THE CHINAMAN AS A MAN OF BUSINESS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1678, 27 April 1904, Page 18

THE CHINAMAN AS A MAN OF BUSINESS.

VIII.

(By H. Fulford Bush.)

The Chinaman is a complex problem, and it is not within the scope of the European to do justice to any one side of his cliaracter, but we are perhaps—those of us who live in the East—better able to appreciate his business capabilities for the reason that it is in this capacity that we most nearly come into touch with him. Successful trading is the aim and ambition of the middle-class Chinaman, and he devotes himself to this end with an energy of which few Europeans, with their many other interests in life, are capable. The greater part of my life having been spent in the North of China, it must be understood that my remarks bear upon the Northern native merchant, who is a more phlegmatic and cautious man than his southern brother, and the more typically Chinese in that he is less familiar with foreigners and their ways. A GAMBLER AND A MAN OF BUSINESS.

The strong gambling instinct inherent in every Chinaman prompts him to a boldness in trade speculations which foreigners do not care to emulate, and which —juncombined with that intimate knowledge of past transactions and apparent intuitive forecast of conditions governing prices, exchange, Northern and Southern demand and supply possessed by every native trader —would inevitably lead to disaster. The Chinese merchant, however, going on the broad principle, which the experience of years has justified, that continuous intelligent trading in the staple exports and imports will yield a return of five years’ profit ais against two years’ loss, enters into forward contracts, purchases in large quantities and stakes the greater' part of his capital and credit on the correctness of his estimate of the present, vis-a-vis the future, market, winning five times out of seven, and waxing prosperous on the fruits of his bold reliance /upon his business perspicacity.

The foreigner cannot hope to compete with the Chinaman in his own lines without adopting methods which to the Western mind appear unpractical and opposed to ail business precedentt. The native does not trouble about bank guarantees, delivery of goods against documents and accepted drafts, elaborate book-keeping, and fixed hours. Dealing largely on the barter system, ho delivers imports against exports, each firm making a memo-, of the transaction in a rough day-book, without any bank intervention, and every merchant .is prepared to do business at any time in. tho twenty-four hours, at his home, bin hong (bmdiH'ss residence), the teaKli<jp,o'pium=iiuuso,tbeatre- or publicbaitli. There in no nigu of “rush/’ —why rush when you lutvn tin- whole day, and if nmmmvy tho whole night, for deliberation ami : eouolave- bo-loro determining your lino of aid lon 1’ and yet when an opportunity blfr-d'P, such as a sudden fall in tine pt'ihe of prodiuot*. or exchange, or freight ink;}*, Old native merchant can make up jib mind, and act as promptly and witlml an tail inly as the smartest AVetdcrnoir could wisla

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTIONS TO PROGRESS. Though extremely conservative, and opposed to any innovation, the Northern Chin a,m an is beginning to adopt • such Western improvements as recominend themselves to his business sense by rea* son of their money-saving qualifications —and the last few years have witnessed great changes in the Beancake factory, machinery, which is now constructed m Hongkong on a semi-foreign plan—improving the output of oil and allowing of a reduction in tho labour, Iranian and animal, employed, as compar old process. There is still vast room for improvement in this direction, but, though fearless to a degree when embarking upon enterprises purely Chinese in tiheir nature and' working, the Celestial is timorously cautious in the matter, of striking out a new line in which the assistance of foreign methods is a necessity. It is precisely this seemingly contradictory trait in liis cliaracter which baffles the majority of Westernei’s, who endeavour by their rhetorical efforts to over-persuade the possible purchaser, whose hesitancy is due as much to their only too apparent eagerness as to the dictates of his conservative and superstitious mind, which looks upon all things foreign as partaking of the nature of the evil one. The “ Traveller ” lies under a heavy handicap in North China, where the English-speaking Chinaman is a rara avis, and the employment of an interpreter is merely an additional handicap in that the Chinaman has a hearty, if unreasonable, contempt for those unacquainted with his language; good and trustworthy interpreters are almost impossible to get, the average interpreters rendering of the loquacious foreigner’s dissertation showing up the weak points of his argument, and entirely omitting his eloquence. CONTEMPT FOR FOREIGNERS. Apropos of interpreters and! their unreliability, while present at a big official recaption in the north of China given by a native Viceroy, I overheard the interpreter appointed to the principal foreign guest convey to the Viceroy the said guest’s complimentary remarks upon tiie excellence of the entertainment provided by the host, prefacing his interpretation by the words “ Til yhuo ” (he says). He would thus have quoted the remark of a coolie, a man ef no class distinction, the use of the pronoun was absolutely inexcusable, but the foreigner did! not understand Chinese and the Viceroy, who should have resented the insult to his guest, passed it over as being, doubtless, good enough for a non-Chinese-speaking foreigner. In no country in the world is etiquette more rigidly observed and held in honour than in China, but the foreigner is a vaikuojen (a man from without, in silang parlance, an outsider), and as such not entitled, unless acquainted! with the language and etiquette, to any great consideration. This may be a somewhat extreme instance, hut it serves to demonstrate a fact which foreigners desirous of doing business in the country cannot afford to ignore, viz., that the average Chinaman, whether official or merchant, considers himself superior to the European, and that the latter must therefore he careful to acquaint himself with the language and manners of the people. With such knowledge he will find that he eon causa an entire change of sentiment in his individual case, and put through matters of moment with an ease which is conspicuously lacking when an interpreter is necessary. But it must nob be inferred that any overt discourtesy wilil be drown to the European who is ignorant in these essential matters—on the contrary, the impression he will receive will be that the Chinese merchants he has visited have been kindness and courtesy personified—they will douhtless have pftied. him with tea, cigars and cigarettes, the while they have listened with an air of charmed interest to his imperfectly interpreted utterances, and he will take his departure convinced of. their willingness, did circumstances permit, to do business with him and Ids firm exclusively. He cannot of course be expected to realise the fact that the conversation between the merchant and the interpreter, when the mutual exchange' of compliments has been exhausted, has been confined principally to matters of local business interest, the exchange rates, the resolution of promissory notes into hard syoee (silver), the probable cause oif the detention of the BeancraA upriver, and its effect upon produce prices and so on.

