| Modern German investment in China was an important part of Sino-German relations. This article attempts to analyze modern German investment in China from the point of view of history and economics between1840and1914, so that a more accurate view of modern Sino-German economic relations could be achieved.In addition to the introduction and conclusion, the main body of this paper is composed of five chapters. The first chapter discusses the background of modern German investment in China. Modern foreigninvestment in China was export of capital that was based on specific investment environment of business in Modern China, which followed the predatory expansion nature ofcapital. Modern foreign investment in China was constantly adjusted with the development of China’s market economy and the change of national interests of foreign countries in Chinese political area, which resulted in distinct periods of investment and investment hotspot of industry.German Empire with its increasingly power launched a competition with other countries on Chinese soil,despite a late start of modern Sino-German economic and trade relations, that changed from the implementation of "mainland policy" to "world policy",ade China as its experimental ground for overseas colonial competition and cooperation with other countries, with both the implementation of ferce and cultural appeasement.The second chapter discusses the main bodies of the financial activities of modern German investment in China, which were Foreign firm and bank investment in China. Modern German investment in China can notlive without the main body of the capital activities, while the main body itself had a development process from Foreign firm to Bank. Before German Bank kept a foothold in China, Germany Foreign firm acted as both commercial and capital mastersin one, that wasstill in the trial stage with many limitations onits investment activities. With the establishment of Germany-Sino Bank, the position of German Consortiumon the capital output to China was consolidated. Germany-Sino Bank’s capital outputwas not only ordinary export of capital, but also a special capital output that was closely related with politicsat the expense of China’s sovereignty. The Bank had a special nature and bore a special mission, whosehuge profit from its operations in China was ensuredby its solid financial support of their governments. Germany-Sino Bank challenged the British Bankto its long-term monopoly of China’s financial sector, while being investorand strong partner of the British Bank at the same time.Itsoperating mode that achieved relative success in China could be taken as reference for the development of regional financial sector in modern China.The third chapter discusses an overview of loan as the modern German capital exported to China, which became the focus of national competitionbecause of its stable income, high profitsand simple operation, and German soon took advantage in this areatogether with the United Kingdom by its successful diplomatic means. With the expansion of German main capital forces in China,the funds for Germany activities was guaranteed, which ensured itsfreely penetration into every corner of Chinese economy.Before the First World War, German loan to China could be divided into two categories:one was military-political loan, such loan except necessary military-political loan that help to resist invasion were pure consumption one, the other was industry-commerce loan, which produced economic profit and had pros and cons duality. Industry-commerce loan influenced Chinese economy in two respects, from one hand some of them belonged to normal loan that could produce profit in China, on the other hand a big part of them had high interest rates and were with harsh political and economic conditions accompanied.The fourth chapter discusses Railway, Mining and Factory investment situations, which were modern German iconic industrial investment to China. To be consistent with its strategic goals in China, the characteristics of Germany investment in thosearea were to maximize its Railway, Mining and Factory interests, with the railways as centers, with Qingdao, Hankou, Tianjin as industrial markets, in order to consolidate its sphere of influence as well as to establish a special model of economy which was ’The Mode of Colonial Economy’. Germany did not give up the competition and cooperation with other countries out ofits sphere of influence, and penetrated its investment into the control area of Britain, France, the United States and other countries.German investment not only consolidated German forces in China, but also objectively stimulated the development of China’s regional ethnic Industry.The fifth chapter focuses on the modern German investment in public utilities in China. Those investment included culture, public health, and medical care ones. The investment objective was to establish German culture domination of the world, with cultural products to promote economic power and political interests in the colony. German culture policy underwent a processfrom plundering culture treasures to carrying out cultural infiltration, and finallyachieved the formation of official cultural policy in China and reached certain pragmatic results, during which construction of German schools in China is a carrier of such a policy.Health investment was mostly for the needs of the colonial authorities themselves, however,it unconsciously laid the foundation for the development of regional public health undertakings in China, of which especially the concept of development of public utilities for Germany construction in Qingdao, which was taken as reference for Chinese construction of modern city public utilities.In brief, modern Germany investment to China commenced in a contradiction between backward traditional Chinese economy and Western capitalist modern economy. Whileexternal economic aggression and cultural infiltration was the nature of the expansion of capitalism,of which modern German investment in China wasin such context as well,however, it also had its own characteristics. The investment was subject to the constraints of German foreign policy as a whole; such investment was in a process of bouncing development, and was consistent with native development of German capitalist economic; the investment presented the character of regional monoply, of which German investment was based in Shandong and tried to radiate around China, which also reflected its long-term strategic objectives.During the process of modern German investment in China, it was both Germany and Chinese political and economic interest groups as well as ordinary people that were involved, of which both protest, obedience and fusion existed, such interaction process made both ones changed their thinking and behavior, which included politicaladjustment on both sides, as well as public protests, acceptance and integration adaptations for both German and Chinese people, which resulted in mixing process in both social and cultural aspects, and ultimately showed the results of such development:the decisive force in modern China’s modernization process was not that of pure invasive alien forces which had influence on certain areas of Chinese economy, but was that of which China adapted their own development needs, and chose the direction of modernization in the process of economic activities, during which innovation development choice was overriding those original ones of invasive alien forces. It was a different way than other countries that modern German taken for their economic activity in China, namely the management construction model of the establishment of "model colony", as well as whose commitment to enter Chinese inland with long-term strategic thinking, which resulted in German to become a "model" on the road of certain areas of China to choose to promote modernization. Therefore, it provides a valuable reference for a correct view of the modernization of Chinese economy by exploring the history of modern German-Chinese economic relations. |
PDF Full Text Request