RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 12 support my wife and family. In 6 year of Hum Foong (1856) being advanced in age, I handed over all my property to my eldest son Cheng Chuen to manage and sign my name Soong Ke in all business transactions, and he has already managed for several years. In consequence of my having to return home to my native place in the present year to build an ancestor's hall out of my own money, and consequently coming and going I took sick and a large carbuncle broke out on my thigh, getting worse day by day, being now about sixty years of age and my constitution is weak. Hong Kong-Shanghai and Shanghai-Canton-Hong Kong Networks Cantonese compradors were predominant in the nineteenth century. They occupied most of the compradorship in foreign mercantile establishments. They were influential in Hong Kong, enjoying a high status in the business community. Cantonese compradors filled the new posts by personal ties, extending their influence from one place to another. For example, Xu Run was introduced by his uncles Xu Yuting and Xu Rongcun who had been working as compradors to Dent & Co. in Shanghai for many years. Xu was first employed as an assistant comprador and later succeeded his family members as compradors: one of his sons to a German firm; one of his cousins as Dent's Kiukiang (Jiujiang) comprador; and another cousin as Shanghai comprador to Carlowitz & Co. Likewise, Zheng Guanying was also introduced by his relative in Shanghai to serve the compradorship in Butterfield, Swire & Co. Tang Tingshu was introduced by his Zhongshan colleague called Acum (Lin Qin) to James Whittall, the Jardine's Shanghai manager, then he became a comprador to Jardine, Matheson & Co. Tang later guaranteed his elder brother Tang Maozhi as the firm's Tianjin comprador and this brother later succeeded him as chief comprador in Shanghai when Tang Tingshu was relocated to work at the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Co. in 1873. The post was held by the Tang family for several decades. The last was his grandson Tang Jichang. Those three compradors came from the same Zhongshan prefecture and had an inter-relationship. Zheng was a relative to Tang by marriage and also knew the Xu family for generations. Zheng had guaranteed a Zhongshan townman named Yang Guixuan ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 23 Cloth Mill in 1879. They were regarded as merchants willing to take risks in adventurous undertakings, however, some of them lost money from pouring capital in modern enterprises and some even went bankrupt by speculating. Xu Run (1838-1911) Xu was the earliest, before Tang and Zheng, to come to Shanghai for business and trade as a comprador. In 1852, at the age of 15 Xu left his hometown Zhongshan, trade as a comprador. In 1852, at the age of 15 Xu left his hometown Zhongshan, transited through Macau and Hong Kong to Shanghai where he lived with his uncle Xu Yuting who was working at the Dent & Company in Shanghai (the first Western firm to open a branch in Shanghai) as a comprador. Xu entered Dent & Co. through his uncle's connection. Four years later Xu was promoted from a trainee (as Xu himself stated, he first learnt the tea and silk trade when entering the Company) to an assistant comprador and finally in 1861, he succeeded his uncle as the comprador. His diligent performance was greatly admired by the manager of Dent & Co., E. Webb. From Xu's autobiography, we are able to assess the wealth of a Cantonese comprador in Shanghai accumulated during his compradorial years and also as an independent merchant in which his business investment included various modern enterprises. Furthermore, his autobiography also tells of his complicated relations with Sheng Xuanhuai and Yuan Shikai as well as a part of his personal family history. 30 In 1868, Xu Run left Dent & Co. and started his own business. He opened the Baoyuanxiang Tea House. The name itself manifested a tea trade business. By 1883, Xu had accumulated a personal wealth of 3,409,423.3 taels. Item Table 4 Assets Owned by Xu Run in 1883 Item Amount (taels) % Landed property in Shanghai 2,236,940.0 65.61 Miscellaneous stocks 426,912.0 12.52 Capital in pawnshops 348,571.3 10.22 Shares in custody 397,000.0 11.64 Total 3,409,423.3 99.90 Source: Ku Run, Qing Xu Yuzhi Kiansheng Run Zixu Nianpu, pp 67-8 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 34 Chan Kin Tong 陳健堂 Cheang Hoong WA Chen Xuyuan 陳照元 Ding Richang TRS Guo Piao 郭標 Ho Kai 何啟 Ho Tung 何東 Huang Huan'nan # Jian Dongfu 簡東甫 Glossary Wu Jianzhang f Xu Rongcun 徐榮村 Xu Run 徐潤 Xu Yuting 徐鈺亭 Yuan Shikai 袁世凱 Zheng Guanying Zheng Tingjiang Baoyuanxiang 寶源祥 Zuo Zongtang E Law Pak Sheung A Bendi 本地 Law Sai Nam 劉世南 Lee Chak 李澤 guandu-shangban Leung Xiu 梁喬 Li Hing 李慶 Li Hongzhang 李鴻章 Lo Hok Pang #09 Ng A Cheong AS O Kee Cheung 柯其祥 Sheng Xuanhuai 盛宣懷 Soong Xe 宋琪 Sung Chin Tseung Tong Mow Chee # Tong Ying Shu (Xing Sing) 唐廷樞(景星) Wei Kwong #* Wei Yuk 韋玉 Danjia 晉家 # Guang Yang Xing 廣陽興 Guang Zhao Gongsuo 廣肇公所 Heshengxiang # huashang fugu huodong HÆ! Kejia 客家 lianhao 聯號 O Chin Sin Tong Qing Xu Yuzhi Xiansheng Run Zixu Nianpu 清徐雨之先生潤自序年譜 Sanyi 三邑 Shiyi 四邑 tongxiang hui 同鄉會 Zongban 總辦 Wong Kong 黄亞廣 References Cheng, T C. 1969 Chinese Unofficial Members of the Legislative and Executive Councils in Hong Kong In Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 9: 1-30 Choi, Chi-cheung 1991 Cong difangzhi kan Xiangshan xian difang shili de zhuanbian (The influence of migration in Xiangshan county as viewed from local gazetteers) In Zhongguo Shehui Jingjishi Yanjiu 1991/1: 60-8 1993. Competition among Brothers: the Kun Tye Lung Company and its Associate Companies, Unpublished paper presented at the Workshop on Chinese Business Houses in Southeast Asia since 1870 School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London ================================================================================