Zhou Zongliang’s Residence

　　On Baojian Road in old Shanghai, now No. 3 Baoqing Road, looking through the dark green iron fence from the sidewalk, one can see a vast expanse of lawn, with several modern-style small garden villas scattered to the left. The owner of these houses was the famously renowned “King of Pigments” in Shanghai, Zhou Zongliang. He served as a comprador for various German firms for a total of 35 years, helping the German dye industry dominate the Chinese market, which made him 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 and constructing a residence on Baoqing Road in Shanghai. 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 was that of European-style miniature modern garden villas. Having worked for many years in German firms, Zhou adopted the German lifestyle, installing fireplaces, emphasizing ornate decorations, maintaining well-manicured lawns, and promoting fitness. As a result, although the residents might wear traditional Chinese long gowns or Western suits, their activities on the lawn were distinctly European in style.

　　Zhou’s garden residence consists of multiple buildings, with a large 5,000-square-meter front lawn planted with various kinds of rare trees. The main structure has a false three stories, with a red-tiled hip-and-gable roof that is steep at the top and gradual at the bottom, featuring shed-style dormer windows. The south side of the second floor has a long, continuous terrace, with classic vase-shaped balustrades made of 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 washed stone, while others are decorated with cobblestones. The building near the street is a flat-roofed single-story structure, relatively novel, with a brick-concrete structure, 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. Though these 70-year-old buildings appear worn and dilapidated, through the dust of history, one can still faintly glimpse their former glory.

　　Zhou Zongliang, also known as Liang, was born in 1875 during the first year of the Guangxu reign in the Qing Dynasty, in Ningbo, Zhejiang. His father was a pastor and ran a fairly sizable paint shop locally, possessing modest wealth. Zhou Zongliang attended the Ningbo Christian Fuyi Middle School in his childhood and later worked at the Ningbo Customs. Diligent and eager to learn, he studied English in his spare time with the wife of a foreign customs officer, quickly becoming quite fluent in spoken English within a few years. He then left the customs service and joined the Ningbo branch of the German trading firm E. Liesegang, specifically the Meiyi Paint Store. At that time, the manager of a local paint shop under the German firm Kuhn & Co. came to Ningbo to investigate sales, but most local paint shop managers did not speak foreign languages, so they asked Zhou Zongliang to serve as an interpreter. Kuhn stayed in Ningbo for several days and was very impressed by Zhou’s attentive hospitality and sharp wit. Soon after, Zhou left Meiyi and came to Shanghai in the 31st year of the Guangxu reign to seek new opportunities, joining Kuhn & Co. as a clerk. At that time, there were over a dozen firms in China engaged in the dye business, including Zschimmer & Schwarz, Yuanheng, Tianfu, Kuhn & Co., Yuxing, E. Liesegang, and Bayer, among others, leading to fierce competition. Leveraging his English skills and social advantages, Zhou gained the favor of the head of Kuhn & Co. and soon replaced the firm’s previous comprador, Jiang Bingsheng, taking the comprador’s seat. At that time, Chinese compradors had to provide deed pledges as guarantees. Zhou, not yet firmly established and without real estate holdings, had his partner, Bei Runsheng—who later also became a major pigment merchant and was the manager of the Ruikang Paint Store in Suzhou—provide the necessary deed.

　　In 1914, when World War I broke out, Germans doing business in China hurriedly packed up and returned home. By then, Kuhn & Co. had become the largest German firm in China, not only owning a significant amount of real estate in Shanghai but also stockpiling large quantities of dyes. Fearing losses to Kuhn & Co. during the war, the firm’s head, Kuhn, secretly discussed with Zhou Zongliang the idea of transferring all of Kuhn & Co.’s Shanghai real estate to Zhou’s name for safekeeping and concealment, while selling all of its dyes to Zhou at a very low price. Zhou accepted the plan. Soon after, transportation between Asia and Europe was cut off during the war, and imported dyes became scarce, instantly turning into highly sought-after commodities. With control over all of Kuhn & Co.’s stored inventory, Zhou Zongliang leapt to prominence as a titan in the pigment industry, becoming one of Shanghai’s wealthiest individuals.

　　In 1924, to strengthen their competitiveness against other capitalist countries and prevent weakening each other through mutual competition, some major German dye chemical factories formed an industry alliance, creating a trust group called Farbwerke Vereinigte Deutsche Teerfarbenfabriken AG (commonly known as VDTV or "German Dye Trust"), which unified the external sales operations of various manufacturers. Correspondingly, they jointly established the Deutsche Farben- und Teerhandelsgesellschaft (known as Deutsche Farben or "Deutsch Farben" in Chinese) in Shanghai, as the exclusive managing agency in China. All dye businesses previously operated by German firms in Shanghai—including those of Kuhn & Co., E. Liesegang, Yuxing, Zschimmer & Schwarz, Reuter, Bayer, and Guangfeng—were consolidated under the management of Deutsche Farben. Deutsche Farben had five compradors, each representing firms like “E. Liesegang Comprador Office” and “Yuxing Comprador Office,” and the position of chief comprador once again fell to Zhou Zongliang, making him the principal promoter of 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 the firm he managed, Qianhe, which rapidly grew from dozens of branches to over 200 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 councilor of the Central Bank, and a member of the National Government’s Public Debt Fund Custody Committee. He also invested in electrical, shipping, and textile industries. In 1930, he established his own firm, Zhou Zongji Trading Company, dealing in Bayer pharmaceuticals, gasoline lamps produced by Kuhn & Co., miscellaneous foreign goods, pigments, real estate, and other investments. Additionally, he co-founded Hengfu Bank with Bei Runsheng.

