Lei Pharmacy was originally named "Song Lei Branch Hall", and its founder Lei was named Nanshan. Lei was born in Fengcheng, Jiangxi, and later moved to Suzhou to settle down. His father's name is Kurihara. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, he lived in the cabinet and died in middle age. Lei was born in the thirty-fifth year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty (1696). He studied medicine when he was young and was good at piano and poetry. In the early years of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty, he was seriously ill in Beijing. After his illness, he abandoned Confucianism to become a doctor, traveled to Shandong and other places, collected Chinese herbal medicines and returned to his hometown of Suzhou. Since then, he has been practicing medicine to help the world, and at the same time, he has studied the production of Chinese medicine pills. He has written four medical books, including synopsis of the golden chamber, prescription theory of Dan pills and classic treatment methods for diseases. Unfortunately, all the original books have been lost, leaving only four titles to be handed down to future generations.
According to textual research, the Suzhou government records briefly describe Lei and his son as follows: "Lei was born in Wuxian County, his father was an heir, and he was born in Wanping (Lei Siyuan lived in wanping county, Hebei Province, and used this as a book). He was recruited as a tribute student, an official to a cabinet official, and a military aircraft. It was very important to promote Confucianism at that time, because he was good at medicine, especially at tonifying pills and dispersing ointment ... According to the same account in Volume 75 of Wuxianzhi, Lei also remembered: "Confucianism was first promoted in his career, but he failed to make meritorious deeds in the first year of Qianlong, and he was hidden in medicine ..." 。
In the 12th year of Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty (1734), Lei opened a Chinese medicine shop in front of Tianku, Chuanzhu Lane, Nagato, Suzhou, and sold his own Chinese medicine under the signboard of "Song Lei Branch Hall", and listed himself as a doctor in the shop. Lei's medical skill is brilliant, the treatment is effective, and the self-made Chinese patent medicine has remarkable curative effect, so the reputation of "Dr. Lei" has spread all over Suzhou and is well known. Later, people called this drugstore "Lei" drugstore. As for the official signboard of the pharmacy "Lei Yong Branch Hall", it was gradually omitted or even forgotten, but now it is little known.
Lei has five grandchildren, named "Li Dafang, Geng Erfang, Qi Sanfang, Jiao Sifang and Song", which have been passed down from generation to generation. In the forty-fourth year of Qing Qianlong (1779), Lei died at the age of 84. Lei Songfen Hall was jointly run by five grandchildren and owned one-fifth of the property rights. After more than 200 years of reproduction, among them, Qisanfang has been an only child for a long time, and its equity has always remained one-fifth and it has become a major shareholder. There are many grandchildren in other houses, and the shares are scattered, and the shares held by each descendant are very different.
In the tenth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty (1860), the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom marched northward, and Suzhou was in a state of war, so pharmacies could not operate normally and closed down one after another. The Lei family distributed the precious medicinal materials stored in the store to all their grandchildren and left home to make a living. At this time, Lei Zichun, who has three rooms, and Lei, who has five rooms, left Suzhou for Shanghai and set up a stall to sell medicine at the new north gate outside the city to make a living. Later, the grandchildren of various families also opened their own medicine stalls in Shanghai, and their stalls were also selected between the new North Gate and the old North Gate. Over time, this area has formed a market with certain characteristics. The life of Lei's descendants who wandered in Shanghai gradually settled down, so their grandchildren agreed to open a branch of Songfentang in Shanghai to restore their ancestral business. Due to limited funds, Pingtong outdoor shareholders were recruited in Shanghai, and in the tenth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty (1860), a pharmacy named "Lei Yong Branch" was opened at the entrance of Jingjiang Lane (now Yongsheng Road, Xinbeimen) in French Concession Street, Shanghai. A few years later, the store expanded to Minguo Road (now Renmin Road). At that time, the pharmacy was small, the storage room was simple and the funds were limited. The total capital is 800 taels, of which Pingyuan recorded 200 taels as the major shareholder, Tong 100 taels, and Lei Wufang's grandchildren each 100 taels. Our products are mainly ancestral pills, powders, ointments and pills, such as Busu Pill, Zhuge Powder, Babao Hongling Pill, Xingxiao Pill, Meihua Banshe Pill, Zijing Ingot and later Liushen Pill, all of which are well-known drugs produced by Lei. The business purpose still maintains the characteristics of Suzhou old shop, and only sells self-produced Chinese medicines, with as many as 300 or 400 varieties, and does not operate decoction pieces.
