【China's Long Journey of Blood and Tears】
V-2
Tientsin Honeymoon
Judith Tien
Lau 田之雲
Grandfather Tien田树藩
The
location of the Tientsin seaport, conveniently accessed from coastal Chinese
and Asian sea ports, as well as by boats and barges through several Tientsin
river tributaries from and into the mainland, was ideal for development after
the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912. In the following decades,
Tientsin became one of the major Chinese manufacturing and trade centers when
the Imperial Beijing capital was moved south to become the new capital of the Republic
of China in Nanjing.
Patriotic
young Chinese began returning to their homeland from their overseas education,
and introduced modern business practices, entrepreneurial capitalization and
technical skills to the major cities like Shanghai and Tientsin of their new
Republic.
Despite
national restiveness, and the Japanese menace, modern historians call the
1920’s -1937 the “golden age” of the ascent of the Chinese entrepreneur
bourgeoisie. By deploying their native network connections, language fluency
and cultural sensitivities, these ambitious young Chinese businessmen found
opportunities to successfully outperform their established colonial competitors
in Shanghai and Tientsin.
After
the newly elected President Sun Yat-sen had surrendered his presidency in 1912
to the crafty warlord Yuan Shi-kai, Sun sailed overseas to escape
assassination. Shortly following Sun’s capitulation, Yuan proclaimed himself
emperor. The disillusioned Liu and Tien grandfathers surrendered their ideals
and hopes for the new Republic of China. They retreated from the chaotic
political intrigues, abandoned their hard earned gaokao civil service titles to
redirect their energies, and intellect toward personal financial security for
their families.
Grandfather
Tien resigned from the Foreign Affairs Ministry to attend to his retail
businesses on the booming Morrison Street (now called Wangfujing St), several
100 real estate holdings in prime locations, and to design a capacious home at
Shui Mo Hutong[1] where Father was born in 1916.
Grandfather Tien田树藩
During
Grandfather Tien’s free time, the Tien patriarch explored the West Hills around
Beiping, keeping a comfortable distance from the polluted atmosphere of
politics or public affairs, and wrote several books about his hiking
discoveries and poetry, extolling the pristine beauty of nature in his courtyards
and the ancient West Hills.[2]
Grandfather
Liu who had taken on teaching and editing a Tientsin bulletin, however, could
not restrain himself from speaking out against the “usurper” Yuan. As word
spread about Grandfather’s Liu continued denunciation of Yuan, in 1914
Grandfather Liu’s friends secretly warned Grandfather Liu that he was to be apprehended - dead
or alive - by the warlord turned president.
Under
the shroud of night, Grandfather Liu stealthily rushed his wife and newborn
daughter, my Mother, south to a friend residing in the Shanghai French
Concession. When Yuan died in 1916, Grandfather Liu returned to Beiping to
start a new venture in contemporary homes construction in the western Beiping
neighborhood. The Liu family expanded from one first born daughter to another 5
sons.
Settled
in Beiping with his large Liu family and clan, comfortably successful,
Grandfather Liu joined the expats’ Hunan Social Club Chapter of Beiping. At one
of the typically boisterous, sizzling Hunan dinners, Grandfather Liu met a
dynamic, young entrepreneur, Fan Hsu-dong (范旭東
1883-1945) who also hailed from Grandfather Liu’s very home town, Hsiang Yin in
Hunan Province. After a wary initial sizing up, followed by vibrant exchanges
on ambitious national political and economic reforms, fueled by a hearty spicy
dinner and copious drinking, the 2 energetic Hunanese cohorts - Fan Hsu-dong
and Liu Jun-man - built a warm rapport and mutual respect.
Fan Hsu-dong |
Fan Hsu Dong and
staff |
Fan offered Grandfather Liu the position of Managing Director and a share holder - a new concept in China at that time - of the Jiu Da Refined Salt Company (久大精鹽公司) a division of Fan’s expanding Yong Li-Yellow River Chemical Industries (永利-黄河 純鹼) which distributed the highly valued refined salt, processed from ocean water in the Tsingdao factory on the Shandong Peninsula. Grandfather Liu served his friend, Fan, in this capacity until his death in December, 1934 in Tsingdao.
Grandfather
Liu’s friend and boss, the founder of Yong Li Industries, Fan Hsu-dong was a
chemical engineer trained in Japan, Europe and the USA. Fan had returned to
China following the installation of the Republic to establish a modern heavy chemical company patterned after
Western business practices, unheard of labor reforms of 8 hr work days, fair
pay and health, education and housing for the workers and their families at the
loss of substantial profit for the shareholders - including Fan, and his fellow
shareholders like Grandfather Liu who died from brain aneurysm due to overwork,
inattentive self care and stress.
Yong
Li Chemical Industries manufactured not only refined salt under the Jiu Da
brand, but also alkali, ammonium sulfate, acids, soda ash, nitrates for
everyday items like glass, fertilizer, paper, soap, and for destructive
purposes such as TNT and bombs which supplied the Chinese military.
