"Pudong God of Wealth" Tang

There is a folk song circulating in the forest in the late Qing Dynasty and the third day of the Republic of China, which begins with "Tang family's house, fire family's money". Surnamed tang and Huo are both big families, and they are both very rich. In particular, Tang, the former commercial director of the Chamber of Commerce, is good at financial management and has the reputation of "Pudong God of Wealth". Qin Xitian of Chen Hang praised him for "rigorous and accurate selection of products, unified and intensive configuration, and sincere and trustworthy trading".

Tang (1854- 1929) was born in Dishan village. There are many fertile fields at home, but he doesn't want to accumulate wealth only by land like his ancestors. He also wanted to work hard in the business world, so he moved to Linsan Town and opened Mihang, Buzhuang and Pawnshop. He opened Tang Yixing's Buzhuang mentioned earlier and dominated Lin San.

But at this time, foreign cloth and foreign yarn have gained the upper hand in the market, and the homespun can't be sold because of its rough texture and dark color, and the villagers are in hot water. Don is very dissatisfied with it. He thinks that home-made cloth is not as clean and beautiful as foreign cloth, but it is thick and durable and should have a certain market. However, the advantages of foreign cloth should also be absorbed as much as possible, so he set the specifications of home-made cloth, stipulated the thickness of warp and weft, the length and width of cloth, and told the villagers that the price that met the standard was preferred when purchasing. Through such efforts, the quality of home textile fabrics has been greatly improved, the market has indeed increased greatly, and the life of weavers has been slightly guaranteed. In the first year of Qing Dynasty (1909), the improved "Koubu" of Tang School participated in the national competition and won the second-class certificate and the second-class silver medal issued by the Governor of Liangjiang and the Governor of Jiangsu. The following year, Yuan brand pointed cloth and plaid cloth won the silver award of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce at the Nanyang Persuasion Meeting. 19 15, Jingzhuangbu participated in the domestic product exhibition of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce and won the gold medal of horse painting.

Tang is charitable and enthusiastic about public welfare undertakings. In the 22nd year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1896), the Academy and, Qin Rongguang, Yang Sizhou and Lian were founded in Wenchangge Town, and their teaching was modeled after peak tower and Longmen Academy in Shanghai County. 1902, according to the requirements of the new policy of the imperial court, the primary problem for the academy to be changed into a school was the school building, because the school needed dormitories to recruit children from the four townships. Therefore, Tang took the lead in donating land funds and raised funds from all directions. Finally, the Compassion Pavilion, the Town God Temple, the "Hehetang" and the Zhang Ancestral Hall near Wenchang Pavilion were changed into classrooms, dormitories, restaurants and playgrounds. The newly-built school is quite good. Unfortunately, the school building was destroyed by fire in the summer vacation of l9 12. Later, a new school building, 1 1 building, 1 1 bungalow, was built in the north mulberry garden of Tianchi. Now it is Linsan Middle School. The blue brick and red wall library, fully functional gymnasium, grass pavilion, high-rise pavilion and circular Tianchi on campus are all buildings and landscapes in the 1920s and 1930s. Although it has experienced vicissitudes, it is well preserved.

On Tang's 70th birthday, his sons and daughters were going to do something important, but Tang resolutely refused. With the money saved, the Xue Jia wooden bridge in Yangsi Port was transformed into a three-hole stone bridge. It is said that he invested in building fifteen or sixteen stone bridges in his hometown!

Finally, I have to talk about Tang's house, which is located in Shanghai Gillette Co., Ltd., a Sino-foreign joint venture in the town. It's a two-story house, which combines Chinese and western styles. The exterior is the traditional architectural style of Ming and Qing dynasties, the balcony is western-style voucher-shaped, and the cement railing has obvious influence of western culture.