It has been 100 years since China's first travel agency was born in Shanghai in 1923.
The protagonist of this incident is named Chen Guangfu.
As the founder of China's modern tourism industry, Mr. Chen Guangfu is a well-known figure even in China's modern history.
Chen Guangfu was born in 1881 in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu.
He spent his early years as an apprentice in a customs broker and later entered the Hankow Post Office. At the age of 22, he participated in the American International Exposition with the Chinese delegation, and then studied at the University of Pennsylvania Business School.
After graduating in 1909, he returned to China and founded the Nanyang Industry Association, and then became the general manager of the Bank of Jiangsu.
After the Xinhai Revolution, Chen Guangfu served as a bank supervisor in Jiangsu Province and in 1914 became an adviser to the Bank of China.
Mr. Chen Guangfu.
In 1915, Chen Guangfu founded the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank (hereinafter referred to as the Commercial Bank). Among the hundreds of banks in Shanghai, this small bank, which claims to have a capital of 100,000 yuan, but is actually only 70,000 yuan, seems very insignificant.
However, Chen Guangfu is a genius banker, not only in terms of operation, but also good at starting from the subtleties - the banking industry at that time generally disdained to make small deposits, Chen Guangfu keenly found the huge business opportunities, so he set up a savings office, fully invested in this nearly blank market, and soon achieved a success that shocked the industry.
As a result, commercial banks gained a firm foothold in Shanghai, and Chen Guangfu became famous. Slowly, even Du Yuesheng, who was covering the sky in Shanghai, had to ask him for help.
Du Yuesheng was poor since he was a child, and became an orphan very early, when he mixed from the bottom of the society to the position of the boss of the Green Gang in Shanghai, he began to have a strong sense of self-motivation, hoping to wash off the "black" marks on his body and win the respect of all levels of society.
So, with the assistance of his confidant Su Jiashan, Du Yuesheng entered the banking industry in a high-profile manner, opened Zhonghui Bank (later renamed the National Bank), and named himself as the chairman.
Su Jiashan is to Du Yuesheng similar to Guo Jiazhi to Cao Cao, and belongs to the resourceful field. It's a pity that Su Jiashan, like Guo Jia, was not in good health and died early.
Before dying, Su asked Mr. Du to help arrange a place for his eldest son, who was about to graduate from secondary school, in the banking industry. Who knew that Su Jiashan was most interested in Chen Guangfu's commercial bank, Du Yuesheng felt quite embarrassed when he heard it, but he could only pretend to smile lightly: "Gossip, I'll do it." ”
Everyone in Shanghai's financial circle knows that all commercial banks recruit personnel openly and do not buy anyone's face. This is a dead rule set by Chen Guangfu himself, he has refused many people for this, he has never been accommodating, and over time, no one wants to be bored.
But Du Yuesheng's "gossip" is a word in Shanghai, which is his code of conduct and his golden signboard, so he must do a good job of Su Gongzi.
Du Yuesheng is confident that Chen Guangfu will definitely accept Xiao Su, but he is afraid that if he is a little unhappy, he will inevitably fall into the words "It turns out that Mr. Du is not beautiful when he does things", and he will lose his face.
Du Yuesheng finally found Chen Guangfu's fellow villager friend Yang Guanbei and asked him to help him become a lobbyist. Chen Guangfu gave special face, made an exception and hired Xiao Su without exams, and sold Du Yuesheng a friendship.
Later, when the life of the commercial bank was hanging by a thread, Du Yuesheng helped Chen Guangfu resolve the big crisis, which can be regarded as paying off the favors owed.
Later, the commercial bank developed into the largest private commercial bank in China, and Chen Guangfu was elected president of the Shanghai Association of Banks, becoming a leader in Shanghai's financial circles.
At that time, Shanghai's financial community was the de facto Chinese financial community, and Chen Guangfu was also known as "China's best banker" and "China's Morgan", and his influence can be seen.
In the summer of 1923, Chen Guangfu wanted to travel to Yunnan for investigation. At that time, from Shanghai to Yunnan, you had to take a boat to Hong Kong, then take the waterway to Vietnam, and then go to Kunming through the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, which was very toss-up.
In Hong Kong, Chen Guangfu went to a foreign-run travel agency to buy a ticket to Vietnam, but two foreign staff, a man and a woman, were busy flirting and ignoring him at the counter.
In the early 1920s, China's tourism industry was completely controlled by foreign financial institutions in China, such as the British "Travelex Company" and the American "Express Bank" all had travel departments, and their branches throughout China also set up travel departments, forming their own networks, completely monopolizing all the travel business of Chinese and foreign tourists.
At that time, Beiyang ** had no knowledge of tourism and lacked ability, so he only watched this spillover of rights fall into the hands of foreigners from all walks of life, and was indifferent.
Since Chen Guangfu was not convinced by this, he immediately took action.
He bought some relevant books and brought them to the ship, read and thought about them, and when he arrived in Kunming, he already had a plan.
