Zhang Jian Founds Dasheng Cotton Mill and “Saving the Nation through Industry”

In the 1860s and 1870s Chinese national capitalism appeared but grew slowly. After the Sino-Japanese War foreign capital opened factories and mines in China, and some patriots put forward “saving the nation through industry,” giving national industry an initial boost. Zhang Jian (1853–1926), courtesy name Jizhi, from Nantong, Jiangsu, became the top scholar (zhuangyuan) in the 1894 examinations and was appointed a Hanlin compiler. The defeat and the Treaty of Shimonoseki shocked him; holding that “industry and education support each other,” he resolutely gave up an official career and returned home to start enterprises. In 1895, at the request of Zhang Zhidong, Governor-General of Liangjiang, he began planning a cotton mill in Nantong, and the Dasheng Cotton Mill opened in 1899; “Dasheng” comes from the Book of Changes line “the great virtue of heaven and earth is to give life.” Using Nantong’s cotton, the mill produced good yarn with wide sales. Zhang then founded a land reclamation company, oil mill, flour mill, steamship company and more, forming the Dasheng group, one of the largest national capitalist groups of the time. He also supported education and public welfare, founding Tongzhou Normal School (China’s first independent normal school), the Nantong Museum (the first museum founded by Chinese), a library, a hospital and a home for the aged, making Nantong a nationally known model city. After the 1911 Revolution he served as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce of the Beiyang government. His work led many Chinese to “save the nation through industry” and boosted national capitalism; Mao Zedong said that in discussing light industry one must not forget Zhang Jian.