As the Chinese government retreated from the Japanese assaults, Fan rejected the inducements and bribes of the Japanese in 1937 to work for the conquerors. Under great personal peril, Fan and his teams of workers dismantled the equipment in the Tientsin, Tsingdao and Shanghai factories to the western mountains of Szechuan. What components could not be dismantled or transported were destroyed to prevent Japanese use.
Jiu Da Yong Li factory
Neither
of the two Hunan compatriots saw the end of the Sino-Japanese War. Grandfather
Liu had died in 1934 in Tsingdao, at the age of 56 and his younger friend, Fan,
died 10 years later in Chungking on Oct 4, 1945, at the age of 62 of illness
which he had neglected during the dire wartime conditions.
As I was growing up, Mother recounted to me the stories about her father and his Hunan compatriot, the great Fan Hsu-dong who was eulogized as the “Father of China’s Chemical Industry” by both Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-dong and memorialized by the nation as one of the four legendary founding industrialists of China.
calligraphy elegies by Mao and Chiang Kai-shek in Fan's funeral
Mother
sometimes mused to me that if her father had lived, would the Liu family have
followed Fan to the western provinces in 1937? Would her father have approved
of Tien Pao-tai? Would she have married Pao-tai in 1938? Would her life have
been strikingly different?
Then
Mother would shake those pointless conjectures out of her head and recounted
that in 1938, on the second day of Mother’s married life, Father skipped
breakfast in the Tientsin hotel to explore the calm streets of the Concession
bookstores for Western books on economics and political science for his senior
year. Father knew that millions of books in the Beida library were left behind
when Beida evacuated to Changsha with Tsinghua and NanKai Universities.
Distracted among the shelves of foreign printed treasures, Father lost track of
time.
Father’s
belated return to the hotel for the early lunch he had promised his bride
before he left the hotel, found Mother impatiently pacing the marble lobby with
their packed bags ready to hop into a hired car for the drive to the port.
However, having missed breakfast, Father was now very hungry and insisted that
they had sufficient time to get to the loading dock and they should eat at the
lovely hotel. Father argued that food on the steamer would not be served until
dinner. Mother was exceedingly agitated but bit her tongue, deferring to her
ravenous husband’s wishes.
After
the usual Tien family lunch of three dishes and a soup, Father ordered a car to
speed them to the Tang Gu Port. They navigated smoothly through a polite
inspection by the British authorities, but then they were unexpectedly blocked
by the arrogant Japanese final inspection. The blasting departure horn of the
