Zuo Zongtang admired two "red-top businessmen" most in his life. Hu Xueyan was famous all over the world, Ye Wenlan was lackluster. Ye Wenlan presided over the development of China's first modern coal mine, Keelung Coal Mine, and the first modern oil mine, Chushuangkeng Oil Mine. During the Sino-French War, he made great contributions by breaking through the French blockade and delivering military pay to the Taiwan defenders. Why Ye Wenlan, an important figure in modern history, has been buried for so long is a question worth pondering.
The Secret of Ye Wenlan's Letter to Xia Xianlun
In 2015, an auction company launched the auction "Ye Wenlan's Letter to Xia Xianlun". The following year, another auction company's introduction said: "Internal literature and the salary of foreign workers hired in Taiwan. Ye Wenlan, No. Qingqu, Xiamen . In the early years of Tongzhi, Taiwan Dai Chaochun uprising, he protected grain and salary and protected the fortress, and was rewarded with a blue feather. Shen Baozhen Shipbuilding was built in Fuzhou, and he was the chief engineer. Zuo Zongtang also appointed him as the Shaanxi-Gansu Road Grain Station to accumulate merit. The company did not notice that the two "foreign workers" Jian Shi and Luo Ke mentioned in the article were oil drilling technicians hired from the American oil city of Titusville. This is the first time in Chinese history that foreign technicians have been hired to drill for oil in China.
Letter from Ye Wenlan to Xia Xianlun
This letter is an urgent letter written by Ye Wenlan to Xia Xianlun of Taiwan Military Preparation Road on October 16, 1878 (the ninth month of the lunar calendar) when Ye Wenlan was supervising Taiwan's mining affairs and managing oil mine development. The letter was urgent to deal with the collapse of American petroleum technicians Jian Shi and Locke when they were mining in a sulfur pit in Taiwan. In addition, malaria was prevalent in the oil mine area. Just after the one-year contract expired, the two came to the fresh water company to find Ye Wenlan claiming to be ill and asked for settlement of the balance of wages and payment of travel expenses. This incident was a major blow to Ye Wenlan and was also the darkest moment in the history of China's oil development. This letter is an important document on the development history of China Petroleum . The special bullet points are as follows, and the English name of the American is added:
Your Excellency Xiao Gong Fang Bo, Grand Duke Zu:
Jing Fei Suzhe. Yesterday, I received an inch of paper and it was included in the table reading. A. Port Karns and Robert D. Locke came to the hospital for treatment and found some improvement. He came to negotiate with him in the evening and returned to work after he recovered. He told them that the foreign workers and others believed that they were prone to diseases due to their land and water, and medicine was more than 200 miles away. They were desperate and wanted to return to China. They asked for salary and Sichuan capital totaling several hundred yuan. They also claimed that if they did not give it, the consul would ask the Taiwanese government to give it to them. Etc. In the evening, the entrusters repeatedly tried to persuade him to stay, waiting for Robert Morrison Brown to arrive in Taiwan. Yi and others repeatedly asked about their salary, and in the evening they also replied that they would wait until Brown came to calculate and remit the money, intending to delay the payment of salary, so Yi and others could not leave in a hurry. It's been a long time since Brunang arrived today, but Yi and others are eager to return home. After arriving late, their illness worsened, and it was difficult to move even half a step. I wished I could knock on the Chongyan and listen to instructions. Since this was said at the time of writing, I had to send a special letter to ask for instructions whether it should be allocated by Shanghai Customs. I listened to the consul's note and then debated it. I prayed for instructions. As for the foreign workers in the oil industry, it seems difficult to force them to retain them. It is planned that Brown can come to Taiwan within a few days and discuss with them, or they can recruit people nearby to find out how to take over. I wrote a special letter to ask for your blessing, and I am waiting for your reply. No.
