Ye Chengzhong (; 1840–1899) was a Chinese businessman and philanthropist active during the final years of the
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
and a pioneer in the
hardware industry who also made considerable contributions to education.
Biography
Born in the
Zhenhai District
Zhenhai is a district and former county of Ningbo city in Zhejiang Province in eastern China. It has a population of 200,000.
History
Zhenhai’s city walls previously covered a circuit of and rose to . The British captured Zhenhai on 10 O ...
of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province and originally called Cheng Zhong (成忠), Ye's father died when he was young leaving the family poverty stricken. At the age of 14 he left school and begin work as an apprentice in a grocery store in
Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
.
He saved enough money to buy a
sampan
A sampan is a relatively flat-bottomed wooden boat found in East, Southeast, and South Asia. It is possibly of Chinese or Austronesian origin. Some sampans include a small shelter on board and may be used as a permanent habitation on in ...
from which he then sold food to foreign sailors on the
Huangpu River
The Huangpu (), formerly romanized as Whangpoo, is a river flowing north through Shanghai. The Bund and Lujiazui are located along the Huangpu River.
The Huangpu is the biggest river in central Shanghai, with the Suzhou Creek being its ...
. According to ''The Century-Old Famous Factories and Stores in Shanghai'' published in 1987, an American businessman hired Ye's boat for a ride in 1862 but left behind a briefcase full of cash and valuables. Ye waited patiently and when the man returned he was deeply impressed by the boatman's honesty. He then lent Ye the money to open his first hardware store on Daming Road in the
Hongkou District
Hongkou (; formerly spelled Hongkew) is a district of Shanghai, forming part of the northern urban core. It has a land area of and a population of 757,498 as of 2020. The district borders Yangpu to the east, Pudong to the southeast, Huangpu ...
of Shanghai.
In 1890 Ye opened the Xiechang Match Factory (燮昌火柴厂) in Shanghai then in 1897 added branch mills at Hankou in modern-day
Wuhan
Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...
and
Suzhou
Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce.
Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...
. Ye expanded into other areas, establishing the Lunhua Silk Mill in 1894 and investing in five native banks (钱庄业 ''
qianzhuang
Qianzhuang () were local independent Chinese banks in the early modern period, as distinguished from the nation-wide bank networks headquartered in Shanxi province called the "Shanxi banks" (票號, ''piaohao''). Also known by a variety of reg ...
'') and one western bank while his real estate company owned more than 400
mu () of property in Shanghai's Hongkou district.
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...
Trust appointed Ye as their exclusive distribution agent in China from 1883 to 1893. As a "
comprador
A comprador or compradore () is a "person who acts as an agent for foreign organizations engaged in investment, trade, or economic or political exploitation." An example of a comprador would be a native manager for a European business house in Eas ...
-merchant", he organized the distribution of
kerosene
Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...
fuel across
North China
North China () is a list of regions of China, geographical region of the People's Republic of China, consisting of five province-level divisions of China, provincial-level administrative divisions, namely the direct-administered municipalities ...
and the Lower and Middle
Yangtze
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...
regions.
Ye established the in Shanghai, which was built between 1889 and 1901 where
Cai Yuanpei
Cai Yuanpei (; 1868–1940) was a Chinese philosopher and politician who was an influential figure in the history of Chinese modern education. He made contributions to education reform with his own education ideology. He was the president of Peki ...
was the first principal and
Hu Shih
Hu Shih ( zh, t=胡適; 17 December 189124 February 1962) was a Chinese academic, writer, and politician. Hu contributed to Chinese liberalism and language reform, and was a leading advocate for the use of written vernacular Chinese. He part ...
along with
Chu Coching
Coching Chu (; March 7, 1890 – February 7, 1974), also romanized as Zhu Kezhen, was a Chinese geologist and meteorologist.
Life and career
Born in Shangyu, Zhejiang, Chu received his secondary education at the Tangshan School of Rail and ...
two of the first pupils. Today the building is home to the Shanghai Middle School No. 58 He also gave money to several other charitable institutions.
By the time of his death in October 1899, Ye's assets were valued at between six and eight million