Since the application number of "Song Lei Branch Hall" was established 40 years ago, the pharmacy business has remained stable year by year, with no ups and downs. By the 28th year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1902), the pharmacy business had undergone tremendous changes. This year, an epidemic plague occurred in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, and the demand for medicines increased sharply. The finished medicines produced by Leisong Powder Hall are all marketable summer medicines. For this reason, the sales volume has increased greatly, the turnover has doubled, and the profit this year is very considerable.
At the beginning, because of insufficient funds, two outdoor shareholders were recruited to partner. Due to proper management, business expansion and soaring assets, it is enough to operate independently, so it is decided to exclude foreign capital and take it exclusively to the Lei family. After discussion, each family invested a huge sum of money to acquire the equity of Ping and Tong outdoor surname shareholders, and finally resumed the sole proprietorship of Lei's ancestral business. Since then, after several years of operation, most pharmacies are engaged in precious fine materials, and their turnover is much higher than that of ordinary pharmacies. For example, Liushen Pills cost 100 bottles/20 yuan, which is twice the price of gold. Because of this, profits have increased year by year and assets have expanded rapidly. By the time of the Republic of China, there were 602,000 taels of silver in bank deposits alone. According to the current market price estimation, Wuzhou Pharmacy spent more than 200,000 yuan to build a Wuzhou building with a floor of 10 on Fuzhou Road in 25 years of the Republic of China, and Lei Yun's bank deposit was enough to build three Wuzhou buildings, showing its great wealth.
In the early 1930s, Lei Yun went to a drugstore and opened a branch of Beiyi and Beiyi. With the further development and business expansion of pharmacies, profits have doubled. In order to expand our business, we set up branches with abundant funds for development. After the resolution is passed, it is planned to set up an original "Tiedaqiao Qingyutang Pharmacy" at the northern end of Henan Luqiao, opposite Tianhou Palace (now No.30, Henan North Road), which went bankrupt due to poor management and was sealed up by the court. After renovation and expansion, a branch named "Leisong Powder Hall North" was opened. In addition to self-produced Chinese medicine (there were about 400 varieties at that time), it also operated Chinese herbal pieces and ginseng antler formula, and also opened a night formula business, and moved the mail order business of Shen Hao, the former new North Gate, to Beihao, which is known as the "National Medicine All-round Store". In the 23rd year of the Republic of China (1934), it officially opened in June of 5438+00, and the original Shen Hao of Xinbeimen was renamed Nanhao. On the opening day, Huang, an important figure in Shanghai at that time, was invited to attend the opening ceremony. On that day, the turnover was more than 6,000 yuan, of which Tiger Bone papaya wine was the only one. Thousands of bottles were sold that day, but in order to please the press, the reporter touted it as 50 thousand yuan in the news report 1937 "August 13th" Anti-Japanese War broke out, and the north bank of Suzhou Creek where the "North" was located became the sphere of influence of the Japanese army. Most local shops were closed and residents fled. In order to consider the property safety in the store, Beiyi suspended its business, temporarily rented a store room at Xieqiao Lane, No.719 Jing 'ansi Road (now Wujiang Road, Nanjing West Road), and moved the valuable goods in the store to a new location for temporary storage to avoid war. Most employees also take refuge in it. Because the residents there are concentrated, the market is stable and there are few pharmacies nearby. After a simple transformation, the new address was opened in June of the same year 1 1, and was temporarily named "North Branch". At the end of the same year, the Qiaobei area gradually settled down and Beihao resumed business. The temporary northern branch decided not to cancel because of its normal business and promising prospects. After redecorating, the counter frame made of high-grade wood was redecorated, and after finishing the facade, the scale exceeded that of Beihao, becoming a Chinese medicine shop with quite a style, which is now Shanghai Leiyun Shangxi. Since then, the northern branch and the western branch have been unified under the jurisdiction of Nanhao. 1980 Nanhao moved to No.91Henan Middle Road.
New management mode
Chinese medicine shops are an ancient industry, and most Chinese medicine shops have long adopted traditional and ancient management methods. Ray's drugstore is different. He absorbed a set of scientific management models of new enterprises in society and transplanted them to the ancient Chinese medicine industry in China, which was formed and implemented as early as the 1920s and 1930s. Even if some details are scientific and reasonable, such as ringing the bell when the door is open for business every day, all employees on the job will hang their badges on the "employee list" and look at them after work or on vacation. All employees in the store are not allowed to leave the store day or night. Apprentices specialize in production and business, and all chores that are not directly related to business are handled by handyman. Family members are required to go home for the night three times a month in all employee accommodation shops in this city, and the date is determined by the employees through consultation. It is not allowed to reschedule without authorization. Employees are required to have two months' home leave every year, and if they don't enjoy it, they can be given an allowance, which is equivalent to twice their salary. When returning to China, you are allowed to carry a specified number of commonly used drugs in the family, and release them after inspection and approval.
