Fan Xudong, the father of China's chemical industry
This article was originally compiled by Chen Xianshu and published in 2017, Chapter 5 "Changsha Modern Industrialists" in Changsha Modern Industry and Commerce
There is a well-known business name in Changsha Taiping Street, namely the Changsha Distribution Department of Jiuda Refined Salt Company. It is an important base of Jiuda Refined Salt Company's national distribution network. During the period, salt merchants from all over Hunan, such as the famous Lisheng Salt on Taiping Street, most of the refined salt came from "Jiuda".
Jiuda Refined Salt Company is the first enterprise founded by Fan Xudong, a famous patriotic industrialist from Changsha, and its head office was established in Tianjin in 1914. Fan Xudong (1883-1945), formerly known as Yuan Rang, was born on October 25, 1883 in Dongxiang, Changsha County, and was the younger brother of Fan Yuanlian, a famous reformist. His ancestral home was Xiangyin, and his father died young. The two brothers were raised by their mother's needlework in the countryside of Changsha. His mother hoped that the source would become a talent, and sent him to the Wu Jingrong Museum in Laodaohe, Beixiang, Changsha, to learn the eight-share trial post. But Xiao Yuanrang was very disgusted with Baguwen, and he said amazingly: "I have an opinion, I should try my best, and I will never pretend to be a sage to tell lies." ”
In 1898, at the age of 15, Fan Yuanrang went with his brother to study at the Changsha School of Current Affairs, where Liang Qichao was the chief professor of Chinese. Liang Qichao's idea of changing the law and trying to strengthen it had a great influence on him. In 1900, he went to Japan with his brother, and in 1908 he was admitted to Kyoto Imperial University to study applied chemistry, establishing his lifelong ambition to be the chemical industry. Then he changed his name to Fan Rui, and the word Xudong was "determined to save the country, in order to rise in the east".
In 1911, Fan Xudong returned to China with the ambition of "saving the country through industry". In 1914, Jiuda Refined Salt Company was founded in Tianjin, which was the beginning of the production of refined salt in China. In 1918, Yongli Soda Company was established, and the red triangle brand soda ash produced by it won the gold medal at the American Exposition. In 1922, he established the Huanghai Chemical Society, the largest chemical enterprise in China at that time, and then built the first-class large-scale ammonium sulfate plant in the Far East in Nanjing, so he was known as the "father of China's chemical industry".
Fan Xudong. 
In 1913, Fan Xudong was sent to Europe to inspect the salt administration and salt industry with the help of his brother as the chief of education. After returning to China, he raised 50,000 yuan with the support of celebrities such as Liang Qichao, Zhang Jian, Cai Yi, Li Sihao, Wang Jiaxiang, etc., and founded Jiuda Refined Salt Company in July l914, in order to benefit the people forever and continue to develop and prosper. The company is chaired by Jing Xuechao, who serves as an advisor to the China Salt Administration, and Fan Xudong as general manager.
Jiuda refined salt company was officially put into production on December 7, 1915, the refined salt produced by 30,000 quintals are pure quality, white color, with Neptune brand as the trademark, immediately after the market was loved. However, the long-term refined salt has hit the market of the old salt merchants, and it has also attracted many boycotts from the old salt merchants. They used traditional forces to hold Changlu's salt farmers hostage, forbade Changlu's stove households to sell to Jiuda's original salt, and restricted Jiuda's production quantity and sales area through the salt inspection office. However, Jiuda did not flinch, and through various efforts, he first purchased 6 salt flats in 1916, and then signed a long-term contract with the owners of other 19 salt flats to supply Jiudayuan, breaking the "shore diversion system" that China's salt administration had followed for nearly a thousand years.
