In 1922, due to the failure of stock trading, the 35-year-old Chiang Kai-shek hit a low point in his life. He wrote in his diary that because all his savings were lost in the stock market, he did not even have money to buy clothes or pay tuition for his son Chiang Ching-kuo.

In 1922, due to the failure of stock trading, Chiang Kai-shek , 35 years old, fell into a low ebb in his life. He wrote in his diary that because all his savings were lost in the stock market, he could not even buy clothes and pay tuition for his son Chiang Ching-kuo . No money at all.

At this time, the person who saved him was the revolutionary mentor Sun Yat-sen. In June 1922, Chen Jiongming sent troops to besiege the Presidential Palace in Guangzhou and openly rebelled against Sun Yat-sen. Sun Yat-sen gradually realized that if he wanted the revolution to win, it was essential to have his own armed force.

For this reason, in September 1923, Sun Yat-sen lent Chiang Kai-shek a sum of money to help Chiang Kai-shek pay off his debts, and sent a delegation led by Chiang Kai-shek to visit Soviet Russia to ask the Soviet Union for its successful experience in building a party and an army.

Chiang Kai-shek and Sun Yat-sen

After returning from their visit to the Soviet Union, Chiang Kai-shek served as the principal of Huangpu Military Academy and resumed his military career. From then on, he separated from the stock market and never traded in stocks again.

So, what was the motivation for Chiang Kai-shek to embark on a career in stock trading? What was the reason that made him, who was always smart, lose all his money? Today, let all readers follow the author and walk into Chiang Kai-shek's career as a stock investor...

Huangpu Military Academy

1. Entering the stock market for the first time: encountering financial trends

Speaking of Chiang Kai-shek's motivation for stock trading, it was initially for the revolutionary cause. In December 1916, in order to raise funds for the revolution, Sun Yat-sen decided to open an exchange in Shanghai with the Japanese shipping giant Toyoichi Mikami, and recruited Shanghai business tycoons Yu Qiaqing, Zhang Jingjiang and others to support the exchange.

After the Beiyang government had issued approval to establish an exchange, Sun Yat-sen's Shanghai Stock Exchange was officially established and opened in 1920 due to the successive encounters with Zhang Xun's restoration and the law-enforcement war.

In the exchange at that time, Yu Qiaqing was the chairman and Zhang Jingjiang was the alternate director. Because Chiang Kai-shek invested less principal in the exchange, he only became an ordinary shareholder in the exchange, but this was when Chiang Kai-shek stepped into the exchange. An original opportunity for the stock market.

Kuomintang veteran Zhang Jingjiang

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek encountered difficulties in his military career. Although he became the commander of the second detachment of the Guangdong Army under the guidance of Xu Chongzhi, due to the regional factionalism in the eyes of the Guangdong Army, as a Zhejiang native, Chiang Kai-shek was often ostracized.

In April 1920, Chiang Kai-shek left Guangdong and returned to Shanghai, where he restarted the stock trading business with his fellow Zhejiang residents. At that time, the threshold for stock exchanges was relatively low. Anyone with capital could enter and play.

To this end, he generously spent 5,000 silver dollars and jointly funded and established a securities investment company called "Youai" with his elder brother Chen Qimei's nephew Chen Guofu. This was Chiang Kai-shek's brave investment in the stock market in his youth. first attempt.

Chen Guofu is like

However, the operation and development of the "Friendly" company was not as smooth as Chiang Kai-shek expected. Due to the interference of foreign capitalists, Shanghai suddenly encountered a financial crisis. The international silver price plummeted, and all Chinese businessmen's foreign business was affected. Influence.

Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Guofu's "Friendly" company was no exception. It suffered a lot of losses, which made Chiang Kai-shek also complain in his diary: If our financial institutions are in the hands of foreigners, the Chinese people will be squeezed from time to time. It is really sad. What a shame!

Regarding the first failure, stock investor Chiang Kai-shek concluded that it was due to the control of foreign capitalist . Therefore, domestic financial reform is imperative. Generally speaking, Chiang Kai-shek's summary is reasonable, but it seems to be excusing his lack of experience and business acumen.

However, for Chiang Kai-shek, an ordinary stock investor, he was "cut off leeks" when he first entered the stock market, and he could only admit that he was unlucky. Of course, his "leek" career has just begun, please read on.

Photos of "Chiang Kai-shek's Diary"

The second and second stage: one loss after another

Chiang Kai-shek, who failed in his first business venture, was not willing to give up, and soon started his second attempt, still with his old partner Chen Guofu, in finance After the storm ended, they jointly opened the May 4th Office in Shanghai.

Office No. 54, brand name "Maoxin", engaged in two businesses: cotton and securities. Chen Guofu served as manager and agent. Chiang Kai-shek was also a military officer of the Guangdong Military Government at this time, so "Maoxin" business Most of them were managed by Chen Guofu and Zhu Shoumei, a fellow Chiang Kai-shek.

Due to lack of experience, "Maoxin" lost 1,700 yuan on the first day it opened. Chiang Kai-shek also lost all his money on the securities exchange stocks purchased by Zhu Shoumei.

