【Haichuan. Pioneers of the Chemical Industry】04 Fang Lixian – A Pioneer in China’s Consumer Chemical Industry

The Fang family of Zhenhai was a renowned and prominent family in modern times. The Fang family has been in the business world for generations, operating banks, pawnshops, jewelry stores, and businesses dealing in goods from various regions in cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Ningbo; they had more than twenty banks alone. Fang Yuxian was the fifth-generation representative of the Fang family. He was born in Shanghai in December 1893. As a teenager, he studied at Fidi Middle School in Ningbo, and after graduating he went on to study at Zhongxi Academy in Shanghai. From a young age, Fang Yuxian showed a unique talent for chemical research; he set up a simple laboratory in his home at Renanli, Yuanmingyuan Road in Shanghai, to try and produce chemical products. He was also a student of Dou Bolié, a German chemist working for the Shanghai International Settlement’s Public Works Bureau. Among his classmates were Wu Yunchu, who later became famous as the \"king of monosodium glutamate,\" and Li Runtian, who ran the Jianchen Spices Factory. Between 1910 and 1911, a wave of bank failures hit Shanghai, and most of the Fang family’s banks were not spared, with only 3 remaining. “At that time, his father had intended for him to take over the bank, but Fang Yexian was not interested in the financial sector; he preferred to work in the chemical industry, which he loved, and was determined to save the country through industrial development. This made his father very unhappy. ”Introduced by Fang Zhigang, Fang Yuxian’s cousin. At that time, Shanghai was filled with various foreign cosmetics – Shiseido’s snow cream from Europe and the United States, Pond’s white jade cream, Lin Wen’s floral perfume, as well as Japan’s Kōkō brand toothpaste, among others. In Fang Yexian’s view, these cosmetics could entirely be manufactured in China. Therefore, he plans to build a factory for production in order to resist foreign goods. In 1912, at the age of 20, Fang Yexian began to establish the China Chemical Industry Society (hereinafter referred to as Sinochem Society, which will be described in detail later). These actions seemed impractical to the father, so Fang Yexian was unable to get financial support from him. At that time, the kind-hearted Fang’s mother took out 10,000 yuan from her savings to serve as capital for Fang Yexian. The factory was set up at home; some simple production equipment was purchased, and a few apprentices were hired to start manufacturing products such as Samsung brand snow cream, white jade cream, hair growth oil, cologne, tooth powder, and more. Unable to afford to run advertisements and with department stores refusing to stock his products, Fang Yexian hired people to carry his goods around the streets and alleys to sell them, but there were still few buyers. Seeing that the factory suffered losses year after year, his family and relatives urged Fang Yexian to give up, but he remained undeterred. He even partnered with friends to establish the Longhua Leather Factory, Dingfeng Enamel Factory, as well as rubber product factories and sulfuric acid plants – many of which were the first chemical and light industry factories of their kind in China. However, in the modern Chinese market dominated by foreign goods, domestic products had almost no market, and ultimately they were forced to stop production.

It turns out that China’s modern chemical industry began with mosquito coils. In 1919, the May Fourth Movement brought new vitality to China’s national industries; there was a nationwide movement to boycott foreign goods and promote domestic products. The various cosmetics and daily necessities produced by Zhonghua She under the Samsung brand were of high quality, which made them acceptable to consumers, and gradually their sales increased. In 1920, Fang Jiyang, Fang Yexian’s uncle, saw the potential for growth of Zhonghua She and agreed to invest, raising the company’s total capital to 50,000 yuan. The company was reorganized into a joint-stock firm, with its headquarters established on Henan Road. Fang Jiyang served as chairman, Fang Yexian as general manager, and Hu Shihao was hired as manager. A distribution office was set up on Guangdong Road to produce cosmetics and the “Sanxing” toothpaste. Among the many products manufactured by Sinochem in its early days, aside from cosmetics, Samsung mosquito coils, Samsung toothpaste, and seasoning powder were the most notable. In 1923, Fang Yexian built a second factory dedicated to the production of seasoning powders and soy sauce extracts; together with Wu Yunchu’s \"Tianchu Monosodium Glutamate,\" these products gradually drove Japanese-made \"Monosodium Glutamate\" out of the Chinese market. In 1928, Fang Yexian built a third factory dedicated to manufacturing \"Sanxing mosquito coils\", while also producing starch, sauce color, and other products. After years of hard work, \"Samsung mosquito coils\" have become increasingly popular, and the Japanese-made \"Wild Boar\" mosquito coils, which had long dominated the Chinese market, have finally been defeated. After mosquito coils, Fang Yexian set his sights on another area that was lacking in China’s household chemicals industry at the time: toothpaste production. Toothpaste was developed as an improvement on tooth powder. The “Samsung” toothpaste produced in 1912 was China’s earliest domestically-made toothpaste. After years of testing, the \"Samsung\" toothpaste was launched in 1923 at a price of 20 cents per tube. At that time, the imported \"Ribbon\" toothpaste cost 70 cents per tube; as a result, once it hit the market, \"Samsung\" toothpaste became very popular in China, and it was later exported to Southeast Asia as well, even reaching Africa. Since the introduction of its four main products – mosquito coils, toothpaste, seasonings, and soap – Sinochem’s capital value increased rapidly; it rose to 400,000 yuan in 1931, to 1 million yuan in 1935, and again to 2 million yuan in 1938, as the scale of production continued to expand.