Zhiwansheng Wen Landun's first post September 19th
Xia Xianlun (1837-1879), courtesy name Fuchen and Xiaotao, was born in Xinjian, Jiangxi Province. He was the chief envoy of Taiwan Bingbeidao. Ye Wenlan respected him as "Xiao Gong Fangbo". "Grand Duke Zu" is the honorific title given to local officials by the people of this province. He called himself "zhiwansheng" to mean the juniors under the other party's rule. Jian Shi and Locke were two American petroleum technicians hired by Tang Tingshu from the United States through Rong Hong in 1877, with Locke serving as his assistant. Robert Morrison Brown is the son of Samuel Robbins Brown, the principal of Morrison Education Association School in Macau and Hong Kong. He was born in Hong Kong and has lived in China and Japan for a long time. Brown's involvement in this matter was due to his relationship with Rong Hong and Tang Tingshu, of whom Bao Liuyun was their mentor.In October 1877, Jianshi and Locke arrived in Shanghai. Brown was responsible for receiving them, taking them sightseeing around Shanghai and its surroundings, and treating them to Chinese food. "Shanghai Customs" here should not refer to Shanghai Jiangguan Customs, but to Tamsui Customs located at the end of Shanghai.
After receiving the telegram from the Tang Dynasty, Rong Hong entrusted his brother-in-law, Dr. E.W. Kellogg, to make a special trip to Titusville, Pennsylvania, to find oil technicians. This is where "Colonel Drake" drilled the world's first oil well in 1859. Dr. Kellogg found the famous local oil company Gibbs Sterrett Manufacturing Company. Through the company's introduction, he hired an experienced technician named Jian Shi. Jian Shi also proposed to hire an additional assistant, Locke, to come to China with him and order machines and tools at the same time. The two set out from Titusville and arrived in Shanghai on October 13, 1877. They stayed at the famous Astor House. The person who received them in Shanghai was Brown. On November 28, the two signed a formal contract with Zheng Yingjie, a member of the Taiwan Trade and Industry Bureau, in Fucheng, Taiwan ( Tainan ).
Chinese copy of the contract
Ye Wenlan's position at this time was Taiwan Mining Supervisor. In addition to the direct operation and management of the Keelung Coal Mine, the development of Taiwan's sulfur, camphor, and oil fell within his scope of responsibility. Why two American oilmen came to Taiwan to mine oil is a long story.
The discovery of the Miaoli Chushuangkeng Oil Mine
The Miaoli Chushuangkeng Oil Mine was located in a place that historically belonged to Hsinchu County, Hsinchu County, and Miaoli County. During the Xianfeng period, a Guangdong Hakka named Qiu Gou discovered an oil spring in Chusuangkeng of Maoli Creek (later called Miaoli Creek). In his early years, Qiu Gou's father, Qiu Shizhao, and his partners petitioned the government to reclaim the mountain farm in this area. Qiu Gou served as the "Lifan Tongshi", that is, he acted as an interpreter between the Gaoshan tribe (who was derogatorily called "Shengfan" at the time) and the Han people. He first leased the oil spring to Wu for mining, and then leased it to John Dodd of Baoshun Company. There was a conflict between the two, which almost led to a fight. Qiu Gou colluded with the Gaoshan tribesmen to "choutao" to kill people, and was hunted down by the government. In 1870, he was "executed on the spot" and manual mining of oil wells was suspended. At that time, the government and the people did not understand that this was petroleum and mistakenly thought it was related to sulfur, so they called it "sulfur oil". In 1869, Charles William Le Gendre (also translated as Li Lirang and Li Zhende), the U.S. consul in Xiamen, wrote a business report and called this product "Rock Oil". When Li Gendre's book "Notes on Travel in Formosa" was translated into Chinese in 1874, it was literally translated as "oil", which is probably the origin of the Chinese word "oil". The Chinese translation manuscript or manuscript of this book is collected in the Institute of History and Linguistics of the " Academia Sinica " in Taiwan. In 1962, it was compiled and published in the " Taiwan Literature Series ". The organizer "does not know who translated it". The author speculates that the translator of this book should be Sit Ming Cook, a translator at the U.S. Consulate in Xiamen.
