Zhu Zhiyao

Zhu Zhiyao

Zhu Zhiyao (1863-1955), born in Dongjiadu, Shanghai, is a Catholic. As a child, he studied in Xuhui public school from his second uncle Ma Xiangbo. He has successively served as comprador of China Merchants Steamship Company, manager of Jiangnan Shipyard, general office of Dade oil factory and comprador of French Oriental Bank. In addition to establishing Qiuxin manufacturing machinery ship factory, Tongchang oil factory, Tongchang yarn factory, Datong Renji and China Hezhong were successively established. They invested in Xincheng rice factory, Huixi cloth factory, "nigelao" brick factory, Anhui Tu iron mine and other enterprises, and served as the general manager of Huashang electric company and inland waterworks, Shenda flour factory, China Book Company, Sulu company and Datong , dada Shipping Co., Ltd.

His mother Ma Jianshu was ma Xiangbo, the founder of Fudan University, and the elder sister of Ma Jianzhong, a diplomat in the late Qing Dynasty. Her fifth brother Zhu Kaimin was a famous member of the society of Jesus. His ancestral home is Qingpu and he was born in Dongjiadu. When he was 24 years old, he went to Britain, France and the United States with his third uncle Ma Jianzhong. He visited many machine factories to learn about advanced technology and broaden his horizons.

Wealth accumulation

After returning to China, introduced by his second uncle Ma Xiangbo, Zhu Zhiyao successively served as the comprador of "Jiang Tian Lun" and "Jiang Yu Lun". In his spare time, he also designed and manufactured cottonseed oiling mills for Sheng Xuanhuai's weaving Bureau, and transformed foreign machines that were not suitable for Chinese cottonseeds. Sheng Xuanhuai greatly appreciated them. In 1897, Sheng Xuanhuai set up Deda oil factory and appointed Zhu Zhiyao as the general manager. The following year, Zhu Zhiyao was also a comprador of the Oriental Bank. Over the years, he has not only laid a foundation in Shanghai's industrial circles, but also accumulated a considerable amount of funds.

Set up industry

In 1904, Zhu Zhiyao, with the help of Ma Xiangbo, rented 70 mu of Shen's land on the South Bank of Huangpu River and set up a machinery ship factory. With the meaning of "only seeking novelty in utensils", we take each "seeking novelty". At the beginning of its establishment, the shipyard was mainly engaged in repair business. Two years later, Yingjiang customs made a reservation and built an 83 foot customs lightboat. Then Zhu Zhiyao personally presided over the design and construction, and built a passenger and cargo dual-purpose ship "Daxin". By the second year of Xuantong (1910), a total of 40 ships, such as ships, soldiers, barges, barges and mud carriers, as well as customs buoys and wharves, were manufactured. At the same time of shipbuilding, Zhu Zhiyao continued to develop new products, expand the scale, and made great efforts to study power machines, and produced novel vertical and horizontal steam engines with 25-300 horsepower. It has also produced a 66 ton super large engine, and all the parts are made in China, which makes many Western engineers who come to visit "Marvel". Qiuxin factory is a pioneering work in the history of Chinese machine, known as "the giant of Chinese machine factory". In addition, Zhu Zhiyao successively founded Baoxing iron mine company, Anhui Dangtu iron mine company and Changxing coal mine company, invested in Xincheng rice factory, Jiangxi cloth factory and nigezhi brick factory, and served as the director of Huashang electric company, inland waterworks, Shenda flour factory, China Book Company and Suzheng company. decline during the first World War, there was a great shortage of iron and steel in the domestic market, the price rose sharply, and the Qiuxin factory was heavily in debt. In 1919, it was taken over by French businessmen in the name of "Sino French cooperation". After that, Zhu Zhiyao tried hard to "make a comeback" and could do nothing.

Zhu's genealogy