From the medium term to the end of Qing Dynasty, timepiece workshops appeared in Suzhou and Guangdong. Skillful craftsmen imitated Western techniques to make many clocks with national characters. But along with trade relations with foreigners, more and more clocks of the Western world flooded into China. Handwork could not compare with Western mechanization; the timepiece workshops went bankrupt one after another, the rudiment of national timepiece industry died out along with it.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, national industry had a short developing opportunity. Yantai had the advantages of establishing industry as one of the earliest opened ports in the north, manufacturing of flour 、 cans 、 weaving fabric 、 matches emerged as the times require. Baoshi Timepiece Factory just came into being in this situation.
• Inchoative Establishment of "Baoshi"
The initiator Dongshan Li of Baoshi Timepiece Factory was born in August of 1873 in Weihai, Shandong. His family was poor, he never went to school, he came to Yantai to be apprenticed at the age of fifteen. Be thrifty and hardworking and gumptious, he possessed large fortune several years later. In 1892, he set up Deshunxing Hardware Shop in Yantai, mainly dealed in small hardware and general merchandise. Li always had courage to try what others dare not try, he used his motto for the business. Deshunxing Hardware Shop sold some Japanese brand "Polo" ground clocks and some components, drew inspiration from it, he thought timepiece industry was vacancy of China and it was sure profitable, so he consulted with Zhicheng Tang about setting up a timepiece factory. Zhicheng Tang was born in Shandong, he was engaged in timepiece and vapour lamp maintenance. He often went to Deshunxing Hardware Shop to buy spare parts needed, and got acquainted with Dongshan Li. They soon arrived at an agreement that Deshunxing Hardware Shop had the largest shares, other firms invested a little money, Yantai Baoshi Timepiece Factory was set up in the Chaoyang Street in July of 1915, Dongshan Li assumed the office of the director, Zhicheng Tang was factory manager and technician.
At the beginning of the establishment, the technical aspect was nearly blank, Zhicheng Tang had to dismantle and assemble Japanese brand "Polo" ground clocks to acquire the technique, and imitate Japanese clocks to make trial production. In order to settle technical problems, Dongshan Li went to Japan many times to visit Maqiu Timepiece Factory, he claimed that he would purchase their equipment and seize the chance to acquire their technique. On the one hand, he kept as much as he could in mind on the spot; on the other hand, he invited Japanese technicians to dinners and consulted them. He also bribed with huge wealth the technicians that were unwilling to pass on their technical skills. Dongshan Li passed on the skills he got to Zhicheng Tang after he returned to China. They made trial production again and again, and produced the first ground clocks assembled with foreign components with the brand name "Bao". In the same year, they added milling machines and some other equipments, the number of worker was increased to fifty. During the course of trial production, the factory also made vapour lamps 、 vapour furnaces 、 door locks and other hardware to maintain enough income. Other shareholder withdrew their shares because of little profit, but Dongshan Li always kept a stiff upper lip.
In 1920, Baoshi Timepiece Factory succeeded in imitating seven-day movement , thus it began to self-produce clock movement by machine work. Raw materials such as copper 、 iron plate 、 steel wire and clockwork spring still need to be exported from Japan or Germany, cases and other spare parts could be self-made. In the meantime, the timepiece factory developed and produced wall clock. As for the appearance, the ground type followed Japanese ground clock; the wall type followed European wall clock. As for the decorations, something reflecting folk custom was added.
In the early days after the factory was set up, the annual production of clocks was two or three thousand pieces. Several years later, the production and management were improved little by little, the output was increased year by year, and it began to enter into northern market. In 1928, patriotic campaigns for resisting Japanese products and advocating domestic products were rising all over the country. Baoshi Timepiece Factory caught this opportunity to improve technique of production, reduce the production cost, advance quality of products, keep commercial credit, promise "Guarantee for ever" and attach 《 Durability Certificate 》 behind every clock case. In addition, the factory reduced the price, and regained the original price after having set up the fame. As a result, "Bao" brand clock was in great demand in the eastern area , and sold well in the North China and the Northeast. Especially in the three provinces of the Northeast where many common people ' s original family home was Shandong, "Bao" brand clock was warmly received with its low price. Gradually it defeated Japanese brand "Polo" clock in the Northeast market.
