RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p XX # ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY — HONG KONG BRANCH ## BALANCE SHEET AT 31ST DECEMBER, 1982 ### LIABILITIES 1982 1981 Accumulated Funds $242,461 HK$ Excess of Expenditure over Income in 1981 (8,997) Balance as at 1st January, 1982 $233,464.15 233,464 Sundry Creditor Printing Charges for Journal, 38,000 49,000.00 23,790 28,894 ### ASSETS HK$ Quoted Investment Cost at 1st January, 1982 230,476.72 Add: Purchase of Shares: 24,191 34,271 (2,987.43) 254,680.29 Hang Seng Bank Ltd. 111,147.60 Hong Kong Electric (Holdings) Co. Ltd. Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation 111,147.60 J1,148 Balance at Bank Fixed Deposits. 165,000.00 Current Account 3,329.12 168,329.12 $279,476.72 $271,464 $279,476.72 ### Notes: (1) Quoted investments at 31st December, 1982: Cost Market Value 375 shares Hang Seng Bank Limited $34,272.00 $13,312.50 4,200 shares Hong Kong Electric (Holdings) Company Limited 19,320.00 2,240 shares Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation 24,192.00 17,136.00 2,500 shares Hong Kong Land Company Limited 28,893.60 9,562.50 23,790.00 $111,147.60 $59,331.00 All quoted investments are stated at cost, and no provision for diminution in value has been made in the accounts. (2) Subscription and interest incomes are accounted for on cash basis. ## REPORT OF THE HON. AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, HONG KONG BRANCH In our opinion, the above Balance Sheet is properly drawn up so as to exhibit a true and fair view of the Society's affairs at 31st December, 1982 and of its income and expenditure for the year ended on that date. Kwan Wong Tan & Fong Hon. Auditors Chartered Accountants Certified Public Accountants, Hong Kong Dated: 21st April, 1983. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v XV ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY — HONG KONG BRANCH BALANCE SHEET AT 31ST DECEMBER 1983 1982 LIABILITIES H.K. Currency 1982 SUBJECT TO AUDIT ASSETS H.K. Currency Accumulated Funds Quoted Investment $233,464 Balance as at 1st January 1983 $230,476.72 Add: Excess of Income over $111,148 Cost at 1st January 1983 $111,147.60 (2,987) Expenditure in 1982 885.43 $230,477 $231,362.15 Balance at Bank Sundry Creditor — Printing 49,000 Charges for Journal & Index $59,000.00 165,000 3,329 Fixed Deposits.. Current Account $175,000.00 4,214.55 179,214.55 $279,477 $290,362.15 $279,477 $290,362.15 D.A. Gilkes Hon. Treasurer NOTES: (1) Quoted investments at 31st December 1983: 525 shares Hang Seng Bank Limited 4,200 shares Hong Kong Electric (Holdings) Company Limited 2,464 shares Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation 2,500 shares Hong Kong Land Company Limited + Cost $34,272.00 Market Value $19,950.00 24,192.00 23,100.00 28,893.60 17,248.00 23,790.00 7,250.00 $111,147.60 $67,548.00 All quoted investments are stated at cost, and no provision for diminution in value has been made in the accounts. (2) Subscription and interest incomes are accounted for on cash basis. Dated: 18th January 1984 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 231 it to recover. Gilmans was taken over by Duncar, Paterson of Perth, Western Australia, in 1917, and converted into a private limited company incorporated in Hong Kong. It suffered, however, during the depression in the 1930s, although the backing of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank helped it to expand and prosper especially up to the Japanese invasion in 1941. Gibb Livingston Gibb Livingston, which like Gilmans may be seen as a smaller yet similar version of Dodwells, is the second oldest (after Jardines) trading firm in Hong Kong. It was founded by two Scotsmen, Thomas Augustus Gibb and William Potter Livingston, in Canton, in 1836. There it occupied one building which served as an office, a warehouse, and a residence. The firm imported English cottons and woollens and exported tea and silk. Silver bullion was used as payment. The two founders soon started to diversify into such fields as shirtings, velveteen, leather, and tin plate, and acted as agents for a large number of sailing ships. At an early date, four Gibbs worked in the firm. Branches were opened in Hong Kong (1841), Amoy, and