CHINA'S FOUR GREAT FAMILIES, TRANSLATION OF A COMMUNIST BOOK
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C
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Document Creation Date:
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Document Release Date:
January 26, 2006
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Publication Date:
December 1, 1948
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE GROUP
Washington 25, Ds Co
SUBJECT : China's Four Great Families, translation of a
Communist book
DATE OF PUBLICATION : December 1946
CH' EN Porota, member of Central Committee of Chinei'e
Communist Party
The attached is a translation of China's Four Great Families
1-91 %V
t
'" ~ ), a book written by CH'EN Po-ta (CH'EN Pai=ta
?
.
1 O' )o The author is a member of the Central Committee,
Secretariat and Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and a known
economist and research analyst. The book is admittedly Chinese
Communist propaganda; however, some of the facts and figures are
relatively unknown and may be useful; the detailed reference list and the
biographical data are also of valuer, The book has been banned by the
National Government of China, and much comment has been made in press
releases about the'contents.
This translation was completed at the request of some American
Government agencies in China and a minimum number of copies have been
distributed.
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R E S T R 1 CTBD
TI TLE
AUTHOR
PL B LISIIER
DATE OF PUBLICATION
REMARKS
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE GROUP
Washington 25, D. C.
s China's Four Great Families
CH'EN Pot ( ~~ )
Chiang Chiang_ Publishing Agency
December 1946
it is to be noted that, except when otherwise
stated, the monetary unit used in this document
is the Chinese dollar. It is to be noted,
further, that "China's Four Great Families" has
been banned by the National Government of China
and that, according to Anna Louise Strong in a
radio broadcast from Yenan, "this book of CH'EN
Po.ta may be regarded as semi-official, for the
author is a member of the Central Committee of
the Chinese Communist Party"o
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Last Rulers of "Old China"
II. Family Fortunes Built on Civil Wars and Compradore Practices
(A) "A Pair of Bloody Hands"
(B) Profits Gained from Civil Wars
(C) munitions Compradores
(D) An Economic System that Aims at Killing People
III. The Feudal, Compradore and Military Absolutism in Finance
(A) Fusion of the Four Great Families and the Four Great Banks
(B) Financial Monopoly and the Rapid Concentration of Wealth
(C) The "Fa Pi" (Chinese National Currency) System is tantamount to a
Feudal, Compradore and Military Robbery of the People
(D) Financial, Military Dictatorship, Feudal Robbery and New Developments
in Compradore Practices
(E) Robbing the People of the "Fruits of Victory"
(F) Hastening Final Ruin
(G) Countless Treacheries
IV0 The Feudal, Compradore and Military Monopoly in Commerce
(A) Beginning of the Commercial Monopoly
(B) The Most Concentrated and Open Cora eroial Monopoly in History
(C) The Barbarous Crooked Practice of Buying Low and Selling High
(D) Tremendous Profits Obtained by the Four Families and The Enemy Through
Smuggling
(E) Further Cruelty After the "''Take-Over"
(F) Compradores of American Goods
(0) "Squeeze First and Don't Worry About the Consequences"
V. The Feudal, Compradore and Military Monopoly in Industry
(1) Cooperation With Fascist Geritany As the Main Monopolistic Activity
(I3) Rapid Establishment of An Absolute Monopoly Based on the Elimination
of Free Enterprise and on the Robbery of the Farmers
(C) The Sphere of Monopoly Widens After the "Pyrrhic Victory" over Japan
(D) Transforming China into the "Industrial Frontier of the United States"
(E) A Death Blow.to Free Enterprise
(F) A Thing Rotten to the Core Cannot Exist
R E S T R I C T E D
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The Feudal, C.rripradore r:nd d J.l.i are :aonftip~ly in -griculture
(,A)
Pbation-~. de Feudal a+ ave i,_.asters
(b)
P:ation-l.-.de Usurers
(C)
; gr3 cull rra.s
4h i, are bobbing the farmers
CD)
Coilause ui' The
,t -icultural r conomy ?nd the sislavement `of '.fie i~'arz .
V1:l.,Newspaper, Liagazine, etn f,s,nopoli.es,
VIII-, .ealth of the Four Great Fandlie i,
I _~ The Begi.me of the Four Great Families is China's Greatest Sham and
Misfortune
.verythinIg that is '.ritten in this took is based upon irref3atabl.eofacts_
GC Ci,:G t d ) , KUNG ( ) and Cki' " : ( 13` far ilies, r:ith ( 1.,.Cr
Kai 'aek ( /J y ) as their head, have stolen the national wealth by trans-
for-aing it into their private r;roaerty, of how in the ..rime' of the "countr?y", the
"government", etc., they have ruthlessly robbed the :-reople of what ri -ht'futly te--
leni?ed to them. The,,, have become tae richest and most blood-thirsty men. in his--
tory, whose record even the monarchs of old could riot e~_ual. For the PL si 19
years, according to a rough estiu.ate, the total :^ealth, (including the ;;roper`
and de')osits in foreign banks) that +rcs accumulated by the four ?_great
their monopolies in the financial, commercial, industrial, agricultural, real estate,
newspaper and publishing fields, e~,c,,, amounts to at least US v 2U,UuU,0UU,U)U. 3e--
cruse of this theft, innumerable Chinese people have become bankcrupt, anc. even
:starved to death, Not only have the co,imon people suffered ~:uch -,isfortur.es, e>u:,
i;any of those persons h-, were formerly rich have also become ienrriless. .:very
important fact that we could .Earner wreyhave tried our best to include in this book.
The analyses of the various : roblerns discussed in this book are all based or. true
facts; there is not one statement .hat does- not have its foundation in fact. The
suppression of the frD does of ,,)res:a by the Ci11..i'C k ai.-.ihek entourage can never con-
ceal the truths that are now bccorr.anfr known by all the peoples of the b.orlc. hhls?-
:ry has always ridiculed the rashness of those dictators who have tries to con-
?,uer the world singia handed.:
From the analyses of the facts contained in this book, we can arrive at
-lie following conclusions:
1, The reason v;hy the Four Great Families, with CHl..NG Kai-a;hek as their-
head, favor the civil v; r, is that their fortunes were acquiredby civil tsars. ?. he
accumulation of their wealth would have been impossible without the occurrent.-
Civil wars. They realize too that warp and war alone, can furnish then= the advzn-
tat-eous means by r"hich they can rob the geo ale. anus, it is utterly , sel.es- to
};ore that the Four Great Families .will ever stop the civil war and establish peace.