二 、 "Baoshi" changed to "Deshunxing"
In order to absorb capital and enlarge scale, Baoshi Timepiece Factory adopted share-holding system in July of 1927, established "Yantai Baoshi Timepiece Stock Co., LTD", money paid for shares was one hundred thousand silver yuan, the actual shares was twenty five thousand silver yuan. Dongshan Li was still the director.
In March of 1927, some employees separated from Baoshi Timepiece Factory set up the second Timepiece Factory in Yantai ─ Yong Kang Timepiece Company with the registered capital thirty six thousand Liang silver and the registered trade mark "Yong". With the experience of Baoshi Timepiece Factory, " Yong Kang " operated smoothly at the very beginning, mainly followed the design of the wall clock and desk clock in Western Europe. The products made a great coup shortly after they left the factory; they were mainly exported to big cities in the South and countries in the Southeast Asia. In the next year, "Baoshi" and " Yong Kang " attended China Domestic Products Fair held by National Government Industry and Commerce Department in Shanghai together, it was the first time for clocks of the two brands to appear in nationwide fair. At that time, there was no timepiece company in the other cities of China, The fact that two factories from a northern little town produced clocks that could compare with foreign products at that time surprised the participators, and even aroused the attention of the government and media. The appraisal of National Government Industry and Commerce Department to the two factories is: "Although the products are imitation, they really are pioneering work, whenever they are in a domestic products fair, praise and diplomas should be awarded as encouragement". The appraisal of National Government Industry and Commerce Department to the two factories is: "Although the products are imitation, they really are pioneering work, whenever they are in a domestic products fair, praise and diplomas should be awarded as encouragement". Related press reported: "It ' s well sold around our country as national product. Its fame is spreading all over the world, the products are exported to Liaoning 、 Jilin 、 Heilongjiang in the north, to Burma 、 Singapore in the south. The products were sold to any place with convenient traffic. Both the factories produced over thirty thousand pieces each year.
In 1931, in order to avoid tax, Yantai Treasure Hour Clock Making Factory was incorporated with Deshunxing hardware shop; Deshunxing Clock Making Factory was set up then. The number of employees reached five hundred for a time, and the annual production of wall clocks fifty five thousand pieces. In the same year, " Deshunxing " and " Yong Kang " attended again China Domestic Products Fair held in Shenyang, " Deshunxing " was universally accepted as " China clock making initiator ".
After 9 · 18 Incident, Japanese broke into the three provinces of the Northeast, main products of Deshunxing were blocked , which made them unsalable, more than fifty thousand pieces were kept in stock, and the factory got in a difficult situation. In order to change the situation, the factory expanded the southward market to seek new ways on the one hand; it fired some employees to lighten the burden. As a result of sale promotion and advertisement, the southward market was gradually opened, "Bao" brand clocks were sold well in big cities like Shanghai 、 Nanjing 、 Guangzhou 、 Chongqing, etc. Affected by patriotic campaigns, progressive overseas Chinese patriotism were rising, they helped to advertise 、 purchase and market domestic products actively. Huaxing Company that was set up by overseas Chinese in Singapore assumed exclusive selling rights for "Bao" brand clocks voluntarily, distributed the products to 南洋 , archipelago countries, sent the indenture to China Bank after consignment, they helped to export over ten thousand clocks annually to Singapore 、 Indonesia 、 Philippines 、 Malaysia, etc. In 1933, Deshunxing set up branches in Shanghai 、 Tianjin and other places, the output returned to four thousand five hundred pieces that year. At that time, the factory had three hundred fifty employees altogether, had one hundred and ten equipments including power equipments 、 production machines 、 milling machines 、 drill presses 、 、 pressing machine 、 motor saws 、 power-driven planers, etc.
From 1931 to 1933, Shengli Timepiece Factory 、 Yongye Timepiece Factory and Ciye Timepiece Factory were open in Yantai respectively with their respective trade marks " Sheng " 、 " Ye " and " Ci ". From then, Yantai Timepiece Industry group had come into being.
