At the end of June 1889, half of the new year had passed. In the past six months, in addition to pouring a lot of energy into military, political, diplomatic and other aspects, the Han government had also invested a lot of energy in the construction of the industrial system that was directly related to the country's overall strength.
, and has always attached great importance to it.
As of the first half of 1889, there were 400 local government-run factories and enterprises, more than 2,700 private enterprises, more than 3,200 factories and enterprises with more than 10 employees, more than 2,100 modern enterprises using steam engines as power, a total of 600,000 workers, and 340,000 industrial workers.
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During the same period, there were nearly 3,000 factories in Japan with more than ten people, 670 using steam power, a total of 380,000 workers, and 170,000 industrial workers.
There are 24 government-run industrial enterprises and more than 100 private industrial enterprises in mainland China. There are about 80,000 modern industrial workers (excluding miners), including 36,000 in Shanghai, accounting for about half of the total number of industrial workers.
Looking at the industrial development of the three parties, the populations of Han, Japan, and the Qing Dynasty were 18 million (data at the end of June 1889), 40 million, and 370 million respectively.
The industry started in the late 1860s.
After more than 20 years of development and changes, the results of the three-way industrial development have presented a completely different picture.
Let’s talk about Japan first. Japan’s domestic land is barren and resources are scarce. Although Japan has exploited its cheap labor force to produce a number of primary industrial commodities, those primary industrial commodities are completely at a disadvantage in trade competition with Western powers due to quality and machinery costs.
disadvantageous position.
Primary industrial products cannot obtain the expected profits, and at the same time there is a lack of overseas colonies as alternative markets. In order to continue the country's industrialization progress, Japan has chosen to increase various taxes and develop light industries such as textiles, dyeing and weaving, and obtain the necessary resources for industrial development.
The starting capital needed. (Before 1895, Japan’s industrial development had been at a low level and low scale. After 1895, Japan not only obtained the silver compensation from the Qing court, but more importantly, it obtained the vast mainland market and the compensation.
Compared with silver, the mainland provides a vast industrial market for Japan's primary industrial products, and its value is much higher than the compensation of silver for Japan's development.)
Secondly, in terms of the Qing court, in order to increase its own strength and maintain feudal rule, the Qing government agreed to the establishment of Westernization in some provinces and the development of industry. State-owned enterprises such as the Jiangnan Manufacturing Administration and the Steamship Investment Promotion Bureau were all established under this background.
However, unlike the state-owned enterprises under the jurisdiction of the Han government, the state-owned enterprises in the mainland are not only scarce in number, but also have rigid management systems, and corruption among managers is worse than in government departments.
Take the Jiangnan General Administration of Manufacturing as an example. The officials who lead the management of the enterprise know nothing about modern industrial technology and do not care about the development of the enterprise at all. They just use the state-owned enterprises under their names as a tool to make money. According to the intelligence obtained from the Han Dynasty, from
In a total of more than 20 years from its establishment in 1665 to the first half of 1889, the number of officials in the Jiangnan General Administration of Manufacturing increased from more than 40 to more than 200, a five-fold increase in number.
In addition to factors such as rigid enterprise management and rampant official corruption, the incomplete industrial development system and the obstruction of conservative officials in the Qing court were also important reasons for the failure of industrialization in mainland China.
In the first half of 1889, the price of industrial raw materials purchased from mainland China increased by 50% compared with the same period 20 years ago. (This was partly due to official corruption and collusion with foreign businessmen.) State-owned enterprises such as the Jiangnan Manufacturing Administration and the Steamship Investment Promotion Bureau were affected by industrial problems.
Raw materials rose too fast, competition among Western countries and other reasons led to continuous losses. Many industrial workers were fired by corporate officials, and factory efficiency continued to decline. At the same time, the Qing government, including so-called Westernization officials, imposed restrictions on private industrial enterprises, which led to the mainland
Various industrial industries in the region are monopolized by Western businessmen. Even if a small number of businessmen take risks and establish industrial enterprises in the name of foreign businessmen, they are still unable to develop and grow because they are suppressed by the Qing government, foreign businessmen, comprador businessmen and other tripartite forces.
National enterprise.
Compared with mainland China and Japan, Han has the smallest population and the shortest time since its establishment. However, also because it has the shortest time and its native citizens are all Chinese from different regions, the Han government was able to establish the country without any obstruction from long-term interest groups.
Starting from a blank piece of paper, plan the local industrialization development path.
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, agriculture and animal husbandry were the national industries, and the vast La Plata Plain was used to vigorously develop agriculture and animal husbandry. The funds obtained from the development of agriculture and animal husbandry were then invested in steel and emerging chemical industries to feed back.
Local industrial development.
In the mid-1880s, Han's chemical industry grew into a new technology industry. Various superior chemical products developed and produced locally quickly became another pillar of the local industry because of their irreplaceability, quality, and superior performance.