The store rules formulated by pharmacies are extremely strict, and employees are not allowed to go out at night and gamble, otherwise they will be expelled from the store. If the shop is damaged due to work mistakes, it will also be severely punished. If an employee neglects to buy inferior raw materials, he will be ordered to take the blame and resign. In order to improve the culture of employees, the store held reading classes for employees and invited competent people to be teachers. Most of the content is selected from China's View on Ancient Literature. The workers' band was also formed. In the early days of liberation, the Lei Workers' Band was very famous and often participated in festivals and cultural performances.
The semi-finished products of expensive drugs that are not repackaged in the store are all stored in the bank vault, and the manager is responsible for one of the keys. When picking up books, the librarian must be present in person and count the books before leaving the library. For the purchase of precious raw materials, the supplier is required to bring samples to the store at the same time within the agreed time and quote the price. Designated by the manager, the person in charge of purchasing goods will work with the inspector to strictly inspect and select the best candidates, just like the current "bidding procurement". These management methods are not uncommon in today's enterprises, but in the ancient Chinese medicine shops decades ago, Lei's approach is unique. At the beginning of the implementation of these new systems, some employees in the store complained, but the management of Lei believes that they must be resolutely implemented and finally consolidated.
Although the pharmacy system is strict, employees are rarely dismissed because of intentional foul. The reason is that the economic benefits of employees are better. Among the "Big Four" enterprises in Shanghai, the salary income of Lei employees is much higher than the other three. Employees, regardless of their positions, receive a monthly salary of 7 yuan. The minimum monthly salary is 70 cents, and the maximum salary can reach 2 yuan (base). The year-end dividend is usually paid at 1000 times of the base. Calculated by the apprentice's salary of 70 cents, you can get 700 yuan by the end of the year, almost twice as much as the senior staff of ordinary pharmacies. Therefore, employees cherish this "golden rice bowl" very much, consciously abide by strict store rules, and never dare to violate them easily. In this way, Lei Yun's shop rules were further consolidated.
"Liushen Pill" is a famous characteristic variety of Lei, but different from other varieties, it is not from the hand of Lei, but has another origin. Some people think that Lei Yun got rich by "Liushen Pill" when he went to the drugstore, but this is not the case. "Liushen Pill" came out until it became a patented product of Lei Yun Pharmacy, but it has a history of more than one hundred years. When the Lei family applied for opening in Shanghai, Lei Zifan, a descendant of Qi Sanfang, opened a small pharmacy named "Lei Tongjun Tang" in Fangbang Road, Xiaodongmen, and only hired two employees to handle a small amount of self-produced Chinese medicine. At this time, Lei Zifan had a secret recipe of Liushen Pill, which was obtained by his father Lei Zichun and passed on to him. In Suzhou Tonghefang's hometown, it was handmade by his wife and daughter and brought to Shanghai for sale. Named "Lei Zifan brand Liushen Pill". Rezifan's handwritten small pieces of paper advertisements were posted on walls and telephone poles, which attracted many customers, including Japanese, thus opening up the market and providing a small number of exports.
In the 28th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1902), when the business of applying for the name of Leiyong Branch Hall was expanding day by day, the grandsons of all families thought that "Liushen Pill" should be operated by Lei Yong Branch Hall, the ancestral business, so one room could not enjoy the benefits exclusively. Lei Zifan claimed that "Liushen Pill" was a foreign prescription, not handed down from the Lei family, and each room had no right to interfere. Recognizing this fact, the grandchildren of each family invested 1 10,000 yuan to buy out the production and management rights of Liushen Pills at one time. It is also stipulated that for every "Liushen Pill" sold by any chanting hall in the future, that is, at present, 200 bottles total 100 pills, the "silver gauge", that is, 980% of the silver is used as the patent fee for the three rooms, and each room has no right to share it. This patent fee is commonly known as "Liuti", that is, "Liushen Pill royalty", and it is based on the supervision of two close relatives. After the buyout of the patent right, the trademark of "Leizifan Liushen Pill" was cancelled immediately, the original supply channels were all suspended, "Leitong Juntang" was closed down, and the application number of Yongfentang absorbed two employees. Since then, "Liushen Pill" has become a patented product of Lei Yongfen Hall. After technical transformation, the output increased and the market expanded, it became a famous and special product sold well at home and abroad in Leiyunshang drugstore. 1929, the price of "Liushen Pill" was raised for the first time, and the standard of "six-lift" was raised accordingly, from 3 taels of silver per material to 4 taels of silver. 193 1, Liushen Pill increased its price again, and the "six exemptions" standard was revised again. For the convenience of calculation, it is no longer calculated in silver, but 2% of the total, that is, every 50 bottles of Liushen Pills are sold at the price of one bottle, and so on.
