On this day, 69 years ago, on October 1, 1956 (August 27, 1956 in the lunar calendar), Liu Hongsheng, the king of coal, cement, wool spinning and match, passed away. Liu Hongsheng was a modern industrialist in China. He is famous for his ancestral home in Dinghai, Zhejiang. Born in Shanghai on June 14, 1888, and died on October 1, 1956 in the same place. In 1906, Liu Hongsheng dropped out of St. John's University in Shanghai and joined the Laozha Police Station of the Shanghai Ministry of Industry Bureau as a teacher. In 1908, he joined the Shanghai Joint Trial Office as an interpreter. About half a year later, he transferred to Italian lawyer Mu Ansu. In 1909, he joined the British Commercial Kaiping Mining Bureau and worked as a salesman in Shanghai to open up sales for Kaiping coal. In 1911, he was promoted to a comprador of Kaiping Mining Bureau (renamed Kailuan Mining Bureau after 1912), setting up a ledger and earning commissions. Later, it cooperated with Shanghai Yitaixing Coal to distribute Kailuan coal and share profits. During the First World War, he chartered his own ships and loaded Kailuan coal from Qinhuangdao to Shanghai for sale. For about three years, he earned more than one million taels of silver. In 1918, in order to expand coal operations, he teamed up with Yitaixing Coal Co., Ltd. to establish Yitaixing Dongjiadu Coal Warehouse, and entrusted Yingshang Shell and Foreign Company to manage the terminal business. Since then, he has set up coal sales agencies in Shanghai and various ports in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The May 4th Movement broke out in 1919, advocating domestic products and boycotting foreign products, further developing national industries. In January 1920, Liu Hongsheng and others established Huashang Hongsheng Match Company in Suzhou with a capital of 120,000 yuan, of which he accounted for 3/4. This is the starting point for Liu Hongsheng's transformation of capital into industrial enterprises. Since then, he has independently established Huashang Shanghai Cement Company, Zhonghua Coal Ball Company, Dahua Insurance Company, Huafeng Enamel Company, Zhanghua Plush Textile Company, Zhonghua Industrial Company, Huadong Coal Mining Company, China Enterprise Bank, etc. By the end of 1931, Liu Hongsheng's corporate investment (including company stocks, joint venture shares and ship terminals) had reached more than 7.45 million yuan, making him known as China's "coal king" and "match king." In November 1932, he became the general manager of the State-owned Steamship Investment Bureau. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Liu Hongsheng's businesses in the areas occupied by the Japanese invaders suffered losses. In June 1938, he left for Hong Kong and turned to the mainland. In the mainland and Hong Kong, we will jointly establish Huaye Hutchison Match Company, Greater Zhonghua Match Company, China Match Materials Company, China Wool Textile Company, Northwest Wool Textile Company, etc. in joint ventures with private enterprises or bureaucratic capital. He also served as general manager of the Kuomintang government Match Monopoly Company and director of the National Monopoly Administration. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Liu Hongsheng returned to Shanghai in October 1945 and served as chief executive of the Rehabilitation and Relief Administration of the Executive Yuan of the Kuomintang Government and director of the Shanghai Branch. In the spring of 1946, all his businesses in the occupied area were recovered. However, except for the temporary development of the match and terminal industries, other enterprises are experiencing difficulties in operating. In August 1948, the Kuomintang government implemented the "Golden Won" policy (see Inflation during the Kuomintang government's rule), and all Liu's enterprises were paralyzed. On the eve of the liberation of Shanghai in 1949, Liu Hongsheng once went to Hong Kong. In October of the same year, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he returned to Shanghai and served successively as a member of the Shanghai City People's Government, a member of the East China Military and Political Committee, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a representative of the National People's Congress, a standing member of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and a deputy chairman of the Shanghai City Federation of Industry and Commerce. He died of illness in Shanghai in October 1956. Half a month before his death, he published a speech: "Why do I support the Communist Party?"