19 10, Chen Jiageng joined the Chinese Revolutionary League, was elected as the vice chairman of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and the prime minister of Daonan School, and donated more than 50,000 yuan to overseas Chinese in Fujian to build a school building.
19 1 1 year, the revolution of 1911 was won. After the recovery of Fujian, Chen Jiageng was promoted to be the chairman of the Fujian Security Donation Committee, and raised more than 200,000 yuan to support Fujian's finance, and 50,000 yuan to help Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
19 12, Chen Jiageng returned to China with his family to establish Jimei school.
19 17, Chen Jiageng bought a 3,750-ton ship named "Qiantai". Because of the smooth operation in the past two years, he sent his younger brother Jing Xian back to China and founded Jimei Middle School and Jimei Normal School.
19 18, Jimei Normal High School officially opened. Chen Jiageng initiated the establishment of Nanyang Overseas Chinese Middle School.
19 19, Singapore Nanyang Overseas Chinese Middle School officially opened. Chen Jiageng returned to China to establish Xiamen University, organized Tongan County Education Association, and gave perennial subsidies to township primary schools.
1920, Jimei School added a women's normal school and a business course, and Chen Jiageng founded Jimei Water Navigation School.
1923, Chen Jiageng was elected Prime Minister of Jardine Club in Singapore and founded Nanyang Business Daily in Singapore.
1925, Chen Jiageng started his business successfully, with assets of12 million, which was the time when he reached the peak, made profits and possessed the greatest assets in life.
1926, Chen Jiageng expanded the school building of Nanyang Overseas Chinese Middle School and founded Jimei Agriculture and Forestry School. In the face of adversity, rubber prices plummeted, resulting in huge operating losses. As a result, the school buildings of Xiamen University and Jimei University were forced to partially stop construction, but the funds remained.
1937, when the "July 7th Incident" occurred, Chen Jiageng initiated the organization of the Singapore Relief Society, and was promoted as its chairman, donating S $10 million to support the motherland War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
1938, Chen Jiageng was elected as the chairman of Nanyang Overseas Chinese Association for Relief of Motherland Refugees. Call Wang Jingwei to oppose his proposal for peace talks with Japan.
1940, Chen Jiageng organized a "study tour of overseas Chinese in Nanyang returning to China for comfort" and led a delegation to visit Chongqing and Yan 'an.
194 1 year, Chen Jiageng was promoted to the second president of the South Overseas Chinese Federation. Organize Nanyang Fujian Overseas Chinese Federation. Established Nanyang Overseas Chinese Normal School. In 65438+February, the Pacific War broke out, leading the organization of the Singapore Overseas Chinese Anti-Enemy Association.
1942, Singapore fell and lived in Java for three years. Chen Jiageng wrote Memoirs of Overseas Chinese and Housing and Health.
1945, Japan surrendered and returned to Singapore. On June165438+1October 18, all walks of life in Chongqing held the "Chen Jiageng Security Celebration Conference", and President Mao Zedong sent a banner with the eight characters of "Overseas Chinese Flag and National Glory".
1946, Chen Jiageng founded Nanqiao Daily.
1947, Chen Jiageng held a meeting of overseas Chinese in Singapore to oppose the atrocities committed by the Dutch colonial army in the Indonesian Dagang, and decided to impose economic sanctions on the Netherlands. In order to open up funds for Jimei School, Chen Jiageng founded Jimei Bank in Hongkong, which is an unprecedented initiative.
1949 War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression returned to China successfully. In September, he attended the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference, and Chen Jiageng was elected as the Standing Committee. 10 year 10 month 1 day, attended the founding ceremony of the Central People's Government of People's Republic of China (PRC), and was elected as a member of the Central People's Government and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission.
From 65438 to 0950, Chen Jiageng returned to China and settled in Jimei Village, his hometown, and personally presided over the construction of the school buildings of Jimei and Xiamen University.
1954 In September, Chen Jiageng attended the first meeting of the First National People's Congress and was elected as a member of the NPC Standing Committee.
1959, Chen Jiageng was elected as the vice chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and founded the Xiamen Overseas Chinese Museum.
196 1 year, Chen Jiageng died in Beijing, and his body was moved to Jimei Olympic Park for burial. When Chen Jiageng 17 years old (189 1 year old), he crossed the ocean to make a living in Singapore. At first, I mainly served in Shun 'an Rice Shop run by my father, and worked for 13 years. Chen failed to run the industry in his later years. After Chen Jiageng took over the declining family business, he founded a pineapple cannery in 1904, which was called "Xinlichuan Huangli Factory" in history. Established a Nissin company, which also runs a pineapple cannery; Self-operated moderate rice shop. That year, Chen Jiageng's younger brother Jing Xian came to Singapore to study business, manage the finance of Qian Yi Midian, and be responsible for the business of Xinlichuan Pineapple Factory. 1905, Chen Jiageng founded "Richun Huangli Factory" (also making ice). 1906, Chen Jiageng invested in Hengmei Rice Factory and interplanted chewing gum in Fushan Garden. Through the joint efforts of the two brothers, in the three years since 1905, they made profits of 50,000 yuan, 40,000 yuan and130,000 yuan respectively.
