Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 46

Outside this exhibition hall is Hankou Park, which is already mostly completed. In addition to combining Eastern and Western landscaping techniques, the most distinctive feature of Hankou Park is the introduction of various plants, turning it into a museum where people can learn about plant knowledge from home and abroad.

This was not the first time that Tatsuichiro Funatsu had come to Hankou. Previously, there were fewer than 10 Japanese households in Hankou, so the affairs of Japanese residents in Hankou were managed by the British consul. It was not until after the First Sino-Japanese War that Japan obtained many privileges in China, and then rebuilt the consulate in Hankou in 1898. However, because there was little development in the Japanese concession, even the consulate had to be located in the French concession until last year when it was moved to the newly built consulate at the east entrance of Yamazaki Street in the Japanese concession.

Upon his return to Hankou 98 years later, Tatsuichiro Funatsu, who had visited the city before, was struck by the realization that the riverside boulevards built by the foreign concessions no longer represented Hankou's civilization. The railway station built to the north of the concessions and the Zhanggong Causeway further north had become Hankou's new landmarks. Meanwhile, the construction of various sites and roads on the open ground between the railway station and the concessions further propelled the already vibrant city into a new era.

However, what Funazu Tatsuichiro couldn't understand was why the Germans received such preferential treatment in Wuhan. He raised this question with the Hankou consul, Asanosuke Raikawa. Looking at the Germans talking and discussing with the Chinese in the center of the venue, Asanosuke Raikawa helplessly said, "Although the Germans have more colonies than us, the colonies they occupy either have too few people, lack important resources, or are geographically unfavorable. Therefore, the Germans value trade with foreign countries more than focusing their energy on managing overseas colonies."

Just look at the actions of the Germans in Shandong, Shanghai, and Wuhan. Although the Germans forcibly leased Jiaozhou Bay in Shandong and built the Jiaoji Railway to bring Shandong into their sphere of influence, German commercial development in Shandong was not fast, and it was not as fast as in Shanghai and Wuhan.

Why? Because German industrial products were already superior to those of Britain, the United States, and France. Once a stable social and trade order was established, German industrial products would inevitably surpass those of other countries. Therefore, compared to establishing a colony, the Germans actually valued a stable social order and regulated trade activities more.

In Shanghai and Wuhan, Chinese people actively sought trade with Germany, allowing Germans to sell their products at minimal trade costs. However, in Shandong, Germans and locals were not only at odds, but Germans also had to invest heavily in infrastructure, naturally diminishing German business interest.

Therefore, German merchants in China sought free trade, not support for their country's colonial policies. They naturally supported whoever granted them free trade. The Economic Development and Urban Construction Committee of the Huguang Governor's Office achieved this, and German merchants voluntarily relinquished some political privileges in exchange for Chinese goodwill, which benefited their business. As it turned out, the Germans succeeded.

After a long silence, Tatsuichiro Funatsu finally spoke: "Why would the British tolerate the Germans receiving so many preferential treatment? Isn't the Yangtze River within the British sphere of influence?"

After thinking for a moment, Asano Susumu Lai said, "Politically, Britain can only put pressure on China, not Germany. However, the relationship between the Chinese government and the Huguang Governor-General's Office is not actually that harmonious. After the Southeast Mutual Protection Pact, the independence of the southern governors-general has greatly increased. Therefore, unless Britain puts direct pressure on the Huguang Governor-General's Office, it cannot force the Huguang Governor-General's Office to make concessions."

However, the Viceroy's Office of Huguang did not grant the Germans any special treatment; the Chinese merely used commercial means to force the British merchants to give up. The Chinese generally required that a portion of the machinery and equipment they purchased from abroad be manufactured locally. Chinese merchants calculated that the profits from these contracts were roughly enough to establish a new factory in China.

The problem is that countries like Britain and France have many overseas colonies. Unless they are using Chinese raw materials to process them in a more cost-effective way, why would they invest in building a new factory in China?

But the Germans were different. They didn't have many colonies, and their colonies weren't suitable for establishing large-scale factory districts. Establishing such an industrial base in the Far East would be very beneficial for German industrial products entering Asia, so the Germans were willing to accept the Chinese contracts. Moreover, the Chinese guaranteed to provide these factories with sufficient raw materials, skilled labor, and more orders.

