Gao Xingqiao (1881-1948), the founder of Tianjin Quanyechang, was a native of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. He was a blacksmith and was smart and eager to learn since childhood. At the beginning of the 20th century, he served as a scale clerk at the Zhili Jingxing Coal Mine. He was deeply appreciated by the German Hannagan, the mine's supervisor. He later served as the manager of the guaranteed coal sales department of the mine. He was re-elected for ten years and gradually accumulated savings. He first worked in Wangdaozhuang, Hedong. Thousands of bungalows were built, and Huachang Gold Store was opened in Beimenli. In 1920, Tianjin Shopping Mall was opened. As Tianjin's commercial center of gravity gradually moved southward, Gao Xingqiao selected an open space on Road 21 in the French Concession after a period of investigation. At that time, buildings had been built on the two corners of this open space. To the north was the Zhejiang Industrial Bank, completed in 1925; to the south was the Huizhong Hotel, completed in 1926; on the east and west sides were scattered several low bungalows; in the middle was Tianxiang The inventory of the hawker shop is stocked with scrap wood, furniture, and building materials such as sand and gravel.
Gao Xingqiao had a unique vision and predicted that this place would have great development in the future, so he spent a huge sum of one hundred and four thousand taels of silver to buy this area from the British Xiannong Company with ambition and courage. Five and a half acres of land. After the contract for purchasing the land was signed, Gao Xingqiao spent another 10,000 taels of silver on the introduction of the French Ministry of Industry to hire Abre, a French engineer from the "Yonghe Company" to be responsible for the design of the building, assisted by a Shanghai engineer.
According to preliminary estimates based on the design drawings, the construction of this shopping mall would require more than one million oceans. Given Gao Xingqiao's financial resources at the time, it was difficult. After repeated consideration, he decided to set up a joint-stock company to build the mall. Gao Xingqiao went through various trustees and tried his best to persuade Prince Qing Zai Zhen to become the second shareholder of Quanyechang, adding three shares, or 300,000 yuan. Zai Zhen named the mall "Tianjin Quanyechang" because The meaning of the word "Encouraging Industry" conformed to the trend of "saving the country through industry" advocated by the society at that time. Gao Xingqiao was quite satisfied with the name of "Encouraging Industry".