| Li Weige was closely associated with Han Yeping Company which was quite famous in modern China. During his term of supervisor in Hanyang Iron Works, he had made tremendous contributions to the reformation and development of the factory. The quality of products was greatly improved and the structure of the factory was optimized, too. Within a short period of time, he helped the company turn the losses into profits. In 1908, shortly after the establishment of Han Yeping Company, Li threw himself into the business of inviting outside investments and collecting capital with great enthusiasm. However, the result was undesirable. Besides, Li overemphasized the function of integration of capital, ignoring the reformation of the internal structure in the company. When he turned his interest to international markets, Li discovered the potential American market. Unfortunately, the failure in American market compelled the company to depend heavily on Japanese market. In order to collect the funds necessary for reformation, Li had to signed "the Pact of Loaning in Advance for the Mine" which was worth of three million Yen. It was this pact that exerted fundamental influence, from the content to the form, on the following loan of the company. In 1905, during the process of reformation in Hanyang Iron Works, Japan offered a large quantity of loan to Li. But Li's resolute opposition and. resistance to those outrageous requirements from the Japanese side once broke up the negotiation for a while. Later on, they finally signed the pact under the condition that Japan had to give up some inappropriate requirements. Influenced by the failure in exploring American market and other factors, in April 1911, Han Yeping Company signed "the Pact of Loaning in Advance for Pig Iron" with Yokohama Specie Bank,LTD. Although the pact, was regarded as an essential step for Japan's aggression, its effect was not strong enough to make Japan take over the full control of Han Yeping Company. Considering the order from Sheng Xuanhuai that the investment for company should be recouped as soon as possible before the Revolution of 1911, Li and Japan signed "the Renewed Pact of Loaning in Advance for Pig Iron", in which Li played the role of accessory under the wrong guidance. Later, Li considered using the loan to operate a new works jointly, which was coincident with the plan of joint operation of Han Yeping Company with Japan after the Revolution of 1911. In the case of "Joint peration of Han Yeping Company", on the one hand, Li's action was directly conducted by Sheng Xuanhuai; however, on the other hand, it was also the reflection of his personal idea. From his inner world, Li was not opposed to the joint operation. After the foundation of the Republic of China, the severe production conditions made the company have no choice but to sign the pact for the loan of fifteen million Yen, which was derived from "the Renewed Pact of Loaning in Advance for Pig Iron". It is through this pact that the subsidiary relationship of Han Yeping Company to Japan eventually came into being. And Li, to some extent, was responsible for that result. This thesis, based on Li Weige's practice of loaning Japanese capital, tries to point out both the reasonability of loaning Japanese capital and the mistakes he had made when dealing with Japanese capital.
|
PDF Full Text Request