steamer and the obviously palpitating anxiety of the couple did not nudge the
smirking Japanese to expedite their dawdling scrutiny of the couple’s documents
and contents of their suitcases.
Father and Mother could only helplessly and silently watch their sleek Jardine Matthiessen steamer noisily crank up the gangplank, hoist anchor and churn away on that clear summer day into the blue horizon.
天津蜜月行(I)
周素鳳 譯
天津港交通方便，無論是客船或是貨船都可從中國沿海、亞洲海港，以及中國內陸各支流進出。因地利之便，1912年民國建立之後，天津成為理想的發展重心，國民政府遷都南京後，天津進一步成為中國製造業和貿易中心。
民國成立後，在海外留學的中國年輕人開始返國，分別在上海和天津投資創業，引進現代化的商業模式和產業技能，想要建設國家。中國雖然內有政治紛擾，外有日本威脅，現代史學家仍舊認為1920年代到1937年這段時間是中國資產企業崛起的「黃金時代」。一些有抱負的歸國學人運用他們在國內的人脈，加上外語能力以及文化的敏銳度，很快地超越原本在天津和上海租界發財致富的外國商人。
孫中山在1912年辭去臨時大總統，之後因為有遭暗殺之虞而前往海外。袁世凱即位後自稱皇帝，祖父和外公深感失望，對於「新」中國的理想和希望有如幻影般破滅。他們不再涉入紛亂的政治漩渦，放棄辛苦通過國考得到的公職，轉而將自己的知識和能力放在家庭的經濟方面，讓家人過著安全舒適的生活。
祖父辭去外務部的工作，把心力放在成立北平第一家洋貨店，就在現在熱鬧的王府井大街，當時叫做莫里遜大街；同時他也要管理在長安東路黃金地段所擁有的100多處房產，以及1916年父親出生的水磨胡同的家，那是祖父蓋的一座現代化的大豪宅。
祖父閒暇時就到北平近郊的西山，這裡離北平並不遠，他可以遠離烏煙瘴氣的政治干擾，靜心寫作。他出版的作品有《西山名勝記》，記錄他在西山各處尋幽訪勝，另外還有許多詩集。
外公在北平時有回參加湖南同鄉會，在熱鬧的聚會上認識了同樣來自湘陰的范旭東(1883-1945)。兩人初識時客氣謹慎，後來在觥籌交錯中談興愈來愈濃，尤其對國家政治和經濟改革都懷有抱負，范劉兩人惺惺相惜，成了相互尊重的知交。
1916年袁世凱病故後，外公才回到北平，在西區的石駙馬大街和二龍坑街的房子開始新的生活。劉家從一個女兒逐漸添了五個兒子。劉家加上親戚形成一個大家族，外公安頓的妥妥貼貼。
外公在北平時有回參加湖南同鄉會，在熱鬧的聚會上認識了同樣來自湘陰的范旭東(1883-1945)。兩人初識時客氣謹慎，後來在觥籌交錯中談興愈來愈濃，尤其對國家政治和經濟改革都懷有抱負，范劉兩人惺惺相惜，成了相互尊重的知交。
范旭東安排外公擔任久大精鹽公司的董事，而且讓他入股成為股東----在當時的中國，股份有限公司是一個新的概念。久大精鹽擴大為永利-黄河渤化化工公司。久大公司從山東半島的青島廠提煉精鹽，有很高的價值。外公在久大服務時過於專注工作，沒有注意自己的健康和承受的壓力，在1934年12月因腦動脈瘤出血而過世。范旭東和外公的幾個好友在他過世之後，合力資助外婆和劉家幾個孩子的生活和教育費用。
永利工業的創設人范旭東是化工實業家，他曾經在日本留學，也曾赴歐洲和美國考察，在1911年回中國後，為中國現代化的重化工工業奠下基礎。他採取西方的商業模式經營，引入當時中國人聞所未聞的制度和觀念，例如每天工作時間為八小時，薪酬要公平合理，而且要顧及工人本身和家人在健康、教育、住屋等方面的福利。這些對員工有利的制度，當然會犧牲公司的收益，連帶也損及紅利的回饋，股東能夠分配的股利就受到影響。像外公這樣的股東因為操勞過度，忽略自己的健康，以及壓力過大，引發腦動脈瘤的問題而過世。
永利化工生產的化工產品有久大公司的精鹽，還有鹼、硫酸銨、酸、純鹼、硝酸鹽，不但可以製造日常生活所需的玻璃、肥料、紙、肥皂等，還可以製造毀滅性的炸藥和炸彈，提供給當時作戰並不順利的中國軍隊。
1937年天津被日本佔領後，政府也由日本管控。范旭東斷然拒絕日本的利誘和賄賂，堅決不和征服者合作。他不顧危險和困難，解散員工，將天津、青島、上海等廠房的設備搬遷到四川，而且將無法搬運的化學原料銷毀，以防日本人加以利用。
范旭東和外公這兩位湖南老鄉都沒能親眼目睹日本敗戰，外公1934年過世時56歲，而范旭東在十多年之後，於1945年10月4日撒手人寰，享年62歲，也是因為戰時的艱困而未能及時診治。我從小就聽著母親講外公和范旭東的故事。范旭東被稱為「中國民族化學工業之父」，他過世時，蔣介石與毛澤東都有輓聯致弔。
母親感慨地告訴我，她有時會忍不住揣想，如果1937年的時候外公還活著，劉家會不會跟著范旭東到四川?外公當初會同意她和父親交往嗎?她會選擇在1938年嫁給父親嗎?如果外公當時還在的話，她的人生是不是會有很大的不同?
母親喟然而嘆，但隨即甩掉腦中這些無謂的疑惑，對我說起他們第二天在天津發生的事，那一天也是她和父親結婚後的第二天。早上父親還沒吃早餐就離開旅館，說是要到租界的書店看看，想找一些有關經濟和政治學的西洋書籍，準備大四修課的需要。北大南遷到長沙時，圖書館裡的數百萬冊書全都留在北京，父親想自備一些書。父親在書店裡流連，一排一排的英文書籍浩如烟海，他沉浸其中，完全忘記時間。
父親原本說他會回來和母親一起吃早午餐，然後退房去搭船。等到父親急急忙忙趕回旅館時，一眼就看到母親已經把行李收拾好移到大廳，焦急的在大廳的大理石地板上來回踱步，等著要趕快坐上出租車到港口。此時，沒有吃到早餐的父親覺得肚子很餓，堅持在漂亮的旅館吃一頓飯，他認為一定趕得及，父親還說上了船就得等到晚上才能吃到飯。母親心焦氣躁，但還是忍住不發火，成全父親想要大快朵頤的興致，而且她認為父親做事一向成竹在胸，應該有他的規劃。
父親按照北平田家吃中飯的規矩，點了三菜一湯，吃完後叫了出租車趕往塘沽港。到了港口，他們很順利通過英國海關的查驗，英國人表現得謙恭有禮，沒想到接下來的日本海關非常傲慢。他們要搭的船即將啟航，已經鳴笛催促，但是得意洋洋的日本人根本聽若無聞，對父母親兩人顯現的心急如焚視若無睹，慢條斯理地瀏覽他們的文件，然後不慌不忙地檢查行李。
父母親無助又無奈，只能默默地看著他們原本要搭乘的輪船開始執行啟航的準備，在喀喀的聲響中把跳板收起來，然後起錨航行。他們兩人就這樣眼睜睜地望著那艘神清氣爽的大船，在朗朗晴天中，慢慢駛向遠處的藍色海平線。