Todd and his assistant took photos at the oil well
According to the "History of Taiwan's Foreign Relations", in 1870, Chinese Xue Minggu served as a translator for the U.S. Consulate in Xiamen. The following year, Wen Yu, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, sent someone to ask Xue Minggu himself. Xue claimed that he was "27 years old, originally from Panyu County, Guangzhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province. He traveled to the United States in the eighth year of Xianfeng and learned American pronunciation and foreign characters. In the third year of Tongzhi, he returned to Guangdong to work in Yangguan. In the seventh year, he was transferred to Yangguan, Shanghai. In the ninth year, he came to Xiamen to serve as an interpreter at the Li Consulate in New Bedford, Massachusetts..." Xue Minggu once worked in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Bedford has been studying for 6 years, and claiming to be "traveling in the ocean" is probably a cover-up. Before the Opium War , a considerable number of American businessmen who came to Guangzhou for trade were from Massachusetts. A small number of businessmen continued to stay in Hong Kong and Guangzhou after the Opium War. It is very likely that Xue Minggu went to the United States to study with these American businessmen. Xue Minggu was fluent in both Chinese and English. His salary at the Xiamen Consulate was as high as 720 yuan. After inspecting the Xiamen Consulate in 1871, U.S. government inspector Randolph Keim spoke highly of his ability and recommended that he be given a salary increase to 1,200 yuan. In this way, the Chinese word "petroleum" should have been first translated by Xue Minggu.Xue Minggu was later recruited by Tang Tingshu to work in the Investment Promotion Bureau. He provided financial support to Shanghai Gezhi Academy all year round. He returned to Guangzhou in his later years and became one of the important shareholders of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway Company.
The word "petroleum" in "Taiwan Stories"
Taiwan's modern development was first planned and put into practice by famous officials Shen Baozhen and Ding Richang. In 1874, the Japanese army invaded Taiwan under the pretext of the "Peony Society" incident. Shen Baozhen was ordered to patrol Taiwan and negotiate with the Japanese, eventually causing the Japanese to withdraw. In order to enhance Taiwan's economic strength and accelerate modernization, Shen Baozhen was particularly enthusiastic about the development of natural resources and noticed the importance of the Chushuangkeng Oil Mine. He wrote to Li Zhaotang, Tianjin Customs Department, asking him to attract businessmen to develop oil in Taiwan. In 1876, Ding Richang became the governor of Fujian and sent Taiwanese Dao Xia Xianlun to investigate the Chusangkeng oil mine. Later, he and Wen Yu, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, reported to the court: "According to foreigners, if this oil is dredged with machines, tens of thousands of kilograms can be obtained every day. However, If you don’t believe it, someone who is familiar with the matter must first buy small machines and hire foreign workers to drill and test them. If you make a little profit beyond the cost of the work, you can proceed to support the poor people overseas, that is, to put an end to the delusions of traitors.” ("Chinese Modern History Materials Series". "Westernization Movement" Volume 7, page 71)
Ding Richang took the matter seriously, and together with Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang , Nanyang Minister Shen Baozhen, and Shipping Minister Wu Zancheng jointly reported to the court, appointed Ye Wenlan, chief engineer of the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau, to be stationed in Taiwan specifically to supervise Taiwan's mining affairs. "It is hereby verified that Ye Wenlan, who has the title of chief envoy and is inscribed in Guangdong, has been the director of the project for more than ten years since he founded the shipbuilding industry. He has been working hard and forgetting his own interests... It is proposed to send Ye Wenlan to Taiwan to supervise the coal mines and other matters to ensure their completion. We still order the local officials to work together to avoid constraints, and to inspect the sulfur dioxide separately. Sulfur, sulfur oil, camphor, and tea can all be mined gradually.” (ibid., pp. 72-73) “According to reports, there is a well in the Niuzhuoshan area of Tamsui Hall. The locals who inquired said that the oil produced there is only a hundred pounds a day, but foreigners have said that this oil can be used. If you drill with a machine, you can get about a hundred stones a day. We have now ordered the Dao to purchase a small machine first and hire a skilled craftsman to come and test the operation. We can hope that more oil will be produced and profits will be greater. " (Page 74-75 of the same book)
Ding Richang asked Ye Wenlan to hire foreign craftsmen to "test and start a business", but Ye could not find a way for a while. It happened that Tang Tingshu, the General Office of the Investment Promotion Bureau, was called by Ding Richang to go to Fujian to assist with foreign affairs.