The British couldn't afford to clash with the Germans on such grounds unless the Viceroy's Office of Huguang voluntarily terminated its contract with Germany due to unbearable pressure. However, it now seemed that Commissioner Tian had effectively become a representative of German interests in China, completely ignoring British threats. Of course, he did, however, award some contracts to the British in urban construction, thus silencing some of their objections.

Tatsuichiro Funatsu was anxious about Wuhan's rapid development while Japan was unable to participate. He couldn't help but complain to the consul, "But why can't Japanese businessmen compete with Germans in Hankou? Isn't this discrimination?"

Lai Chuanqian shook his head and said, "We don't have that technology. The Germans are the ones who audit the factory's technical capabilities. These Germans are very meticulous. They have rejected most of the applications submitted by Japanese businessmen, believing that we are just trying to use the factory as a pretext to speculate in real estate."

The Germans were very strict in reviewing the funding and construction plans for factories set up in the three towns of Wuhan. In fact, the Germans had already used their technology and capital to build a wall that made it very difficult for businessmen from other countries to enter.

After thinking for a long time, Tatsuichiro Funatsu asked, "So, do our businessmen really want to set up factories in Hankou, or are they just interested in speculating in real estate?"

Asanosuke Raikawa replied vaguely, "It's not impossible..."

While the Japanese were whispering amongst themselves, Tian Junyi, Yang Quyun, Xie Zuantai, and others were also talking with German capitalists led by Siemens and Krupp. The two sides were still discussing cooperation between Hubei and Hunan and the German Pacific colonies.

Chapter 157 The British Confusion

Standing before a group of German capitalists, Tian Jun spoke frankly: "...I do not believe that adopting the coolie trade is beneficial to the resource development of the German Pacific Islands, because the coolie trade will not motivate Chinese laborers and will also make the Chinese people resent Germany. We also oppose doing so, as it is not in China's interest, nor in Germany's interest."

Developing the Pacific Islands is no different from developing China. Only when the locals and Chinese laborers can make a profit will they actively cooperate with Germany in developing local resources.

They will not save all their profits. According to human nature, once they make money, they will use it to improve their lives. Therefore, the Pacific Islands will definitely need electricity, modern ports, highways, railways and various modern facilities that are convenient for human life. In this way, the Pacific Islands will become Germany's industrial market.

This is a solution that benefits all three parties. In any case, construction cannot proceed in a turbulent society; only after social order is stabilized will people feel secure enough to build their homes. If the native inhabitants of the Pacific Islands and the Chinese laborers are impoverished, then who will buy the goods produced by German industry?

If external markets cannot expand, I don't think German industry has any way to maintain production other than reducing capacity. And according to our current research, the less we produce, the higher the costs; the more we produce, the lower the costs. Therefore, market size is actually more important than high profits, because only surviving companies can talk about profitability…

Franz Krupp was the most receptive to Tian Junyi's theory, not because Tian had saved him, but because the Krupp family tradition was to treat workers well, thereby preventing the company's technology from leaking. Krupp's high profits, fueled by its technological advantage, stemmed from the fact that its skilled workers consistently kept the company's secrets.

Of course, Krupp's favorable treatment of its workers also made the Krupp family the dominant force in the Essen region, with the 21000 Krupp workers there being their staunchest supporters. Therefore, Franz Krupp was not against providing benefits to workers; what he disliked were socialist ideas that attempted to expropriate the property of capitalists.

German industrialists, led by Krupp and Siemens, are now also in a stage of overcapacity. This overcapacity is actually caused by the trade war resulting from global colonial competition. After Russia, Britain, France, and the United States could not compete with German industry in terms of technology, they began to launch trade wars with tariff protection.

At this time, Germany was nearing the final stage of the Second Industrial Revolution. Unlike the First Industrial Revolution, the Second Industrial Revolution brought enormous productivity, but it also turned production stoppages into a terrible disaster.

After the First Industrial Revolution, factory shutdowns resulted in losses, but these losses were limited because the scale of factory investment was relatively small. However, after the Second Industrial Revolution, the investment in heavy chemical plants incorporating various advanced technologies exceeded even the national tax revenue of ordinary agricultural countries.

