Fang Yexian, whose ancestral home is Zhenhai, Zhejiang, was born in Shanghai in 1893. Our ancestors have been doing business for generations and have opened banks and banks in Shanghai, Ningbo and other places. There are as many as 25 banks alone. In Shanghai, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Huzhou, Nanxun, Nanjing, Hankou, Yichang, Changsha, Shashi and other places, we operate banks, sugar industry, sand ship, silver house, silk, cotton cloth, medicinal materials, north-south goods, pawns, fishery, book industry, Real estate industry, etc. By the time his father selected the younger generation, banks were closing down one after another due to poor management and strife from foreign businessmen. When Fang Yexian was born, there were only a few banks left in his family.
Fang Yexian studied at the Chinese and Western Academy in Shanghai when he was young. Later, because he was interested in chemistry, he studied chemistry under the guidance of Dou Bolie, a chemist of the Ministry of Industry and Industry Bureau of the concession, and a German. He witnessed the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government, frequent bullying by foreign enemies, and the decline of domestic industry, so he came up with the idea of ??establishing a chemical industry to save the country through industry. He invested his own money to set up a chemistry laboratory in his residence. He listened to the teacher's teachings during the day and concentrated on experiments behind closed doors at night. On this basis, he jointly established the Dingfeng Enamel Factory, Longhua Tannery, Sulfuric Acid Factory and Rubber Factory with his relatives and friends. These enterprises were all pioneered by Chinese people. Unfortunately, they were poorly funded and their sales were stagnant due to the overflow of foreign goods, so they went bankrupt one after another.
Setbacks came one after another, but Fang Yexian still forged ahead. In view of the dumping of imported cosmetics on the market, he thought twice and decided to establish China Chemical Industry Society (hereinafter referred to as "China Chemical Society") to trial-produce cosmetics. His father refused to allocate funds because he failed to set up factories one after another. Fang Yexian turned to his mother for help, and her mother was so moved that she gave her son 10,000 yuan of her personal savings as an advance payment. In 1911, "Sinochem Society" was listed in Anren Lane, Yuanmingyuan Road, Shanghai. This year, Fang Yexian was only 18 years old. Fang Yexian, workers and apprentices worked hard in the workshop day and night. He personally prepared the ingredients and operations, slept through the middle of the night every night, and endured wind, rain, cold and heat. Finally, he successfully trial-produced tooth powder, cream, hair oil, toilet water and other products, and hired people to carry the products through the streets and sell them. However, due to the failure to open up sales, there was a lot of losses. In just three or four years, the capital of 10,000 yuan was lost again.
Relatives and friends advised him to stop his business, but he replied: "Throughout the ages, all those who have achieved great things have always made sacrifices first." After that, he still tried every means to raise funds by himself, even pawning clothes, and He spoke sincerely and persuaded his uncle Li Yunshu and others to invest with national justice. After collecting 50,000 yuan, he continued to produce cosmetics, shoe polish, sherbet, etc., and also set up a distribution office and hired salesmen, which made the situation slightly better, but he still suffered losses every year. By the beginning of 1919, "Sinochemical Society" was facing financial difficulties again. Fang Yexian said with emotion: "Our products are fragrant, but our business is smelly!"
The "Sinochemical Society" that broke out in 1919 The May 4th Movement" brought vitality to national industry and commerce. Compatriots are proud to buy domestic products. Shops and vendors are ordering domestic products from "Sinochem Society" one after another. In the "Sinochem Society" distribution office, there are a large number of wholesalers ordering goods. Even if they work overtime for production, the supply is still in short supply.
Fang Yexian was deeply inspired by the "Sinochem Society"'s survival from the desperate situation. He immediately began to develop new products and asked his uncle, Fang Jiyang, a tycoon in the Shanghai money industry, to invest. Fang Jiyang saw that the business of "Sinochem Society" was booming, so he invested 16,000 yuan. Fang Yexian then reorganized "Sinochem Society" into a joint stock limited liability company, appointed himself as general manager, and Fang Jiyang became chairman of the board. After production developed and profits increased, Fang Yexian sized up the situation and built a factory, hiring technicians and workers to specialize in the production of cosmetics and toothpaste. In 1923, a second factory was built to specialize in the production of MSG and soy sauce essence. Together with Wu Yunchu's Tianchu MSG, it squeezed Japan's "Ajinomoto" out of the Chinese market. In 1928, Fang Yexian established a third factory to manufacture mosquito coils and starch. Under Fang Yexian's painstaking management, the appearance of "Sinochem Society" is changing with each passing day. In 1935, the capital increased to 1 million yuan, and Fang Yexian reorganized it into a joint-stock company, established a board of directors, and appointed himself as general manager. Three years later, the capital was increased to 2 million yuan, and a fourth factory was built to manufacture soap, glycerin, and peppermint oil. Its equipment and scale were second to none in Shanghai at that time.