2 The so-called Kuoraintanir one-party autocratic -overntnent is in reality
only a fascist, despotic goverru::ent of the Four Great Families. The e?esire of these
families for an economic r:ioriopoLy is insatiable. In order to effect this econo;~.j.c
:;oropoly, they must first achieve n: political ruonopiy, which in t rn could .not be
gained except through civil war anc: terroristic activities. Thus, it is obviously
useless to hope for the your Great Families to dive up the Fascist, despotic form
of r;overn::mert and establish democracy.
The accumulation of voalth by the four great far.:ilios, ,.ith. C::IrJG
t,ai-S3hek as their head, is also closely related with the compradore ntover.enr,, 3r
order to control absolute economic and aelitical :..oropolies, they have Y.,, c,.i war on
nil the "people. Thus, standing absolutely alone, they could rely only on ;'oreigr
help to slaughter the people. This help was obtained by selling to the our ifn po,!!ers
.
the national rights of China. They have thus rr:ade China Into a der endenc-,r and a
colony of the foreign nations. 'therefore, it is absolutely futile to hope t.i.at the
Four Great Families -,rill evoo:rwor:c for the independence of our peo;.le and act continue
to be the instrument of the imperialistic United Mates.
The strur -le bets een the your Great Vari:ilies and the Chinese cue is
one between four feudal coiapradores and the ::Tole Chinese race. This is ,- battle
of Life and death. .ii tti!s is amply proved by the facts stated in this book. iz'
ti-he, our Great Families of feudal co,;,;pr,;:3ores continue to have a i:.oao ,olr con-
1., r?ol: over the e conoriii.c aand political si.':exrtic.zsr, it will mean the extinct or of
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Chinese people. On the other hand, the collapse of the our Great Feudal 1'r:;; :; I.:in s
will mean the regeneration of the Chinese people. There is no middle way, arid.
there can never be one.
Naturally, quite. a number of the Chinese people are misled by he Con-.
tray airs yt ,ency and other news organs which are ,Y_.?.?t6 o .. t by the
Four Great.
Furra.lies. -Further, many are illiterate because of the ""ignorant r,eor,2.e?' Holley
of C1ilh1`,'G Kai-shek?s government. These people have certain illusions of atta-riling
peace, democracy and independence through the rer;.aJrie of the your Great F~..rnaljes.
;veil among the liberals there are some who, not having yet seen the light nor
having been given the opportunity to learn the true facts, are also laboring under
similar misapprehensions. The purpose of this book is to collect all. t ;lei necessary
materials, to analyse them and then to ,)resent their to the f,eneral ?ublic, - In
order to clarify the true Mate of affairs, v,e had to include in this book a on-
side able amount of figures as refereeices, but these figures are not unirrtere.,3t:inn
in themselves for they show how the your .,'eat, r'ariilies are daily destroying the
lives of innumerable Chinese people. The historical events of the lost and th
present prove all that is said in this book, and ,se firmly believe the future - ellts
will still continue to confirm the state rents made. The way )f life of the uk;i.rla;:,e
pcorle is absolutely clear and fi'xced.. yep people of China.
I. 'TIL L..1T I UL,G;R OF ""OLD C1U,%Y0"
The total population of China is approximately 450,OOO,OGO, Of these,
140,O00 ,0O0 in the liberated areas have alread r heco>re their own :".asters, but
there are still 310
,UCiU,UG0 i;ho are being ruled by the tour Great Feudal Gorl pradore
Banks, which, in turn, are controlled by the Four feudal 0ompr?adore Families. The
Four Great :tanks are The Central Jank of 0hirta, the .lank of China, The i.3ank of
Conuaunications and The Farmers' bank of China. There is a Central ui'fice controlling
all four banks, known as the Combined i..ain Office of the Four Banks.. The four ? r at
families are l) the C' 1-~ aG Family of C:iI K a n' of
ate- he k, ~2) the :~OO':G
T.V. ;~UGi.i: (r~ 4 , (3) the i.?U; C Family of t'= ,i. U NO Xf 1 ~, (4)
the CU?;~X Fa:::ily of C1:'-I. Kuo,fu ! ) nd Li-fu ( ,, , J rind
~J~ '~ '
"Supreme !, Their
leader" is Ui.l.aivG' rai- hekj t:hcair',nan of the "Combined ..,in Office of the
Pour Banks" and head of the Kuo;t:intang.,
The outstr:ndir characteristic in the rule of the Four r'eudal. Go;..pracore
Banks and the Pour Feudal Oo;;:pradore rarrJlies is that they directly combine their
economic and political controls into one, making use of their pol.i tical ,_oovc,er to
obtain economic control, i,,oreover, thoy continue to use their political :rower openly
and maintain it through force, so as to increase their overall power. The four
banks have direct political control over the Kuomi.ntanrg, and.,,as "nati.anal banka11 of
the Kuomintang regime, directly control the economy of semi-colonial nd semi-
feudal old Ctli.na. he heads of the four families not only .have direct control over
the four banks, but also over the military, the party, the secret service, the poli-
tical and the financial affairs of the Kuomintang regime, thus giving theaelvr: the
opportunity of maintaining a one-party, feudal and ,fascistic dictatorship.
The so-called "i ndarin c-apital." of modern china represents the profits of
imperialism and feudalism. Thus the "; :ndarin capital" is none other than the
capital accumulated by those persons with political ;cower, who used their corer to rob
the farmers and the small-scale producers, and to suppres:3 the free enterprise of
the people. The four banks arid the four families are examples of the most concentrated
form of such "";,;andarin capital". The ";randnrin capital" is therefore the financial
capital of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal modern China. It differs completely in
its fornative )recess and fundamental nature from the financial capital r:.ono::oLi_zed
by the imperialistic nations. .Is the "rft..andarin capital" is supported by forci i
imperialism, it can only be subsidiary to the monopolized financial capital of the
foreign imperialistic nations. Thus the "..nrldarin capital" is just another n:=ire 41-or
the "cor-tpradore capital". It is the "mixed-blood child" of the compradore and f=ucisl.
systems. It is the product of the economic union between the compradores and the land-
lords. The four banks and the four families are its last and most ice, ort re- t chaa na ons .
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The four banks and the four families are mentioned in Comm2nr?9 $
This, according to :,,401 is a period of the most~int pile t~id~ c e ,
'~
,
s , ruegle between the common people and those that are against the common people, be-
tween revolution and counter-revolui:ion. between liberation and ixiprison.ent, and
between light and darkness. The Chinese people, under the leadership of the en-
lightened working class, must stand up bravely against imperialism and feudalism and
fight for the survival of their liberty. s comrade uU Tse-#,ung has said, ";s great
transformation is taking place in China, it is unquestionably the greatest in China`s
:.istory. A new CI'iaa is already standing at our doorstep". However, in order to
maintain control over China, and to keep forever as slaves the 450,000,000 Chinese
people, the imperialists, the compradores of foreign firms,and the feudal slave-
rmasters created a counter-revolution, around the four great families; thus they have
established a last feudal comprarlore regime of the rulers of "old China". The four
families, relying on foreign nations for financial support, have ruthlessly massed the
wealth of the nation into their own hands, thereby threatening, the very existence of
every individual in China. They Lave thus become the greatest, the cruelest and most
destructive force in cripl-:ling the productive power of modern China, ?. .1 this, however,
only shows that the imperialists, the compradores and the feudal slave-masters are
having.- their last death-struggle. This is the last period of their decadent rule.