Stocks on the Shanghai Stock Exchange during the Republic of China

This is mainly due to Zhu Shoumei's wrong operation. He did not buy when the price was low, and only stopped buying when the price was high. Chiang Kai-shek also criticized Zhu Shoumei in his diary for being "unreliable" and "deplorable"!

However, the misfortune did not leave Chiang Kai-shek. He had already suffered a big loss when he bought the stock at a high price. When Chiang Kai-shek left Shanghai and returned to Guangdong, the stock price suddenly fell back. Calculated, the total loss this time was more than 7,000 yuan.

What is the concept of 7,000 yuan in 1920? In 1919, Mao Zedong was working as a librarian in the library of Peking University. His monthly salary at that time was 8 yuan.

is equivalent to the money Chiang Kai-shek lost from stock trading. As a working-class man, Mao Zedong would have taken nearly 900 months to earn it back!

After the young Mao Zedong resembled

, Chiang Kai-shek felt that this failure was because he did not listen to the fortune teller's words about his bad luck in May and June, so he made a special trip to Putuo Mountain in Zhejiang to visit Guanyin Bodhisattva and relieve himself by traveling. My own frustrated mood.

Can Guanyin Bodhisattva really bless one’s bad luck? Can Chiang Kai-shek, who has suffered repeated losses, make a good turnaround for his stock market career? Please continue reading below.

Three and three stages: Time comes and turns

Due to the poor operation of "Maoxin", Chiang Kai-shek contacted his old buddy Zhang Jingjiang to discuss the reorganization of "Maoxin". At this time, Chiang Kai-shek's business was not going well and he was depressed. He even beat up his coachman on the way, which shows the impact of the ups and downs of the stock market on Chiang Kai-shek's life.

"Chiang Kai-shek's Diary" like

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek, who was preparing to make a big splash in the stock market again, was suddenly summoned by Sun Yat-sen and asked him to come and serve as the chief of staff of the Second Army of the Guangdong Army. This was something he had never done before. high position.

So, Chiang Kai-shek returned to Guangzhou, but soon he had a conflict with Chen Jiongming and the Cantonese army due to the old reason - factional struggle, and ran back to his hometown in Zhejiang.

Although his military career was not going well, Chiang Kai-shek's performance in the stock market rebounded significantly at this time. In December 1920, Chiang Kai-shek came to Shanghai again and cooperated with Zhang Jingjiang, Dai Jitao , Chen Guofu and others to open a new "Hengtai" office, still doing the cotton and securities business of "Maoxin".

According to "Chen Jieru's Memoirs", Chiang Kai-shek studied financial books every day at that time, learning how to buy stocks and invest, and he never tired of it. He was bound to get over the last failure and fight a beautiful turnaround.

Chen Jiongming is like

Chiang Kai-shek, who had experience and knowledge, was also lucky this time. In 1921, Shanghai's financial industry ushered in a bull market. "Hengtai" office made a profit of 500,000 yuan only half a year after its opening. During this period, Chiang Kai-shek Others faced the wind and followed the trend, and opened three more offices, namely Liyuan, Xinfeng and Dingxin.

During this period, the business momentum of the original "Maoxin" company also began to increase. According to Chen Guofu's recollection, the company's share capital at that time increased from 10,000 to 15,000 yuan, and slowly increased to 30,000 yuan every day. The expenses were less than 30 yuan, and the profit was considerable. It can be imagined that the company's business was booming at that time.

Because he made a fortune in the stock market, Chiang Kai-shek's nature of eating, drinking, prostitution and gambling was revealed again. According to his diary in 1920, during this period, he often went out to eat and drink, look for flowers and flowers, and spent time in and out of romantic places. The number of times increased instantly.

Prostitutes in the Republic of China looked like

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek already had three wives and went to prostitutes everywhere. He changed his past behavior. It can be seen that the stock market really made a lot of money, which is why he had so many "evil thoughts" ( According to his diary).

At the same time, when Chiang Kai-shek checked his annual expenditure at the end of 1920, he found that he had spent seven to eight thousand yuan in one year. This also shocked him, and he reflected deeply in his diary.

It can be seen that Chiang Kai-shek is like many Chinese stock investors who became rich overnight. Once they made money, they drifted away and did not know how to save. They had to spend it all to be happy.

During this period, Chiang Kai-shek was very proud of his success and lived a very unhappy life relying on the money earned by five companies in the stock market. However, the good times did not last long, and Chiang Kai-shek's stock trading career would be overshadowed again.

Republic of China coins

Four and four stages: losing all money again

Just when Chiang Kai-shek made his first pot of gold in the stock market, at the end of 1921, the stock market in the Republic of China began to take a sharp turn. It turned out that the prosperity of the exchanges was entirely due to the majority of investors. The false prosperity caused by following the trend of speculation will expose its shortcomings once it encounters big fluctuations in policies and markets.

At this time, Chen Guofu had a premonition that a "big change" in the stock market was coming, and decided to run away in advance. Chiang Kai-shek, on the other hand, was not satisfied with the current status quo of profits and felt that he could hold on for a while and refused to delist.

