Wang Xitong, a native of Weihui City, Henan Province, was born in 1865. He was the acting premier of Tangshan Qixin Cement Company and the vice president of China Business Association. It was he who initiated and defended China's cement industry at the beginning of the 20th century, and was once known as China's "cement king" and "China's cement king".
Tomb of Wang Xitong in Beijing Botanical Garden
At that time, there were only two cement companies in the country, namely, Tangshan Qixin Cement Company and Hubei Cement Company, and cement was the bottleneck product of the national industry at that time. However, the Japanese wanted to strangle China's cement industry in the cradle. Wang Xitong was filled with grief and indignation. He once cried out, "Our monarch can be bullied, but our people cannot be bullied.".
Hubei Cement Company, founded in 1907, once controlled the cement market in the southeastern provinces, but after 1909, due to poor management, it borrowed 720,000 taels of silver from Mitsubishi Company of Japan in three years, and was bitten by the Japanese.
In January 1908, Wang Xitong, who was well aware of the pros and cons, took the initiative to negotiate with Hubei Cement Company, but failed because of the high transfer fee of Hubei Cement Company. After that, Hubei Cement Company could not bear the heavy debt and reached a loan contract with the Guarantor Bank with all assets and management rights as collateral.
In 1912, after Hubei Cement Company was threatened by Mitsubishi Company of Japan, Wang Xitong took the initiative to help his competitor Hubei Cement Company, which saved China's national cement industry.
In May 1912, Mitsubishi reached an agreement with Cheng Zufu in Shanghai, agreeing to suspend the repayment of Hubei Cement Company; in November of the same year, Mitsubishi offered to lend a huge sum of money to Hubei Cement Company to help it pay off the debts of other creditors, on the condition that Hubei Cement Company must be managed by Mitsubishi.
The proposal was immediately rejected by Cheng Zufu. In order to show his attitude of not selling property rights, Cheng Zufu immediately raised 86,000 yuan to pay the interest on Mitsubishi's second loan. However, the Japanese wanted to strangle the young Chinese cement industry, but they did not accept the repayment. Instead, they overturned the previous agreement to suspend the repayment and demanded that the Hubei Cement Company pay off all the debts at one time, otherwise they would hand over the management of the cement company.
Hubei Cement Company hired a lawyer to negotiate with it, but Mitsubishi Company ignored it and directly asked the Hubei Provincial Government to seal up the company and sell its assets. Under the strong pressure of the Japanese side, the Hubei Provincial Government sent personnel to Daye on March 25, 1913 to seal up the Hubei Cement Company. At the same time, the company's property in Shanghai and Wuhan was seized.
The closure of the Hubei Cement Company caused an uproar in public opinion. For example, the Sinian Daily in Hankou reported the incident in detail under the title of "Industrial Danger Cement Plant", expressing great indignation at the Japanese ambition to seize property rights.
In order to prevent Hubei Cement Company from falling into the hands of Japanese pirates, Wang Xitong organized the establishment of Huafeng Xingye Society in 1914, negotiated with Baoshang Bank, guaranteed by Qixin Company, and borrowed 1.4 million yuan from Baoshang Bank for a short period of time. Huafeng Xingye Society obtained the right to operate Hubei Cement Company from Baoshang Bank.
In the name of "Huafeng Industrial Co., Ltd.", Wang Xitong acted as an agent for the Hubei Plant and changed its name to "Huaji Hubei Cement Company." In addition to repaying debts, the remaining 1.4 million taels of silver were used as working capital to start a new operation. Since then, China's own cement has accounted for more than 90% of the domestic cement market.
Today, when we commemorate the July 7th Incident and China's cement production capacity ranks first in the world, we should not forget the "King of China's Cement". Below is Wang Xitong's residence in Weihui, which has fallen into disrepair and trees have grown on the roof. As a cement king, he is not willing to use a catty of cement, all brick and wood structure:
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