", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213889, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 241, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "215\n\nnegotiations with Chen Jiongming as “Canton needs the salvage of a large and united body of influential men\" and they all \"begged me [Lu] to form the Merchants' Association at once”. \"All urging me not to leave things as they were\", emphasised Liu, and they were \"offering to support whole-heartedly the scheme of government that I might propose\"\n\nImmediately after Liu's return to Hong Kong in late March, Liu Zhubo announced an organizational charter for a \"Business Maintenance Committee\". This committee was to raise a loan of $3,000,000 for the new Canton Government. To put up the sum, Liu proposed two methods to recruit adequate subscribers. The committee would either include a membership of 300 merchants with subscription fee of $10,000 or a membership of 30,000 with a subscription fee of $100. This charter was actually published and distributed in Canton and Hong Kong\n\nWith everything in place, Chen Jiongming broke with Sun Yat-sen in June 1922. During the incident, Sun's residence was bombarded. Sun fled to a gunboat and, from Hong Kong, he escaped to Shanghai\n\nChen Jiongming's co-operation with the Hong Kong merchants, however, proved to be a very short one. Sun returned to Canton in January 1923 with the military support of the Yunnanese and the financial support of the Siyi men from Hong Kong\n\nBack in Canton, Sun faced the familiar problem of trying to organize a government without adequate money and with no real command over military forces. To prevent the guest armies from mutiny, Sun had to provide a daily maintenance expense of $20,000 to $30,000 to the armies. Added to this problem was Sun's inability to collect tax in the province. Almost all the existing organizations for tax collection were non-functioning in the face of the guest armies who divided Guangdong into spheres of influence.\n\nImmediately upon his return, Sun called for a meeting with the merchants in Hong Kong. Fifty overseas returned merchants in Hong Kong, led by Li Yutang, met Sun Yat-sen in the Cement Factory of Guangdong. In response to Sun's call for financial support, Li made a public speech.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 } ]