In order to support production, reduce costs, and form a one-stop process of raw material processing and finished product packaging, Fang Yexian built a number of factories that directly serve "Sinochem Society", such as Jingming Glass, which produces glass factory, a Chinese tube factory that produces toothpaste tubes, as well as a calcium carbonate factory and a hydrochloric acid factory. It also established a general management office with six departments, three offices and nine departments, which were established in Tianjin, Nanjing, Hankou, Qingdao, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other places. The publishing house also dispatched full-time salesmen to various ports in Southeast Asia, and its products were shipped to all parts of the country and Southeast Asian countries.
At this point, the business of "Sinochem Society" was booming and it became the largest company in the daily chemical industry in old China. At the beginning of the 20th century, Japan’s Wild Boar brand mosquito coils dominated the Chinese market. As early as 1915, Fang Yexianye had started manufacturing domestic mosquito-repellent incense. However, at that time, the Japanese businessmen strictly kept the mosquito-repellent incense manufacturing technology secret. They only knew that its main raw material was pyrethrum, and nothing else was known about it. Fang Yexian then used the knowledge he learned to analyze the proportions of mosquito coil ingredients and figure out how to make them. Then I purchased a small amount of pyrethrum from Japan and hired a master craftsman from a candle shop. After repeated trials, I finally made a disk-shaped mosquito coil by hand injection. After being lit, the mosquito repellent effect is acceptable, but the fragrance is loose and brittle, easily broken, and is inconvenient to transport, store, and use.
Fang Yexian was determined to introduce Japanese machine-made disc-type mosquito coil technology into the country, so he sent his right-hand man Li Yaobin to travel east to Japan. Through the various activities of Guo Yongkang, the "Sinochem Society" commissioner in Japan, he joined the Wild Boar Mosquito Repellent Factory as a Coolie workers. Li Yaobin lived up to his great trust, studied carefully, and finally mastered a complete set of technologies and returned to China with the machine drawings. Fang Yexian allocated special funds to purchase machinery and experimented with the mechanism, which was finally successful. It was immediately mass-produced and named "Fu Lu Shou Samsung Brand Mosquito Repellent". Since then, domestic mosquito-repellent incense has begun to enter the market.
As soon as the Samsung brand mosquito coil came out, it was immediately crowded out by the Wild Boar brand mosquito coil. Relying on their advantages of strong capital and advanced technology, Japanese companies resorted to price reductions, gifts and other means to attract customers, hoping to overwhelm Samsung brand mosquito coils. Faced with the challenge of a powerful enemy, Fang Yexian called on "Chinese people love domestic products, please use domestic Samsung brand mosquito coils", which received good results.
At the same time, he also worked hard on business management. The first method was to give preferential treatment to wholesalers, sending goods first and then collecting payment. When mosquitoes appear in May every year, goods are shipped to wholesalers. Payment is not settled until after the Mid-Autumn Festival, and leftover goods can be returned. Seeing that selling Samsung brand mosquito coils is profitable, some small vendors and even the unemployed come to wholesale. Samsung brand mosquito coil sales outlets are all over the streets, and posters saying "Domestic Samsung brand mosquito coil" can be seen everywhere. The second method is to adopt a graded cumulative sales reward system for salesmen. Those who sell more than 10,000 yuan will be given a 3% reward; those who sell more than 20,000 yuan will be given 4%; those who sell more than 30,000 yuan will be given 5%... to encourage more sales and more sales. have to. Method three, return the box and get a prize. After customers purchase Samsung brand mosquito-repellent incense and return the box, they can receive a prize, such as handkerchiefs, towels, toothpaste, etc. This not only increases the benefits for consumers, but also reduces production costs and attracts more customers.