At that time, the laws of Singapore did not stipulate that "father's debt is exempted from repayment", but Chen Jiageng, who is credit-oriented, declared that "if you are determined to carry on for a long time, you will definitely pay off what you can, so as not to regret it". Facing the financial downturn, Chen Jiageng struggled for four years and finally made some profits. He spent a lot of time and energy looking for creditors regardless of the opposition of relatives and friends. By 1907, he had paid off his father's debt with interest. This incident has become a great story in the history of Chinese businessmen in Singapore. Of course, some people called him "stupid" at that time, but he said, "China people must never lose face in front of foreigners in order to win the trust of the world! We in China have always kept our promises, and our actions will bear fruit. " Chen Jiageng's reputation as "a promise as good as a thousand dollars" quickly spread throughout Southeast Asia. Since then, people have great confidence in Chen Jiageng's business ethics and reputation and are willing to do business with him. It can be said that Chen Jiageng became a millionaire about 10 years after the family business declined, which is closely related to his integrity and reputation. When rubber was first transplanted from Brazil to Malaysia, Chen Jiageng bought seeds for 2,000 yuan, planted them in pineapple orchards, and then planted them on a large scale. By 1925, he had owned 15000 mu of rubber plantation, becoming one of the largest rubber colonists among overseas Chinese. After that, he opened a rubber products factory, producing rubber shoes, tires and daily necessities. At its peak (1925), its business scope was as far as five continents, with more than 30,000 employees and assets of120,000 yuan (SGD, about two million and two thousand gold).
Chen Jiageng initiated the mass production of rubber products and promoted the development of overseas Chinese national industry. He opened up the international market for direct export of rubber products and other products, and was the first overseas Chinese to break the monopoly of British monopoly capital; He has also trained thousands of entrepreneurs and technical talents. From 1937 to 10, Chen Jiageng initiated the establishment of the "Committee for Relief of Injured Refugees in the Motherland of Singapore Overseas Chinese Conference in Malaya", which served as its chairman and received strong support and extensive response.
1938 10 under the advocacy and persuasion of Li Qingquan, a famous overseas Chinese in Fujian (he wrote to Chen Jiageng and suggested that overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia set up a general relief agency in Hong Kong or Singapore to take the lead in fundraising), Indonesian Zhuang Xiyan (he also wrote to Chen Jiageng and asked him to set up an overseas Chinese association in Singapore for the same purpose as Li Qingquan) made a proposal in the Executive Yuan of the National Government (Zhuang Xiyan wrote a letter and called the Executive Yuan) Chen Jiageng was elected chairman (Li Qingquan and Zhuang Xiyan were vice-chairmen). He took the lead in donating money to buy debt and things, and carefully planned and organized, so that the Nanqiao General Association raised about 400 million yuan for the motherland in just over three years. In addition, he also organized local relief organizations to donate warm clothes, medicines, trucks and other materials to the soldiers in front, and invested in setting up pharmaceutical factories in Singapore, Chongqing and other places to directly supply medicines.
During the period of 1939, at the request of China, Chen Jiageng recruited more than 3,200 overseas Chinese mechanics (car drivers and repairmen) to serve in China, and rushed to transport strategic materials urgently needed by China in the Anti-Japanese War on the newly opened Yunnan-Myanmar Highway.
1940, Chen Jiageng organized a delegation of overseas Chinese from Nanyang to visit Chongqing and Yan 'an. He faithfully published the speech of Yan 'an Impression and praised the new atmosphere in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. Through the investigation of the jurisdiction of the two parties, Chen Jiageng thought that "the hope of China lies in Yan 'an". Chen Jiageng is not only a great patriot and a famous industrialist, but also an educator who devoted his life to educating Guoxing. When Chen Jiageng's career reached its peak, he only had a capital of about1000-20 million yuan. Among the entrepreneurs in China at that time, many people were richer than him, but Chen Jiageng was the only one who consistently gave generously to the country and the nation and lived a very frugal life. Because of this, Mr. Huang Yanpei once said, "The only person who made a fortune is Mr. Chen. "The focus of investment education in Chen Jiageng is Jimei School, Xiamen University and Singapore Overseas Chinese School. That is, I am determined to establish Jimei school, from primary school to middle school, and various professional colleges. The school is large in scale, and the number of teachers and students ranks first in the country. At the same time, Chen Jiageng also actively funded the establishment of six overseas Chinese schools in Singapore, creating a new trend for overseas Chinese to run schools. 19 19, Chen Jiageng company further developed, and the total assets of the company reached about 4 million yuan, so it returned to China ambitiously to organize Xiamen University, the first overseas Chinese-run university in China. In order to set an example, he took the lead in pledging 4 million silver dollars. Its pledge amount is exactly equivalent to the total value of all its assets at that time. Chen Jiageng's boldness and foresight in spending money on patriotism and promoting learning are rare in the world.