Who is Dick Suie?
Robert D. Locke, an American technician's assistant who came to Miaoli to develop oil, has been involved in oil exploration since he was 12 years old. His educational level was not high, but the diary he left behind on this trip to the Far East was very precious. He recorded the entire process of preparations and drilling in his own very simple language. Dick Suie, a Chinese who appears frequently in Locke's Diary, has long been misunderstood as Tang Tingshu.
The use of machines to mine oil is truly the first time. The Taiwanese government has no experience. There are no roads from the mining area to the outside world, and there is a lack of transportation. The wood and coal required for oil mining are unprepared. Procurement and transportation are time-consuming. The oil well is not far from the Miaoli (Houtong) stream. There is a lot of rainfall. The ground is soft and full of mud, and collapses occur from time to time. All these increase the difficulty of constructing oil wells. It was not until August 3, 1882 that the first barrel of oil was produced from the oil well. However, the two oilmen had to deal with collapse problems urgently from time to time, making it difficult to concentrate on drilling. In the summer and autumn of this year, malaria was prevalent in the Houlong area. On July 27, two soldiers protecting the oil wells died of malaria. By September 14, most people near the oil wells were infected with the disease. Jian Shi and Locke had to leave one after another to go to Tamsui for treatment.
's diary records that on January 17, 1878, a certain Dick Suie came to Chushuangkeng Mine. Locke's diary seldom called him by his first name after that, and he was respectfully called "Taotai" (Taotai). On January 16, American technicians needed to cut down a nearby large tree to build a derrick. Locals said that anyone who cut down this tree would get sick or even die.The next afternoon, Dick Suie came to the station and helped them bring letters and newspapers from Tatisville, "he has full charge of the oil business now" (he is now in full charge of the oil business). On the 18th, Dick Suie followed the oilman to the location of the oil spring. He held a ceremony and asked the gods if the tree could be cut down, and received a positive answer. On the 19th, two oilmen saw a group of people carrying a headless corpse and found out that it was beheaded by "Sheng Fan" eight or nine miles away. Dick Suie's courage to go deep into the hinterland where "Shengfan" is found is commendable. The machine shipped from the United States was too heavy, so the oilman suggested ordering a large-scale oxcart for transportation. Dick Suie asked them to make a scale model of the oxcart, and he asked a Chinese carpenter in Houlong Town to build it. The 20th was Sunday, and the oilsmith continued to make models. "道台" told them that he had forgotten that it was Sunday and asked them to work, apologizing to them. On the 24th and 25th, the oilman followed the "Daotai" to survey the terrain and planned to build a road from here to Houlong for transportation. On January 29, after arranging various on-site work, "Daotai" left the oil well and returned to the coal port to work. Judging from the word "went back" used by Locke, the main working location of "Daotai" is at the coal dock attached to the Keelung Coal Mine. On July 18, "Daotai" came to the oil well to visit. After hearing that the first barrel of oil was drilled from the oil well, Dick Suie still braved the danger to come to Chusuangkeng on August 17, a day when malaria was prevalent, and did not leave until about October 10.