No matter how perverse or cruel their actions are, they are but di in ? their own
g~''~ bra~ae,>,
and nothing can ever save them. The people shall. ultimately become j1dependerit, peace-
ful and democratic masters of all China. is demonstrated in the past, this is inevi-
table, because the people will, beyond the shadow of a doubt, eventually learn to under-
stand the real situation.
=ILY ;?'C M"! iaS 13UILT i;r: CIVIL x,.,135
(ii) "A Pair Of Bloody !land;;"
In this book, we are not, concerned with the family histories of the four
families, CHL I+G 1 ai_g;aek, in his "China'.a Destiny" has declared himself to be 4
descendant of ;J,; ?ang ) Further, there is a certain person neared ChIL,, G
l ) who in his bio rah of 0111 ?;G
s g A y i ? Kai- 'rick, stated that the latter is definitely
cdesn i,ded from. !.anF and Ci1CU hug ,:.ii. K'UI;G has also contended that he
himself is descended from Confucius. Though they may try their best to seek historical
justification for becoming, rulers of China by proving their superior ancestry was done b?- those Fascist rulers of German (asst as
y; Italy, and japan), these.1ascist fairy-
tales are, at ir;ost, only ridiculous. They need not be considered in our scientific
study of the su') ec'., because the leF*.erid about their superior ancestry concocted byjaeta~aers of
the four families has nothing; to do with their actual lives. 1'urt.her, a scientific
study must be based on actual facts and not on fairy-tales.
Ci11 NG Kai-Shek comes from a salt-merchant's family, and he himself was, at
one time, a broker in the ahanghai Sock exchange.
C11I.;I~G Kai-Shek" by ~ '( (in the boob, "The biography of
Cif Jii 3hou-o1 ~. l
??) and published by the jitanl_hh San tsaan
Book Co, "Y the e ,a d 6& statements as the. following. "tie is
very good as a s;:ra culacot. ... , ... he was only in business for not longer than a half
year when he was already making tremendous profits? _..... He is a ealthy man."/ See
page 34 of "The Biography of C11LLhG Kai-Shek" /). 11.14. 1 'U1 G's family controlled a small.
"native" bank in Shansi, (a bank that issued bank drafts), and he too has been in the
banking business. T.V. SUUIvG and CH'::dd Kuo-?fu have also been in the Stock ~ahanee
business, CIIP i.V Kuo-, u working together --'.ith CIiL:.1'G Kai-t9hek during the boom years in
the Shanghai Stock xchangc. Their wealth then, when compared e.,ith what they have no,;
was so small as not to be worth mentioning-.. At present they are so wealthy that there
is not a single Chinese ,:-ilitarist nor official that can hold a candle to them, as far
as private fortunes are concerned. ,nd never in all Chinese history has there !?:een ail
emperor as wealthy as they. Undoubtedly, their origins and their experiences in the
Stock Lxchange and in other businesses prepared them for their future plunge into politics.
However, this alone could not have made them intOA'r'Dtka- noaolistjc, feudal and financial
autocrats they are, nor could it alone .r.--eke them into the wealthiest men in China's his-
tory
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A reporter once wrote that "The Profit- rning Class" and "The Profit
itealing Class" are really one and the same. "zarning" is really the same as "Steal-
ing". Every, member of the "Profit L.arnirig Class" has "a pair of bloody hands". (see
Ref. No,l at nhd of this chapter) . This describes clearly how the four families
built up their family fortunes. The heads of the four families are all military and
political figures in China. dght up to 1927, before the split between the icationa-
lists and the Coraunists, the wealth of the four families was riot very large. It
was not until the Bloody Incident of 12 .pril (Try-the purge of the Communists)
that the four families became really wealthy. This Moody Incident was the result of
the re:uest made of CHLI.G Kai-shek by the imperialists, the land-lords, the compra.-
dores and the kers. ,.meter the beginning of:. the amino-Jap a se iar of tilggression,
there wa "d-erititled "The Jelling of The Jund" (~1 j+ ~.,ritten by a
foreigner, in which e find the following passages - An %angli i........ the attitude
of the compradores has changed towards the Comruander-in-chief,Ctil.;I,G Kai-Shek,. After
seeing with their own eyes his sincerity in :urging the city of the Co;nmunists......,...
they immediately collected 3,0U0,U0O.00 for the Commander-in-chief, and promised to
collect more in. the future........" .,lso, "the anti-Co:nrr:unist action of was
welcomed by the co:npradores........ It goes vithout saying; that ChIaI;G, the Cor:,r..arder-
i_n-chief, was demonstrating his ability........ he chose i%ariking as the capital of
China and established an anti-Communist r'uor:.intang Government.... , Thus the finarcial
circles in Shanghai increased enthusiastically their support of the anking Govern--
ment."
CFII:dITG Kai-4diek has replaced-the v;z r-lords of .orthern China and become the
new political representative of the compradores, landlords. and anti Co:arur:ist. anti-
people, and anti-democratic group . he has established V. C scist, feudal and dicta-
torial rer'i;.te around the "financial magnates of i iangsu and Lhekiang".' mt the sere
time, he has used the bloody methods of the fascists and his dictatorial power in
politics to build a feudal, rionopolistic power in financial circles around the four
families, with himself as the head and the three families of i.?UI.G (his brother--in"
l vr) , SCUiiG (another brother-in-law) and GE' -Il as his assistants. Step by step, yet.
speedily, the four families have crushed their former supporters, the old, feudal coa.,--
pradores. Thus came about the downfall of the "Financial Magnates of r.iangsu and
Chekiang", they becoming; only satellites of the four Families.
,
?:;'~ ecorro:?,ic control of the pour Families has led to political doaacr,
and their political power has further strengthened their economic control. Thus, the
feudal, co; ,pradore :-wealth ,ray be said to be the cause, while CIiI:,I.G nai-#hek' s Vscist
military dictatorship, the result. But the result also has beeotae the cause. Thus,
the Fascist military dictatorship of C1ll,J.G Kai?-*hek has created the most feudal, co. -
pradorecoricentration of wealth,,.s represented by the four great fa.:tilies. The wealth
and power of the Four Families were created as a result of the military might of C11l".MU,
Kai-vghek. In short, the Four Families are "robbers" with "a pair of bloody hands".