At the beginning of 1922, due to the funding gap in the market, more and more people defaulted on stock market transactions, and the reputation of the national stock market went bankrupt. Shareholders began to panic, stock selling came like snowflakes, and stock prices in all markets continued to fall.

Republic of China company stock

In this case. This wave of false prosperity in the stock market that started at the end of 1921 was completely broken. Various stock exchanges in Shanghai went bankrupt. Only 12 of the original 150 exchanges were left in March 1922.

In the newspaper, some people commented that this trend has reached the point where "yesterday's rich people are now beggars" and "the poor have no place to stand". It is obvious that this financial trend has spread widely and is powerful.

Chiang Kai-shek, who did not seize the opportunity to delist, was also not immune. The shares of his Securities Exchange plunged from 50 yuan a month ago to 6 yuan. Maoxin, Hengtai, Liyuan, and Xinfeng under the exchange Five companies, including Jiangsu and Dingxin, were also affected one after another. The company's losses reached more than 600,000 yuan, and Chiang Kai-shek and his party suffered heavy losses.

The "letter communication" trend in the Republic of China

Zhou Junyan, a fellow countryman who co-founded a company with Chiang Kai-shek, even committed suicide by jumping into the Huangpu River twice because he owed more than 200,000 yuan in the stock market; Hong Shanqiang, a trader of a bull group, was forced to commit suicide. This shows that this The severity of a stock market crash.

Due to the heavy losses, Chiang Kai-shek was extremely depressed at that time. One can imagine the extent of his poverty. As shown at the beginning of the article, he did not buy clothes or pay tuition for his son.

Chiang Kai-shek once again reflected on the reasons for losing all his money in his diary. First, he attributed the blame to Zhang Jingjiang, blaming him for handing over the company to others without taking any care of him. Second, he complained that Chen Guofu had problems and blamed him for being unjust. , running too fast, not telling yourself the correct information, and shirking responsibility can be seen.

At this moment, Chiang Kai-shek's mother Wang Caiyu passed away. In order to organize a decent funeral for his mother, the filial son Chiang Kai-shek borrowed a lot of debt. Creditors came to the door one after another, so the house leaked and it rained all night. Where should Chiang Kai-shek go at this time?

Wang Caiyu and Chiang Kai-shek

5. Ending: Helpless delisting

During this period, Chiang Kai-shek was heavily in debt. In desperation, he could only seek help from his fellow countryman and Shanghai business leader Yu Qiaqing. Yu Qiaqing not only lent Chiang Kai-shek 60,000 yuan to make "revolution" "Funds", also suggested that Chiang Kai-shek should become a disciple of Huang Jinrong, the boss of Shanghai's Youth Gang at that time, and Huang Huangrong would come forward to solve his debt problem.

Chiang Kai-shek accepted this suggestion and officially changed his name to "Chiang Zhiqing" and became a disciple of Huang Jinrong. Later, he invited various creditors to have dinner with Huang Jinrong.

Huang Huangrong told various creditors at the banquet: "Chiang Kai-shek will be my apprentice from now on. Just take care of his debts and I will take care of them." As soon as these words came out, no one dared to come, and all creditors gave up one after another. .

Huang Jinrong and Chiang Kai-shek

At the same time, Sun Yat-sen also suffered. In June 1922, Chen Jiongming launched a mutiny, and Sun Yat-sen was forced to retreat to the Yongfeng ship on the Pearl River . He issued an urgent notice to all parties, calling on revolutionary comrades to come save.

The impoverished Chiang Kai-shek had nothing to do at this time, so he borrowed 200 yuan from Huang Jinrong, came to Guangzhou, and personally guarded Sun Yat-sen on the Yongfeng ship for more than 30 days. Since then, he has won Sun Yat-sen's trust.

In September 1922, Chiang Kai-shek wrote to Zhang Jingjiang, hoping to borrow some money to repay his debts. He mentioned in the letter that he was unable to pay tuition for his son and could not afford clothes, and hoped to get help from Zhang Jingjiang.

Chiang Kai-shek and Sun Yat-sen

Zhang Jingjiang told Sun Yat-sen about Chiang Kai-shek's situation. Due to his previous relationship, Sun Yat-sen secretly raised 2,500 yuan and asked others to remit it to Chiang Kai-shek to help him pay off his debts. He also sent Chiang Kai-shek to Soviet Russia for inspection and study. Chiang Kai-shek officially ended his stock market career and started another career.

However, according to the memories of Huangpu student Chen Geng who was kind to Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek often took out the radio to inquire about the stock market conditions in Shanghai during his second Eastern Expedition in 1925. It can be seen that although this investor lost too much money But I had no choice but to delist, but I still miss the days when I made a lot of money! This is really ridiculous!

Chen Geng like

Just like that, Chiang Kai-shek's stock market storm finally came to an end. Although he had no choice but to delist, during this stock trading process, Because he had dealt with capitalists and gangsters in Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek knew better. How to win the support of the plutocrats will be of great help to his future rise among the new warlords.

After hearing this historical event, what are your feelings and thoughts about Chiang Kai-shek’s experience in stock trading? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to express your views and discuss and communicate with the author and other readers.