In February 1901, Carnegie sold Carnegie Steel to Morgan for $500 million. This was a deal that shocked the world and left many small countries feeling hopeless, because they could never invest in building such a large steel company. Morgan then built U.S. Steel on the foundation of Carnegie Steel, which became the first American company to surpass $1 billion in assets. The company's steel production capacity exceeded that of the entire United Kingdom.

It can be said that after the Second Industrial Revolution, the heavy chemical industry became a game between major powers. The survival of one's own heavy chemical industry was more important than the potential for high profits, because losers would be completely eliminated from the market, while winners would reap everything. The Americans were the first to realize this, which led to the establishment of large steel trusts that monopolized the American steel industry. The Germans also began to realize this, but Germany was at a disadvantage because its raw materials and markets for heavy chemical industries were not domestic, making it unable to implement high tariffs for protection like the United States.

The Germans desire for other countries to open their markets to their industries, yet they also resist the entry of foreign agricultural products into their domestic market. This contradictory economic policy has prevented Germany from finding a suitable outlet for its excess industrial capacity. China has indeed become the last hope for German industry, and the pro-German stance shown by Hubei and Hunan provinces has forced German industry to make certain concessions to the Hubei-Hunan Economic Development and Urban Construction Committee in order to maintain the current good cooperative relationship between the two sides.

When these German capitalists expressed to Tian Junyi that they also opposed the coolie trade and supported labor dispatch cooperation through Chinese labor service companies, Tian Junyi and others breathed a sigh of relief. This is the most crucial point of Sino-German overseas cooperation. The Workers' Party could certainly organize a group of workers to go abroad, but the Workers' Party could not become a supporter of the coolie trade, as this would clearly violate the party's own principles.

Once the Germans were willing to sign labor contracts in a cooperative manner, the next issue was simply economic, which is generally not a major problem. This is because China was currently in a phase where its small-scale peasant economy was being continuously destroyed. After the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing Dynasty's further opening-up agreements with foreign powers had essentially made inland rural areas targets of imperialist plunder.

The Economic Development and Urban Construction Committee actually accelerated rather than slowed down this process. After the destruction of the self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy, a large amount of labor force was inevitably released. Although the committee has absorbed these released labor forces with a large number of infrastructure projects, the capacity of Hubei and Hunan alone cannot cope with the continuous influx of bankrupt farmers from various provinces in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. If there are not more jobs for them, then unrest will continue to occur in various places.

The Labor Party's goal was revolution, but the timing for revolution was not yet ripe. The new policies promoted by the Qing government seemed to have misled many people, and these local unrests, besides wasting revolutionary energy, would not bring down the Qing government. Moreover, these peasants lacked revolutionary theoretical guidance and had difficulty understanding industrial development. They often directed their uprisings at foreigners, Christians, and Western machinery, believing that these things were what had destroyed their lives.

Even if it is only temporary, the Workers' Party needs to help the government stabilize social order first. Only when the Workers' Party has accumulated enough strength and the time for revolution is ripe can it overthrow the government in one fell swoop. This is also the revolutionary way to minimize the losses to China.

In the past, Tian Junyi didn't understand why this was necessary, but as he gained a deeper understanding of the industrialization of various countries, he realized that Lin Xinyi was right. The Germans had completed industrialization first, which was why they were able to achieve German unification at a relatively low cost. This was not the first time the German nation had attempted unification. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the German nation had tried to unify within one country, but these attempts were thwarted by external forces.

The Chinese revolution was essentially a process of partial regional independence followed by national unification. Without sufficient industrial capacity to resist external interference, the price China would have paid would have been unimaginable. This is because the opposition to the Chinese revolution came from all the major powers, and Germany, too, would not have accepted an independent China; otherwise, they wouldn't have invested so much capital in China.

The more Tian Junyi understood this, the further he distanced himself from the notion that advanced Western countries would be happy to see China move towards civilization. He believed that the Chinese revolution ultimately had to rely on violence to break the deadlock, so accumulating strength to break the stalemate once and for all was the most important thing. If the delay allowed the great powers to see an opportunity, then the revolution would inevitably fail.

Having abandoned the wishful thinking of cooperating with the great powers to achieve China's independence, Tian Junyi became even bolder in his actions. He believed that these terms would ultimately be decided by strength, and no matter how many promises were made, they would be meaningless in the face of power. This was the logic that the great powers had taught the Chinese.

