Amusing Tales of HSBC and Jardine Matheson (Continued)
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!" After seeing the ball go into the hole, Bao Yuehan turned around excitedly, clenched his fist at Michael Sandberg, Song Tianyao, Angie Perlis, and Kong Wing-yan, and shouted an old-fashioned Britain proverb.
Song Tianyao and Michael Sandberg, with cigars in their Bao Yuehan a thumbs-up and applauded his beautiful shot.
Handing the clubs to the caddie, removing his gloves, and leaving the staff to mend the lawn, Bao Yuehan, slightly excited, walked back to the parasol next to the group. He took a brown cigar from a cherry wood cigar box on the low table, skillfully clipped the cap, and instead of touching the gilded lighter on the table, lit it with an old-fashioned long-handled match, slowly exhaling a puff of silver-gray smoke. He smiled and said:
"When I was young, I dreamed of becoming a professional golfer, fighting alongside Henry Cotton, and giving the United States a good beating at the Leighton Cup. Unfortunately, I couldn't hit a shot like that back then. Mr. Song, your golf skills are also quite good; it looks like you've practiced hard for it."
Song Tianyao smiled modestly, "I practice golf like a poor man in Britain practices golf. Golf is just a stepping stone, a way for me to escape poverty."
"That's right, that's right, Song. You're absolutely right. What you said is very frank. I've always said that the poor aren't scary; what's scary is that the poor don't know how to find shortcuts to escape poverty. Those poor people who aren't even willing to use their brains can't be saved by God. It's not a bad habit to flatter others; you have to have some common interests with everyone." Bao Yuehan agreed with Song Tianyao's frank statement that he learned golf skills to appear cultured and used it as a way to communicate with others.
Kong Wing-yan, who was standing with Angie Perlis admiring the green view from a distance, overheard Bao Yuehan's words and was very dismissive. These Britain completely misunderstood the hardships of Hong Kong. Poor Britain people might have the money to let their children practice cricket or golf, popular sports pursued by the Britain upper class, so that they could immediately gain fame and fortune after becoming famous athletes. But poor China in Hong Kong, let alone practicing their skills on a golf course, might not even be able to afford the cheapest golf club, let alone practice on the open ground outside their own homes.
However, standing next to Angie Perlis, these thoughts could only remain in her mind.
With his hands on his hips and a cigar in his mouth, Michael Sandberg, even in his banter, carried a decisive, battlefield air. He said to Bao Yuehan, "Our Mr. Song's recent hobbies have shifted from developing wigs in the factory to playing golf, yachting, and going to the Hong Kong Jockey Club racing club."
Song Tianyao spread his arms wide at Michael Sandberg and asked confidently, "Is there something wrong with that?"
"That's right, is there anything wrong with that?" Bao Yuehan smiled at Sir Michael Sandberg and said, "You might think that Mr. Song's hobbies of golf, yachting, and horse racing are for the purpose of getting to know wealthy people, capitalists, bankers, and factory owners. But there's an absolute premise: he already has the right to use these hobbies to demonstrate that he's no different from the people he wants to meet. However, horse racing at the Hong Kong Jockey Club seems to cost... a little more than yachting and golf."
"I plan to spend three to five years with Mr. Song to find a reasonably priced, high-quality racehorse, buy it, and then enter it in the Hong Kong Cup held by the Hong Kong Jockey Club," said Michael Sandberg, cigar in hand, in a joking tone. "We don't need to win the championship; we just need to beat Jardine Matheson's 'Persian Prince.' I've heard that horse has embarrassed those at HSBC who deliberately bet on it to lose for several years in a row, so I think it's safer to buy a horse ourselves and beat it."
Bao Yuehan laughed, "Actually, those little grudges between HSBC and Jardine a hundred years ago have nothing to do with us now. But it's strange, when I joined HSBC after graduating from university, I seemed to naturally start to dislike the name Jardine. And my university classmates who went to work at Jardine had the same reaction to the name HSBC as I did to the name Jardine."
Song Tianyao had heard about the nearly century-long feud between Jardine and HSBC during a casual conversation with Michael Sandberg, but if Michael Sandberg hadn't brought it up, Song Tianyao wouldn't have known that so many interesting things had happened between these two behemoths.
HSBC and Jardine Matheson were two Britain behemoths in Hong Kong. Although Jardine now holds a seat on the board of directors of HSBC, and the two parties appear to be a union of interests, the sordid affairs that occurred behind the glamorous facade of these two entities over the past century are more of a topic of conversation and a source of amusement for the employees of both companies than their outward appearance of mutual respect.
A century ago, when HSBC was first established, Jardine was already the leading of the five major Britain trading companies in the Far East. When HSBC invited various trading companies to invest in HSBC, Jardine Matheson was the first to refuse. When HSBC applied for a business license, Jardine Matheson was also the first to oppose it, and even acted vehemently. From London to Hong Kong, almost every department sent people to lobby and create obstacles for the establishment of HSBC.
The reason was nothing more than profit. Long before the Opium War broke out, Jardine had already used the large amounts of cash obtained from the opium trade to conduct foreign exchange and loan business.
After entering Shanghai, Jardine's banking division effectively monopolized most of the international remittance business in Shanghai, including not only general commercial remittances but also remittances from the Britain Government. Public funds remitted to Hong Kong by consuls from various countries were still being processed using Jardine Matheson's drafts until 1855. No other foreign firm or bank was qualified to compete with Jardine Matheson.
To maintain close ties with the China business community and government, Jardine Matheson also provided loans to China money shops and local governments. Acquiring HSBC would have meant Jardine these financial businesses into HSBC, and the long-established Jardine Matheson refused to do HSBC precisely because it was unwilling to relinquish its lucrative international exchange and lending business.
Jardine was unwilling to voluntarily give up its banking business, which had grown to surpass that of most money shops and banks. This also reflected the sharpening of the conflict between large trading houses and specialized banks at the time. Therefore, it is not surprising that Jardine made a fierce move during HSBC's application for a business license. What was originally a piece of fat meat in its own bowl had now become food in someone else's bowl. How could it swallow this insult?