Former Residence of Zhou Zongliang

Former Residence of Zhou Zongliang

On Baojian Road in old Shanghai, now No. 3 Baoqing Road, through the dark green iron fence along the sidewalk, one can see a large expanse of lawn. To the left are scattered several modern-style small garden villas, whose owner was none other than Zhou Zongliang, the famously wealthy “King of Pigments” in Shanghai. He served as comprador for various German trading firms for a total of 35 years, manipulating the Chinese market for German dyes, thereby becoming one of the wealthiest individuals in the country.

After achieving success and prosperity in his career, Zhou Zongliang settled down and built his home, acquiring land on Baoqing Road in Shanghai to construct his residence. In 1936, there was originally a small building on the site, built by the Germans, which he purchased and then expanded with additional structures. The architectural style is that of modern-style miniature European garden villas. Having worked for many years in German firms, Zhou adopted the German lifestyle—installing fireplaces, emphasizing ornate decorations, maintaining pristine lawns, and promoting fitness. Thus, although the residents might wear traditional Chinese gowns or Western suits, their activities on the lawn were distinctly European in style.

The Zhou family garden residence consists of multiple buildings, with a large 5,000-square-meter lawn in front planted with various types of precious trees. The main structure has a pseudo-three-story design with a four-sloped red-tiled roof, steep at the top and gradually sloping downward, featuring shed-style dormer windows. The southern side of the second floor has a long terrace, with classical vase-shaped balustrades made of mixed concrete. The south-facing living room on the ground floor has wooden floor-to-ceiling windows divided into geometric patterns by muntins, reflecting the charm of traditional Chinese art. This grand living room was once used for banquets and parties. Parts of the exterior walls are rendered with pebbledash, while others are decorated with cobblestones. The building near the street is a flat-roofed, novel-style single-story structure with a brick-concrete frame, glazed tile exterior, floor-to-ceiling steel-framed windows, an unusual fireplace chimney, and a small terrace for enjoying the cool evening air, resting, or drinking coffee in the height of summer. These 70-year-old buildings may appear worn and dilapidated, but through the dust of history, the glory of the past can still faintly be seen.

Also known as Liang, Zhou Zongliang was born in 1875 during the first year of the Guangxu reign in the Qing Dynasty, in Ningbo, Zhejiang. His father was a pastor who also ran a fairly sizable paint shop locally and had modest wealth. Zhou attended the Ningbo Christian Fei Di Middle School in his childhood and later worked at the Ningbo Customs Office after graduation. Diligent and eager to learn, he studied English in his spare time with the wife of a foreign customs official and became quite fluent within just a few years. He then left the customs office to work at the Ningbo distribution branch of the German trading firm E. Th. Reuter & Co., known locally as Meiyi Pigment Shop. At the time, the manager of a local pigment business, Kahlbaum & Co., a German firm, came to Ningbo to investigate sales performance. As most local pigment shop managers did not speak foreign languages, they asked Zhou to act as an interpreter. Kahlbaum stayed in Ningbo for several days and was highly impressed by Zhou’s attentive service and quick wit. Soon after, Zhou left Meiyi and, in the 31st year of the Guangxu reign, came to Shanghai seeking new opportunities, taking a job as a clerk at Kahlbaum & Co. At the time, there were over a dozen firms engaged in dye trading in China, including Zindel, Yuanheng, Tianfu, Kahlbaum, Yuxing, E. Th. Reuter & Co., and Bayer, resulting in fierce competition. Leveraging his English skills and social advantages, Zhou quickly earned the favor of the firm’s owner and soon replaced the former comprador, Jiang Bingsheng, taking the seat of comprador himself. At that time, Chinese compradors had to provide real estate deeds as collateral. Zhou, not yet firmly established and without property of his own, borrowed a deed from his partner, Bei Runsheng, a native of Suzhou and manager of the Ruikang Pigment Shop, who would later also become a major pigment merchant.