However, he now needs to give these Germans more hope and make them feel that investing in China is worthwhile, so as to further enhance China's industrial capabilities. Tian Junyi thought to himself, and said: "In fact, I think that the Pacific islands can not only be developed for agriculture, logging and mining, but also for deep-sea fishing."

Both China and Germany lag behind in the development of marine resources. Germany is not interested in deep-sea fishing because it is too far from the Pacific Ocean. However, my country is not far from the Pacific Ocean and needs a large amount of fish to supplement the nutrition of its people. So why can't China and Germany join forces to develop the fishery resources of the Pacific Ocean?

Building large ocean-going fishing vessels can stimulate both the shipbuilding and steel industries, and my country can also use this to find employment for a large number of rural unemployed workers. I believe this is a mutually beneficial cooperative project…”

In another corner of the hall, several British and American journalists stood together, watching everything that was happening in the hall. The most prominent among them was, of course, the famous George W. Morrison, the Times' correspondent in China, a legendary figure.

Morrison came to Wuhan because of the unusual activities of the Germans. Wuhan is not Qingdao. It is not a German colony or concession. In principle, it should be within the British sphere of influence. However, German investment in Wuhan has begun to exceed that in Qingdao, and German investment is increasingly concentrated in Hubei, the core region of central China.

This greatly surprised the British Foreign Office, who were puzzled as to what had happened. In fact, their relationship with Zhang Zhidong had always been quite good. Although the British had not fully fulfilled their promises in the Southeast Mutual Protection Agreement—namely, guaranteeing that the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in the north would not affect the southern provinces that were cooperating with the foreign powers—this was a significant development.

However, the British did not believe they had done anything wrong, because southern China did not have the power to make Britain fulfill its promises. This meant that the agreement had no legal effect, since a large country cannot be bound by a small country. This was the cornerstone of the Westphalian Treaty system.

Chapter 158 Morrison

As a special correspondent for The Times in China, Morrison was essentially a diplomat without a uniform in the British Empire; his reports on China could even reach the Foreign Secretary directly. When London could not obtain effective information from diplomats, it naturally sent this reporter out, hoping to find out what was really happening in Wuhan through him.

Morrison spent nearly a month investigating in Wuhan. His impression was that it was not the Germans who were expanding their influence there, but rather the Chinese who had put on a German guise. Therefore, in his report to London, he concluded: "Tian Junyi is Ahmet Mildhart Pasha. The Economic Development and Urban Construction Committee is occupied by a group of reformists who are just using German technology and funds to transform their country. This does not mean that they are all pro-German."

However, if the British Empire continues its past policies toward China, ignoring the voices of the Chinese people defending their traditions, then they might become the true anti-British, French, and Russian faction.

At the celebration of the establishment of the Sino-German Chamber of Commerce, Morrison further reinforced his view that under the continued colonial policies of Britain, France, and Russia in China, the local forces in Hubei and Hunan, represented by Tian Junyi, were increasingly leaning towards Germany.

He was helpless about this. As an Australian, although he supported racism, he believed that the existence of the British Empire was the prerequisite for protecting Australia's interests. After all, without the powerful British Empire, it would be difficult for Australia, with a population of less than 500 million, to compete with hundreds of millions of Asian people, especially with Japan constantly strengthening its navy.

Australia's biggest concern is the emergence of a colored power in Asia. Japan's victory over the Qing Dynasty relieved them, and the United States' occupation of the Philippine Islands blocked Japan's southward advance, which also greatly increased their goodwill towards the Americans. The U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act was the blueprint for the White Australia policy advocated by white Australian politicians.

However, after Japan and the United States signed the Japan-US Friendship Agreement, Japan gained access to the Mindanao region and extended its reach into the South China Sea, Australians began to feel uneasy. Some Australian newspapers began to attack the United States' compromise with Japan and argued that London should reject the Japan-US Friendship Agreement because Japan's occupation of Mindanao would harm the white colonial regimes in the South China Sea, who were seen as the Yellow Peril by Australians.

At this time, Australians' resentment towards the Chinese began to give way to that towards the Japanese. In the past, they hated the Chinese laborers for taking their jobs, but now they worried that the Japanese would come and take their land, since they had also taken it from the Australian Aborigines, and the Japanese had every reason to take it.

For Morrison, a British citizen of Australian descent, this presented a dilemma. From the perspective of the British Empire's interests, opposing Russian expansion in the East was of paramount importance, and for this purpose, Britain should support China and Japan in their counterattacks against Tsarist Russia's expansion.