During the 50-year period, there have been many disputes over "six claims", and each room of Lei believes that it is impossible for the first room to enjoy this patent indefinitely, and has filed a lawsuit for it. However, every lawsuit has no result, because the original agreement did not stipulate the number of years, which can be regarded as indefinite enjoyment forever. Moreover, the agreement clearly stipulates that the patent will be passed down from generation to generation by the "eldest son" of Nosanfang, and even the brothers have no right to compete. The descendants of Yesanfang are all single-handedly, and no brothers compete for patents. Later, another lawsuit was triggered when the single heir of the Qi and the Three Kingdoms divorced. The woman proposed to divide the "six mentions", and the man called it the "producer" remuneration, which should be exclusive to the producer and has nothing to do with his wife. After investigation and evidence collection by the court, it was verified that this person was not present during the processing of Liushen Pill, so the statement of "producer" was not established. Finally, it is decided that men and women should score four or six points. This has been the judgment of the people's court 1950. It can be seen that the "six-proposal" agreement signed during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty was still faithfully implemented after liberation.
In the early days of liberation, Lei drugstore remained unchanged. After the privatization reform in 1956, the situation changed greatly. During the period of public-private partnership, Lei's descendants actively supported socialist transformation and took the lead in implementing public-private partnership, which played a positive role in Shanghai's industrial and commercial circles at that time. 1957, the "National Women's Career and Family Activists Conference" was held in Beijing. Xu Zhaogu, the eldest daughter-in-law of the 16th Leishi Eskimo, attended the conference with honor and was cordially received by the party and state leaders of China, Japan and other countries. 1958, several famous Chinese medicine shops such as Leida Pharmacy were established as "Shanghai United Chinese Medicine Factory", and most of the finished products were produced in the name of this factory. Among them, "Liushen Pill" is listed as a national "second-class commodity", which is exported to the whole country by the Ministry of Commerce as planned. The public-private joint venture Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Pharmaceutical Factory is under the jurisdiction of the state-owned Shanghai Medicinal Materials Company. The required raw materials are uniformly purchased by the municipal medicinal materials company from the place of origin, and the finished products are mass-produced according to the needs of society.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Lei Yun's three pharmacies, formerly known as Nanhao, Beihao and Xihao, were renamed and relocated several times. The original employees are also uniformly deployed to this industry by the subordinate medicinal materials companies and municipal companies in Huangpu, Hongkou and Jing 'an District according to their work needs. Until the end of 1970s, the well-known century-old shops in various industries gradually recovered their original brand-name features, and the branch pharmacies in Song Lei, which had been renamed several times, also successively recovered their original store names, which were uniformly called "Lei Yun Shang Pharmacy" and have been maintained until now. In order to revive the glory of Shanghai Sinopharm and realize the modernization goal of Chinese medicine industry, under the care and guidance of Shanghai Municipal Government, Shanghai Leiyunshang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. was formally established in September 2000 by pooling superior resources and joining hands with urban areas and industry and commerce. Shanghai Leiyunshang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a modern large-scale backbone enterprise of traditional Chinese medicine. It has the first, second and third Chinese medicine factories of Shanghai Chinese Medicine Factory, Shanghai Leiyunshang Pharmaceutical Factory, Shanghai Institute of Chinese Medicine, Shenxiang Ginseng Co., Ltd., Chinese Medicine Sales Branch and other well-known enterprises in Shanghai. With famous brands such as "Shile" and "Shenxiang", we produce all kinds of Chinese patent medicines and nutritional health products which are well-known at home and abroad.
The establishment of Shanghai Leiyunshang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. will be a milestone for Shanghai to build a new highland of modern Chinese medicine industry, and also an important symbol for Shanghai's Chinese medicine industry to accelerate its development and enter a new historical period.