.ithout the military might of CHIA.G Kai-ohek, the Four Great Families would not be in
existence, l,herever the m litary rrrightt of GIIL.IvG Kai-shek ext;,ended &there the mmcnopo-
listic and financial power of the Four Great Families was also felt. Therefore, there
is a feudal, compradore, and military concentration of capital which is generally knov:?r_
as the " :?.aridarin capital." In the past, ":?? ndarin capital" exerted a tre:,,endous in-
fluence on the Chinese banking business. It started to acquire its feudal rind coznpra-
dore nature about the end of the Ch'inr Dynasty when the modern banking system tins just
introduced in China. however, during the regime of CIiI:t;.G Kai-,;hek ar d the Your Families,
the influence and the feudal, corr.pradore nature of the'`mandarin car
after year, the faster were CI1I.;i;G's goverrnment bonds issued. find the speed with
which these bonds were issued f r' sur,~asscd that with which the bonds of the war lord,
of Northern China had been issued,; "From 1911 to 1936 the amount of ?overn ent bo ;d
issued totalled ;;,2,888,000,000.; of this, the bonds issued after 1927 a rouni.ed to
2;268,000,000., which is a little less than 80,E of the total, while the bond.=a i.s sued
from 1912 to 1927 (15 years all told) only amounted to ;.620,000,000,, which izi onr.?:7
a little over 20S' of the total". (See i;,ef. ,o,5). Thus; during only 9 years rule
.
the amount of government bonds issued by C11L,hG was already four times that issued by
the war lords of I orth China in their 15 years of rule. This is additional -roof to
the effect that the continuous civil war durirr the ten tears of C1I1..1:G's r eiErt rpere
far more intense and far more cruel than those during the reign: of the ,air lord.-, of
Northern China. Iaow, it must be remembered that such domestic bonds :nul tip1i::d three
wealth of the feudal, corapradore financial magnates. Thus the interests of the f-iran?-
cial agnates became tied up with the military successes of C 11..WG and the ;'onr Great
Families, ,hen CIILdJG had succeeded in obtainirirr the support of the financial n,agy-r'n es,
he speedily made the Four Great Families into the monopolistic, feudalistic ay..tocrtis
of finance. Thus the profits derived from the government bonds became the ionopol st .c
profits of the Four Great Families. ,ccordini--; to the "Year book of the ban;:s in Chh_ina"
published in 1937, the bonds held by the Four Great i3anks in 1934 were 45,1.1 o all the
bonds in all the banks in China. (Almost all these bonds were Government 4-r
1935, it increased to 59;u and in 1936 it became 30 (the decrease in 1936 being c? _L..sce
by the issuance of paper notes by The Central Hank of Lhina). The above fLE,tu es -show
clearly the profits the Your Great i3anks, that is to say, the Four Great Fam:ili es, mace
from the issuance of the Government bonds, Thus, there resulted the fol.lovi .n'?. Para do)':
In order to lira; e civil bar, the Four Great Families, representing; `uk:e hat ional.
Government,borrowed from the banks which they themselves controlled; then again re i re-
;senti.r,g_? the Government, they spent the money on their otrri families. rafter this, once
again representing the Government, they .paid the debt back to themselves. Thus the
Four Great Families profited tremendously from the borrowing of money for the, r?overnrncmt,,
in the spending of the money, and in the payment of the debt to the Four (,ireat I3~ink.s?
In such manner, the Four Great Families and their satellites made immense. Profits D"cm
c,lhe issuance of government bonds and thus, accumulated more and more " n:ndar5rr ra.'At:i111,
Government bonds must be backed up by money taxation; therefore, the rmor?e
Government bonds issued the higher would be the taxes and ,consequently, the 1;eav:i.er
v:ould be the burden to be borne by the people. In China, the burden of taxation rests
1.:iinly on the shoulders of the farmers. Thus, the more Government bonds i ; ue , tie
raider would become the chasm between the r i.ch and the poor. ?he issuance o tends raos:'_d
therefore have the effect of robbing= the ;x~or and iracini- the rich vicher; for ,ho noor
people, the issuance of bonds has not the slightest advantage. (vee :.~=f. ;:c 6), 41,;ve1
in a reactionary book published in 1934 it b?:a ,s .! ted that "arious banks r,.at
fits from the issuance of government bonds. ThouG h it mir-ht be said that Ves , ro
came directly from the Governrm~erit. indirectly they came from the rural dis trictsl:.
lief. i o:?). The actual purpose. tlien,for the issuance of the r-overnrnent bonds ti?ass i.o
transfer speedily the wealth of the people (::costly that of the farmers) into the hands of
the Four Great Families and their satellites. much robbery was founded on-the
~;c: u
and semi-colonial s,yster: of suppression of the farmers, the common , ec ale =k.nd
free enterprise
4 .;_, t:'LonsGcmpradores
In 1.1-modern Chirr-A. co,:,prador. e activities cannot be di tingaist;ed from
feudali.srn, and, furthermore, from those activities connected with a;nti-peo: '.S:
civil wars, The Four Great.; Families created their wealth through the waging > 1.
1.4
arrs, that is to sass., from their, corapradore activities.. CH1h1iG za_ I: kr. j ,,;s
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that the imperialists who were oppressing China desired civil vwar, and that.., -eith
out the support of the foreign reactionaries, he would never be able to carry on
this 'civil war. Thus he knew he must associate with the foreign reactionaries Ir,
order to succeed in his designs. and thus, the Four Great rariilies, with Call LG hae_-
?hek as their head, became the greatest compradores of modern China, starting just as
"munitions compradores". In a book published in 1'*36 an American wrote the following.
concerning the nature of the Chinese civil war:-+ "China depends almost completely on
foreign countries for its munitions and, therefore, has become the world's greatest
munitions customer.... The amount of munitions -supplied by Japan to China in 1930 was
37.50;x; of the total amount of munitions imported by China in that year ........ 'hour_h
the importing of munitions was prohibited for a time, this only resulted in the
s;.'ringing up of middle-men and in foreign countries taking advantage of the free-pert
facilities of Shanghai, but the flow of munitions from Japan to China did not meet
with any obstruction. The China ..eekly Roview stated that,if all the foreign countries
stopped supplying China with munitions, the numerous civil wars in China would come
to an end. The militarists of China can do nothing if they do not get any foreign
help........ !,,hether the supply of munitions comes front Japan, Great Britain, the
United States or Germany, it is an indisputable fact that the civil wars of China must
depend heavily on the munition supplies received from foreign countries." (See Ae?.
No:8). Everything ,-,tated above has been based on real facts, the truth.