Since then, Jiuda has more than 2,000 acres of salt fields, which basically guarantees the first raw salt required. At the same time, Liang Qichao, the patron of Jiuda Company, took advantage of the opportunity of serving as the chief financial officer and the supervisor of the Salt Administration in 1916 to help Jiuda win the support of Yuan Shikai, break the forbidden area of sales, and bring refined salt into the ports of Hunan, Hubei, Anhui and Jiangxi in the Yangtze River basin. By 1918, Fan Xudong contacted 18 refined salt firms in Hankou to form the Hankou Refined Salt Association, which not only alleviated the salt shortage in the Lianghu area at that time, but also opened up new markets. As a result, Jiuda has become famous, not only firmly established, but also made a pioneering contribution to the rise of China's refined salt industry.
After 10 years of hard work, by 1924, Jiuda Refined Salt Company had become the largest refined salt enterprise in China, with an annual output of 30,000 quintals to 5 million quintals and a capital of 50,000 yuan to 2.5 million yuan. The salt factory is located in Tanggu, the company is located in Tianjin, and the distribution stores are located in the north and south provinces of the country. The distribution department in Changsha basically occupies the refined salt market in Hunan.
Just as Fan Xudong's chemical industry was thriving, the Anti-Japanese War broke out. At the end of July 1937, Tianjin fell, and Fan Xudong fled to Hong Kong. Japanese businessmen rushed to Hong Kong and offered him the purchase of the Yongli Alkali Factory. Fan Dayi was awe-inspiring: "Our factory is not for sale, if you want to rob it, you can rob it." At the same time, he telegraphed to his colleagues in Tianjin: "It is better to be a broken jade than a complete tile, and we must not cooperate with the Japanese, and try to transfer the equipment to the rear as much as possible." The following year, the Yongli Alkali Plant and the Jiuda Salt Factory fell into the hands of the enemy.
The Japanese then set their sights on the Nanjing Yongli ammonium sulfate factory. The Japanese military knew very well that this highly mechanized factory could be used for military purposes as long as it changed a few processes. Therefore, as soon as the war began, the Japanese army immediately sent personnel to Fan Xudong to discuss "cooperation", in an attempt to preserve all the equipment for military use. Fan Xudong reprimanded the visitor and said: "I'd rather hold a funeral than accept a funeral." Annoyed and ashamed, the Japanese sent planes to bomb the fertilizer plant three times. Fan Xudong was determined to break the boat, and ordered his employees to quickly move all the machines that could be moved westward, and all the equipment that could not be moved to sink into the Yangtze River. When the enemy occupied Nanjing, only an empty plant remained at the fertilizer plant.
Fan Xudong broke through the encirclement, resolutely led all the technicians into Sichuan, and set up Jiuda and Yongli branches in Sichuan to continue to produce salt and alkali to support the War of Resistance Against Japan. Li Zhuchen, the manager of Jiuda Company (a native of Yongshun, Hunan, and former Minister of the First Light Industry Department after the founding of the People's Republic of China), led a part of the personnel to transfer to the artesian well in Sichuan to re-establish the refined salt factory, and began to produce salt in September l938.
In 1945, Fan Xudong became ill from hard work and died of illness in Chongqing. On November, a grand memorial meeting was held in the capital, and famous people such as Shen Junru, Guo Moruo, and Zhang Naiqi attended the conference. **Chiang Kai-shek sent the banner. **The book on the banner: "Industry leader, merit in China." ”
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Jiuda moved from Sichuan to Shanghai, and its salt factories resumed production one after another, and the salt sales managers in various places also resumed business. In the autumn of 1949, the general management office was moved from Shanghai back to Tianjin. In 1954, the public-private partnership was implemented, and in the autumn of the same year, it merged with the Yongli Alkali Factory founded by Fan Xudong in Tanggu, and was renamed "Public-Private Partnership Yongli and Jiuda Chemical Industry Company". Become a large-scale enterprise producing refined salt and soda ash. In 1966, it was renamed "Tianjin Soda Factory", and the "Neptune" refined salt and "Red Triangle" soda ash produced by it have been selling well at home and abroad, resonating with China and enjoying a good reputation overseas.