However, as an Australian, Japan became one of Australia's most dangerous potential enemies. The expansion of Tsarist Russia in the Far East actually restrained the southward expansion of the Japanese. Therefore, Australians have become supporters of Tsarist Russia, because Australia only cares about its homeland and Southeast Asia and does not care about the East Asian continent.

For example, William Henry Donald, a reporter for the Sydney Daily Telegraph standing next to Morrison, sincerely remarked as he watched the Chinese and Germans chatting happily: "It's a good thing that such an old empire as China is finally embracing civilization. However, the Germans don't genuinely want to help the Chinese; they just want to turn China into a German colony. If the Chinese don't realize this, then their current efforts will actually harm the country."

An American journalist standing nearby nodded in agreement, saying, "Indeed, the Germans are excellent in industrial technology, but they are incomprehensible when it comes to their treatment of people of color. I really don't understand how these southern Chinese can accept a country that is massacring their compatriots in the north as their friend. Aren't they worried about their future?"

Both the British and Americans enjoy exploiting internal conflicts in other countries to create trouble, but they are not happy to see the Germans doing the same. Americans in China are now the most anti-German foreigners, even more so than the French, because Germany and France have no conflicting interests in China. The only current conflicts between Germany and France are in Europe and the Mediterranean, so relations between the French and Germans in China are not worse than before.

However, the anti-American sentiment among Americans in China has risen rapidly because the anti-American sentiment in China has not subsided. Although the Chinese have redeemed the Yuehan Railway and the US government has agreed to return the Boxer Indemnity, this does not mean that the Chinese people's feelings toward the US have changed. Boycotting American goods seems to be becoming a long-term habit for the Chinese.

Apart from kerosene, other American products have suffered severe overstocking in China. The reason why kerosene has been able to survive is that it currently has no noteworthy commercial competitors in China, so Chinese consumers have no choice but to buy it.

However, any American product that had a competitor in China seized this opportunity to work with the Chinese to undermine American goods. Japan used this opportunity to squeeze out American products in coarse cotton cloth, Britain in steel and timber, and Germany in steel, machinery, and chemicals. Japan and Britain had enormous influence in China, making it impossible for the United States to compete with them. However, Germany was a replaceable competitor for the United States, so Americans in China naturally blamed the losses on the Germans.

While American diplomats closely monitored British and Japanese policies in the Far East, the real threat to the Americans came from Germany. Germany's industries were too diversified; its only problems were insufficient domestic raw materials and a small domestic market. If Germany gained control of China, a source of raw materials and a market for industrial goods, German industry would further encircle and suppress American industry globally, which would be far more than just a matter of losing interests in China.

Moreover, the Germans are correcting their previous hardline policies toward China. German industry and finance are opposing the German military-led development policies in China. They believe that Germany cannot treat China as a colony to be developed, as that would only make Germany an enemy of the Chinese and cause Germany to lose opportunities in China.

The German industrial and financial sectors have made a rapid correction in their policies toward China. They have not only helped the Chinese develop a series of industrial standards, but also financed Chinese bonds in Europe and started a pro-German education program for young Chinese people.

In Wuhan, a large number of German professors have emerged in the newly built normal universities, agricultural universities, industrial universities, and comprehensive universities. Furthermore, the Governor-General's Office of Huguang is planning to implement a policy of making German the first foreign language in secondary schools and to incorporate it into the new education system, which has already aroused dissatisfaction from various countries.

Morrison listened to the suspicions, jealousy, and resentment expressed by the British and American journalists around him regarding Sino-German relations, but he himself remained silent until an American journalist asked him: "Mr. Morrison, what is your view on the close cooperative relationship between Hubei and Hunan and Germany? Would London really be happy to see this situation?"

After a few moments of contemplation, Morrison said, "The British Empire has always tried to help this ancient country enter the civilized era, just as we transformed India and Japan. We also hope that China can regain its place in the world. However, I think it is not advisable to learn from Western civilization with a mindset of hatred towards it. For example, Japan became too aggressive after gaining power."

Donald immediately nodded in agreement, saying, "Indeed, although Japan has successfully taken a big step forward into the civilized world, the Japanese have not changed their overly barbaric side, just like the Russians. I think Japan will sooner or later become a source of instability in Asia. If China can maintain the gentler part of its character in the process of moving towards civilization, then it will be a blessing for Asia and the world."

