Introduction

Reviewing his work three decades later, Fan Xudong (1883–1945) declared that Jiuda, as the first-born of his industrial group, is truly a “Chinese-style” elder brother.1 Indeed, from 1914 until 1953 when it became a part of the joint state-private Yongli-Jiuda Chemical Industries, Jiuda Salt Refinery Co., Ltd. was synonymous with modern China’s refined salt industry. Building this private enterprise from scratch to national prominence, Fan and his colleagues promoted the country’s health championing the consumption of hygienic refined salt, self-sufficiency in various chemicals, and industrialization with an “almost religious … fervour.” 2 Beginning with a nominal capital of 50,000 yuan, by 1924 the company boasted a paid-up capital of 2.1 million yuan. With plants at Tanggu (Hebei), Dapu (Zhejiang), and the Yongyu Salt Refinery Co., Ltd. in Qingdao, Shandong, Jiuda controlled nearly half of the country’s refined salt production capacity by 1937. Through Hengfengtang, its holding corporation, the company owned over 100,000 mu (one mu approximately one-sixth acre) of salt ponds, Tanggu’s central mart and wharf, as well as partnerships distributing both refined and crude salt. Jiuda’s employees were socialized, whether as a family or a corporate unit (danwei) through a variety of institutions and measures.