In 1981, Samson Hsing-chang Kuo, a Chinese scholar at Georgetown University in the United States, wrote his doctoral thesis "Drilling oil in Taiwan: A case study of two American Technicians' contribution to modernization in late nineteenth-century China" based on Locke's diary and historical materials collected in the United States. Since Tang Tingshu held the title of "Alternate Dao" at this time, Dr. Kuo recognized these two English words as "Dick Sine" and very recklessly inferred that this person was Tong King Sing (Tong King Sing), that is, Tang Tingshu. Since then, the academic circle in Taiwan has generally followed this error.
Taiwan's " China Petroleum Corporation " scholar Chen Zhengsan wrote "American Oilman in Taiwan - 1877-78 Miaoli Oil Production Trip at Chushuang Pit" based on Locke's diary, this doctoral thesis and his personal interpretation of Taiwan's history. He also mistook Dick Suie for Tang Tingshu. This book is very popular in Taiwan, and probably everyone who studies the history of oil development in Taiwan will refer to it. Therefore, this mistake has been widely praised and has never been corrected. Chen Zhengsan is also familiar with modern Taiwanese history, but he has no doubts about Dick Suie's "return to Coal Harbor". For Tang Tingshu, whose main jobs are in Shanghai, Tianjin, and Kaiping, going to Keelung Coal Port is definitely not a "return". Even if he says "return" to Tainan, it is still in the past. After all, Tainan is the main port to and from Xiamen. Tang Tingshu may have had ideas for the mining of Keelung Coal Mine, but Keelung Coal Mine was not his job. The one who "returned" to Keelung Coal Port was definitely not Tang Tingshu.
On the cover of "American Oil Craftsmen in Taiwan"
Dr. Kuo believes that from August 14 to October 10, 1878, Tang Tingshu was active in Chusangkeng Oil Mine and Houlang, guiding and supervising two American technicians. Zhuhai Museum librarian Tang Yue and Macau University of Science and Technology doctoral student Bin Muxin have both studied Tang Tingshu. They reminded me that Tang Tingshu was busy with the opening of Kaiping Coal Mine at that time and could not stay in Taiwan for nearly two months. Tang Yue provided a report in " Universal Gazette " on September 21, 1878: "In the previous report, Tang Jingxing observed that he was ordered by Prime Minister Li Bo to supervise the committee members and directors to handle the affairs of the Kaiping Coal Mine Bureau. This is to investigate. It is reported that Tang Tingshu went to Kaiping immediately after arriving in Tianjin. After all arrangements were made, he returned to Tianjin and started in Tianjin on the 8th of this month. "It is impossible for Tang Tingshu to stay in Houlong and the oil well area from August 14 to October 10.
ruled out the possibility of Tang Tingshu, and the author turned his attention to Ye Wenlan. Ye Wenlan, a native of Tong'an, Fujian Province, "abandoned his studies at a young age, traveled overseas, and learned the languages of various islands in Southeast Asia." During the Xianfeng period, he went to San Francisco to make a living in the United States. In 1866, Zuo Zongtang founded the Fujian Shipping Bureau.Considering that handling the shipping administration bureau requires more practical industrial and commercial knowledge and experience in dealing with foreigners, Zuo Zongtang decisively appointed Hu Xueyan as a promotion and Ye Wenlan as the chief engineer of the shipping administration. In the early days of the Shipping Bureau, the shipbuilding bureau needed strong timber from Southeast Asia to manufacture wooden-hulled and wooden-sided ships. Ye Wenlan went deep into the wild wind and rain and carefully selected high-quality nara wood for the shipyard. Ye Wenlan's contribution to Fujian shipping has been described in detail in articles by scholars such as Li Hongwei and Shen Lüning, so there is no need to list it in detail.