After waiting for the reporters around him to finish discussing Donald's remarks, Morrison continued, "Although the Germanic people pride themselves on rationality, I see no rationality in His Majesty the current Emperor. I believe that if the Chinese become Germany's pillar in the East, it will only fuel the arrogance of this capricious Emperor, which is clearly detrimental to the stability of Europe..."

Several journalists believed that Morrison's words were very pertinent. Indeed, although the interests of various countries in China were unbalanced due to the actions of the Germans, Germany's movements in Europe were the real fundamental factor determining the direction of the world, compared to the losses of these countries' interests in China.

While the reporters were still discussing the issue, Morrison nodded apologetically to his fellow reporters and said, "Excuse me for a moment, you can continue your conversation."

The reporters didn't notice Morrison's whereabouts, but Donald did; Morrison had left in the same direction as Tian Junyi. He thought for a moment but ultimately decided not to follow and find out what was going on, turning instead to chat with his companions.

Tian Junyi, who was about to go to the restroom, was stopped by Morrison at the side door. He was quite familiar with this reporter from The Times of London, and the two had met a few times. At least in their conversations, Morrison seemed less imperialistic than other British people, as if he had truly become a good friend of the Chinese.

Tian Junyi stopped and looked at Morrison, who had called out to him, and asked in a gentle tone, "Mr. Morrison, is there something you need that you called me for?"

After greeting him, Morrison said, "It's like this, I would like to arrange a special interview with you. I hope to let the British people know more about the changes that are taking place in China, so as to dispel some of their prejudices against China. Do you have time?"

After pondering for a moment, Tian Junyi said, "Of course, but could you let me take a look at the article before it's published? I don't doubt anything, I'm just worried that I won't be able to express my true thoughts."

Morrison shrugged and said, "Of course. When can we begin?"

"Then let's do it tomorrow afternoon, if you can come to the Hankou Bank branch between 1 and 2 pm." Tian Junyi said and was about to take his leave.

However, Morrison stopped him again and said, "I will definitely be there on time tomorrow, but I have a small question I would like to ask you. You have chosen Germans for most of the projects in Wuhan. Does this mean that the Economic Development and Urban Construction Committee has some kind of bias against other countries?"

Tian Junyi looked at Morrison seriously for a moment and then said, "No, we only chose friends who were willing to share bread and water with us. The others simply refused our request. If you don't mind, I'll take my leave now."

Morrison was caught off guard by this answer, so he simply watched Tian Junyi leave. That evening, back at the hotel, he added a sentence to his report: "The imperialist policies of the British Empire are driving the Chinese away from us."

Chapter 159 The Labour Party Meeting

After attending the founding ceremony of the Sino-German Chamber of Commerce, Tian Junyi met with members of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party and the Hubei Provincial Committee. At this time, the Workers' Party had already established provincial party branches in various provinces along the Yangtze River, but its main development areas were still in three places: Shanghai, Hubei, and Pingxiang, Jiangxi. These three places were also the most concentrated areas of modern industry in China at that time.

The establishment of the Sino-German Chamber of Commerce is significant not only in economic terms, but more importantly, the Economic Development and Urban Construction Committee has used the Sino-German Chamber of Commerce to offset some of the extraterritorial rights of Germans. This is naturally an exciting result for members of the Workers' Party, as they have finally seen a new path to regain national sovereignty.

Yang Quyun spoke highly of the establishment of the Sino-German Chamber of Commerce, believing it would greatly enhance the prestige of the Economic Development and Urban Construction Committee and further reduce interference from the Huguang Governor-General's Office. After all, high-ranking Qing officials were reluctant to get involved in foreign affairs, fearing it might cause diplomatic trouble. This was also why Acting Governor-General Duanfang was relatively tolerant of Tian Junyi.

As the leader of the Hankou branch of the Central Bank, the Economic Development and Urban Construction Committee faced challenges. Although the Central Bank's headquarters were in Beijing, the Qing Dynasty lacked the talent to run a bank and treated it like a government office. As a result, the Beijing headquarters was under the control of the imperial court, while the provincial branches were managed by the provincial governors' offices. This gave the provincial branches a certain degree of independence, but it also resulted in a lack of internal cohesion within the Central Bank.

