The story of top scholars and industrialists. In the history of China, there are many prime ministers who came from the top, but there is only one industrialist who came from the top, that is, Zhang Jian, the pioneer who advocated and promoted "saving the country through industry" in the late Qing Dynasty. Zhang Jian is from Changle Town, Haimen County, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province. He was born in a wealthy peasant family. His grandfather can't read, and neither can his father. However, the clever Zhang Jian studied hard from an early age. It is said that when he was five years old, he could recite "Thousand Characters" word for word. One day, when the teacher saw someone riding a white horse outside the door, he asked the students to make a couplet on the topic of "Someone riding a white horse in front of the door". Zhang Jian's third brother "led a blue cow to the top" is right, and Zhang Jian's "I set foot on the sea in Jin Ao" is right. The teacher was overjoyed and said that he was ambitious and would surely make great achievements in the future. However, Zhang Jian's participation in the imperial examination was not smooth. He was a scholar at the age of 16, and was not awarded a position until he was 33. After that, he took four consecutive Jinshi examinations in Sun Shan, all of which ended in failure. In a rage, he smashed all the test-taking equipment and vowed never to take the imperial examination again! /kloc-in the spring of 0/894, in order to celebrate the 60th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi, the imperial examination was held in Qing Dynasty. Zhang Jian was forced to take the exam again by his father and uncle. Unexpectedly, this time, he was appreciated by the examiner Weng Tong, won the top prize and was appointed as the editor of the Hanlin Academy. However, in June this year, the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 broke out. Zhang Jian was filled with indignation, and together with Weng Tonghe and others, he actively advocated loyalty against imperialist aggression. He wrote to the emperor many times, attacking Li Hongzhang's traitorous capitulationism. When the struggle was fierce, Zhang Jian's father died of illness. According to the ethics at that time, he had to go back to his hometown to mourn for three years. So Zhang Jian left Beijing in a hurry. In February of the following year, the Sino-Japanese War ended in China's defeat, and China had to sign the treaty of shimonoseki with Japan. When the news reached Nantong, Zhang Jian was even more disappointed with the corrupt Manchu. He deeply felt that in order to make China "neither poor nor weak" and not be bullied by foreigners, it is imperative to implement political reform and replace the monarchy with parliamentary system; Second, we should vigorously develop industry to enrich the people and strengthen the country. He believes that a wise intellectual should face up to the reality and be brave enough to join the industry in order to save the nation and save the people from fire and water. Therefore, he refused to return to Beijing to resume his official position and was determined to open a factory in his hometown. In his resignation letter to the Hanlin Academy, he clearly stated: "I would rather be a useful thing than a shameful official with eight lives and nine lives!" At that time, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of the two rivers, was also an enthusiastic advocate of running industries. He has contacts with Zhang Jian and plans to set up factories in Suzhou and Nantong. He saw that Zhang Jian was a champion of new subjects and was enthusiastic about industry, so he appointed Zhang Jian to organize a cotton mill in Nantong. This coincides with Zhang Jian's mind. Nantong is a traditional cotton-producing area with convenient transportation, suitable climate and long frost-free period. The cotton here is not only high in yield, but also white in texture, long in fiber and elastic, and has long been famous as "sand flower". At the same time, local farmers have the traditional process of spinning and weaving, and their "Tongzhou Dabu" is exported to the northeast market and is very popular, so the demand for machine spinning is increasing day by day. In addition, from the situation at that time, the funds needed to engage in the textile industry are less than those needed to engage in other industries, and the production cycle is short, so that benefits can be obtained faster. These favorable conditions, coupled with official support, prompted Zhang Jian to go all out! 1June, 895, Zhang Jian went to Jiangning to discuss the establishment of a factory with Zhang Zhidong, and returned to Nantong to tell local rich people, rich families, relatives and friends that someone immediately promised to have money and make a strong contribution. Things are starting to make sense. The following spring, Zhang Jian invited Shen, Chen and Liu Guixin, comprador Guo Maozhi and Pan Heqin of Shanghai Foreign Firm, and Shanghai gentry businessman Fan Shixun to his house to discuss fund-raising and stock subscription. Everyone