Chen Jiageng said: "People's wisdom is inseparable, and people's minds are uneven. It is clear that enlightening the people's wisdom will help the revolution and save the country. Education is the cause of several generations and the fundamental measure to improve the national cultural level, which is needed at all times. " Based on the above purposes and motives, he spared no expense in running a school. When Chen Jiageng became rich, the first thing he thought of was to revitalize the country. He said: "The country's prosperity lies in the people, the development of the people lies in education, and education is the foundation of the country." As early as the 20th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1894), he donated 2,000 silver dollars to start a book on Tizhai in his hometown. In March of the third year of the Republic of China, Jimei junior high school was established. Since then, girls' primary schools, normal schools, middle schools, kindergartens, fisheries, business, agriculture, forestry, Chinese studies colleges and naive normal schools have been established and gradually developed. There are electric light factories, hospitals, science museums, libraries and large gymnasiums in the schools. The world-famous Jimei School Village was built in a remote fishing village in the past. Chen Jiageng's motivation and patriotism can be reflected in his Letter to Jimei School Students 19 18;
"education is weak, industry is not prosperous, and people's livelihood is short ... it is sad to think of this. Our country is now under the control of a big country, which is a matter of success or failure. Since we are in no hurry to catch up, we can't escape the elimination of natural expression. So I have been abroad for decades, and my life is at stake, which is not enough for me to think much. I am independent of learning and do it at the cost of money. It is for this reason that those who work hard only in Japan dare not relax. Most young people are patriots, but they are cautious about my intention to learn, like-minded, responsive, and have high hopes for the well-being of the country, but also for the sake of creating mulberry. " (According to "Letter to Jimei School Students", recorded from Mr. Chen Jiageng's commemorative album) 192 1 year, Chen Jiageng pledged 1 10,000 yuan as the start-up fee, and the annual cost was divided into 12, and 3 million yuan was paid. Xiamen University was founded, majoring in literature, science, law and business. Xiamen University started school on April 6th, 192 1, and Chen Jiageng maintained it at 16. Later, the world economic recession severely hit overseas Chinese enterprises. In the face of difficulties, Chen Jiageng still said firmly: "I would rather sell my property than support Xiamen University". He sold his three buildings to support Xiamen University.
Chen Jiageng invested all his money in education. He hoped that people with lofty ideals would keep hearing the news and inspire China. Therefore, despite the collapse of the enterprise, he still raised tuition fees in various ways, struggled to support and persisted. It is estimated that he spent more than 1 100 million dollars on running schools in his life. Under his advocacy, many overseas Chinese donated money for education, which became a common practice and had far-reaching influence. Chen Jiageng has built dozens of magnificent high-rise buildings for Jimei and Xiamen University, but his house is a simple two-story building, small and dark, which is inconvenient to handle affairs, but he is very happy. His life is hard and simple, and he is humble. Bed, desk, sofa, mosquito net, etc. It's all ancient. Coat, trousers, shoes and socks are patched. His family has millions of property, but in his later years, he set himself a low food standard of 50 cents a day, often eating sweet potato porridge, peanuts, dried tofu and a fish. His motto is: "Don't be stingy with the money you should use, and don't waste the money you shouldn't use."
Although Chen Jiageng was once one of the successful Chinese industrialists in Nanyang, his personal life has always been very simple. He wrote in his autobiography, "My personal family has only a few thousand dollars, and a month's salary is enough to pay. It doesn't cost 10 thousand yuan to build a house in Jimei. He has nothing. " But he is very charitable, especially for setting up education, and he is very enthusiastic. As early as 19 13, he founded a primary school in his hometown, and 19 18 founded a normal school, a middle school for boys and girls in all primary schools and kindergartens. With the vigorous development of his career, he constantly founded water navigation schools, business schools, agriculture and forestry schools, kindergarten teachers schools and so on. In Jimei, a science museum (now the College of Engineering and Technology of Jimei University), a library and a hospital have also been established, making Jimei a systematic and complete learning village. In Singapore, Chen Jiageng is also very enthusiastic about the education of the children of overseas Chinese. 19 19 established the large-scale "Singapore Nanyang Overseas Chinese Middle School", which was the highest institution for overseas Chinese in Nanyang at that time. After War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, she founded the Water Navigation School, Nanqiao Normal School and Nanqiao Girls' Middle School. At that time, a church asked Chen Jiageng to donate 654.38 million yuan to set up a university, but Chen Jiageng generously agreed, but proposed to offer Chinese courses at the same time.
While bearing the huge expenses of Jimei and Xiamen University, Chen Jiageng also contacted overseas Chinese in Singapore on 10 to organize Tongan Education Association and supported Tongan County to establish more than 40 primary schools. In the Republic of China 13, Chen Jiageng changed Tongan Education Association into Jimei School Education Promotion Department. By the 24th year of the Republic of China, 73 primary and secondary schools in 20 counties and cities in the province had received subsidies, with a total amount of 193227 silver dollars, all of which were borne by Chen Jiageng. During his stay abroad, Chen Jiageng vigorously promoted the establishment of Chinese schools, and served as the Prime Minister of Singapore Daonan School. In 4 years, he donated 30,000 yuan to establish Singapore Chongfu Girls' School, and in 8 years, he donated more than 400,000 yuan as a school fund. In March 36, Nanyang Girls' Middle School was established.