The Hankou Bank essentially became a semi-independent regional bank in the Huguang Province. Although it did not have the power to mint coins, and the imperial court had not yet set the specifications for new coins, it had only rejected the gold standard and gold exchange schemes. Regarding the silver standard, Zhang Zhidong supported the silver tael system, while Yuan Shikai supported the silver dollar system.

This directly led to the Hankou Bank issuing a type of banknote to meet the needs of economic development in Hubei and Hunan provinces. This banknote was denominated in jiao (a unit of currency), with 15 jiao enough to buy one customs tael, and each jiao exchangeable for 0.2037 German marks. In effect, this was a disguised form of support for the silver dollar system. Tian Junyi made this decision only after careful discussions with representatives from various industries.

At this time, although the Qing Dynasty used silver as its currency, the price of silver varied from place to place. Hankou had foreign silver, Shanghai had standard silver, Tianjin had circulating silver, and the Customs had customs taels. In other words, adopting the silver tael system would have meant returning to the old method of weighing and measuring currency.

However, after several exchanges with Lin Xinyi, he realized that the wealth created by industry was growing much faster than the agricultural output of the past millennium. Using weight-based currency would inevitably lead to a situation where money was expensive and goods were cheap, ultimately making China a target for foreign plunder. Because in the West, silver was merely a commodity that they could produce in large quantities, while China was a country lacking silver. In the end, large quantities of goods were bought up by foreigners, causing a domestic economic crisis.

The purpose of abolishing the tael and adopting the yuan, and of resisting the gold standard and the gold exchange standard, was to control the autonomy of currency. Therefore, Zhang Zhidong's ideas were clearly wrong. His judgments did not conform to the reality of the world at that time, but were based on the traditional agricultural society's view that the wealth of the world was fixed.

The issuance of these bank notes, known as Hankou Xiaoyuan, proceeded smoothly. This was because Hankou Bank had customs tax silver as reserves, and the Economic Development and Urban Construction Committee organized production-sales cooperatives, which meant that Hankou Xiaoyuan could be exchanged not only for silver and copper coins, but also for affordable agricultural and industrial products, thus stabilizing the currency value.

Yang Quyun summarized the issuance of Hankou Xiaoyuan over the past six months: "As long as we still control the production-sales cooperative, ensure that urban residents can use Xiaoyuan to buy grain and cotton cloth, and ensure that rural farmers can use Xiaoyuan to buy cotton yarn, farm tools and daily necessities, then the use of Xiaoyuan in the market will be unimpeded."

Judging from the current usage of small yuan in the market, its value is actually unrelated to the amount of silver, copper coins, or copper cash it can be exchanged for. Instead, its value is determined by the selling price of grain, cotton yarn, cloth, and oil. In other words, the value of banknotes does not lie in their gold, silver, or copper content, but rather in the amount of productive power we control.

Only in foreign trade does the value of the small coin need to be realized through the exchange rate between gold and silver. Therefore, further expanding the coverage of production-sales cooperatives and further increasing social labor aimed at social exchange is more important than finding gold and silver mines.

Tian Junyi quickly turned his attention to Xie Zuantai and asked, "How is the production-sales cooperative developing?"

Xie Zuantai said excitedly, "We have compiled the results from last year. The production-sales cooperatives in the Huguang region have covered more than 60 people and the cultivated land area has exceeded 400 million mu."

However, most of the farmers currently willing to join cooperatives are tenant farmers and independent farmers. Landlords almost universally disapprove of the cooperative system and frequently obstruct its formation locally. As for artisans, transport workers, and construction workers, they are quite enthusiastic about joining cooperatives. For example, six of the eight major wharves in the Hankou area have already fully established transport cooperatives, and nearly half of the workers at the other two wharves have joined them. However, the remaining workers, under the control of secret societies, oppose the cooperatives…

After listening, Tian Jun asked Yang Defu, "Has the labor union contacted these secret societies? What are their demands?"

Yang Defu spread his hands and said with difficulty, "These secret societies are not vicious people. All they want is food. I'm worried that if we push them too far, it will cause a fight between the dockworkers, which would be a real problem. Because the factories are also quite dissatisfied with the unions, I'm worried that if a violent conflict breaks out at the docks, these factories will unite and demand that the government ban the unions."