Pyrethrum, the main raw material for the production of Samsung brand mosquito coils, was initially purchased from Japan. Fang Yexian believed that raw materials should not be imported from the Japanese, so he recalled his permanent buyers in Japan and imported pyrethrum from the United States to resolve the conflict between the boycott of Japanese goods and the supply of raw materials. Unexpectedly, Japanese instructions were found in the pyrethrum shipped from the United States. After inquiry, I learned that the United States does not produce pyrethrum and can only be purchased from Japan and resold to China. Fang Yexian believed that Japan and China share the same geographical location. If Japan can plant, I should be able to plant, so he established planting farms at Anlangdu and Yujidun on the banks of the Suzhou River in Shanghai, and hired agronomy expert Yu Chengru to be responsible for trial planting. After the successful trial planting, planting was promoted in rural areas of Wenzhou and Linping in Zhejiang Province and Nantong and Haimen in Jiangsu Province. Considering that chrysanthemum farmers lacked funds and were worried about losing money, he took the initiative to lend money, and provided them with interest-free loans through banks. He also entered into a contract with them, and the price of pyrethrum was converted to the price of rice to prevent them from suffering losses due to currency devaluation. In order to increase production, harvest and sell more, Fang Yexian invited technicians to give guidance to the chrysanthemum farmers. The enthusiasm of chrysanthemum farmers doubled as a result. Those who planted chrysanthemums requested to expand their planting, and those who did not plant asked to plant. The planting area continued to expand, and the output continued to increase. Finally, they became completely self-sufficient in raw materials and no longer imported from Japan.
After several efforts, Samsung brand mosquito-repellent incense finally gained a firm foothold. Wild Boar brand mosquito-repellent incense, which originally held a monopoly, went from bad to worse. By the time of the May 30th Movement in 1925, it had almost disappeared from the Chinese market. In Fang Yexian's success, in addition to strict control of product quality and the cultivation and use of talents, he also attaches great importance to advertising and sales. For example, it is stipulated that 0.3% of the turnover should be withdrawn as advertising fees every year, and Zhu Xingong, a senior media person, is hired as the advertising section chief with a high salary to write newspaper advertisements for Samsung brand products. Zhu Xingwen specially designed a lottery advertisement for Samsung toothpaste and named it "Secret in the Glass Tube". Put a small glass tube in the toothpaste tube, and put three lottery tickets in the tube, with face values ??of 1 yuan, 5 yuan, and 10 yuan respectively. What is even more eye-catching is that there is also a three-star "Fu Lu Shou" three-star award. Lucky consumers who get three "Fu Lu Shou" three stars will win the first prize and receive a house as a gift. As a result, more consumers will buy Samsung toothpaste, and many people will continue to use this brand.
Sinochem also organizes "domestic product advertising tour groups" that travel all year round, from Shanghai to Xi'an, Sichuan, and even Yunnan, setting up Sinochem's road sign advertisements everywhere they go. Sinochem's various products are truly known to all women and children. In addition to strictly controlling product quality and marketing wisely, Fang Yexian also attaches great importance to advertising. For example, it stipulates that 0.3% of the turnover should be withdrawn as advertising fees every year, hires senior media people with high salaries to write newspaper advertisements for Samsung brand products, and also sets up a special "Fu Lu Shou" Samsung Award - to collect "Fu Lu Shou" Samsung The lucky consumer will win the jackpot and receive a house.
In addition, "Sinochem" also specializes in organizing "domestic product advertising tour groups". From Shanghai to Xi'an, Sichuan, and even to Yunnan, "Sinochem" road signs are erected everywhere they go.
In the early 1930s, musician Liu Xue'an composed a tango dance music. In February 1937, Shanghai Yihua Film Company was funded by China Chemical Society to shoot the feature film "Three Stars with the Moon". Director Fang Peilin asked Liu Xue'an to write an episode for the film. Liu Xue'an gave the director the music he had composed five years ago and The lyrics were written by screenwriter Bei Lin (pseudonym), and thus the popular song "When Will You Come Again" came into being.
