Chapter 253 Stocks
The pink industry near Simalu is very famous, but people can't hang out with female schoolmasters all day long. They also have to eat, drink tea and socialize, so the teahouses around here are also very famous. The Huifang Teahouse that Zhang Xingjiu sees now is one of them.
High-end teahouses have another function nowadays. Zhang Xingjiu entered the teahouse for this purpose and asked the driver to wait outside, saying that he would pay for the whole day today. The driver was very happy with this and found a place to squat down and chat with other drivers around him who were also waiting for customers.
"Sir, please come in!" Seeing that Zhang Xingjiu was of extraordinary bearing, Dr. Tea hurriedly and attentively welcomed him in, found a seat, wiped the floor with a rag, then asked him to sit down and asked what he needed.
"A pot of Longjing tea and a few of your specialty snacks!" Zhang Xingjiu ordered and threw over a tip.
"Please sit for a moment, I'll be there soon!" Dr. Tea took it quickly and went to make arrangements for Zhang Xingjiu.
There is no need to waste time talking to regular customers who come in later. There are also etiquettes for visiting teahouses in Shanghai. If the index finger is straight, it's green tea, if the index finger is bent, it's black tea, if all five fingers are stretched out and slightly bent, it's chrysanthemum tea, if the hand is stretched out and clenched into a fist, it's tortoiseshell tea, and if the little finger is extended, it's boiled water. The waiter will understand at a glance.
There is no need for arrangements for more familiar guests. The waiters remember exactly what kind of tea they drink, what kind of snacks they eat and where they sit on weekdays, so they can just make the arrangements when they arrive.
After a while, the waiter came over with tea and snacks. Zhang Xingjiu sipped tea and ate snacks while paying attention to the movements of the other drinkers around him.
Today, teahouses are not only places to drink tea, but also important social occasions. People from all walks of life in Shanghai use teahouses as a venue to negotiate business and exchange information, and over time, certain circles have been formed.
Construction companies mainly hold tea parties in the nearby Qinglian Pavilion, builders gather in Changle Tea Garden at No. 496 Fuzhou Road, some small contractors operate in Tianxiang Pavilion on Hubei Road and the nearby Yiletian Teahouse, the flower industry sets up a trading table in the Ade Teahouse at Wansheng Bridge outside the Old West Gate, Pinfanglou is a trading place for used cars and accessories, Simeixuan is one of the jewelry and jade markets, Luochun Pavilion on Zhejiang Road is a gathering place for the wood industry, and Yidongtian Teahouse has become the "news gathering" center for various newspapers.
Huifang Teahouse mainly serves stock brokers and speculators, who gather here to exchange stock-related information and trade stocks. This is what Zheng Sanfazi did when he came to Shanghai earlier.
In addition to tea and snacks, the teahouse also gave Zhang Xingjiu a free copy of today's "Shen Bao". Looking at the tea drinkers around him, they all had a copy, because from February 23, 1871, the "Shanghai Stock Price Paper" listed by Changli Foreign Company was published regularly in the "Shanghai Xinbao".
A year later, the Shanghai Xinbao failed to compete with the Shenbao and went bankrupt. The quotes were then published by the Shenbao and later changed to the stock quotes of the Pingjun Company.
Since Huifang Teahouse does business with stock customers, this kind of newspaper is definitely a must-have. By spending a little money to help customers save some trouble, customers will naturally be willing to come to them. This is also the business philosophy of the teahouse owner.
After Shanghai was first opened as a port, foreign joint-stock companies were established in Shanghai one after another. The capital of foreign joint-stock companies mainly came from foreign investors, but Chinese residents were allowed to hold shares. Where there were stocks, there was stock trading. Foreign joint-stock companies were established first, and stock trading also started with the buying and selling of foreign companies' stocks.
Later, many Chinese businessmen followed suit. The earliest ones were joint-stock enterprises supervised by the government and run by merchants. The first one was the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, which was established at the end of the 11th year of the Tongzhi reign (January 1873).
China Merchants Group successively established China Merchants Insurance Group, Renhe Insurance Company and Jihe Insurance Company, all of which offered public offerings.
In addition, Kaiping Coal Mine was established in the second year of Guangxu (1876), Shanghai Machine Weaving Factory was established in the fifth year of Guangxu (1876), Tianjin Telegraph Bureau was established in the sixth year of Guangxu (1876), and Pingquan Mining Bureau was established in the eighth year of Guangxu (1878).
Many private joint-stock companies sprang up in China, but they were of varying quality. After the establishment of Chinese joint-stock companies, a stock market for Chinese businessmen was formed in Shanghai.
At first, few people were interested, but gradually people discovered the value of stocks and invested in them in the hope of making a profit. The Shenbao even published a special article to remind people that "Westerners in Shanghai buy and sell shares of various companies, and they are used to it. However, they do not necessarily buy and pay immediately, but may set a deadline of one or two months, or even six months. They hope to get a high price, which is no different from gambling."
The meaning is similar to that of the media in later generations, all of which emphasize that "the stock market is risky and you need to be cautious when entering the market." Unfortunately, the leeks from ancient times to the present are the same, only seeing the benefits of stocks and ignoring the risks.
More than ten years ago, Shanghai experienced its first stock market crash. Twenty of the 22 popular stocks at the time depreciated, stock prices plummeted, speculators lost more than a million, and countless people jumped into the Huangpu River.
The then famous red-top businessman Hu Xueyan also lost all his fortune in the stock market crash and never had a chance to recover. He passed away in depression two years later.
From then on, Shanghai residents were afraid to buy stocks. “When it came to company stocks, people were terrified.” The stock market entered a low ebb.
Zhang Xingjiu was observing the others, and some of them were also observing Zhang Xingjiu. Perhaps seeing an opportunity, a man with a pocket watch on his chest, who looked quite impressive, came over to say hello, "Sir, the furnace of Hanyang Iron Works has been built and started to produce iron some time ago. If you buy Hanyeping's stock now, the price will definitely increase in a few days."
"Haha, but I heard that these furnaces are not producing iron smoothly." Zhang Xing stopped at nine o'clock. Zhang Zhidong's purchase of the wrong equipment was too famous. It was probably a dream to expect to make money from Hanyeping's stocks.
"Oh? May I ask for your advice, sir?" The visitor was startled and asked in a low voice.
"It's just hearsay, don't take it seriously." Zhang Xingjiu didn't even know his name, so how could he tell such crucial news.
Seeing that he was young but well-spoken, and was able to get such important news, the visitor thought that he was the child of some wealthy businessman. Seeing that he had no intention of chatting, he did not dare to disturb him and left.
But he had already remembered Zhang Xingjiu's words firmly in his heart and planned to find someone to inquire carefully. He had invested a lot of money in Hanyeping's stocks and did not dare to lose it all.
After staying for a while and getting a little understanding of the situation, Zhang Xingjiu got up and left, and went to see various busy places in Shanghai. It was not until it was getting dark that he asked the coachman to take him back to Xuhui Public School.
After that, he would go to Huifang Teahouse every once in a while to learn about the latest stock market conditions, but he never made any moves.
Time passed by unknowingly, and soon it was the end of 1894.
(End of this chapter)
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