For a long time, people have known about the famous Xiamen businessman Ye Deshui and the chief shipping engineer Ye Wenlan, but they thought they were two people. It seems that it was not until 2015 that Dalian scholar Li Hongwei published the article "From Overseas Chinese Workers to Successful Businessmen, Philanthropists and State-owned Enterprise Executives - The Legendary Life of Ye Wenlan" and quoted Taiwanese scholar Wu Yide's "Research on the Ye Family of Xintai Ji Behind the Flag", and it was clearly identified that Ye Wenlan was Ye Deshui.
Ye Wenlan's English name is Tuck Suey, which is the transliteration of the word "德水" into English. Locke mistakenly spelled it as Dick Suie according to the pronunciation. Dr. Kuo further mistook it for Dick Sine, which is beyond recognition. This mistake concealed Ye Wenlan's contribution to the development of the Chusuangkeng oil mine in Miaoli. He went deep into the Chusu Pit where "Shengfan" was haunted three times. The first time was from January 17th to 29th, 1882, the second time was on July 18th, and the third time he stayed the longest, from August 14th to October 10th. On the last two occasions, he risked contracting malaria to come to the mining area, which was very rare for Ye Wenlan, who was taking care of various affairs such as shipping, coal mining, camphor, and sulfur. After learning about Ye Wenlan's experience in the oil mine, and that he was later ordered to pay compensation due to mining failure, the content of the letter quoted at the beginning of this article is easy to understand. Ye Wenlan hoped that the oil extraction would be successful, but she really didn’t want to let the American technicians go, so she came up with tricks to delay the payment of wages and travel expenses. In the end, when the efforts to retain him were ineffective, she still wanted to ask Brown to continue trying to see if he could find oil extraction technicians nearby (Hong Kong, Japan, etc.) to continue this pioneering business. This time the mining failed, and Ye Wenlan was given a "funding" of more than 20,000 taels. He was disheartened and quit officialdom.
Dick Suie in Locke's Diary
The Secret of the Sino-French War to Aid Taiwan
After the Sino-French War broke out, the French army not only fought undeclared in Mawei, but also destroyed a large number of warships of the Fujian Navy, destroyed the Mawei Shipyard. Taiwan is isolated overseas. Although Liu Mingchuan, who was ordered to lead the Huai Army to defend Taiwan, was brave and resourceful, the French army had no choice but to block the Taiwan Strait. It was difficult to transport military pay, ordnance, and supplies from the mainland. The situation in Taiwan was very critical, and morale was also greatly affected. Faced with the situation in which Taiwan was trapped, the imperial court made repeated orders and urgently asked the governors along the coast to assist Taiwan, but the results were not ideal. This dilemma was first broken by Ye Wenlan.
On October 31, 1884, Li Hongzhang sent a telegram to the Minister of Shipping Zhang Peilun saying: "Shi Shuai said in a telegram that the Decoration Department has allocated 120,000 yuan to transport the buildings in batches and try to transfer them. Is this true? Yesterday, he also telegraphed Ye Wen. Lan exchanged money with the Taiwan Affairs Office, but Wei Yun said that he was discouraged and refused to intervene in official affairs anymore. "("The Complete Works of Li Hongzhang", Volume 21, page 336) "Shi Shuai" refers to the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang Yang Changjun , and "Wei Yun" is Wu Zhongxiang, the chief teacher of Chuanzheng Academy. On November 1, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Zhang Zhidong sent a telegram to Fujian Navy Admiral Peng Chuhan : "Ye Wenlan, the candidate of Xiamen Huifeng Matheson Company, is very capable. He is familiar with Taiwan affairs and prays for business cooperation and economic weapons." Peng Chuhan's reply was "Ye Wenlan has nothing to do." ("Telegram from Duke Zhang Wenxiang (Unpublished)") Is this really the case? Not really. On November 4, Li Hongzhang's telegram to Fujian Chief Minister Shen Baojing revealed the truth: "Ye Wei is tired of being an official." ("Telegram", page 358, Volume 21, of "The Complete Works of Li Hongzhang")
At this time, senior officials from various provinces came to Ye Wenlan for help, but Ye Ze was hesitant. It's not that he doesn't want to serve the country, but that he was tricked by the officialdom too badly when he was helping officials handle Westernization enterprises. When the Chusangkeng oil mine failed, Ye Wenlan was oppressed by senior officials and paid more than 20,000 taels in compensation, which was worth about US$30,000 at the time, which was the value of the two sets of oil extraction machinery and tools purchased in the United States. As a last resort, he resolutely quit the officialdom after more than ten years and became the comprador of HSBC Xiamen Branch.Some articles once believed that Ye Wenlan himself did not enter the HSBC Bank. Zhang Zhidong's telegram to Peng Chuhan confirmed that Ye Wenlan had indeed served as the comprador of HSBC since 1884 at the latest.