If the war lords of the Northern China were guilty of these crimes, what can
then be said,in this connection, of the regime of ChiAEG Kai-dick, .which is far more
war-like, far more cruel and far more foreignized ': tis stated previously, 86% of the
income from the issuance of the domestic bonds was used on civil wars, and it can be
said with certainty that most of this was spent on munitions. C11:IZ-G"s militarists
were anxious to show off before the people such modern .-_uipments an airplanes, carnonB
etc.: arid as the Four Families could not manufacture this themselves, they had to buy
it from foreign countries. Thus the instigators of the civil wars were the munitions
compradores. The our amilies gained their wealth not only from the manipulation of
domestic bonds, but also as a result of their being munitions compradores. In the book
mentioned above, (lief i:o.8), there is also the following state~,ent: "un r'ebrua.ry 28,
1933, !Lorgan Jones, a Laborer member of the British 1-arliamert, reported befor~?; the
House of Co:-:rmons that a certain munitions company was supplying both Japan and Chinta
with munitions. One day the Chinese and the Japanese representatives rrret, a:.cidently> ire
the reception room of the same company. Instead of being angry with each other they
compared the prices they were paying for munitions; then the two of them went in to
see the president of the munitions coApany and requested ..over prices. The price is
said to have bee calready cut down ;A4 (See lief. 1,0. 9).
Japan's purpose in purchasing munitions was to invade China, and CHli G's
purpose, to conduct the civil wars, both had a common aim, i.e. to slaughter the
Chinese people. it was therefore no wonder that the representatives of the two nations
did not flare up in anger at each other. From this little anecdote we can also see
that CHIri ;G had obtained a discount f_r= the munitions company, but in China''s ''.reasury
reports, there was, of course, no mention made of the reduced price. 't long and t ens. v,e
civil war requires a large supply of munitions, which has become an importart~1 but
secret) item of international trade in ChIaL''~G's regime. The greater part of t>-,e profits
gained 'from such international trade was of course shared by the ,,our Great ar.ilies.
Besides earning profits from their cornpradore activities in connection with rrruritions,
the Four Great Families ' ,ade tremendous profits from their various conimer. ia1. enter-
prises and from the borrowing of foreign loans. As an example of such large ccmpradore
profit, we can cite the American Cotton and l?heat Loan of 1934. 17his loan wns an
important factor in supporting CHI;J;G Kai-Shek through the civil war, and it made
T.V. 50017
4G so popular that it even caused a rift between him and CH1iJG Kai--ttek.
Generally speaking, the Four Great Families built up their fortunes From t he
civil wars and fl-am cornpradore activities. The civil wars and the comprador activities
made the four families rich, and r ade it possible for them to gain control of a monopoly
in China's finance. Thus the Four Great Families are extremely militaris'.ic and
consider the civil wars as the sine ua non of their existence. They also bow their
heads low before the imperialists because their monopoly in China's finance depends on
the latter' s support. Naturally) the above--mentioned historical facts are only a Pc art
of. what the Four Great Families have done, and do not cover the whole story o.1.7 how hey
acquired their vast wealth
1 C I iL, D
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(D) An LIconomic System that aims at Killing People
The P bur Families openly used utter brutality and treachery in overcoming
the democratic power of the people and in protecting the interests of a minority,
the financial magnates; then, after winning the support of the latter, they used
that very same pawner to suppress the financial maiates :rte t,'La, to become the
undisputed leaders in finance themselves. Then, continuing their brutality and
treachery, they sacrificed the interests of the whole Chinese race for their ov+n
personal gains. This is a truly fascist .method of acquiring wealth. The Four
Families have represented Chinese Fas lisrn and have followed the same course taker
by the Fascists of othel? countries. But there is one difference between the Fascists
of the semi-colonial and s end-feudal China and the Fascists of the capitalistic
countries. The principal source of wealth of the Chinese Fascists lies in the
robbery of the farmers; thus their main economic policies are concerned rrith preserving
the feudal and colonial state Of the agricultural society and with acting as compradores
of foreign capitalists. Thus the Chinese Fascism is feudalistic and compradore in
nature, and the methods used by the Chinese Fascists in the acquisition of wealth have
their own special characteristic. C11ANG Kai-:ihek has written in his book, "China's
,:conomic Principles" _"CUna s economic principles differ from the
economic principles of the western untries i'. that China does not take one individual
person or one individual thing as the unit, but the human race and society; as a wnoLe,
as the unit... ',e take human nature as our starting point, and the livelihood of the
people as our aim. All economic systems and policies must be in accordance with human
nature, and must serve to improve the livelihood of the people". However, if we
expressed the above statements in a scientific way, what CIil:1:G meant by "the human race
and society, as a whole, as the unit" was simply that the Four Great r*udal Compradore
Families were to be considered the unit, and what he meant by "human nature as our
starting point" was that the homicidal and grasping nature of the Four Great families
w - to be considered the starting point.. and by "the livelihood of the people" he
meant the death of the people and by " 11 economic systems and policies must be in
accordance with human nature and must serve to improve the livelihood of the people",
he meant "all economic systems and policies must be in accordance with the homicidal
and grasping nature of the Four Great Families and must serve to bring about the
death of the pc ople.1
l "Ta Kung I'ao" (/ J 1. ) Chunking Ldition, ;.' 3, 1946.
t.o
Ref
.
.
Ref. No. 2 "T"he Financial i roblems of China Today" (4 N2 I r
r,., r rr ?r\' r'.hi a--Ch i u C .~ '1. M'J i . taken from ' asr41
:.aeazine" ( ,~`Jj'!/ %j No..13l, --`32nd Vol. 011
1
Ref. t;o. 3 t'l~txtn"ifil `],Jrj J.:P 5++l Q. Las ib +`y
'I \) by C:il .Chia-.Ch' u, taken from the ":astern
41
Page 25., h o.4, 30tb vol.
Ref. No. 4 "Banking in China d ring t~.e vrar" IM Pf 1,
by SHOU Chin-,.en ( 1, t age 51 arid 52. Q -161 fief. No. 5 "The Financial Pr leery of, Nina" 4 1l fie' by
UUSU Hsieh-Han ( ~ - ' ,4iscussions of ,,c:oxromic
I roblems of Ghina" (,cf
lief. No. 6 "Th 3 mks ,pf China" W Ch a eng'-Hsi
( f, C I-lage 81.
Ref. No. 7 "itural :;,concmy in iiiangsi" ~ Page 91
Ref. I o. 8 "Lunitions and i'rofitp^" 'J $ )by an 4perican -
:ti slai :,rh Teh See ( VU (32 lransliteratior , from
the Chinese), trarr,sla?ed by SiL, 'Tsang-Tian (P,
cages 76 to 80.
Ref. No. 9 Sarre book. as in Ref. No.8, Page 124.
