Sentimental Stories: The Life of Liu Guojun
Written by Liu Biru (刘壁如), daughter of Liu Guojun
"In our eyes as his children, he was not only a good father, who was both strict and kind, but also a great man of noble character with a progressive mind. He will be sorely missed forever."
Mr. Liu Guojun (刘国钧) was my father. He and his business occupied an important position in the industrial history of modern China. Early in the 1930s, my father started writing pages in the national industrial history of China as an experienced entrepreneur. From that moment on, he captured the attention of the world by taking steps and creating great moments that influenced the textile industry. He was known as an outstanding modern Chinese industrialist and a renowned patriotic businessman.
In his youth, he ran a retail store and discovered that all of the various product ranges, local fabric was expensive and of poor quality, while foreign fabric was inexpensive and of high quality. Sales in each range contrasted dramatically. After careful investigation, he found that foreign merchants were purchasing cotton from China, using Chinese labour to produce fabric and then selling the fabric back to China. Their profit was lucrative simply because they were taking advantage of advanced industrial technology. He was determined to revitalise the Chinese industry.
Liu Biru with her mother, Chu Sue, and father, Liu Guojun
Beginning in 1915, he got together with some friends to found the Dalun Fabric Factory and two years later, they began to see some initial success. Later though, due to differing opinions about the factory and the different goals they each shared, he found it difficult to work together and was left with no option but to make the painful decision to resign.
With six thousand yuan he received from leaving the factory, he purchased a hand-pulling wooden machine to begin production on his own. Three years later, he expanded the Guangyi Machine Dyeing Factory and purchased iron fabric machines, dye vats and other equipment. Five years later, the weaving equipment was updated and even more dyeing equipment was added. Paying close attention to market trends, he worked on improving the technology, increasing productivity, reducing costs and strengthening management.
As a result, a small factory with hand-pulling wooden machines gradually developed to become Changzhou’s largest dyeing factory.
The Ambitious Undertaking of Dacheng
In 1930, he raised 500,000 yuan and founded Dacheng, accomplishing his lifelong dream of creating a comprehensive textile company. Less than eight years later in 1937, the company’s capital increased eightfold, which was a “miracle” described by Mr. Ma Yanchu, a renowned Chinese economist. In total contrast, the Chinese textile industry had been in decline since the second half of 1931 and reached a crisis point in 1932. Faced with such a tough situation, under the management of my father, Dacheng flourished at an extraordinary rate, outperforming other companies in the Chinese textile industry. This was not only because of his outstanding courage and determination, but because he was able to put his knowledge and experience to good use.
In the 1930s, with his talent as an industrialist, he understood the importance of paying attention to market needs as well as human resources and systems. The management and training approach established by him in the 1930s and 1940s laid a solid foundation for the industrialisation of China. It was widely used in the 1970s and is the main reason for the success of the contemporary Chinese textile industry. Even today, we are still able to hear echoes of my father’s resonant footsteps.
The philosophy of ‘fight till you die’ was a constant theme running throughout my father’s entire life. Born into a poor family, he never bowed to fate. With strong willpower, he gave full play to his talent and wrote a brilliant page in the history of the Chinese textile history, fully accomplishing his purpose in life.
Saving the Country with Domestic Yarn
My father was a faithful patriot. Beginning with the founding of his textile business, his business was based on the principles of “making great Chinese products, competing with Japan and restoring our economic rights.” To learn from his competitors and improve himself, he visited Japan on four separate occasions to study the textile industry. As an industrialist, he was extremely open-minded and forward-thinking. He hoped that China would “take advantage of our favourable conditions and manpower to increase production and compete for the leadership of the cotton industry around the world.” He was confident that “the cotton kingdom of the world was China, not the U.K. or Japan.” From his books, including Save the Country with Domestic Yarn and Proposal of Increasing Spindles, it was clear that he closely connected the textile industry with the future of China and the objective of the Chinese people.
A philosopher once said: “Go your own way, and let others talk!” On the path to developing his business, my father was dedicated, fearless, and unrelenting. My grandfather once wrote a couple of lines for him:
"A real man can endure any hardship bestowed by God. Only a mediocre person is not envied by anyone."
He always remembered this and made it his motto in life. My father experienced the start of two historical periods in China – the early modern period and the modern period. Throughout all the changes over the decades, he was able to follow the historical trend and keep up with the times, linking his own individual objective with the objective of the entire nation. Over the decades after the founding of New China, as a renowned industrialist, with the trails of ups and downs, my father made an indelible contribution to the prosperity of the Chinese nation.
While many of his books and articles on textiles were well received from the 1930s to the 1960s, the original transcripts of his systemic autobiography, which had been dictated by him in 1959 while he was recuperating in Qingdao and Lushan and recorded by his secretary Chao Fuxie, were discovered for the first time. Mr. Bo Songtao spent more than one year carefully organising the materials. The result was one volume of the Liu Guojun Autobiography. I am so pleased to be able to write a few words as the preface.
10 April 2000 in Hong Kong
Liu Guojun practicing kungfu with his wife, Chu Sue