In 1914, when World War I broke out, Germans doing business in China hurriedly packed up and returned home. At the time, Kahlbaum & Co. was the largest German firm in China, not only owning extensive real estate in Shanghai but also stockpiling large quantities of dyes. Fearing losses during the war, the firm’s owner, Kahlbaum, secretly discussed with Zhou the idea of transferring all of Kahlbaum’s Shanghai real estate holdings under Zhou’s name for safekeeping and concealment. Meanwhile, all of the firm’s dyes were sold to Zhou at a very low price. Zhou accepted this plan. Soon after, with transportation between Asia and Europe cut off during the war, imported dyes became scarce commodities, and Zhou, in control of Kahlbaum’s entire dye stockpile, rose to become a titan in the pigment industry and one of Shanghai’s wealthiest individuals.

In 1924, to strengthen competitiveness against enterprises in other capitalist countries and prevent mutual weakening in competition, major German dye chemical manufacturers formed an industry cartel called IG Farben (Dye Trust), unifying the export sales operations of various manufacturers. Correspondingly, they jointly established the Deutsche Farbenhandelsgesellschaft (German Dye Trading Company, or “Deutsche Farben”) in Shanghai as the exclusive managing agency in China, consolidating the dye businesses of previously independent German firms in Shanghai—including Kahlbaum, E. Th. Reuter & Co., Yuxing, Zindel, Reuter & Schultze, Bayer, and Guangfeng—under Deutsche Farben’s centralized operation. Deutsche Farben had five compradors, each operating under signs such as “E. Th. Reuter & Co. Comprador Office” and “Yuxing Comprador Office,” and the position of chief comprador once again fell to Zhou Zongliang, making him the top salesman for German dyes in China. Zhou helped establish Deutsche Farben branches in major cities such as Wuhan, Changsha, Jinan, Qingdao, Tianjin, and Chongqing. He also vigorously expanded sales outlets for his own firm, Qianhe, which rapidly grew from dozens to over 200 branches nationwide, with capital increasing from 1.4 million taels of silver to 4 million taels. After 1927, he served as a director of the Bank of China, a council member of the Central Bank, and a committee member of the National Government’s Public Debt Fund Custody Committee. He also invested in industries such as electrical utilities, shipping, and textiles. In 1930, he established the Zhou Zongji Trading Company, dealing in Bayer pharmaceuticals, gasoline lamps made by Kahlbaum, miscellaneous foreign goods, pigments, and engaging in real estate and other investments. Additionally, he co-founded the Hengfu Money Shop with Bei Runsheng.

As the saying goes, a tall tree attracts the wind. As Zhou Zongliang’s business grew, his Baoqing Road residence became an increasingly prominent target, eventually catching the eye of Wu Shibao, the leader of the action squad at the infamous “No. 76” den of spies during the Japanese puppet period in Shanghai. One morning, Wu sent a group of men to storm the front courtyard of Zhou’s residence, using the excuse that Zhou had dealings with banks in Chongqing to kidnap him for ransom. Zhou, having heard rumors of the worsening situation outside, had hired bodyguards to guard him day and night. Each morning before heading to work at Deutsche Farben, he would have someone check the surroundings for suspicious activity before leaving. But on that day, the kidnappers did not wait for him to exit; they stormed in directly. Seeing the danger, Zhou quickly fled out the back door and sought protection at the nearby French Concession police station. Unable to find Zhou, the kidnappers instead abducted his wife, and it ultimately cost 40,000 yuan in “ransom fees” to secure her release.

In addition to the garden residence on Baoqing Road, Zhou Zongliang also purchased real estate in other districts, such as Juyuanfang on Fujian Middle Road, Taijilang on Tianjin Road, and Deshunli on East Jinling Road. Most of these properties were acquired during the War of Resistance against Japan. After the war, when the Kuomintang returned to take over Shanghai, in an effort to revitalize the economy, they also sought to “invite the wealthy.” At the time, Wu Guozhen was the mayor, and he courteously hosted several banquets, inviting the city’s leading industrial and commercial magnates, with Zhou Zongliang seated at the head. After a few rounds of drinks, Wu revealed his true intention, asking everyone to donate to the municipal government. Zhou picked up his pen and wrote a donation of 500,000 yuan.

