Personal styles, cultural values and management: The sincere and wing on companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong, 1900-1941

Business History Review

Volumn 70, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 141-166

  Chan, Wellington K K ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0030489007     PISSN: 00076805     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3116879     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. Gunther Barth, City People: The Rise of the Modern City Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1980), provides a colorful account of the rise of modern department stores in Europe and America.
2. Nicholas R. Clifford, Spoilt Children of Empire: Westerners in Shanghai and the Chinese Revolution of the 1920s (Hanover, Vt., 1991), 62.
3. Shanghai jindai baihuo shangye shi (The history of modern department stores in Shanghai) (Shanghai, 1988), 9-25.
4. Ibid; Lo Bohua and Deng Guangbiao, "Cong Su-Hang duo baihuo" (From Suzhou and Hangzhou style shops to department stores), in Guangzhou wenshi ziliao (Historical Materials on Guangzhou) 20 (1969): 228-250.
5. Ibid; Lo Bohua and Deng Guangbiao, "Cong Su-Hang duo baihuo" (From Suzhou and Hangzhou style shops to department stores), in Guangzhou wenshi ziliao (Historical Materials on Guangzhou) 20 (1969): 228-250.
6. The Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian jinian ce (The Sincere Company: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Commemorative Issue)(Hong Kong, 1925), "Records," 1; Guo Luo, Hui'yi lu (Memoires) (n.p., dedication dated 1949), 1-2.
7. The Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian jinian ce (The Sincere Company: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Commemorative Issue)(Hong Kong, 1925), "Records," 1; Guo Luo, Hui'yi lu (Memoires) (n.p., dedication dated 1949), 1-2.
8. The Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 1-2; Ma Wenfei, son of Ma Yingbiao, interview by author, Hong Kong, 7 and 9 July 1980.
9. Barth, City People, 128-30, 137-38.
10. The Sincere Company, The Sincere Company, Limited, Hong Kong: Diamond Jubilee 1900-1975 (Hong Kong, n.d.), 12-14, 26-27; The Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 1-3, 11-13.
11. The Sincere Company, The Sincere Company, Limited, Hong Kong: Diamond Jubilee 1900-1975 (Hong Kong, n.d.), 12-14, 26-27; The Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 1-3, 11-13.
12. Cf. Wu Xin, Yao Wendan, et al., comps., Minguo Shanghai xian zhi (Gazetteer of the Shanghai county of the republican era) (Shanghai, preface dated 1936), chuan 5: 1a-b, 16b, 20b, 24b, 31a.
13. The Sincere Company, Xianshi gonsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 10-16; The Sincere Company, Sincere Company: Diamond Jubilee, 13-18.
14. The Sincere Company, Xianshi gonsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 10-16; The Sincere Company, Sincere Company: Diamond Jubilee, 13-18.
15. Guo Jing, retired employee of Wing On, interview by author, Shanghai, 26 Feb. 1979.
16. Guo Chuan, Yong'an jingshen zhi faren ji qi changcheng shilue (A brief history of the origin and development of the spirit of Wing On)(n.p., preface 1960), 10-11, 14-17. The names "Yong'an" and "Wing On" share the same Chinese characters; the different romanizations come from their different pronunciations in Mandarin and Cantonese respectively.
17. The Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 9; The Wing On Company, Xianggang Yong'an youxian gongsi ershitou zhounian jinianlu (The Wing On Company Limited of Hong Kong: In Commemoration of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary, 1907-1932) (Hong Kong, preface 1932), section on "History."
18. The Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 9; The Wing On Company, Xianggang Yong'an youxian gongsi ershitou zhounian jinianlu (The Wing On Company Limited of Hong Kong: In Commemoration of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary, 1907-1932) (Hong Kong, preface 1932), section on "History."
19. The Sincere Company, Hong Kong: Diamond Jubilee, 14-15.
20. Shanghai Yong'an gongsi di shansheng fazhan wo gaizao (The Birth, Development, and Reconstruction of the Shanghai Wing On Company) (Shanghai, 1981), 71-74; see Table 1 on p. 11 for the Guo brothers' 5.6 percent ownership of the Shanghai company.
21. Betty P. T. Wei, Shanghai: Crucible of Modern China (London, 1987), 212.
22. Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 11; The Sincere Company, Hong Kong. Diamond Jubilee, 20; Shanghai Yong'an gongsi, 109-119; on the Ch.$500,000 (or 500,000 Ch. yuan) contribution, see Parks M. Coble, Jr., The Shanghai Capitalists and the Nationalist Government, 1927-1937 (Cambridge, Mass., 1980), 34. Throughout this period until the mid-1930s, the Hong Kong dollar and the Chinese dollar (yuan) were worth about the same.
23. Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 11; The Sincere Company, Hong Kong. Diamond Jubilee, 20; Shanghai Yong'an gongsi, 109-119; on the Ch.$500,000 (or 500,000 Ch. yuan) contribution, see Parks M. Coble, Jr., The Shanghai Capitalists and the Nationalist Government, 1927-1937 (Cambridge, Mass., 1980), 34. Throughout this period until the mid-1930s, the Hong Kong dollar and the Chinese dollar (yuan) were worth about the same.
24. Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 11; The Sincere Company, Hong Kong. Diamond Jubilee, 20; Shanghai Yong'an gongsi, 109-119; on the Ch.$500,000 (or 500,000 Ch. yuan) contribution, see Parks M. Coble, Jr., The Shanghai Capitalists and the Nationalist Government, 1927-1937 (Cambridge, Mass., 1980), 34. Throughout this period until the mid-1930s, the Hong Kong dollar and the Chinese dollar (yuan) were worth about the same.
25. Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 11; The Sincere Company, Hong Kong. Diamond Jubilee, 20; Shanghai Yong'an gongsi, 109-119; on the Ch.$500,000 (or 500,000 Ch. yuan) contribution, see Parks M. Coble, Jr., The Shanghai Capitalists and the Nationalist Government, 1927-1937 (Cambridge, Mass., 1980), 34. Throughout this period until the mid-1930s, the Hong Kong dollar and the Chinese dollar (yuan) were worth about the same.
26. Shanghai Yong'an gongsi, 125-28.
27. Xiao Fanbo, "Guangzhou Xianshi gongsi ershidou nian di sheng'ai," (The rise and fall of Guangzhou's Sincere Company during its twenty-odd years) Guangzhou wenshi ziliao 23 (1972): 126-43, esp. 137-38.
28. Shanghai Yong'an gongsi, 147-149. Wing On's response to the British Consulate's rebuff was to change their British registration to American registration. It provided some company stock to two senior managers of the American firm in Shanghai, Andersen, Meyer & Company, and then invited them to sit on the Wing On board. The Wing On Textile Company, whose mills sat on Chinese territory, was also deeded to the American firm as collateral, so as to prevent Japanese seizure. The American registration, too, lost its efficacy after Pearl Harbor and American declaration of war against Japan.
29. Ibid., 149-159.
30. Cf. S. G. Redding, "Culture and Entrepreneurial Behavior among the Overseas Chinese," in Brigitte Berger, ed., The Culture of Entrepreneurship (San Francisco, 1991), 137-156.
31. Wellington K. K. Chan, "The Origins and Early Years of the Wing On Company Group in Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong and Shanghai: Organisation and Strategy of a New Enterprise," in Chinese Business Enterprise in Asia, ed. Rajeswary Ampalavanar Brown (London, 1995), 80-95.
32. Guo Chuan, Yong'an jingshen, 24-30.
33. The Wing On Company, Xianggang Yong'an youxian gongsi, "History," 4-6; Shanghai Yong'an gongsi, 8, 85; The Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 8-9, 12-13.
34. The Wing On Company, Xianggang Yong'an youxian gongsi, "History," 4-6; Shanghai Yong'an gongsi, 8, 85; The Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 8-9, 12-13.
35. The Wing On Company, Xianggang Yong'an youxian gongsi, "History," 4-6; Shanghai Yong'an gongsi, 8, 85; The Sincere Company, Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhounian, "Records," 8-9, 12-13.
36. Shanghai Yong'an gongsi, 87.
37. Guo Yihuo, interview by author, Guangzhou, 28 May 1981.
38. Charles Mar Fan, Ma Xiaocong, Daniel P. K. Au, and Pan Chengrong, with Sincere, interview by author, Hong Kong's Sincere Company head office, 25 June 1980. Ma Yubao, Liang Caokui, Ji Gaozhi, Xie Xianglin and Sheng Jiang, with Wing On, interview by author, Shanghai, 27, 28 February and 2 March 1980. Guo Dihuo, interview by author, Guangzhou, 28 May 1981.
39. Quoted in Wing On, The Wing On Life Assurance Company Limited: Golden Jubilee Book 1925-1975 (Hong Kong, n.d.), 18.
40. Ding Ruchu, "Shanghai huazi daying baohuo gongsi di chuangjian wo jingying" (The establishment and operation of Chinese-owned large department stores in Shanghai) (paper presented at Cornell's Luce Seminar on Shanghai, 14-15 Aug. 1992) 8.
41. Shanghai Yong'an gongsi, 46; Guo Dihuo, interview by author, Guangzhou, 28 May 1981.
42. Joseph Schumpeter, "The Creative Response in Economic History," Journal of Economic History 8 (Nov. 1947): 151.
43. Berger, ed., The Culture of Entrepreneurship, passim.