Deshunxing Timepiece Factory reached its peak in the year of 1934. It had more than five hundred employees with the factory area of 4300 square meters and the building area of about 1100 square meters. The factory consumed forty five tons of brass plate, ninety thousand pieces of clockwork springs, about thirteen tons of brass rod, two hundred and twenty kilograms of steel bar, seven hundred and fifty kilograms of iron bar, three hundred and thirty cubic meters of timber, eight hundred and twenty kilograms of painted plate. It annually manufactured forty five thousand wall clocks with the unit price of 5.5 yuan, output value of two hundred and fifty thousand yuan, profit of one hundred thousand yuan. Deshunxing Timepiece Factory invested to build new workshop buildings and " Jincheng " cinema successively in the Chaoyang Street from 1934 to 1935. In 1936, the technicians of the factory trial-produced and put into production alarm clocks with single bell and double bells and fourteen-days mechanical pendulum clock. Both of the types were the first in China.
The prosperity of Baoshi-Deshunxing became the focus of attention in the industry then. 《 Shandong Industry and Commerce Report 》 compiled and printed by Shandong Country Government Industry Hall in 1931 records history during this period in detail.
It was recorded in the third chapter of 《 Shanghai Mechanism Industry 》 printed and published by Shanghai China book bureau in December of 1933 that : " The earliest and biggest clock manufacturer in China is Deshunxing Timepiece Factory in Shandong. The factory has capital of one hundred thousand yuan, about five hundred workmen and child labors; it manufactured one hundred thousand table clocks annually with the unit price of seven or eight yuan. Many countrymen use the products. Several other factories like Yongkang 、 Yongye are setted up these years. Domestic product industry is rising recent years, but few timepiece factories react to it, the reason is that it is much more difficult to seek capable technicians than to fund capital. Despite its big exterior volume, the interior components are highly precision-machined; any tiny discrepancy of the size can destroy the whole process".
It was recorded in the eighth chapter of 《 China Industry Journal 》 compiled by industry office international trade bureau in December of 1934 that : "There are very few timepiece factories in our country, most of them assemble in Yantai, Shandong Province, the Baoshi factory located in the Chaoyang Street in Yantai is the first one of the timepiece industry of China, it was set up in the forth year of the Repbulic of China, and changed its name to Deshunxing in the twentieth year of the Repbulic of China with the brand name Baoshi remaining.
三 、 The downfall of "Deshunxing"
After the " 7 · 7 Incident " in 1937, much territory was occupied by enemy, economy declined, market was blocked, Japanese products dumped in, Deshunxing Timepiece Factory encountered the same difficulties as national industry did, it had to reduce output to zero, all the worker were dismissed. When the factory opened again in 1939, only one hundred and twenty workers returned to the factory, the factory lost the source of materials, output dropped quickly, it had to reprocess waste copper in stock into copperplate to survive. Later, the factory did nothing but sold things in stock.
After Japanese army occupied Yantai, economy was under their control. The Japanese made several tries to annex Denshunxing. At first, they wanted to run the factory together with Deshunxing, but were declined by Dongshan Li. Later they intended to offer a position to Li to allure him to join, and were declined again. The Japanese got really angry, they seized his son Dianzhang Li into military police and detained him for several months under the imputation that Dongshan Li had run a fireworks and firecrackers factory which aimed to support the Eight Route Army to fight back Japanese, Dongshan Li had to bribed the military policemen to save his son. Dongshan Li was forced to cooperate with Japanese to set up a shop named Huaxing, the Japanese did not provide any fund actually, and it was only a channel of them to shark up. In that circumstances, the factory went from bad to worse, the shareholders lost confidence. In 1944, the shareholders in Denshunxing Hardware Shop proposed to separate the fund on average. Deshunxing Timepiece Factory followed it, but the factory had no cash, so the shareholders could only get products. Dongshan Li was so depressed that he gave up and resigned as a counselor with Zhicheng Tang. Dongshan Li ' stepson Dianzhang Li assumed the office of manager, Zhicheng Tang ' son Shaoxiang Tang assumed the office of factory director. And then there were less than one hundred employees in the factory with the annual output of clocks only five or six thousand pieces.
