Equipment in the "Sanyou" factory
China's earliest towel factory - Shanghai Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. towel factory, was founded by Chen Wanyun, Shen Jiucheng, and Shen Qiyong (some data also show that Shen Jiucheng, Founded in 1912 by Chen Wanyun and Fang Zhida, the company produced Triangle brand towels and soon became the first textile factory with large-scale machine production in my country's history. "Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. developed from small workshops. It is very difficult to start a business." Chen Lifang, an old man who lives on Yangshupu Road, and his brother Chen Liping (passed away) were both old workers of Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. "My brother (in the early 1930s) I started working at Sanyou, and I entered the factory in 1946. Most of our early workers were fellow workers of Chen Wanyun, some of whom he brought from Ningbo, and some of whom were recruited from Shanghai,” said Chen Lifang, who is now 84 years old.
In 1917, Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. purchased 30 acres of land in Yinxiang Port, Yangshupu, and planned to build a larger towel factory to compete with the Japanese Donghua Towel Factory. After discussion by the board of directors, the towel was named the "Triangle" brand. The pattern is composed of a circle and an inner triangle, which means that three people share joys and sorrows and endure hardships. The "Triangle" brand trademark is also registered and filed with the Beijing Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. The entire towel factory has a capital investment of 100,000 yuan. In 1919, the towel factory set up a factory in Chuansha and purchased more than 100 wood machines.
Chen Wanyun, the founder of "Sanyou"
Chen Wanyun, the head of "Sanyou", hired Zheng Zulian, who had just returned from studying in the United States, as the first factory director. They changed the bleaching of raw yarn to the bleaching of cooked yarn, which brought the water absorption, hand feel, whiteness and yarn count degreasing of towels to a new level. This was an innovation in the bleaching and dyeing process at the time. Then, Sanyoushe continued to carry out research on towel patterns. They improved the red and blue towels that had been produced for many years and had a monotonous style. They used bright red dye to print the words "Good morning to you" on the snow-white plain cloth. Free printing for bulk customers. Later, Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. also researched and produced novel and unique multi-heald woven pattern bath towels.
Pan Junxiang believes: "These three tricks have made a huge leap forward in the quality of domestic towels... Triangular towels are favored by the majority of users and are even exported to Southeast Asia." It broke the once-held attitude of Japanese companies. Monopolizing the towel market in China, the products are sold nationwide and then to foreign markets.
Triangle brand towels are selling well all over the country, causing the Japanese Anchor brand towel business to decline day by day. The Japanese businessmen were unwilling to fail and used the low-cost policy to compete for the market again. They shipped in 200 single-width towel iron machines and set up the Ruihe towel factory between Gaolang Bridge on Huade Road and Lanzhou Road to mass-produce anchor brands with cheap labor. towel.
Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. improves product quality and reduces costs. In the upsurge of promoting domestic products and boycotting Japanese products, "love to use domestic products" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Within three years, the Japanese Ruihe towel factory had limited sales and was forced to go out of business. Japanese Anchor towels completely withdrew from the Chinese market in 1923.
Soon after, Sanyou Industrial Society purchased Hangzhou Tongyizhong Cotton Mill and Dingxin Weaving Factory and changed them into Sanyou Society Hangzhou Branch. At the 1926 World Expo in Philadelphia, the United States, Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd.'s towels won the "C-Class Gold Medal (Textile Category)".
Triangular towel box
After the "September 18th" Incident, workers at the Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. Production Plant established the Anti-Japanese Salvation Association and organized the Sanyou Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army, with more than 400 people. After participating, Chen Wanyun personally served as the team leader. The team members made military uniforms at their own expense and practiced every day before going to work. The Volunteer Army also posted a giant propaganda poster on the high wall in front of the factory with the title "We must recover the three northeastern provinces." The painting showed a Volunteer Army soldier pointing a spear at the Japanese soldiers.
“Next door to the Sanyoushe Towel Factory is the Japanese company Donghua Towel. Japanese Marines are stationed in the factory and there is an observation deck. The Japanese can see the actions of the Sanyoushe Towel Factory every day and hate it. My teeth started to itch, and I have always regarded Sanyoushe Towel Factory as a thorn in my side.” Chen Lifang said. According to historical records, on the afternoon of January 18, 1932, under the guise of "cultivation", Japanese monk Keishō Amazaki and five others beat drums and bells in front of the Sanyou Industrial Society Towel Factory on Mayushan Road (today's Shuangyang Road). Stones were also thrown into the factory. His whereabouts attracted the attention of the volunteers in the factory, and members of the volunteers followed him. Amazaki Qisheng and others fled upon seeing this. When they fled near Zhao's house, they were intercepted and interrogated by workers.
At this time, thugs hired in advance by the Japanese military spy chief Tanaka Takayoshi and the female spy Yoshiko Kawashima disguised themselves as workers and infiltrated into the volunteers. They beat the Japanese monks with rocks, killing one and two others. injured, and put the blame on the social workers of Sanyou Industrial. This was the sensational "Japanese Monk Incident".
In the early morning of the third day, Japanese military police captain Chiharu Shigeto led more than 60 people from the Japanese ronin group "Japan Youth Gay Association" to attack Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd., set fire to six factories, hundreds of bags of cotton yarn, and damaged looms. 24 station, they also killed one arrester from the Ministry of Industry Bureau and injured two others.
