The visionary who saw China's future

Now largely forgotten, Nantong entrepreneur was a champion of modern industrial development

Cao Yunquan walks through the old Dasheng textile factory in Nantong, something close to reverence in his pace. The 77-year-old retired bureaucrat and amateur historian paused in one dilapidated building, surveying the gossamer strands of cotton festooning the rafters like cobwebs, the peeling paint and warped wood.

In China, the manufacturing center of the world, this forgotten factory holds a special significance.

"This is where China's industrial revolution began," Cao says.

In the early 1900s, when the Dasheng textile factory was new, foreign powers and warlords bled China dry.

In such tumultuous times, the Dasheng textile factory was a beacon of modernity beholden to no foreign interest. It was the first stepping stone in a long-term project that would come to inspire a nation.

"It all started here, with a man named Zhang Jian," Cao says.

Like many in the southeastern city of Nantong, Cao believes the ideas that eventually helped spark China's explosive growth in the 1980s can be traced back to Zhang Jian, the local who opened the Dasheng textile factory some 120 years ago.

Imperial scholar, frustrated statesman, entrepreneur and business pioneer, Zhang Jian's fingerprints are all over contemporary Nantong. But beyond the borders of the now thriving metropolis of 7 million on the banks of the Yangtze River, Zhang's legend and renown have largely faded, even in nearby Shanghai.

Zhang Rouwu, 96, remembers Zhang Jian better than most.

"He was my grandfather," she says.

Sitting in her apartment in Nantong, frail and beautiful despite her years, Zhang holds up an old black and white family photo and points out a cherubic little girl standing on the far left of the imposing Zhang Jian.

"That was me," she says. "I was 8 when he passed away (in 1926, aged 74). He was a great person, a lovely person. He did a lot of things for this place, for the country."

Cao agrees this is no understatement.

Born into poverty in Jiangsu province in 1853, Zhang Jian's drive and intellect saw him rise to become one of the 114 Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) scholars awarded the prestigious title of Zhuangyua (No 1 Scholar).

During his time at the imperial court, Zhang wrote a treatise for his superiors urging them to implement industrial and educational reform, without which he believed China would never be able to gain independence from foreign influence and alleviate poverty for its people. His pleas fell on deaf ears and his ideas were ignored.

After securing funds from investors, in 1899 Zhang returned to Nantong and opened the Dasheng textile factory, determined to create an example for the rest of China by realizing his vision on a small scale.

In 1901, he began reclaiming tracts of land on the Yangtze, and started a successful salt company. He created more companies to dredge canals and build the basis for what would become a shipping line that regularly made the overnight run of goods to Shanghai and beyond. He opened the Zisheng smelting and iron works, a cooking oil plant, a soap factory, a brewing company and a paper mill. He brought electricity to Nantong, created six parks and several public buildings, including the city library, the Junshuan Observatory and the Gengsu Theatre. He established orphanages and homes for the disabled.

Wherever he developed, he was careful to preserve and restore ancient cultural relics and sites, and famously opened China's first museum in 1905. Despite being ransacked during the Japanese invasion, it still stands today beside his stately family home. Both are open to the public.

As the industrial component of his vision began to gather momentum and his projects to transform Nantong from a rural backwater into a cultural lighthouse began to shine, Zhang forged ahead with the next stage of his plan: educational reform. In 1903 he opened a teacher's college called the Tongzhou Normal School. He went on to found the first teacher's college for Chinese women, an elementary school and a series of vocational schools.

"My grandfather was busy all the time," says Zhang Rouwu. "All the time, every day, there was someone reporting to him or there were important guests."

While he was engaging in his industrial and city-building endeavors in Nantong, Zhang Jian was trying to introduce his reformist ideas at a national level.

After he turned his back on the corruption of the failing imperial court, in 1912 Zhang Jian was appointed minister of industry in the fledgling Republic of China by provisional president, Sun Yat-sen.

He held a number of appointments until in 1915, frustrated with the infighting and the lack of funds for reform, Zhang left politics to focus on making Nantong the best example of what could be possible for China.

When he was 46, he had a son, Zhang Xiaoruo, Zhang Rouwu's father.

Across town, another of Zhang Xiaoruo's children sits in his living room, surrounded by framed photographs of himself and generations of prominent Chinese political figures. All, at one time or another, paid homage to his grandfather.

Zhang Xuwu, 87, recalls with pride a speech in which Mao Zedong said China should never forget Zhang Jian.

"In Nantong, it is easy to think Zhang Jian belonged to this place, but he really belongs to the whole country," Zhang Xuwu says.

He believes his grandfather was disappointed in his old age, because he had been unable to realize his dream of bringing reform to all of China.

"Many scholars have called my grandfather a great, but failed, hero," Zhang Xuwu says.

That he was successful in Nantong though, is indisputable.

The deputy mayor of Nantong, Sun Jianhua, says Zhang Jian's influence on industry, education and the preservation of culture is still visible in the city.

Last year, the total output value of Nantong hit 503.9 billion yuan ($81 billion; 59 billion euros). Per capita GDP reached 69,560 yuan and retail sales of consumer goods totaled 192.71 billion yuan, a 13.4 percent increase on the previous year.

About 3,300 foreign companies currently operate in Nantong. Foreign investment reached $2.57 billion in 2013. In the same year, the value of bilateral trade with the European Union was $4.186 billion, of which export value was $2.965 billion.

As in Zhang Jian's time, the city is changing and reforming to meet new challenges.

The port now handles 200 million tons of cargo annually.

In 2013, the average annual income was 31,059 yuan for Nantong's urban residents and 14,754 yuan for rural dwellers.

The old cooking oil factory that Zhang founded has been transformed into an arts and culture precinct called 1895, and there are plans to open a new bar and caf strip nearby.

The waterfront is being redeveloped. A sixth national level industrial park is under construction, and 15 Nantong enterprises now rank among China's top 500 companies.

After nearly 120 years of operation, the old Dasheng textile factory will soon close, but only because the company plans to move operations to a new facility currently under construction.

Cao says he believes the Nantong and China of today are the realization of Zhang Jian's vision.

Grandson Zhang Xuwu says he wishes he could sit down and have a conversation with his grandfather about how far China has come.

"What I would like to tell him is, 'We are happy, China has begun reforming like you hoped for. There are still a lot of problems to solve, and it may take generations, but I am very hopeful.'"

Zhang Rouwu, one of the last living links to Zhang Jian, says the visionary would always be more than a historical figure to her.

She still remembers the thoughtful man behind the legend, who used to ruffle her hair and give her sweets. She says she never resented the fact that she had to share her beloved grandfather with Nantong, and all of China.

"Even though he was so busy, we could feel his affection for us and we understood why he was busy," she says. "He was a patriot and we loved him. We still love him."

Contact the writers through josephcatanzaro@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/23/2014 page19)