On August 14, 1945, the Japanese army surrendered, Yantai city was taken over by Communist Party. Dianzhang Li 、 Zhicheng Tang 、 Shaoxiang Tang left Yantai for Shanghai to set up Minshi Timepiece Factory in the charge of the chief accountant Guozhang Jiang. Some farmers and workers in the native place of Dongshan Li planed to give out the estate of Deshunxing Timepiece Factory according to land reform measures, Yantai municipal Party committee implemented party policies, conducted a great deal of publicizing and educating tasks, kept the factory unseperated, and supported it to resume production rapidly. Dongshan Li was very grateful to the People ' s Government for that. He told Guozhang Jiang who took charge of the factory: Anything the People ' s Government needed should be done immediately; there was no need to consult with him. During this period, the factory did a lot of useful things with the cooperation of the People ' s Government. On July 24, 1946, Dongshan Li passed away in Yantai at the age of 73. After Li died, Guozhang Jiang was nominated manager. In order to support the factory to resume production, Yantai municipal Party committee assigned district committee secretary to help the leaders of the factory. The government also provided loans to the factory, two or three thousand yuan once, the loans should be returned shortly after the products were sold, the factory could get another loan again after the former loan were returned, the factory was brought back to life.
In the October of 1947, the Kuomintang army occupied Yantai. The leaders of municipal trade union exhorted Gongzhang Jiang secretly to protect the factory and worker well. Therefore when Dianzhang Li intended to sell the equipments after coming back to Yantai from Shanghai, Gongzhang Jiang advised them patiently, and stopped them selling the factory. In October of 1947, Yantai was liberated for the second time; the factory had less than one hundred employees and only produced several thousand pieces annually, it was really at its last gasp.
四 、 The renascence of Yantai timepiece industry
fter the second liberation of Yantai in 1948, the People ' s Government supported Deshunxing and other two surviving timepiece factories. In 1949, the factories produced four hundred and eighty pieces of pendulum clocks, three thousand alarm clocks in all. The national market was opened gradually; Deshunxing could deliver the goods after they got orders and payments in virtue of its good credit, production and management recovered. The net income of Deshunxing in 1950 was over thirty thousand yuan. Xinde Timepiece Factory (by reorganizing Yong Kang) 、 Shengli Timepiece Factory (by reorganizing original Shengli Timepiece Factory) and Yongye Timepiece Factory restarted the production. In 1952, the timepiece factories in Yantai manufactured twenty three thousand pieces of pendulum clocks and alarm clocks altogether.
In 1953, clock making was brought into Integrative planning of China; state-owned companies contracted in buying and selling of the products. The factories could focus on enlarging the production. In 1954, Deshunxing took the lead in adopting joint state-private ownership. Yantai municipal Party committee assigned three cadres to help the factory, and established CPC Deshunxing Timepiece Factory Branch. In the same year, Yongye Timepiece Factory and Xinde Timepiece Factory adopted joint state-private ownership one after the other. On May 1, 1956, Deshunxing 、 Xinde and Yongye were incorporated, joint state-private ownership Yantai Timepiece Factory came into being with the registered trade mark "Bao" u nder the jurisdiction of Shandong industry office.
After the establishment, Yantai Timepiece Factory strengthened technology and management, output increased greatly as a result. In 1957, it produced two hundred and twenty eight thousand pendulum clocks and one hundred and seventy five thousand alarm clocks. Yantai timepiece industry resume export that was halted for twenty years. Since the brand "Bao" was not easy to be generally accepted by foreigners, they design the brand "Polaris" which was approved by the State Industrial and Commercial Bureau in December of 1959, and was employed formally in January of 1960. In 1960, joint state-private ownership Yantai Timepiece Factory was transformed to a state-run enterprise; changed the name to state-owned Yantai Timepiece Factory. During the following ten years, the factory not only enlarged the production scale continuously, but also developed many new products such as clock for shipping 、 calendar pendulum clock 、 pocket watch 、 wristwatch, etc. In order to develop Yantai timepiece industry, the leaders decided to reassign production elements according to professional production principles based on Yantai Timepiece Factory, thus Yantai T imber Clock Factory 、 Yantai Alarm Clock Factory 、 Yantai W ristwatch F actory were set up respectively. Output doubling came true that year. In 1976, the factory manufactured five hundred thousand pieces of pendulum clocks, six hundred and seventy thousand piece of alarm clocks, later, it established and changed products of several timepiece fittings factories, and formed integrated timepiece production system. Yantai timepiece industry made a further progress after the opening and reform. Yantai has grown from the birthplace of China modern timepiece industry to an important timepiece production base of modern China.
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