153 years ago today, on November 26th, 1872 (October 26th, 1872 in the lunar calendar), the Qing court approved Li Hongzhang's memorial and established the Steamship Merchants Promotion Bureau. In 1872, Li Hongzhang, Minister of Beiyang, invited Zhu Qiang, who had been handling shipping for many years, to discuss the pilot establishment of a new shipping industry. In January 1873, the Steamship Investment Promotion Bureau was established in Shanghai, which stipulated that officials should supervise commercial offices and attract shares. It was the first enterprise in the Westernization Movement that changed from a military industrial enterprise to a civilian enterprise, and from a government-run enterprise to a government-supervised commercial enterprise. It is the predecessor of China Merchants Group. In the correspondence between the Prime Minister's yamen and Zeng Guofan in 1867, many businessmen had bought or chartered foreign ships at the trading port and sent them under the names of foreign businessmen. This phenomenon forced the Qing government to open the ban on buying or chartering foreign ships. Under this situation, some businessmen proposed that Chinese people should set up new shipping enterprises by themselves. In fact, the Qing government was quite worried that China's shipping industry would completely fall into the hands of foreign companies, so that grain transportation would be controlled by others. Therefore, the Prime Minister's yamen was quite wary of Rong Hong's proposal at that time to organize new shipping enterprises according to the articles of association of western companies. The condition of the Prime Minister's yamen's instructions on the proposal is that the ship must be owned by Chinese. This matter was delayed again and again, until Li Hongzhang changed to the mode of official supervision and business management. Li Hongzhang's "On the Trial Operation of Steamship Investment Promotion" said: "At present, there are no official-built merchant ships, and there is no joint operation between government and business. It should still be supervised by the government, and the government should manage its outline, examine its benefits and illnesses, and listen to the merchant's director and others' independent opinions to satisfy all businessmen." As a result, Li Hongzhang, who had real political power at that time, got the emperor's permission to set up the Steamship Merchants Bureau in 1872. China Merchants Bureau, whose general office is located in Shanghai, was founded on November 26, 1872, and ended in 1949. In the past 77 years, the property rights of China Merchants Bureau changed numerously. It was the first civil enterprise set up in the self-improvement movement, and its official supervision and commercial office broke the purely government-run pattern of westernization enterprises in the late Qing Dynasty, and adopted the joint-stock system for the first time, which was mostly praised by later generations. It has set up sub-bureaus in major domestic ports and Nagasaki, Yokohama, Kobe, Singapore and other places in Japan, engaged in passenger transportation and water transportation. It is the first modern steamship shipping company in China. In July, 1872, Li Hongzhang changed the steamship investment company into the steamship investment bureau, which is located in Shanghai, and its sub-bureaus are located in Tianjin, Niuzhuang, Yantai, Hankou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and foreign Yokohama, Kobe, Luzon and Singapore. Modern Development On December 26, 1872, the Qing court approved Li Hongzhang's memorial and established the Steamship Investment Promotion Bureau. In early November, 1875, the establishment of China Merchants Insurance Bureau was initiated, which was the beginning of running an insurance industry for Chinese people. In 1875, China Merchants Bureau asked the technical assistance of the British Ministry of Industry and Industry in Shanghai to set up the cable from the General Administration to Hongkou Wharf, which was the first dedicated telephone line set up by the Chinese themselves. In March, 1876, China Merchants Group acquired the American-funded Qichang Steamship Company and held a flag change and transfer. The company's 7 sea-going ships, 9 river ships and various barges, barges, docks, plank houses and other properties were priced at 2.22 million taels of silver, which were purchased and owned by the bureau. This is also the first time that Chinese national industrial and commercial enterprises have acquired foreign assets. In December, it signed the first contract with British-owned Swire Pacific and Jardine Matheson. It is a major victory for Chinese national enterprises against foreign businessmen. In 1882, he invested in Kaiping Mining Bureau, the earliest large-scale coal mining enterprise in modern China. In 1887, the first bonded warehouse in modern China was piloted in Shanghai. In November 1896, he invested in the establishment of China Commercial Bank, the first bank in modern China. In the same year, he invested in the establishment of Nanyang Public School (now the predecessor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University). In June, 1929, the Second Plenary Session of the Kuomintang decided that China Merchants Bureau was separated from the Ministry of Communications and transferred to the National Government. On March 26, 1949, the Kuomintang authorities fully implemented military control over China Merchants Bureau. On May 27, 1949, the People's Liberation Army liberated Shanghai, and the Shanghai Municipal Military Control Commission took over the China Merchants Bureau, which has since returned to the people. On September 19th, the China Merchants "Hailiao" ship solemnly declared an uprising under the leadership of captain Fang Zhenliu on its way from Hong Kong to Shantou. On February 1, 1951, China Merchants Group (Shanghai Head Office) was reorganized into the People's Shipping Corporation of China. Hong Kong China Merchants Bureau is under the leadership of China People's Steamship Corporation. On March 15th, 1951, People's Shipping Corporation of China replied to Hong Kong China Merchants Bureau, agreeing that the company would continue to retain the name of China Merchants Steamship Co., Ltd. On November 12, 1985, the State Council approved the Request for Instructions on the Adjustment of the Board of Directors of Hong Kong China Merchants Group issued by the Ministry of Communications, and China Merchants Group Co., Ltd. was formally established as a first-class enterprise directly under the Ministry of Communications. In June 1986, it acquired Youlian Bank, which was listed in Hong Kong, becoming the first Chinese-funded enterprise to use the stock market to acquire a listed company, and also the first non-financial enterprise to own a bank. On October 14, China Merchants Group Co., Ltd. was registered with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of the People's Republic of China. On December 18th, Gu Mu and the National Tourism Administration approved China Merchants Group to set up China Merchants International Tourism Corporation in Beijing. On April 8, 1987, the Head Office of the People's Bank of China approved China Merchants Group to initiate the establishment of China Merchants Bank. This is the first joint-stock commercial bank invested and founded by an enterprise in New China. On May 12, 1992, Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President of the State, wrote an inscription for the 120th anniversary of the founding of China Merchants Group: "Inherit the spirit of patriotism and strive for the great cause of the reunification of the motherland." In June 1992, Hempel Group (now China Merchants International) was listed in Hong Kong, setting a precedent for Chinese-funded enterprises to be listed in Hong Kong. In 2009, the total profit of the group was 17.852 billion yuan, an increase of 23%, and the net profit of the parent company was 9.799 billion yuan, an increase of 1.41 billion yuan or 16.4% over the same period last year. The total assets were 268.276 billion yuan, the net assets were 72.044 billion yuan, and the total assets under management were more than 2.2 trillion yuan. It has been assessed as a Class A central enterprise by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission for five consecutive years. Built in 1901, the China Merchants Building (No. 9 on the Bund), the China Merchants Building (No. 9 on the Bund), was built in 1901 and designed by the British merchant Marrison. The building has a brick and wood structure, with a building area of 1360 square meters; The appearance is imitation Renaissance style, and each layer has a distinct waistline. Ground floor exterior wall stone masonry; The upper two floors are clear water red brick walls, and each floor uses arched wooden doors and windows. China Merchants Shipping Bureau was originally a joint venture between government and business. After the National Government took over in 1930, it was changed back to state-owned operation. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, China Merchants Group is still the leader of China's shipping industry. On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were more than 460 large and small ships. The building also houses the Shanghai office of Minsheng Industrial Company in southwest China, as well as the joint venture office of Dada and Avenue Shipping. After liberation, the building was used by Shanghai Port Authority, Shanghai Maritime Safety Bureau of Ministry of Communications and Shanghai Maritime Search and Rescue Center.