Among the keys to Fang Yuxian’s success are not only his strict control over product quality as well as his focus on talent development and utilization, but he also attaches great importance to advertising and sales. For example, it was stipulated that 0.3% of the annual turnover should be set aside as advertising expenses, and a senior media professional named Zhu Xinggong was hired at a high salary to serve as the head of the advertising department, responsible for writing newspaper and magazine ads for Samsung’s products. Zhu Xingwen created a lottery ad specifically for Samsung toothpaste, naming it “The Secret in the Glass Tube”. Place a small glass tube inside the toothpaste tube; inside this tube, there are three colored tickets with face values of 1 yuan, 5 yuan, and 10 yuan respectively. What’s even more notable is the existence of the “Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity” three-star award; lucky consumers who collect all three stars win the grand prize, which includes a house. As a result, more consumers buy Samsung toothpaste, and many of them continue to use this brand. Sinochem also organized special \"domestic product advertising tour groups\" that traveled throughout the year, from Shanghai to Xi’an, Sichuan, and even Yunnan; in every place they went, Sinochem’s signboard advertisements were installed. All kinds of products from Sinochem are truly well-known to everyone, including women and children. In the exhibition halls of the Ningbo Gang Museum, only a few items related to Fang Yexian remain. In front of a \"Samsung-brand\" mosquito coil holder donated by a local resident, Chen Ru, deputy director of the Research and Development Department at the Ningbo Guild Museum, told reporters about this little-known episode from history. In the early 1930s, musician Liu Xuean composed a tango piece that served as the precursor to \"When Will You Return Again\". In February 1937, Shanghai Yihua Film Company, with the support of Sino-Chemical Society, produced the feature film \"Three Stars by the Moon.\" Director Fang Peilin asked Liu Xuean to compose a tango to be used as an interlude in the film. Liu Xuean submitted the piece he had written five years earlier to the director, and the lyricist Bei Lin (a pen name) wrote the lyrics, resulting in the popular song \"When Will You Return.\" This film tells the story of industrialist Jiang Liyuan founding Xinghua Chemical Factory to resist the invasion of foreign goods. His eldest son, Jiang Zongliang, studied chemical engineering in the United States; after graduating he returned to China to take charge of the chemical industry there. There he met and fell in love with the singer Wang Xiwen, and despite various challenges, they eventually married. The actress who played the lead role in the drama was the famous \"Golden Voice\" Zhou Xuan. Under Zhou Xuan’s interpretation, this song became even more touching and moved people, quickly becoming popular throughout Shanghai.

He also attaches great importance to strict quality control, the development and utilization of talent, as well as advertising and sales.

Tianchu Monosodium Glutamate, so famous – it turns out it comes from this gentleman! ! ! －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

The first one to draw attention –――――――――――――――――――――――– The matchbox ad for Tianchuji MSG

China’s first monosodium glutamate factory. It was founded in Shanghai in 1923 by industrialists Wu Yunchu and Zhang Yizhi, with the product trademark being “Foshou”. In 1928, the factory was expanded with additional equipment, and it was renamed “Tianchu Co., Ltd.”, producing 10 tons of monosodium glutamate per year. Later, after improving its production process, the factory obtained patents in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. It was changed to a joint-stock company in 1934. In 1937, the factory was severely damaged and its location was moved. In 1940, Wu Yunchu opened branch factories in ** and Chongqing. Moved back to Shanghai in 1947. In 1955, six seasoning factories were merged into the company one after another. It was renamed Shanghai Monosodium Glutamate Factory in the late 1960s, and its original name was restored in 1977. In the 1980s, the annual production of monosodium glutamate was around 4,500 tons, including 99% crystalline monosodium glutamate of the “Foshou” brand, as well as powdered monosodium glutamate with concentrations of 92%, 90%, and 80%. Tianchu Monosodium Glutamate Factory also produces products such as aspartic acid, lysine, and alanine. 99% crystalline monosodium glutamate has enjoyed **export inspection exemption status from the foreign trade authorities for 22 consecutive years since 1962. The products are exported to **, Southeast Asia, Brazil, and other regions. While digging the foundation at the new Zifangsi construction site on Zifang Mountain in Xuzhou City, glass bottles labeled with \"Tianchu MSG\" were discovered. The bottles were 98 millimeters tall, and the words \"Tianchu MSG\" could be clearly seen on their bottoms; it is estimated that these were the early packaging for this product.

So Sanmao and Mr. Fang are also related! Fang Yuxian attached great importance to the impact of advertising; he mandated that 3‰ of the sales revenue be allocated to advertising expenses, and established a dedicated advertising department within Sinochem, hiring renowned cartoonists such as Zhang Leping as staff members for this department. On the eve of the July 7th Incident in 1937, Shanghai Yihua Film Company produced a musical film titled \"Three Stars by the Moon,\" starring Zhou Xuan, the most famous star in Shanghai, who also sang the theme song \"When Will You Return?\" With the release of the film and the playback of the record, \"When Will You Return\" became extremely popular. In 1938, **Dadi Film Company produced an anti-Japanese film titled \"Paradise on an Isolated Island,\" which featured this song; from then on, it was used by various singing and dancing troupes one after another. In 1941, the famous actress Li Xianglan also recorded this song on a record. In fact, as can be seen from the film title \"Three Stars by the Moon,\" it was produced with funding from Sinochem Publishing House. Naming the film after the “Samsung” brand is truly ingenious; the advertising impact grew as the film became popular, which is absolutely amazing!

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