Shanghai. In addition to the import-export trade, Gibb Livingston acted as agents for Ben Line steamships, although, unlike Dodwells, it also acquired its own tea clippers. Then, in 1899, it purchased a fleet of steamers which sailed as the Gibb Line. Gibb Livingston is said to have diversified earlier and more successfully than Gilmans. By 1908, it was one of the most important business houses in Hong Kong. Here, as in Shanghai, it specialised in shipping, and, later, in insurance. At the turn of the century, it had interests in Hong Kong Electric Company, Shanghai Land Investment Company, and a number of other firms. It also branched out into engineering and manufacturing. In 1921, Gibb Livingston was acquired by Gray, David and Company. Jardine's and Swire's are by no means the only old British firms in the Far East. Dodwell's, Gilmans, and Gibb Livingston have also been trading here for many years, although now all three are within the Inchcape Group which was formed as recently as 1958. Caldbeck, Macgregor and Company A fourth firm in the Inchcape fold, Caldbeck, Macgregor and Company ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 24 As Table 4 shows, the largest amount of Xu's investment was real property. Xu was said to have started the business in real property when his boss E. Webb advised him to do so before Xu retired from Dent & Co. in 1868. He told Xu that a boom in landed properties in Shanghai would come within a few years as Shanghai was developing and its population was expanding. Xu did more than Webb said; he bought a lot of land and built a number of houses from which he could derive a rental income of about 122,980 taels per year. Xu was quite confident he could derive a large amount of profit even though he had to borrow money at a high rate of interest. Though Xu did plan to share his business with other persons by setting up a new firm named the Baoyuanxiang Real Property Co. with a subscribed capital of four million taels, his plan was unfortunately interrupted when he recognized it was not easy to raise sufficient capital in Shanghai. Even worse, his only partner, Boyd & Co. in England, failed to solicit the capital and suddenly withdrew from partnership. Therefore, he became the sole proprietor liable to all the debts of this company. In 1883, he had accumulated a loan of 2,522,237 taels from twenty-two native banks. Unfortunately, in 1883, Shanghai experienced a financial crisis and foreign banks and the Shenxi bankers withdrew financial credits from the native banks in Shanghai. At a time when real properties were declining in price, Xu was forced to repay debts. He finally became bankrupt. As Xu estimated, due to the recovery from depression in Shanghai after the crisis, the total value of his property in 1883 was now valued at about eighteen million taels. He complained he had lost a million taels. Concerning Xu's investment in modern enterprises, it is to be noted that he had been active only after his failure in the speculation of landed property in 1883. Table 5 shows Xu's business interests were not only confined to Shanghai but also other parts of China, including Hong Kong. The amount shown in this table is mainly based on Xu's autobiography. It is interesting that in stating his total investment, he had omitted the amount of investment in foreign enterprises and also partnership in the native banks. Perhaps he thought they were not in the category of modern Chinese enterprises. Of his investment in modern Chinese enterprises, the biggest amount was in steam navigation, mines, industrial manufactories, insurance, and land reclamation.43 Tang Tingshu (1832-1892) As has been described before, Tang Tingshu was born in Zhongshan ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 25 Item Table 5 Xu Run's Investment in Modern Enterprises Company Amount (T) % Place China Merchants' Steam Navigation Co 480,000 33.44 Shanghai Yun Wo Insurance Co. 100,000 Shanghai Chi Wo Insurance Co. 50,000 10 45 Shanghai Kaiping Coal Mines 150,000 Tianjin Guichi Coal Mines 100,000 Anhui Sanshan Silver Mines 60,000 Rehe Pingchuan Copper Mines 60,000 Jinzhou Mines 50,000 Other Mines 10,000 29 96 Shanghai Cotton Mill 50,000 Shanghai Shang Jinglun Cotton Mill 170,000 Shanghai Craseman & Hagen's Filanda (Yantai Saosi Ju) 10,200 Yantai Paper Manufactury 20,000 Shanghai Chinese Glass Works Co. 30,000 Shanghai Shanghai Dairy Farm Co. 30,000 Shanghai Hong Kong Liyuan Sugar Refinery 30,000 Hong Kong Tianyi Land Reclamation Co 5,000 Jinzhou Taggu Cultivation Co. 30,000 2.44 Tianjin Zhongshan Tongyi Ranyuan Cultivation Co 1,000($) Guangdong Total 1,435,200 99.99 (+$1,000)* * Mexican dollars have not been added in the total or calculated in the percentage Source: Xu Run, Qing Xu Yuzhi Xiansheng Run Zixu Nianpu. but educated in Hong Kong. He first came to Shanghai as an interpreter in the Chinese Maritime Customs in 1859. It is believed that he was introduced by an officer named Horatio Nelson Lay whom Tang had met in Hong Kong. Tang was recruited as a comprador by the Jardine, Matheson & Co. in 1863 but he left in 1872. During the decade of his compradorial career, he invested, planned, organized and assisted in the sale of stocks of a number of enterprises. These enterprises were called modern because they had adopted a new form of ownership, organization and management. Moreover, some of them such as steam navigation and insurance companies were the first to take place in China. Unlike Xu Page 45 Page 46 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 32 29 The term 'comprador' in Chinese history is quite argumentative. In late Qing times it referred to a commercial broker, an agent and employee of a foreign firm. With the rise of Chinese nationalism in the Republican period, the meaning was gradually expanded beyond its original sense to include politics in a negative meaning or collaboration with foreigners of serving interest of imperialists. In Chinese Marxist scholarship, comprador has taken on a political meaning. See Jung-fang Tsai (1981), The Predicament of the Comprador Ideologists, pp. 191-7. However, economic historians such as Wang Jingyu, realizing the role of Chinese merchants in the economic development of the nineteenth century, said they included compradors who had large investment in modern enterprises, been active in huashang fugu huodong as well as buying capital in from foreign aggressive enterprises. See Wang (1965), Shijiu shiji waiguo qinhua qiye zhong de huashang fugu yundong (The Activities of Chinese Merchants to Buy Capital-Shares from the Foreign Aggressive Enterprises in China During the Late Nineteenth Century) and (1983b) Shiji xifang ziben zhuyi dui Zhongguo de jingji qinlue (The Economic Invasion of Western Capitalism on China in Nineteenth Century), pp. 483-526. 10 Xu Run, Qing Xu Yuzhi xiansheng Run zixu nianpu, pp. 4-5. 31 As Xu himself stated, the estimate value of this amount after discount should be 3,219,470 taels. See ibid, p. 68. 17 Other investments, though the amounts are uncertain, can also be ascertained from his autobiography. They are: a pier company at Guangdong, a grocery at Shanghai; also silk cloth shop, tea shop, partnership in Huya'an Insurance Co., Huaxing Insurance Co., Difeng Co., Shanghai Land Investment Co., Ltd., Shanghai Tramway Co., Xunhuan Newspaper in Hong Kong, a water works, and Tongyi cultivation company in Guangdong. See Qing Xu Yuzhi xiansheng Run zixu nianpu, preface. 33 See Liu Kwang-ching (1962), Anglo-American Steamship Rivalry in China, 1862-1874, p. 155. 14 See Hao (1970a), p. 100. As Xia Dongyuan found that in the Zheng's zhushu (will) written in 1914, Zheng regarded 4,088 taels the interest from share-stocks as one of his main sources of income. See Xia (1985b), p. 268. 35 See Zheng Guanying, Zhi Li Zhaomin Fangbo lun zhuang Lundun Hongyuan Gongsi (Letter addressed to Li Zhaomin in discussing the founding of Hongyuan Company in London), in Xia Dongyuan (1988a), pp. 507-3; Wu Chang-chuan (1974), pp. 86-8. 36 As Wang Shui has concluded from various sources, during 1840 to 1894 Chinese compradors had accumulated a total income of about half a billion taels, see Wang (1983), Qingdai maiban shouru de guji jiqi shiyong fangshi (An Assessment of Compradors' Income and Its Spending Ways in Qing Dynasty), pp. 298-307. 37 See Thomas G. Rawski (1970), Chinese Dominance of Treaty Port Commerce and its Implications, 1860-1875, pp. 451-73. ================================================================================