unanimously agreed to contribute 100 yuan, determined the number of shares they were responsible for raising, and established the initial board of directors. These six people were called "Shanghai six directors" in the early days of the cotton mill. On the same day, they made on-the-spot investigation and selected Tangjiajian in the north of Nantong 15 as the site, and determined that the factory was named "Sheng Da Cotton Mill". As soon as the flag of Sheng Da Cotton Mill was played, it was also vigorous at the beginning. Seeing that the factory leader is the champion, we feel fresh, assured and the investors are quite enthusiastic. Farmers in Tangjiajian, in particular, have heard that land can be used as shares, and they have converted their shares into shares, saving the factory a lot of money to buy land. Zhang Jian has many acquaintances and friends, and personally wrote letters to promote the factory everywhere, attracting many shareholders. In this way, the funds needed to build a factory should be enough; However, the funds needed to buy the machine are completely unfunded. Zhang Jian had to go to the governor of Liangjiang again. At this point, Zhang Zhidong has been transferred to Tongzhi, and Liu Kunyi took over as Governor of Liangjiang. Liu Kunyi's attitude is very enthusiastic, but when it comes to money, he is also embarrassed. He first asked Zhang Jian to borrow it under the banner, and then simply asked Zhang Jian to go to Hubei to find Zhang Zhidong. Zhang Zhidong finally actively supported Zhang Jian. In order to set up a cotton mill in Hubei, he bought a set of machines from abroad. At this time, he decided that if the Sheng Da cotton mill in Nantong was built first, he would let the Sheng Da cotton mill use this machine first. After many twists and turns, the workshop of Sheng Da Cotton Mill was finally completed, and the textile machinery was transported to the factory. 1899 On April 14, Sheng Da Cotton Mill officially started spinning the first cotton yarn. Facing the deafening sound of the machine, Zhang Jian, as the general manager, was so excited that tears filled his eyes. People who watch are surprised, but people who know the inside story are not surprised. They know that for this mill, during the five years before and after, Zhang Jian did not know how much he suffered and how much he suffered! He is an open "number one scholar". He has to run around, raise money, watch people's cold faces and listen to people's ridicule. Until the machine was put into trial operation in the factory a few days ago, some people said, "When is the chimney of the cotton mill still smoking when it is high?" Although the machine is ringing, when will the yarn be spun? " Now, the chimney is smoking, the machine is spinning, and Jane is crying with joy! The directors also happily congratulated each other. Zhang Jian took this opportunity to bring everyone together to discuss the factory regulations and the conclusion of the contract. He said: "Although the first kick has been kicked out, there is no rule that cannot be formally produced. National laws, family rules, such a big factory, there is no factory contract, how can we be responsible for the factory directors? This is the key to your career success! " But these people have no experience in setting up factories and don't know how to make factory contracts. Thanks to Zhang Jian's preparation, he put forward his own plan, from the duties of the general director, the director of the business department and the deacon of the workshop to the management of the workshop, office and stacks, as well as the assessment standards and reward and punishment levels. The directors were convinced and unanimously decided to follow Zhang Jian's method. In order to advocate a new atmosphere and break the old rules and regulations, Zhang Jian also stipulated: "All deacons in the factory are generally called' grandfather' and must not follow the old name of' grandfather'." At the end of China 19, Zhang Jian was able to formulate such a relatively complete and novel management system, which should be said to be very knowledgeable. The implementation of these measures has played a good role in improving enterprise management, forming a new atmosphere for enterprises and enhancing their competitiveness. However, no one expected that the machine of Sheng Da cotton mill only rang for half a month and suddenly stopped. Zhang Jian hurriedly inquired, only to know that the funds for buying cotton were used up, and the factory had to stop work and collect materials. A few days ago, the director in charge of funds had reflected the problem of insufficient capital turnover to Zhang Jian. Zhang Jian was busy running a school attached to the cotton mill, hoping to train workers who could master foreign machines as soon as possible, so he forgot about it. Guilty, he announced that he would give himself a demerit, and immediately tried to get the factory to sell the spun yarn, buy some cotton to maintain production first, and decided to go to Shanghai to borrow money as the working capital of the factory. Zhuang Yuan, the first author of the paper.