This movie tells the story of the love between an industrialist who saved the country through industry and opened a chemical factory and a female singer. The heroine in the play is played by the famous "golden voice" Zhou Xuan. Under Zhou Xuan's performance, the song became popular in Shanghai, and the "Samsung" product name embedded in the title of the film was also deeply rooted in people's hearts, becoming a wonderful advertisement. After the "September 18th" Incident, the Japanese invaders occupied the three northeastern provinces of China. The anti-Japanese sentiment of the people across the country was high, and the movement to boycott Japanese goods and promote domestic products swept the country. Fang Yexian had long-standing contacts with Huang Yanpei, Hu Juewen, Cai Shengbai, and Jiang Yanfang in Shanghai. They often gathered together to discuss the current situation and explore ways to revitalize industry and save China. In order to further open up the sales of products of domestic manufacturers and fight back against Japanese aggression, Fang Yexian adopted the suggestion of Li Kangnian, the general affairs section chief of "Sinochem Society" and decided to gather some domestic factories to exclusively sell domestic products. He contacted Shengde Weaving Factory, Zhonghua Enamel Factory, Meiya Silk Factory, Zhonghua First Knitting Factory, Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd., Wuhe Weaving Factory, Huafu Hat Factory, Yixin Toothbrush Factory, together with the "Sinochem Society" *** Nine of Shanghai's larger domestic product factories held a "Chinese Products Temporary Joint Shopping Mall" at the former site of Qihua Company.
Fang Yexian specifically chose the first anniversary of the September 18th Incident in 1932 as the opening day of the domestic shopping mall, intending to awaken the people not to Don't forget the national humiliation.
The 9-factory domestic products mall sells 18 kinds of brand-name domestic products at low prices, such as embroidered handkerchiefs, artificial tooth chopsticks, delicious Guanyin powder (MSG), soap, sheets, socks, sanitary shirts, toothbrushes, high-quality felt hats, basins, Pure silk crepe de chine and more. Due to the propaganda of promoting domestic products and boycotting Japanese products and the fact that the quality of domestic products can compete with Japanese products, there are many customers. The low-price sales were originally scheduled for 7 days. According to the majority of consumers, the sales were extended by one day to reward our compatriots who love to use domestic products. In order to show the public that domestic shopping malls are not just about making money, but have the interests of the country and the nation at heart. After Fang Yexian’s suggestion, the nine factories unanimously agreed to donate 5% of the total turnover to a certain charity, decided by a vote by customers. undertakings, such as comforting the anti-Japanese soldiers at the front, establishing a hospital for wounded soldiers, and providing relief to refugees, etc.
After 8 days of low-price sales, the products are sold at the original price, and buyers are still enthusiastic. Although the 9-factory temporary joint shopping mall for domestic products has only been open for two months, it has sold a lot of domestic products to factories from various countries. The greater significance is that this is a hugely effective publicity campaign to boycott Japanese products and promote domestic products. Shanghai people are all Knowing that there is a domestic goods mall on Nanjing Road, everyone enjoys visiting and shopping in person.
The prosperous situation of the temporary domestic products joint market of the 9th factory made Fang Yexian see that the domestic products market had a bright future, so he came up with the idea of ??opening a permanent domestic products market. After many contacts, domestic manufacturers such as "Sinochem Society", Meiya Silk Factory, Wuhe Weaving Factory, Hongxin Cloth Factory, Watson Electrical Appliance Factory, Zhonghua Enamel Factory, etc. raised 100,000 yuan to rent the Nanjing Road Mainland Shopping Center for the company. Business office.
On February 9, 1933, during the Lantern Festival, the Shanghai China Domestic Products Company held a grand opening amidst the deafening sound of firecrackers. General Manager Fang Yexian was full of joy and delivered a welcome speech to guests and spectators from all walks of life: Although the slogan of promoting domestic products has been shouted for ten or twenty years, the number of imported foreign goods has increased year by year. Why is the boycott of foreign goods so ineffective? Because there is no unified group and no sales agency, the Chinese people have little understanding of domestic products and do not know the difference between domestic products and foreign products... His speech attracted thunderous applause from the audience.
After the ribbon-cutting, people flocked in, and there was a bustle of visitors and buyers in front of the domestic container.
Fang Yexian continuously published announcements about the opening of Chinese domestic products companies in major newspapers in Shanghai, calling on "Chinese people to use domestic products" and making eight business purposes public.
In order to make China Domestic Products Company a veritable "general warehouse of domestic products", Fang Yexian launched a resounding banner of "promoting Chinese domestic products and transporting and selling local products from all over the country" and dispatched a capable purchasing team to all provinces and autonomous regions across the country. Shop for local produce. The company's shopping mall displays a dazzling array of famous and high-quality products from various manufacturers and local specialties. Popular brand-name goods and famous local products at that time were available to customers as long as they could point them out.