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IJI a A k' UD,.L, OILPRj aDUR6.'D 1LIT LRY nBSL'LUT1SiL
i.~~~t, r T GE
(A) .Fusion of the Four Great Families and the
Four Great Banks
The 'Four Great Banks are The Central Bank of China, The Bank of China, the
Bank of Communications and The Farmers' Bank of China. The Central Bank of China
was established in November 1928. This bank is completely different from the one
with the same name established in Kwangtung by SUN Chung-Shan ( ,j ?.f If 1 ), for
it is a product of CHLU;G Kai-:ghek's financial monopoly after his establishment of
a fascist, military dictatorship in Planking. The capital of the bank care from the
government bonds issued by the CHIANG Kai-&hek government for that very ^urlaose,,
CIII: dG3s political power has created the nonopolistic position of the bank in finan-
cial circles; thus the bank enjoys special priviliges in the management of the "State
Treasury", the issuance of drafts, the printing of national currency, and the issuance
of domestin, as well as foreign bonds. The C11LiLG Kai-shek ?-overnment calls it the
"national bank", but it is a "national bank" in which the people of China do not have
any share; it is merely a "national bank" of C:EI.d.G's feudal, fascist and dictatorial
regime. Thus, what C111:.1:G meant by "national bank" ' was "private bank", and what he
meant byt'%:reasury" was "family wealth". i 11 that which the bank controls be.lon to
the people, yet the people have absolutely no right to look into its business trans-
actions and its records. The first Governor of the Central Bahk of China was T.V.
SOLING, brother-in-law of CUI,aT-G Kai- .ek, and the second Governor was h.1L. K' Ul.G,
another brother-in-law of CHIE.IIG Kai- *iek. At present F,:I Tsu- i ( ;o ) of
the SWING clique is the Governor of the Central Bank of China. 1 ` ~-' n t7
I.hen CHIATSG Kai-Jhek established his fascist military dictatorship at
Nanking, he used his political power to gain control over the Bank of China and the
Bank of Communications. (These two banks had been established towards the end of
the Chin Dynasty and had become the twin financial pillars of the regime of the
North China war lords). In 1927, the main office of the Bank of China was. Moved to
Shanghai, and $5,000,000., in so-called "Covebruaaent shares" were added to the ca;vital,
of the bank. In 1928, the Bank of Communications also moved its main office to
Shanghai, and CHI.;PG increased the capital of the Bank to the extent that he fini_ ly
controlled 20% of ths zzapi,tal, Thus Ch1r,t,G insinuated his way into control of these
two banks. But this was not enough for C11Irt14G. the capital of the Central Bank of
China was still only :20,000,000, while that of the bank of China as but "25,000,00X),.
(including the 5,000.-000 in "government shares" which resulted in the capital of
the Central Bank of China being smaller than that of the Bank of ChinaS0 Therefo,e.,
CHIANG thought it necessary to increase the capital of the bank in order to insure
his monopolistic control. Further, the C111L;ZYG government paid to the Bank of China
x,5,000,000 in "~iovernnient shares", which was equivalent to only one-fifth of the
total capital; and of the total. w10,000,C00 capital of the Bank of Communications,
only half (i.e. X1,000,000) of the promised "government shares" of one-fifth of the
total capital has been paid up. Therefore, Clil,U,.G felt the nece sity of also increasing
the "government shares" in these two banks in order to maintain his monopoly. There-
fore, in the spring of 1935. CH1, G, using as an excuse the financial crisis caused ?r,:
the American "silver rxolicyi', issued X100,000,000 in government bonds as a reserve fund
for the three banks- The Central. Bank of China, The- Bank of China, and the Bank of
Communications. He further increased the capital of the Central Bank of China to
X100,000,000; to the Bank of China he added "15,000,000 in "government shares" w hi.ch.,
together with the original 5,000,000 in "government shares", amounted to half of the
total amount of the capital of the bank. To the Bank of Communications, ,l0,000.CCOO
in "government shares" was also added, so that, together with the original "government
shares" of x1,000,000., the "governnent shares" became 551'a of the total ruiank
while HGH. K'U1~G, then Bead oa ~tfle Llinistr ~ of Finance and concurrently Ciover or o'?
Central Dank of China, became a "private share" director of the bank. After the
general meeting of the shareholders of the Bank of China in 1944, ".V. aUutG and IEyianu--
facturers' Sank of China, the$ ixi dua Trust & Baviri s Bank, and the Bank of Cantor.
z.ere lso considered, then the percentage viotild he 47,) The total capital of
.the Four Great Banks amounted to 59, of the total capital of all the banks in China.
If the total capital of the L.anufacturers' Hank of China, fhe$;;in Bua Trust & Ravings
Bank and the Bank of Canton were included, (there are no data 4ivin- the total capital
of the other three banks), then the ercentage would be 61;:. The percentage of the
deposits in the Four Great Banks was 59;,m (If the deposits in the above-mentioned
three banks were included, then it would be 61,sj. The percerita::e of drafts issued
by the Four Great Banks was 7f?;~ and the percentage of their net -profits was 44;6;
however, if some of the other provincial and municipal banks which have connections
i-ii.th the four families were included, then the percentages would naturally be much
ii-her, Thus, the monopolistic position in the financial circles of the four Great
Banks (vrl-iich are under the control of the Dour Great Families) can be clearly seen.
The rapid concentration of wealth in the tour Great Banks can also be
clearly seen from the above diagram. Taking the index of the total capital in 1934
as 100, in 1935 the index of the Four Great Banks increased to 161, that of the
provincial and municipal banks to 116, but that of the other banks in Chima decreased
from 106 to 84. In 1936, the index of the four banks further increased to 225, that
of the provincial. and municipal banks jumped to 290, but that of the, other banks in
China .remained at 100. Takin. the index of the deposits in 1934 as 100, in 1935
Lite index of the Four Great Banks reached 166, that of the provincial and municipal
banks, 171, while that of the total deposits in the other banks in China decreased to
137. In 1936, the index of the tour Great banks became 2.1 t, that of the provincial
and municipal banks became 209 while that of the other brinks decreased to 98. Taking
the index of the drafts issued in 1934 as 100, in 1935 the index of the Four Banks
Increased to 166, that of the provincial :Dnd municipal banks to 189, while that of
other banks decreased to 58. In 1936) the index of the Four Banks further increased to
311, that of the provincial and municipal, banks became 457, while that of the other
banks dropped to only 67. In other .?,ords, the "mandarin capital",represented mainly
by the Four Great Fandlies,had rapidly increased, while all the other capital had
steadily decreased,
If we wished to know, in greater detail how rapidly the Four Great Families
had amassed their vwealth, it would be best to look main at the rate of increase of
the total capital, the deposits, the drafts issued, and the net profits of the Cen-
tral Bank of China from 1928 to 1936- he following table was drawn -..p from the data.
