Hu Wenhu was a famous "double tycoon" in Southeast Asia in the first half of the 20th century. The "tiger balm" invented by him covers nearly half of the people on the earth and is known as the "king of tiger balm". From 65438 to the early 1920s, Hu Wenhu entered the newspaper industry, starting with Myanmar Yangon Daily, and founded more than a dozen newspapers in Hongkong and Chinese mainland.
When Hu Wenhu died, the family business experienced many upheavals and was going downhill. Hu Xian was ordered to sort out Hu Wenhu's Old Rivers and Mountains, and unexpectedly brought the Star Newspaper Department to its peak. After the peak, it fell all the way and has been destroyed. Paradoxically, the family fortune roller coaster experienced by Hu Xian is exactly the same as the wealth route experienced by his father Hu Wenhu.
Shuangliao king
1908, his father Hu died, leaving the precarious Yong 'antang National Pharmacy in Yangon, Myanmar. Hu, an introduction to Jianghu traditional Chinese medicine and a Chinese medicine shop, has worked hard in Yangon for decades, but it has not become big after all. Because he believed in Buddhism and used drugs to help the poor when he was practicing medicine on weekdays, he not only had no savings to distribute after his death, but also left a debt.
The 26-year-old pawned a pair of gold anklets of his wife Zheng, ending Hu's funeral. Outgoing, flexible and adventurous, Hu Wenhu immediately agreed with his younger brother Hu Wenbao to revive Yong 'an Hall. Hu Wenhu's mother gave her life savings to support the Hu Wenhu brothers' family revitalization plan.
Hu Wenhu conducted a field trip as the first step to revitalize the family. After properly arranging the daily business of Yong 'antang, he went to Hong Kong alone and worked for nearly 20 hours every day. After a short stay in Hong Kong, he made a small fortune and paid off his father's debts. Hu Wenhu then visited Chinese mainland and Japan, hoping to seek greater development for Yong 'antang. During the inspection, Hu Wenhu deeply felt that Chinese medicine was obviously declining in the face of western medicine with quick results. If we want to compete with western medicine, we must systematically improve Chinese medicine.
After the inspection, Hu Wenhu returned to Yangon to implement the reform plan of traditional Chinese medicine with Hu Wenbao. The Hu brothers studied Chinese and Burmese drugs and hired many western medicine experts to join the research and development. 19 10, the Hu brothers made tiger-labeled drugs mainly composed of tiger balm, bagua Dan, Qingkuai water and headache medicine, which quickly became popular in Southeast Asia. At that time, due to the prevalence of boils and mosquitoes in Southeast Asia, tiger-labeled drugs quickly occupied the Southeast Asian market.
Hu Wenhu has a unique vision and insight into the development trend of the world, so he is always ahead. When the European War was about to turn into World War I, Hu Wenhu persuaded Hu Wenbao to hoard medical raw materials at a low price before the price soared. Relying on the management method of buying at a low price and selling at a high price, the Hu brothers completed the primitive accumulation of capital in World War I. After World War I, both of them became millionaires.
After ten years of deep cultivation in Myanmar market, Hu Wenhu started the global expansion of Yong 'antang in Zhang Zhilu. 192 1, Siam Jing branch in Thailand was established. 1923 Singapore branch was established, which greatly increased the sales of tiger brand drugs in a short time. Hu Wenhu took advantage of the trend and moved Tiger Pharmaceutical Factory from Yangon to Singapore on 1926 to seek the second development opportunity of Tiger Pharmaceutical.
1927, Nanjing National Government was established. Hu Wenhu, who has a keen business sense, saw the opportunity for the development of tiger label drugs. He immediately moved to Hong Kong, centering on Hong Kong and Shanghai, and quickly laid out the global network of Yong 'antang. On the one hand, we set up branches in Indonesia and Malaysia, on the other hand, we expand all over China. Especially after the establishment of 1929 Shanghai branch, Hu Wenhu shifted the focus of its business activities to Chinese mainland. In addition, Hu Wenhu also advocated the establishment of a pharmaceutical factory in Shantou to effectively supply Tiger brand drugs to the China market.
From 65438 to 0938, according to statistics at that time, Hu Wenhu's wealth had reached more than 30 million dollars.
Hu Wenhu entered the newspaper industry on 192 1 in order to cooperate with the marketing of Tiger brand medicine. From the initial establishment of Yangon Daily through a joint venture with friends to the publication of Star Siam Daily and Star Evening News in Bangkok on New Year's Day in 195 1, Hu Wenhu created Myanmar Morning Post, Singapore Sin Chew Daily, Chinese mainland Shantou Xinghua Daily and Xiamen Evening News in 30 years of continuous war. Like Yong 'an Hall in Chinese mainland, Hu Wenhu also envisaged running newspapers in Hunan, Hankou, Shenyang, Taiwan Province and other places. Someone commented, "Hu Wenhu has built an amazing modern newspaper kingdom with only four years of Confucian primary education."
In just 30 years, Hu Wenhu has almost simultaneously become the "King of Universal Oil" and "King of Newspaper" which are well-known in Southeast Asia. Among the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia at that time, Hu Wenhu was one of the few Southeast Asian Chinese businessmen who could compete with Chen Jiageng, the "rubber king".
Apart from business, Hu Wenhu is almost the only overseas Chinese businessman who can match Chen Jiageng's charitable donation in China. In addition to donating huge sums of money, countless medicines and food. 1935, Hu Wenhu announced that it would allocate 3.5 million yuan to build 1000 primary schools nationwide within ten years. Later, it was changed to five years because of the remarkable benefits of tiger standard medicine. Later, due to the outbreak of war, only more than 300 million schools were planned, which cost 65.438+0.5 million yuan. The remaining 2 million yuan, Hu Wenhu wrote to Chiang Kai-shek in 1938, suggesting that this deposit be used to buy government bonds with a little modification. In addition, Hu Wenhu donated nearly 70 middle schools, including Xiamen Shuangshi Middle School and Shantou Girls' Middle School.
From 65438 to 0952, Hu Wenhu participated in the establishment of Nanyang University and became one of the first eleven executive members of Nanyang University. First, he donated his real estate to Nanyang University as a dormitory. When the establishment of Nanyang University was in trouble because of the obstruction of the British colonial government, Hu Wenhu criticized the British colonial government's discrimination against China's education with the help of his own Star newspaper article.
Two years later, in September, eight months before the commencement of Nanyang University, Hu Wenhu passed away, and her educational ideal was pinned on her daughter Hu Xian.