In the end, Ye Wenlan still stood up in the face of justice and came forward to deal with the matter. He opened up the connections between Taiwanese businessmen, sent people to sneak across the Taiwan Strait, and delivered the HSBC Bank money order to Taiwan. The Taiwanese businessmen cashed the cash and handed it over to Taiwanese officials. The remittance was smooth, and the first batch amounted to more than 100,000 yuan. The smooth payment of cash greatly boosted the morale of Taiwan's defenders and made the war situation develop in a direction favorable to China.
At the end of 1884, Liu Ming sent a memorial to the imperial court saying: "Before October, the soldiers were critically ill, the enemy was rampant, no support was available, the local bandits took advantage of them, and the ministers were exhausted and had no hope of survival. Fortunately, God was kind and repeatedly ordered ministers from all frontiers to come to the rescue. In early October, Li Hong, the governor of Zhili Yang Changjun, the governor of Zhejiang Province, and the Xia gentry Ye Wenlan exchanged letters with each other. Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Liangjiang, ordered Taoist Gong Zhaoyuan to hire a ship to transport Huaiyong to Liyi. 1 gunpowder etc. Taipei's military situation is far from viable. "
At the beginning of 1885, Li Hongzhang forwarded Ye Wenlan's letter to the Prime Minister's Yamen: "I received a letter from the provincial government on the first day of the third year of the lunar calendar, saying that there was an urgent need for wages and a spark. Fortunately, the provincial capital, Nanyang and Beiyang tried their best to save it, and there was hope of rebirth. ...Taiwan Province reported in June that it had 800,000 yuan in inventory, but only 70,000 yuan was released to Taipei. It was not willing to provide any more relief. Without the support from the mainland, it would have been exhausted. As this matter has not been done, I will ask you for advice in detail. If what you have given me is true, I will be cut off from any support. Tainan's military strength and pay are reliable, but Taipei is in danger..." "Province Three" refers to Liu Mingchuan, who is stationed in Taipei; "Tainan Road" refers to Taiwan Road Liu Ao, who is stationed in Tainan. The two men belong to the Huai Army and Hunan Army systems respectively, and have always been at odds with each other. Liu Mingchuan asked Liu Ao to support the army in Taipei, but Liu Ao used a picture-pancake plan to prevaricate. Liu Mingchuan was forced to inform Li Hongzhang through Ye Wenlan that Taipei was in dire straits and urgently needed "mainland funding." Ye Wenlan used his special channels to solve the urgent need of the Taiwanese defenders.