Additionally, Zhou Zongliang showed particular enthusiasm for building hospitals. He donated a significant sum to the German-run Pohl Hospital and had even agreed with Tongji University before the War of Resistance to invest 1 million yuan in constructing a Zongliang Hospital. Though an agreement was signed, the plan was never realized due to the outbreak of the August 13th Incident. In the early stages of the war, he also opened a military hospital on Jiangning Road and became one of the founders of the Red Cross. In June 1948, Zhou Zongliang went to Hong Kong and passed away in 1957.

Among Zhou Zongliang’s descendants was a grandson named Zhou Yunong, who had significant influence in the economic circles both in China and abroad. He once served as a manager at the National City Bank of Chicago and as comprador for the Hong Kong branch of the Houston Bank in the United States. His maternal grandfather, Zhou Junshi, once served as president of Tongji University and was a fellow German student of Zhu Jiahua. Unfortunately, he was later executed by Chiang Kai-shek. After moving out of Baoqing Road, this branch of the family lived on Xingguo Road, now the No. 7 Building of Xingguo Guesthouse. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the state continued to protect the garden residence on Baoqing Road. Although it was occupied by Red Guards and other organizations for ten years during the Cultural Revolution, it was fully returned after the policies were rectified.

Shortly after the “January Storm” of the Cultural Revolution in 1967, Zhou Yunong’s father, Zhou Xiaocun, “rather injudiciously” returned to Shanghai from Hong Kong and asked his mother to transfer a sum of money deposited in a Hong Kong bank into his name. Somehow, the Red Guards got wind of this and reported it to Zhang Chunqiao, who considered it “foreign exchange arbitrage.” With Zhang’s curt remark, “Why keep someone like this around?” the order came down swiftly, and Zhou Xiaocun was imprisoned for seven years on charges of “foreign exchange arbitrage” before he even received a single dollar of the foreign exchange.

After the reform and opening up, the drawing room in the garden became a watercolor gallery for Zhou’s grandson, Xu Yuanzhang. Xu’s mother, Zhou Si Si, the fourth daughter of the Zhou family, was a professional painter now residing in France, and his father was Xu Xingye, winner of the first Mao Dun Literature Prize for his novel “The Missing Kingdom,” which shook the literary world. As a child, Xu Yuanzhang loved to draw houses, doodling on every piece of paper in the house, including toilet paper. As he grew older, he studied music but ultimately remained devoted to painting. After holding a solo exhibition in 1987, he held additional solo exhibitions in 1992 and 1999. His series of 150 paintings titled “Old Houses” has gained recognition, and he is actively preparing to publish a collection. When tired of painting, he steps out of the long window, strolls the terrace, and takes a deep breath facing the lush little garden… He knows that everything today has not come easily, and he must strive to surpass himself and explore further to honor those who came before him. Xu Yuanzhang also has a “bookish” elder brother named Xu Yuanjian, who loved to bury himself in books since childhood. It was harder to get him to go out on Sundays with his parents than to reach the heavens. Eventually, he made a name for himself, progressing from university student to graduate student, international student, doctoral candidate, and postdoctoral researcher. Despite a bumpy journey, his resolve remained firm, and he now works quietly in his corner of the garden, writing books as a cheerful and content physicist.

Zhou Zongliang (1876–1957), courtesy name Liang, also known as Zhongliang or A’liang. In 1910, he was appointed head of Shanghai’s Kahlbaum & Co., dealing in the “Lion and Horse Brand” pigments, gaining fame in both Chinese and international business circles and becoming a wealthy figure in Shanghai. In 1916, he became the chief comprador of Deutsche Farben, overseeing more than 200 branches with capital reaching 4 million yuan. The business community revered Zongliang as the “King of Pigments in China.” In 1930, he independently established the “Zhou Zongliang Ji” pigment business.

Zongliang shared a deep friendship with Zong Ziwen, both being powerful tycoons in the financial world.

Zongliang was passionate about public welfare, investing one million yuan in Shanghai... More detailed information about Zhou Zongliang++