Xie Zuantai said dismissively, "Then let them sue. I want to see who's really going against us. Why don't these secret societies have food? Isn't it because they don't work themselves and rely on exploiting workers to make a living? Giving them food would just mean letting the dockworkers continue to support them. I don't think we can compromise on this."

After pondering for a while, Tian Junyi said, "The name of the Labor Party cannot be openly displayed now. The factories do not know that we support the union. In their eyes, the union's actions to fight for the workers' interests are actually taking money out of their pockets. Naturally, they are not happy to see the union's power expand."

However, these factory owners are businessmen after all. They won't confront the unions themselves if they have grievances; they always need a scapegoat to expose their intentions. If the secret society colludes with these factory owners and gains government support, it will be disadvantageous for us. We currently lack a strong armed force, and if the Governor-General's office learns of our existence, they can easily suppress us. Even if a few of us manage to escape, the party's power in the Huguang region will suffer a major blow.

I think we can still talk to the secret societies, but not by giving them the docks; instead, we can give them a portion of the opium trade. This way, we can both strike at the old opium merchants and keep the docks completely under our control. For us, the chaos caused by the struggle for the opium trade is actually a good thing. We can then move opium dens from the city center to the outskirts and propose to the various concessions that opium dens, casinos, and brothels be banned within their jurisdictions, thereby stabilizing public order in the city.”

Just as the committee members were nodding in agreement, Tian Junyi continued, "In addition, we should also begin to prepare to build our own armed forces, not the Hubei New Army, but the defense forces established under the trade unions and peasant associations. In a few months, Sun Wu and Chen Jingcun will be back. I don't plan to send them all to the New Army. I hope they will go to factories and villages to build workers' and peasants' armed forces to lay a solid foundation for armed struggle for the revolution."

Before anyone else could speak, Zhang Taiyan clapped his hands and exclaimed, "I agree! We should have done this a long time ago. If we don't establish revolutionary armed forces to overthrow this Manchu government, I don't even know if we're carrying out a revolution or just helping the court maintain the status quo."

This Manchu government claimed to be committed to reform, striving for national strength, and avenging the humiliation of the Boxer Rebellion. But what happened? They turned around and criticized overseas students, accusing them of not studying properly and only engaging in idle talk about politics. How ridiculous! The court ceded territory, paid indemnities, and suffered national humiliation, and students' comments are considered idle talk about politics? I think they're just silencing the students, conducting a literary inquisition…”

Hearing Zhang Taiyan launch into another rambling, off-topic speech, Tian Junyi and the other committee members looked helpless. It wasn't that they couldn't stand Zhang Taiyan's remarks, but this was a working meeting, and they had a lot of work to discuss and resolve. How could they waste their time on such lofty talk?

After waiting a minute or two, taking advantage of a pause in Zhang Taiyan's speech, Tian Junyi quickly interrupted him and said, "Uncle Mei, you're right, but let's talk about work first. What's the situation with the education sector you're in charge of?"

Although Tian Junyi's interruption left Zhang Taiyan somewhat unsatisfied, he quickly continued, "Speaking of education, Liang Dingfen and Zheng Xiaoxu are utter scoundrels, and the imperial court is even more so. The court ordered each province to establish 100 primary schools, but half of them are in the provincial capital, and half in the county and prefectural capitals. There isn't a single one in the countryside. Is the court abandoning all rural areas...?"

Although Zhang Taiyan's speech was quite emotional, Tian Junyi and the others listened very attentively this time. After Zhang Taiyan finished speaking, Tian Junyi briefly organized his thoughts before saying, "According to the court's approach to education, there will be almost no scholars in the countryside in the future. This is because the new education system is a continuous one, from primary school to middle school to university. Without continuous learning, there will be no way out. The old way of self-studying in one's hometown and then taking the imperial examinations for the lowest degree is obviously impossible."

In this way, the court's supporters and defenders in the countryside would disappear, because capable scholars would go to the county and provincial capitals to study and thus enter officialdom. But those unable to study in the cities would only become enemies of the court, not supporters, because they would no longer have any opportunity to rise in society through the court…”

Chapter 160 The Second Meeting of the Labour Party

"...If we add the fact that the previous new policies dismissed the clerks and scribes, and that each county established gentry self-governance, police stations, and militia bureaus, then it would be even more interesting."