Subsequently, Ye Wenlan took on the important task of "transferring wages" from various provinces to Taiwan. He also used his special relationship with ocean ships to pretend that Chinese military wages were money from foreign banks and transported them to Taiwan through ocean ship insurance. Former Fujian Navy Admiral Wu Hongyuan took the risk to cross Taiwan at the age of 70. Guangdong Xieji Wu Hongyuan received 50,000 salary, which was also transferred by Ye Wenlan. He reported to Zhang Zhidong: "The commissioned payment of 50,000 yuan for Wuzhen's wages has been received by HSBC. Check that Liu Jueshuai is stationed in Taipei Prefecture , and Wuzhen is stationed in Changhua County. It is easier to transport from Taipei. Now Fujian's wages are paid by ocean ships as foreign money insurance, and now Yinjing arrived in Taipei, and Yu Lan sent people to the place to take him under custody, and everything was done correctly. "("Telegram from Duke Zhang Wenxiang (Unpublished)")
Li Hongzhang's words "Ye Wei was tired of being an official" revealed the bitterness of Ye Wenlan's dealings with the government for more than 20 years. The literati who were watching outside the office that day, especially Yan Guan, who liked to write letters based on rumors, mostly thought that the businessmen who managed the Westernization enterprises relied on the government to make a lot of money. This may be true, but not every businessman was like this. There were many businessmen who suffered losses due to handling Westernization. Jiang Ming's book " Fleet with the Dragon Flag Flying " talks about the unjust case of Wen Zishao, the general manager of the Guangdong Manufacturing Bureau. He was impeached by the imperial censor and dismissed from his post by Zhang Zhidong, and fined 20,000 taels of silver. Later, the government checked the accounts and found that Wen Zishao was not involved in corruption, but was considered a contributor to the development of industry. Wen Zishao was wronged, and all the directors of the Guangdong Rehabilitation Bureau complained about him. They pointed out that the problems that occurred in the early Machinery Bureau were caused by the lack of industrial foundation, lack of skilled workers and unfamiliar workmanship. They were definitely not caused by Wen Zishao's personal enrichment. The number of factories in Guangdong gradually increased, and Wen Zishao played an important role in pioneering the trend. Jiang Ming believed that Zhang Zhidong "was just trying to get rid of Wen Zishao and arrange other close associates to handle the affairs of the bureau." These new businessmen who are isolated and helpless in the officialdom are the most vulnerable to harm, and they all come from well-off families. If they can be fined to pay compensation, why not?
Why was the map of Chulunkeng drawn by Zheng Yihan
buried for so long?
As a comprador of Baoshun Company, chief engineer of shipping, Taiwan Mining Supervisor, and comprador of HSBC Bank, the author believes that English historical materials about Ye Wenlan are still being developed.The reason why English historical materials are not fully utilized is that many researchers do not know that Ye Wenlan is Tuck Suey. As the older generation of scholars trained during the Republic of China gradually aged or passed away, the domestic academic circle's research results on late Qing compradors were not satisfactory. An important reason was that the Chinese and English names did not match up. It is difficult for scholars who grew up under the education of Chinese pinyin to realize that most of the English names of late Qing figures did not use Chinese pinyin, but had various writing methods, which are considered "bizarre" by some people today.
In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, many Cantonese people spelled their names and names according to the Cantonese pronunciation, such as Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yat-sen), Tang Jingxing (Tong King Sing), Zhan Tianyou (Jeme Tien-yao). Some compradors have no surnames at all in English, and use their font size and nickname directly. For example, Guo Song (who was once mistakenly written as "Guo Ganzhang") is called Acheong, and his former nursery name is Amew. Ye Wenlan uses Tuck Suey, which means there is no surname and only the font size is used. If a corresponding relationship between Chinese and English names cannot be established, it will be difficult to make a large-scale breakthrough in the study of compradors in the late Qing Dynasty.
There is another "era" reason why Ye Wenlan was buried. In the era of popular extreme leftist trends, Ye Wenlan's comprador background fell into the same category as the "Five Black Categories". The descendants of the Ye family had to take "precautionary measures" to destroy all the historical materials and photos that Ye Wenlan had preserved. Li Hongwei was able to achieve great results in his research on Ye Wenlan. First, he made full use of the memory materials of Ye's descendants, and second, he carefully excavated the historical materials of the Ye family in Taiwan.
(Thanks to Bin Muxin and Tang Yue for providing important information for the writing of this article.)
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