　　As the saying goes, “The taller the tree, the stronger 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 Shanghai’s infamous wartime den “No. 76.” One early morning, Wu sent a group of men to storm the front yard of the residence, using the excuse that Zhou had dealings with banks in Chongqing to kidnap him for ransom. Zhou Zongliang, having long heard rumors of the deteriorating situation outside, had hired several bodyguards to guard him day and night. Every morning before going to work at Deutsche Farben, he would have someone check the surroundings at the entrance and would only leave if there were no suspicious signs. But on that day, the kidnappers didn’t wait for him to go out—they stormed in directly. Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, Zhou Zongliang quickly escaped through the back door and ran to the nearby French Concession police station for protection. Unable to find Zhou, the kidnappers ended up abducting his wife instead. In the end, Zhou had to pay 40,000 yuan in “ransom fees” to have her released.

　　In addition to the garden residence on Baoqing Road, Zhou Zongliang purchased real estate in many other areas, such as Juyuanfang on Fujian Middle Road, Taijilang on Tianjin Road, and Deshunli on Jinling East Road. Most of these properties were acquired gradually during the War of Resistance against Japan. After the war ended and the Kuomintang returned to take over Shanghai, in an effort to revive the economy, they also sought to “invite the wealthy.” At that time, Wu Guozhen was the mayor, and he courteously hosted several banquets, inviting the city’s business 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 Zongliang wrote down a donation of 500,000 yuan.

　　Additionally, Zhou Zongliang seemed particularly enthusiastic about building hospitals. He once donated a significant sum to the German-run Pohlan Hospital. Before the war, he also reached an agreement with Tongji University to invest 1 million yuan in constructing a Zongliang Hospital. The agreement was finalized, but the plan could not be realized due to the outbreak of the August 13th Incident. In the early stages of the war, he also opened an infirmary for wounded soldiers on Jiangning Road, becoming 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 considerable 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 a comprador at the Hong Kong branch of the Houston Bank in the United States. His maternal grandfather, Zhou Junshi, once served as the 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 liberation, 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 returned in full after the policies were rectified following the Cultural Revolution.

　　Shortly after the “January Storm” of the Cultural Revolution in 1967, Zhou Yunong’s father, Zhou Xiaocun, “very inopportunely” returned to Shanghai from Hong Kong and asked his mother to transfer a sum of money deposited in a Hong Kong bank to his name. Somehow, the Red Guards found out about this and reported it to Zhang Chunqiao, who considered it “foreign exchange arbitrage.” With Zhang’s words—“Why keep someone like this around?”—like an imperial decree, Zhou Xiaocun was imprisoned for seven years before even receiving a single dollar of foreign exchange, charged with the crime of “arbitrage.”

　　After the reform and opening-up, the drawing room in the garden became a watercolor gallery for Zhou’s grandson, Xu Yuanzhang. Xu Yuanzhang’s mother was Zhou’s fourth daughter, a professional painter now residing in France. His father was Xu Xingye, the first recipient of the Mao Dun Literature Prize in China, who stunned the literary world with his novel “Jinguo Que.” As a child, Xu Yuanzhang loved drawing houses, covering every piece of paper in the house, including toilet paper, with his doodles. As he grew older, he studied music but ultimately remained passionate about painting. Following his first solo exhibition in 1987, he held consecutive 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. Whenever he grows tired of painting, he steps out of the long windows, strolls on the terrace, and takes a deep breath facing the lush little garden... He knows that everything he has today has not come easily, and he must strive to surpass himself and explore further to live up to his predecessors. Xu Yuanzhang also has a “bookish” elder brother named Xu Yuanjian, who loved burying himself in books since childhood. It was harder to get him to go out with his parents on Sundays than to go to heaven. Eventually, he achieved scholarly success, progressing from university student to graduate student, international student, doctoral candidate, postdoctoral researcher, enduring hardships but remaining resolute. He now works quietly in a corner of the garden, writing books, and is a physicist who is content with his fate.

　　

　　Zhou Zongliang (1876~1957)　　Zhou Zongliang (1876–1957), courtesy name Liang, also known as Zhongliang or A’liang. In 1910, he was appointed as the head of Shanghai’s Kuhn & Co., dealing in the “Lion and Horse Brand” pigments, gaining fame in both Chinese and international business circles, thus becoming a wealthy figure in Shanghai. In 1916, he became the chief comprador of Deutsche Farben, with over two hundred branches and 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 Ziwén, both being powerful tycoons in the financial world. Zongliang was passionate about public welfare, investing one million yuan in Shanghai to build the Zongliang Hospital, and also establishing an infirmary to assist... Details+