collected prior to the Nino-Japanese ;.ar of aggression,
Ta GIGO;NTH CF its::, C G Ti%:.L F UJK OF Cfi1Ndi PhUl 1928 TO 1936
1tctual ,mount
c
(Tt:-in Chin s
dollars
Index
Actua: 4,010UM
("ill-in . _ Chin-:,
,:~ars
index
?cturil "mo
(m- n Chin
llars~
Inde
e
net Profit
actual runo
(~' i
1 oa
'dr
dt Index
else
-928
47,470,796
100
15,410,468
100 1
11,712,923
100
239,360
100
-929
86,869,794
183
39,984,707
259
15,379,292
131
1,692,683
707
{130
124,336,2.45
262
66,042,175
429
22,669,228
194
2,726,341
1239
231
145,331,820
306
89,750,920
582
25,173,349
215
4,870,404
2035
1932
7.x.6,424,748
456
133,803.,743
868
35,160,,)96
300
6,463,475
2702
933
363,561,179
765
244,678,864
1581
71,063,301
607
10,724,245
4480
934
478,240,246
1007
272,592,827
1768
86,048,617
735
14,821,505
J108
1135
931,542,769
1962
634,000,095
4114
179,923,546
1536
9,048,340
3780
936
1,231,236,273
2594
757,043,176
4912
340,375,372
2906
17,095,868
714.5
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In the followinn r we shall compare today's conditions ,':ith those of the
past. The Research Uepartuent of the Bank of China has made a statistical report
on the transactions of the 27 most important banks in China durin:
(~ - the period fro-rm
1921 to 19:1 (Se Ireference 1-`5)- Of these 27 banks, the Central bank of China, the
KuoIiua wank ` ) and the Land Bank of China, Ltd. were established after
1.928. Therefore, Jrior t6 1927 there ::ere only 24 banks, the total capital of
these 24 most important banks in 1921 was .759,254,117 but by 1927 it had increased;
to ?.?l,462,098,581; thus, if we ma .e the index of 1921 100, then the capital had
increased to 192.57 by 1927. However, the total capital of the Central bank of China
alone during; the space of 9 years from 1928 to 1936 had increased to 1,231,2--56,275;
as can be seen, this amount is almost equivalent to the total amount of the capiti
of the 24 most important banks in China just prior to the time the Four Great Fami-
lies replaced the .ar Lords of Northern China as rulers of China. he index of the
Central Bank of China also increased from 100 to 2594. In 1921 the deposits in the
24 most important banks amounted to .496,897,041 and by 1927 had increased to
.976,122,496; its index, which was 100 in 1921 had by 1927 increased to 196.41. How-
ever, in 1936 the deposits in the Central bank of China alone reached the sum of
.757,043,176; the index increased from 1U0 in 1928 to 4912 in 1936. .the drafts issued
by the 24 banks in 1921 amounted to j,102,751,362, but had increased to 4278,730,410
by 1927; thus its index of 100 in 1921 had increased to 271.17 by 1927. However, the
drafts issued by the Central. Bank of China alone in 1936 already far exceeded the total
amount of drafts issued by the 24 banks in 1927 and reached the sum of x340,375,372,
the index increasing from 100 in 1928 to 2906 in 1936. The net profit of the 24 banks
was X13,254,445 in 1921. I _r the index for this amount be set at 100, then in 1926
the net profit of the 24 banks being? .,6,914,797, the index reached 127.62. in 1927
the net profit dropped to the index becoming 86.33. I.evertheless,the net
profit of the Central Bank of China alone in 1936 had already reached the sun: of
,"17,095,868, thus exceeding the total amount of net profit of the 24 banks for the
year 1926, The net profit index of the Central Bank of China increased from 100 in
1928 to 7145 in 1936.
From ::.a examination of the above figures, one can readily perceive the nuuture
of the Four Great Families, financial monopoly and their methods of acquiring? ,realth.
('and yet, what . e have described above is only part of the story and not the ':hole
story),
Iz it because the Four Banks (especially the Central Bank of China), being
the so-called "national banks" of the CIiL:I.G regime or the "barkers'banka",an ;aged in
some special ":Sind:: of business neither feudalistic nor cornpradore that they hecame so
very rich? The answer is no. Long ago, writers wrote the following about these bnnksa
"Though there are various kinds of banks, are they not all, doing the same
kind of business?" (See Reference i,16'. "i.iany bankers are dissatisfied with the
Central Bank of China for not fully performing its duties as the 'bankers' bank', and
some, with a sense of humor, often call it the 'goverr-snent's bank'''. (See reference
".+s a rule, the central banks of other nations do not vie with other banks
to increase the volume of their bank deposits. The bank deposits business of the
Central Bank of China is very prosperous. If this prosperity is the result of high
interest rates being paid by the bank, then the policy being pursued is an abnormal
one." (Same reference as gbove).
"The nation is suffering from an economic crisis and the bank-notes of
various banks are being gathered back by the banks, but the circulation of drafts of the
Central ;rank of China has, on the contrary, increased. This is an abnormal situation"
( Sr-cs:e reference u:; above).
",it present all. the capital of the Central Bank of China cosies from the
National. Treasury, so what is the use of issuing more government bonds.."
"A central bank should not. air: at makinke profit. Thus, the increase in the
net nrofit of the Central Bank of China does riot necessarily imply a sound condition
of the Bank"!, (Same reference as above).
"Almost all business is at a stand-still and bankruptcy occurs everywhere,
but the banking business alone is prosperous. In the 1933 fiscal statea.ents of all
the banks in Shanghai, that of the Central Bank of China showed a net profit of more
than X12,000,000 wile even those of the small banks showed pro~ts of not less than
x50,000 or .60,000. The source of profit of most banks a.i.es inhdealing with g'oveime:at
bonds; there is no other possible source" , knee Reference 8).
tcuoIB.IC Tall
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All these facts prove that the nature of the business of the Central :auk
of China and the other so-called "national banks" does not differ from that of all
the other compradore and feudalistic banks. They are not capitalistic in nature
but extremely compradore and feudalistic. Their expansion does not reflect a corrRess-
ponding expansion of the national economy or of capitalism but rather the collapse
of the national economy and the impossibility of the expansion of capitalism. the
banks which were under the direct control of the Four Great Families could succeed in
concentrating- the wealth of the nation so rapidly into their own hands. and in suppress-
ing those banks which were not under their control simply because they had the support
of the feudal, ailitary, and dictatorial power of Ctil: ;G's .ascist regime, and also
because the Four Fa dlies never hesitated to use their political power to gain control
of the financial. circles, The source of their great wealth ,.,as, of course, the people,
and the chief source, as already stated in the previous chapter, was the farmers vtho
-.were under the oppression. of the semi.-feudal and semi--colonial ??overrm.ental s -ste;.