FROM DIFFERENT STANDPOINTS. The Ohiii-ese and European points of views are irreconcilable for the reason, that whereas the former gauges a nation’s civilisation by the eitquetts aiiid manuera observed by its citizens, x ie latter’s test is applied to the couiury s Code of law. Tho Chinaman is therefore of the opinion that wo are in the main barbarians, and we. consadim I nn as vastly inferior, from the tin... cm list'd standpoint, to ourselves. Those vital -elements of lesue nmsi be taken into account if the Westerner wishes to gain the confidence and goodwill of tho native merchant, without which bonne entente isaitisiactory busaneso relations cannot be established. One of the most striking charneceris-

tics of the Chinese merchant is his business integrity. Much has been written and £Oiid on this theme, and it is impossible to extol too highly the absolute noliaiioo that can be pi'.aced upon the native merchant’s bond. The writer’s father, Mr Henry E. Rudh, for over thirty years in constant touch with the merchants of Noa-th China, never experienced a bad debt in a,lil his 'many business transactions with the various native Hongs. Sir Ewan Cameron, of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, when speaking of his tenure of office in China, extending over many years, said ho had never lost a cash through his.native constituents.- When it is considered that the mid bank is the leading bank in Chino, and the one with which native as well ais foreign, merchants are the most anxious to do business, it will be admitted that -no finer tribute could well be paid to the integrity of the native trader. A CHINAMAN’S WORD AS GOOD AS HIS BOND. At the time of the Boxer outbreak the Russo-Chinese Bank at Newcliang had over five million taels invested in the Native City, and despite the business stagnation resulting from the disruption of the uimal commerce .conditions since that date, that money lias all been accounted for. Innumerable like incidents could be brought forward were not the former sufficient to justify the pronouncement that the merchant-classes in China are second to none in the matter of commercial integrity. • The main cause of this admirable state of affairs is, in my opinion, the Guild organisation. Every merchant is tho member of a Guild, ever? tradesman has his Guild, and what the Guild ordains is faithfully carried out by each of its members. No Chinese merchant can afford to lese caste, or “face,” as ho wonVI express it. His “face’'’- is literally his fortune ; were he to bo engaged in any discreditable transaction, and be reported to his Guild, he would lose “face,” and with it credit, business standing, and his entire clientele.

Foreigners have before now experienced the weight of the.Guilds’ taboo. An instance which occurred many years ago is a notable example of this.

The master of a steamer of one of the coasting companies, observing what he took to be a disreputable old coolie standing on a part of the deck reserved for the foreign complement, ordered the man off sharply, only to receive an unpleasant reply; he accordingly removed tiie objector. On arrival at the port of destination a complaint was made to the steamship company’s office, when it transpired that the disreputable coolie aforesaid was the stevedore, and one of the principal partners in the firm of the native charterers. . The office was given to understand that failing the master's dismissal the steamer would remain without employment, the result being that the company had to request, his resignation. A KEEN SENSE OF JUSTICE.

J Another and quite recent instance occurred through the hasty action of an agent of one of the steamer companies, who roused the indignation of a Southern Guild; the steamers of the said company remained un chartered until matters had been straightened c>u,b to the .satisfaction of the Guild, when the taboo was instantly raised and thp former good feeling and understanding fully re-established.

1 have never yet heard of the enormous influence possessed by’ these Guilds having been used in an unjustifiable manner.

T'lg Chinese merchant lias a keen sense of justice, iii spite- of the fact that the Chinese official class is singularly deficient in that respect, and if the foreigner can hub show that he has “li” (right') on his side ho will find it a,n unfailing argument, one to compel a body of Chinamen, for the sake of their “faoe,” to decide in his favour, their sympathy with their fellow merchants notwi tlmtandirig. I do not-pretend in this short article lo hav-e even (ondied upon nil’the many important characteristics of the Chinese business man ; to attempt to do justice .to such a theme calls for larger opportunities for observation than even many years’ direct communication affords, and would necessitate the compilation of a volume; I have, however, shown that our celestial confrere, superior to us in his own estimation, possesses qualifications which we cannot but admit entitle him to be ranked high in the commercial scale, and which I consider justify me in my opinion that lie is the shrewdest business man in the world.