The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-30
THE HAN YANG IRON WORKS
~ Frank G. Carpenter

S"oiiip uilIi ne mad raised the whole
area fourteen feet. In this work the
dirt and other materials were carrid
IN by coolies In little shovel-like bas-
Rets Sung to the ends Of poles on their
shoulders. Basket by basket, they
la1d the foundation. and now no one
would imagine that the ground had
ever been anything but solid. 1t is
covered with great factories and foun-
dries, and there are smokestacks $50
feet high rising upon it,.
Indeed, Han Yang reminds me of
Iit.spurs- It's mighty chimneys, vom-
ltlng smoke, stand out against the
SKY, ana It's huge ~foundries and blast
can De seen for miles up
and down the Yangtse river. Alto
setner the works about 40
acres, and, Including the mines which
sunni them, they employ a force of
10000 hands. There are about 1000
hands In the steel plant itself, and
several thousand more in an armory
and gunWorks making rifles artillery
ana small arms connected with it.
Ihen Han Yang has q ~srnokeless pow
der factory, a large electric works
and a military academy which has
1,0oO students. It takes about three
hours steady walking to go through
the various establishments.
Owned and Run by Chinese.
All these works are owned and run
by Chinese. OF the 10000 employees
in the steel plant and mines, there are
only twenty Europeans, and they act
merely as foremen and advisory di-
rectors. AS I have said, the works
were originated by Chang Chi Tung,
and that as a government enterprise.
That famous viceroy had memorialized
the throne that it should not be de-
pendent upon foreigners, but should
build its own railroads and make it's
own rails. The late emperor, Kwang-
Su, and the great dOWager consented
to this and directed Chang Chi Tung
to go ahead and carry out his ideas.
He did 50, but it was at a great ex-
pense and loss. He sank
millions and was up to his eyes in debt
when the works were turned owe to
Sheng Kung Pao, China's multi-mil-
lionaire. Sheng bought them Of the
government, and, although he has
Eominally given them over to a stock
company with a capital Of SIS. 900, 600
or 50. he is still practically their
owner.
Sheng Kung a lives at Shanghai,
but he has able assistants here in the
persons of V. K. Lee, V. T. Tsang and
Wang Rok Shan, all business Chinese
who have been brought up in the
works. Mr.. Lee. the manager is a
native of Suchow. He was sent abroad
70 study the iron and steel plants of
Europe and America, and from there
brought back the plans upon which
the plant was reOrganized. Mr.. Tsang
comes from Marking. He began his
life here as an ordinary clerk. and has
risen to the vice-manager, while MI.
CARPENTER Two
Wang, the commercial director, who
comes from Hongkong, has had a sim
liar experience.
These three Chinese Will rank as
men with the Of the
steel works of the United States. Each
speaks English as f1uently as any read
er of this paper and understands our
books on steel making.
I had letters Of Introduction to the
managers from Mr.. William Martin,
our consul at Hankow, and in the alb
sence of Mr.. Lee my card was taken
into Mr.. Tsang. Dressed in a black
cap, a long silk gown and heavy cloth
boots, I found him debating directions
to a stenographer. He looked like a
classical Chinese professor, and I fla
greeted in English. After a chat of a
few minutes, he took me over to the
technical director, Mr.. Eugene Rup-
pert, and asked him to show me
through the establishment AS he did
SO, a Chinese brought in an important
letter in French, and Mr.. Tsang and
Mr.. Rupert discussed this in the
French language, as though both were
born Freshmen. I doubt not Tsang
can speak German as well, and that,
although he has lever been outside
the empire.
Making Steel Equal to Sweden.
Leaving the Office I went through
various departments Of the steel
plant with the technical director. MI.
RUPERT has been here for seventeen
years. He started in at the beginning
with Chang Chi Tung, and is still one
of the chief advisers and directors Of
the establishment.
I shall not attempt to describe the
blast the rolling mills and
the foundries. They are just like those
of Pittsburg, Cleveland n Chicago
other steel-making cities. They
have the finest machinery, and they
throw their old machines on h scrap
heap when they become worm out or