After the war, Tanaka Takayoshi stated in his confession that he knew that Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. was "very communist, anti-Japanese, and a base of anti-Japanese", so he made him a close friend. "A close woman" Yoshiko Kawashima went to "cleverly use the name of this company to kill the alms monk of the Nichiren Sect" and took the opportunity to "make some noise."
At 11:30 pm on January 28, 1932, the Japanese army launched a war and occupied Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. the next day. The "Japanese monk incident" became the direct trigger of the "1.28" incident.
The burned "Sanyou" factory
Soon after the Anti-Japanese War broke out in Songhu, the main factory of Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. was blown up by Japanese artillery fire. All the equipment was destroyed and the losses were extremely heavy. In June 1932, Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. was forced to suspend production. The Anti-Japanese War broke out in 1937, Hangzhou fell in December, and the factory was occupied by the Japanese army. The Japanese asked Chen Wanyun to serve as the chairman of the Hangzhou maintenance committee, but he refused to accept it. He hid in a cave in Yangmeiling in the suburbs and sneaked back to Shanghai. In 1938, the Japanese sent people to Shanghai to propose cooperation conditions of "first survival and first prosperity" to Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd., but Chen Wanyun flatly refused. At that time, Shanghai's Shenbao and other newspapers rushed to publish Chen Wanyun's patriotic behavior.
In order to maintain the livelihood of the employees of Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd., Chen Wanyun manufactured and sold national medicines in the concession and sold cotton fabrics on behalf of other factories. Days like this didn't last long. In December 1941, the Pacific War broke out. The Japanese army invaded the concession and implemented economic rule. Chen Wanyun had to stay at home.
“That period was the most difficult period for Chen Wanyun and the employees of Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd.” recalled Chen Lifang, an old worker, but Chen Wanyun always closely united the workers around him, and also secretly supported and helped some Workers joined the army to fight against Japan, or supported worker activists in underground anti-Japanese activities.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. resumed production. Since Triangle towels were a patriotic and anti-Japanese brand with good quality, Triangle towels quickly became popular all over the country and were well-known in Southeast Asia.
In August 1950, patriotic industrialist Chen Wanyun ended his rough life in the Jinchunli Staff Dormitory on Xinchang Road, Shanghai, at the age of 66.
In 1954, Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. implemented a public-private partnership and was renamed Shanghai Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. Manufacturing Factory. In 1962, it was changed to a professional towel production factory and has been producing towels.
"Sanyou" Sales Department
Chen Wanyun, also known as Chen Manyun, was born in September 1885 in a small businessman family in Cixi, Zhejiang. His father, Chen Tinghong, travels all over the country and travels all year round.
Chen Wanyun attended a private school in his hometown when he was young. At the age of 15, he went to Shanghai with his father to make a living. He first worked as an apprentice at Sanyang Tai Cigarette Store on the outskirts of the city, and then moved to Qian Xinxiang Cigarette Paper Store on Jiaxing Road in Hongkou. apprentice. The young man Chen Wanyun was serious about his work and willing to use his brain. He won the respect of the shop owner and stayed in the shop as a clerk after he graduated.
On the eve of the Revolution of 1911, the ideological trend of "saving the country through industry" was surging. Chen Wanyun, who was concerned about national affairs, was influenced by it and came up with the idea of ????taking the road of saving the country through industry. After long-term careful observation, Chen Wanyun finally found a way to start a business. At that time, Western powers were aggressively dumping goods on China, and foreign goods were the only ones in the world for daily necessities. For foreign candles alone, imports amounted to one million customs taels in 1910 (one customs tael is equal to 1.114 taels of silver). Foreign candles replaced the old-fashioned Chinese candles. oil lamp and earth candle. Chen Wanyun discovered that the wicks of foreign candles had been exclusively distributed by Ni-Chong Tong & Co., Ltd., and despite the high price, the supply was in short supply. Chen Wanyun, who has worked in a cigarette paper shop for many years, believes that he can start from this project with low cost and high profits and relatively simple production technology to embark on the journey of establishing an industry.
In April 1912, he found two partners. One was Shen Jiucheng, a fellow villager, who worked as an apprentice in Gao Yuxing Candle Shop in Shanghai, and the other was Chen Qiyong, a relative of Chen, who was also working in Xinxiang at the time. Work in a cigarette paper shop.
The three of them spent all their money and raised 450 yuan, rented five cabins in Dingxing Lane, Shiqing Road, south of Hengbang Bridge on Sichuan North Road, purchased 10 hand-operated candle wick carts, and started making foreign candle wicks. The small workshop was named "Sanyou Industrial Society", which means "Three friends cooperate to save the country through industry."
One year after the factory was opened, Shen Qiyong changed jobs and split the shares. Soon Chen Wanyun's fellow villager Chen Lufu invested 2,100 yuan in shares, increasing the capital to 2,400 yuan, and added the word "Meiji" to the name of the factory. The product came out, and "Sanyou" candle wicks quickly opened up the market with their low price and high quality.
By 1915, the production scale of "Sanyou" gradually expanded. At the end of this year, "Sanyou" was reorganized into Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd., with capital increased to 30,000 yuan. A three-story factory building was built south of Yokohama Bridge, and the number of workers increased to more than 100. "Three Friends" has just made its mark in the domestic goods industry.