At this time, Chen Guangfu learned that the ninth meeting of the National Education Association was scheduled to be held in Kunming on 22 October, and that the representatives of all provinces had to gather in Shanghai and transfer to Vietnam via Hong Kong to take the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway.
Chen Guangfu knows that even if he is not short of money, he will inevitably encounter the neglect of foreigners, not to mention all kinds of intentional or unintentional troubles during the journey. Fortunately, I helped step on the line, so I might as well use this experience to help everyone, and also as the beginning of my own travel business, why not?
Thinking of this, Chen Guangfu immediately called the headquarters of his commercial bank, and the designated personnel immediately contacted the organizer of the conference, hoping to arrange all the delegates' travel, food, and lodging matters.
After obtaining the approval of Mr. Huang Yanpei, the person in charge of the conference, in August of that year, Chen Guangfu immediately set up a travel department in the commercial bank, and in the name of the commercial bank, he petitioned the Ministry of Communications to allow the sale of railway tickets, which was approved, and signed contracts with major shipping companies to sell tickets, and then sent the representatives of the National Education Association from Shanghai to Kunming safely.
Because of the smooth and thoughtful care, it has won unanimous praise from the delegates. In this way, Chen Guangfu's tourism career has also been established.
Later, with the increasing volume of business, the travel department became independent from the commercial bank and changed its name to "China Travel Service" on June 1, 1927.
The former site of the former China Travel Service at No. 50 Ningbo Road, Shanghai.
The establishment of China Travel Service is a symbol of the enterpriseization of China's modern tourism, and Chen Guangfu is therefore known as the "founder of China's modern tourism", which is also deserved.
In 1927, Chen Guangfu hired Zhao Junhao, a well-known newspaperman, as the editor-in-chief, and founded China's first travel publication, Travel Magazine. The magazine is rich and unique, novel and unique, widely welcomed by readers, and has also become the best publicity and promotion platform for China Travel Service, complementing the various tourism products of the company.
Chen Guangfu is well aware of the principle that resources are king, so he instructed China Travel Service to set up many guest houses in major cities and well-known scenic spots around the world. These guest houses are geared towards the general tourist and meet their basic accommodation needs with excellent service.
Chen Guangfu requires employees to be "neat, clean and smiling", and at the same time requires every guest house to do it: keep quiet, so that tourists can rest at easeAll bedding and towels should be changed and washed in a timely manner to keep them clean and tidyGuaranteed hot water** so that visitors can take a hot bath;Simple and hygienic meals.
In the 1920s, for ordinary people, hot water was basically a light luxury product, and it is conceivable that it is not easy to do the above points at the same time
Under the personal supervision of Chen Guangfu, each guest house has really done a good job of these high-standard services, and China Travel Service has become famous. It has not only gradually won back a large number of markets from foreigners, but also greatly enhanced the popularity and reputation of commercial banks.
For example, the Qingdao Guest House, built in 1934, has the Qingdao Branch of the Commercial Bank and the Qingdao Branch of China Travel Service on the ground floor, and the second, third, and fourth floors are the guest houses.
Chen Guangfu's innovation in tourism does not stop there.
In fact, group tours that have been popular across the country for decades, including chartered boats, chartered special trains, and various theme tours, are also pioneered by Chinese travel agencies.
Of course, as China's first travel agency, it is also the right thing for China to be in the front. Therefore, it is not surprising that such as outbound travel, inbound travel, and even membership-based tourism, which still seem to be the mainstream play, were played by Chen Guangfu and them nearly 100 years ago.
It must be said separately here that our first travel agency in China also made great contributions during the Anti-Japanese War.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese invaders blocked China's coastline and the Yunnan-Burma Highway, and foreign aid materials to China could only be transported to the interior through Xinjiang and other regions and sent to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War.
At that time, the Soviet Union's aid to China was transported from Xinjiang to Gansu, Shaanxi, and Sichuan, and this line became an important international communication line and shouldered the important mission of supporting the national war of resistance.
China Travel Service joined the effort. In order to ensure that all the materials can be smoothly transported to the destination, China Travel Service has set up four guest houses in Binxian, Pingliang, Huajialing and Lanzhou on the Lanzhou Highway in Xi'an, and five guest houses in Baoji, Miaotaizi, Baocheng, Hanzhong and Guangyuan on the Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway, and Tianshui Guest House on the Tianshui Line in Baoji, plus Xi'an Xijing Guest House, Lintong Huaqingchi Management Office, Lanzhou Northwest Building, Lanzhou Siweizhai Guest House, Dihua Garden Guest House, etc., which together form the service network of China Travel Service in Northwest China.
This huge network undertook the food and lodging of the staff responsible for the delivery of supplies to China, and Chen Guangfu and his China Travel Service contributed their own strength to the victory of China's Anti-Japanese War and were heroes of the Anti-Japanese War.
Thanks to Mr. Chen Guangfu, he has made the industry of China Travel Service go through 100 years.
In the past 100 years, along with China's suffering and prosperity, the travel agency industry has also experienced wandering and development, loss and glory.
In the next 100 years, we wish Guotai Min'an a more healthy growth in the face of new challenges.
Author: Mr. Liu Da).