Fang Yexian places special emphasis on the service quality of salespersons, stipulating that salespersons must wear company badges with numbers when going to the counter to accept customer supervision; greet customers with a smile and answer all questions, even if they are doing business If not, you should still nod and smile; you must be familiar with the origin, characteristics, and even the eating and usage methods of various commodities so that you can be ready for questions at any time. The company has also opened services that are convenient for customers, such as postal sales, door-to-door delivery, gift certificate issuance, wedding gift delivery and free transportation...
Due to the wide range of products and high-quality services of Chinese domestic companies, , and adopt policies such as low-price sales and small profits but quick turnover, so that both supply and demand parties benefit. People are yearning for patriotism, and all regard buying domestic products as a patriotic act. Therefore, goods are rotating, and both production and sales are booming.
In order to expand the domestic products business to other places, Fang Yexian contacted Wu Dingchang, Cai Shengbai, Wu Yunchu, Wang Zhixin and other well-known figures in the industrial and commercial circles, and established the China Domestic Products Joint Venture Company in Shanghai in May 1937 to promote sales to various provinces and regions. Products produced by manufacturers of various products from various countries have successively established Chinese domestic product companies in large and medium-sized cities such as Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Xi'an, Qingdao, Zhenjiang, Chongqing, Kunming, Guiyang, Changsha, Guilin, Hankou, Chengdu and other large and medium-sized cities. This not only provided a market for weak national industrial manufacturers, but also promoted the development of the movement to boycott foreign goods and revitalize domestic products across the country. Due to Fang Yexian's role and influence in the domestic products movement, he was hailed as the "King of Domestic Products" by all walks of life. Brutally murdered on the evening of July 24, 1940, Fang Yexian suddenly received a call from an acquaintance. This person said on the phone: "A big businessman from Nanyang wants to discuss business with you. Can you meet?" Fang Yexian asked about the business project and agreed to meet. We agreed to meet at the International Hotel the next morning. In the early morning of July 25, Fang Yexian went out as scheduled. Unfortunately, he never came back. It turns out that this is a scam. That phone call to talk about "Nanyang" business was a poisonous plan set by Wang Puppet Agent. That morning, the kidnappers lurked near the gate of Fang Zhai on Xingjiapo Road (today's Yuyao Road) in Shanghai. As soon as Fang Yexian's car came out of the courtyard, the kidnappers swarmed up and blocked the way of the car. Fang Yexian's bodyguard immediately drew his gun and was shot 7 times by the kidnapper leader Gu Baolin, killing him on the spot. The kidnappers who crowded into the car held Fang Yexian hostage and forced the driver to drive west. Fang Yexian's screams when he was kidnapped were heard by Fang Zhai and surrounding residents. Several servants and Annan patrol officers from the concession rushed over with guns drawn. In desperation, the kidnapper kicked the driver out of the car, turned around and sped away eastward. After kidnapping Fang Yexian, Gu Baolin saw the concession patrol chasing him and drove the car to another stronghold of the No. 22 spy organization in Jingyunli. Gu Baolin gave Fang Yexian an injection of anesthetic, causing him to fall into coma again, and then quietly transported him to "No. 76" and handed him over to Wu Shibao. Wu Shibao, formerly known as Wu Sibao, was Li Shiqun's right-hand man. He used assassinations, bombings, kidnappings and other means to kill anti-Japanese comrades and patriots, and became the dominant force in Shanghai at that time. Why did Wu Shibao kidnap Fang Yexian? Firstly, Fangfang does not cooperate with the Japanese and puppets politically; secondly, Fangfang is a giant businessman, and he can make a lot of money from him. After receiving the "meat ticket", Wu Shibao said to Fang Yexian who regained consciousness: "You were 'arrested' because of your connection with Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing. Now hurry up and 'confess'." Wu Shibao showed his true face and asked Fang Yexian to write a reply Family, ask the family to redeem the person with money. Unexpectedly, Fang Yexian refused to accept this trick. He sternly refused all his unreasonable demands and scolded Wu Shibao: "I have no contact with Chongqing at all. You kidnapped me and imposed charges on me. You are bandits and robbers!" Wu Shibao became angry and arrested him. He beat Fang Yexian all over his head and face with a belt, and then used a water pipe to pour cold water into Fang Yexian's nose. Fang Yexian, who had suffered a gunshot wound and lost too much blood, suffered such torture. He was immediately on the verge of death and was transferred out of "No. 76". Within a few days, he stopped breathing with hatred.