A large income-generating industry, it is exported to Europe, Southeast Asia and other regions, bringing considerable financial revenue to the local government.
The four advantageous industries of animal husbandry, agriculture, agricultural product processing industry, and new chemical industry bring a steady stream of financial funds to the local area. Then the local government invests these funds in different industrial industries based on macro planning, with different degrees of fundamental urgency.
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The four advantageous industries feed back heavy industry, and high-tech heavy industry industries such as Iron and Steel United Group, Jiangnan Textile Factory, Hanguo Mining Company, Royal Shipyard, Xinjing Shipyard, Chang'an Machinery Bureau, etc., in the process of development and expansion, also provide local services.
Private industrial enterprises are transporting more and more technical talents.
Four large state-owned enterprises, Hanguo Iron and Steel United Group, Xinjing Shipyard, Xinghe Shipyard, and Royal Shipyard, were the initial training centers for Hanguo's industrial workers.
Among the four state-owned enterprises, Hanguo Iron and Steel United Group and its more than 300 affiliated factories and enterprises have more than 26,000 employees of various types and 15,000 industrial workers. (Hanguo Iron and Steel United Group is a systematic enterprise established based on coal production areas.
Among them are not only enterprises related to steel smelting, but also military-industrial enterprises such as rifles, artillery, and armored artillery shells, which have a huge demand for steel. They are also established in the industrial base and are affiliated to the United Steel Group. They accept military, government,
Joint jurisdiction among the three parties of the United Group).
Xinjing Shipyard has an 8,000-ton military dock under its name (it can nominally build 8,000-ton warships, and is generally used to build warships between 7,000 and 5,000 tons).
, 2 5,000-ton military shipyards, and 3 3,000-ton military shipyards.
It has 149 supporting industrial enterprises of various types, with 3,000 employees of various types and 2,400 industrial workers.
The Royal Dockyard has an 8,000-ton military dock under its name.
, 2 5,000-ton military shipyards, and 4 3,000-ton military shipyards.
It has 162 supporting industrial enterprises of various types, with 3,200 employees of various types and 2,500 industrial workers.
Xinghe Shipyard is responsible for the construction of civilian ships and inland river steamships. It has one 5,000-ton military dock and four 3,000-ton military docks.
There are 2 civilian 8,000-ton shipyards, 4 civilian 5,000-ton shipyards, and 9 civilian 3,000-ton shipyards.
It has 194 supporting industrial enterprises of various types, with 3,500 employees of various types and 2,700 industrial workers.
The technical employees of the four state-owned enterprises mainly come from returned overseas students and locally trained intermediate technical college graduates, with a small number of imported foreign technical experts, workers and early apprentice workers who studied with foreign technicians.
The Han government encourages the development of private industrial enterprises. Every year, the government selects some technical workers from state-owned enterprises and transfers them to private industrial enterprises to cultivate the technical talents needed by private enterprises.
Light industry and agriculture gradually nurtured the development of heavy industry, and state-owned enterprises supported the development of private industrial enterprises. Under the policy of mutual support between several different types of industrial industries implemented by the government, the local industrial system of Han Dynasty slowly spread from one industry to another.
to the entire industrial industry, and the rate of diffusion is still accelerating rapidly. For example, the civilian shipbuilding industry in Han Dynasty,
At the end of 1868, the Han government captured only more than 100 ships of various types, with a total tonnage of only 20,000 tons.
By the first half of 1889, the number of Han's ocean-going transport ships reached 170, and the tonnage of ocean-going transport ships reached 260,000 tons.
The tonnage of the ships used for ocean transportation and navigation are all over 1,000 tons, and more than 150 of them are equipped with and converted to steam engines.
Compared with ocean-going transport ships, although they are used in domestic coastal waters, inland waterway transport ships generally have a tonnage of only 50 to 200 tons, and the largest ones are only 2,000 to 3,000 tons.
However, due to the developed water systems in various parts of the country, the water transportation industry has a large demand for offshore and inland water transport vessels. The number of offshore and inland water transport vessels in the mainland has exceeded 1,000, and the tonnage of the vessels has reached 120,000 tons.
The total tonnage of local civilian ships is close to 390,000 tons, and there are more than 500 large and small shipping companies. Although according to estimates by government departments, as competition in the shipping industry intensifies in the next few years, the number of local shipping companies will soon drop to 200.
Yu family,
However, private shipping companies integrate and merge with each other in accordance with market rules. The integration and merger of small companies with only one or two ships each can not only increase the company's market competitiveness, but also be conducive to the healthy development of the local shipping industry.
, for this reason, the local government has not intervened, but is preparing to take advantage of the launch of the country's first 5,000-ton ocean-going ship to increase support for private shipping companies.