"Over 85' of the total population of China consists of farmers, and, therefore, every
eriterurise is built on the foundation of the farming po ;ulation - itihy not then the
financial enterprises:" (:See reference f9).
The ?our Families pat only made use of their political power to create the
above-:mentioned financial monopoly, but also to win over to their side h.e formerly
prominent persons in the financial circles by making them either directors of the your
Ean)s or me .bers of the Cla,-IX government.. For example, after Gh, G Kung.- h'4 an
was removed from his original position in the bank of China, he was
;riven an or icial ra and the post of Vice-Governor of the Central Pik of China.
,.U Ting-Chang manager of the Jalt Industrial Bank aria
Head of the aauirigs :Jocxety of the 'four Banks (,;{k P , was a^' 1so''iV n an
official rank and the concurrent post of a director of the Bak of Communications,
h ? I1 Kuang- u ( ~`` j j general-nanager of the Hhanhai Commercial & Javir:,-s
Bank, was given the pd t director of the Central. Bank of China and of the wank of
Communications and also that of standing member of the Board of Directors of the sank
of China; he also dida good deal, of diplomatic work in the financial circles for the .
C:Il.,IdG regime. LI Lj.n[? '4i. ij./ . chairman of the directors' board of the Chek-
iang Industrial Bank (";It / and concurrently the general-:rkanrrger, became
also a director of the h nk 1C na and of t he Bank of Communications and, at the same
time, an Inspector of the Central Bank of.China, Conversely, the important persons of
the Central Bank of China, the Bank of China, Bank of Communications, and the Farmers'
~3ank of China also took concurrent posts in the so-called "privately ov.ned" banks. For
exajrcpl H.H. fi' UI'NG became a director of the ahar,.,ghai Commercial & Savings Bank, F~:;I Tsa-
i became an Inspector of the Chekiang Industrial Bank, etc. rtilmost all the so-called
";riddle-class" banks had such types of "mixed" personnel andkconseguentiy, became the
s -bsidiarics of the four families. The "mixed" personnel served as a means for the
Four Great Families to gain absolute control in the financial circles and to concentrate
all financial power into their own hands. 1"h e feudal, co:_.t radore regime of CLLZG used
such means to form a nation-wide financial dragnet of the Four Families. Thus the iso-
nopolistic position of the Four Great Families in the financial circle became much _:ore
x.tensive, and the concentration of wealth .as much more rapidly effected than ever
before,
(C)
The "Fa i?i" (TIN-Chinese hati.onal. Currencyj .iysterc is
"aritamount to a Feudal, Compradore and military i oI , . ; is `r ys, .'4
y , , ~r r : / is also t~l-I ;f" LL Just before the remova of restrict-
ions on or t gSra e Iiange i.n march of 1946, he bought ' meric an r~.::ittances totaling
Zl,,190,000 at the official e.~ change rate of CNCV20 to 1,'$ 1, and thus made a great deal
of rmoney0 (see Reference ,1123) , This self--styled "moralist'" has innumerable ways of be
comeing wealthy, the above mentioned way being but one of them, and an insignificant
one at that!
lak Yin- h u severely criticized the ''members of the Luomintarag"" Gleaning,
of course, the Four Great Families) on their ta..ing advantage of their rroaorpoly in
foreign exchange to hay foreign re ittances at the rate of CLC~20 for one U cial)_ar,
while the common people had to pay C1,CW4-,OG0 or ChC :5,000 for one U..a. doi.l ar. lie
Approved For Release 2006/02/01 : CIA-RDP83-00415R000400020015-8
Approved For Release 2006/02/01 : CIA-RDP83-00415R000400020015-8
ib aTRI C T ,;D
declared that "such a vvay of making money does not demonstrate ability; only beasts
like pigs and dogs use such methods ! " (See Reference ti 24) . lioweves', among the methods
used by the Four Families to enrich themselves , are there any which could be con-
sidered "nobler" or "kinder" than the above'.
Let us take another example to prove our point. Let us discuss the dealings
in gold bars. One writer once wrote the following:- "',`..s a result of the ""gold bar
policy"' it is not known how many parvi wtus were created by the sudden circulation of
rumours, Of these parvenus, only those who were in a position to create the rumours
were sure of becoming wealthy. Let us observe what happened from the star, of the war
to the end of the war and up to the present. The government first announced that all
told bars were to be government-owned; then it reversed its decision and annulled the
order and restored free transactions in gold bars. On one occasion it would advocate
free transactions in cold bars. then suddenly it, would fix an o fi c .al mate and buy
cold. rafter V-J Day, the buying and selling of -old no longer were uncontrolled, but
the prices were officially fixed by the government. Later the official rate of gold
bars was cancelled and free transactions were once again allovred._:sefore and after each
change )rumou.k's spread like wildfire in the market, Lind 90,:: of these rumors always proved
true later. Jo it is easily iraaFlinahle what Kinds of treacheries were played behind the
st ere:;:`` (See lheference , 25) , The puppeteers behind the scenes were the Four Families,
while the puppets were the people. wince they v.ono olized the [old market, 'they could
employ any treachery at any time they saw fit to enrich themselves. A mosquito newspaper
in Shanghai, writing about the transactions of the Central Bank of China in gold bars
Tbetweeni pri1. and!L ay 1946, stated on 2" ipril ""that last week's black market price in
the old market suddenly jumped from G[:CN1,63O,OOC per gold bar to over CNC I,9OO OOQ?
The sudden rise is said to be chiefly the result of the Central Bank of China's chang
ink; on that day the official price of the ;-;old bars allotted to the various banks frota
CNCI;.1,600,00O per gold bar to CNCvi,68O,OQU, an increase of CNC~,8Q,OOO"". a.hat were thee,
reasons for the change "if the Central Bank of China sells gold to call in the CNC,
will riot the gold in the National Treasury be soon completely depleteth The fact: are
riot this sitple. lthoug*h the Central Bank of China often sells out large quantities
of gold, it also just as~often buys it back; and thus between the buying and s elling,
the bank can make profits. nor example, suppose that the bank had bought in the pad;
866 gold bars at CrCVr1.60O,0O0 and sold them at the present rate of CTrc 1,68Uyoo0. It
would then have made a profit of CNC:69,200,000",It must be remembered that this was
only one of the numerous tricks employed by the Four Families to enrich themselves by
means of gold transactions. One of the outstanding tricks played by the Four Families
in f inane in order to make themselves wealthier was that of lending money at hi? h in-
terest rater. In order to indulge in such feudalistic robbery, they organ zed various
ban