Japanese-funded Spinning Mills In China From The Perspective Of Sino-Japanese Relations

After the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki,Japan gained the privilege to invest and build factories in China,and gradually began to make direct investment in China.Shanghai has become the first choice for Japanese textile capital to enter China because of its superior geographical environment,complete infrastructure and vast cotton market.Then more and more Japanese textile factories entered Shanghai to engage in production and business activities,and Shanghai became the most concentrated place of Japanese textile factories before World War II.In 1918,Japanese cotton textile entrepreneurs Toyoji Wada and Matazo Kita set up a Rihua Spinner with a capital of 10 million yen.The Japanese full name is Rihua Textile Co.,Ltd.In the same year,Rihua began its business activities in Shanghai on the basis of buying Hongyuan Textile Company.After that,Japan and China merged two Chinese yarn mills one after another to expand their basic mills.Eventually,Japan and China yarn mill grew into the second largest yarn mill among Japanese textile companies in China and became the leader of Japanese textile companies in China.In terms of management system,like other Japanese spinner,Rihua Spinner transplanted the management system of Japanese domestic mills,abolished the Comprador System and foreman system,and was directly managed by the Japanese according to the well-organized system.This kind of management system is more precise and efficient than the management mode of the Chinese textile mill of the same era.In this way,with strong financial background,effective operation mode and economic privileges brought by unequal treaties,Japanese Chinese yarn mills and other Japanese textile mills in China quickly occupied China’s cotton textile market,while Chinese yarn mills with weak development could only gradually withdraw from Shanghai and seek other development opportunities.The booming development of Japanese funded yarn mills in Shanghai does not mean that all Japanese funded yarn mills operate smoothly.Although the management mode of Japanese funded cotton mills is efficient,it is also prone to conflict.Class contradictions and ethnic contradictions triggered several strikes and anti Japanese movements.Since the establishment of Rihua Spinner,the strike movement has never stopped,which has caused a great impact on Rihua Spinner.Moreover,Rihua Spinner is the most severely damaged one among all Japanese funded yarn mills,which leads to the emergence of Rihua Spinner with the most negative interest rate among many Japanese yarn mills in China.However,the ensuing Japanese invasion of China brought the decline of Rihua Spinner back to the road of expansion.