The comparison has surprisingly given the locals a sense of superiority. It turns out that their domestic fabrics have such high value abroad! It also becomes clear that Western cuisine can’t even be compared to Chinese food!
After reading the newspaper, many people took to the streets to seek out fabrics from Jiangnan Cloth Store to make clothes. To their dismay, there was simply no fabric from Jiangnan Cloth Store available in the market! Customers who had previously bought textiles from Jiangnan dug out their old clothes from their wardrobes, wearing them proudly outdoors, feeling particularly dignified. With others noticing, they stood taller instantly! They felt a sense of pride!
“How can there be no fabric from Jiangnan Cloth Store! If there are no local fabrics, it’s all foreign cloth; you might as well rename this fabric shop as a foreign cloth shop!”
“It’s impossible to find Jiangnan’s fabric anywhere; could it be that all of it has been sold abroad?”
“The fabrics from Jiangnan are incredibly hard to come by now!”
“Exactly! I really regret not buying some fabric from Jiangnan when it was cheap earlier. Nowadays, every shop is filled with foreign cloth; our domestic fabric seems to have dwindled. Have all these fabrics been sent to the West?”
“Our own fabrics can’t be worn by our own people. Instead, they are being snatched up by foreigners—what kind of situation is this!”
Many customers complained on the street about their inability to find local fabrics.
Many fabric dealers saw the market shift and quickly contacted Zhang Family Cloth Store to request a batch of fabrics.
However, Zhang Laoye looked down upon those dealers who had previously maliciously devalued local fabric while promoting foreign cloth! No matter who came for the goods, he uniformly claimed there was none available!
Zhang Laoye even sent people to the southwest to spread the news that he was willing to pay high prices for fabric raw materials. This price was ten times what it used to be! It was even more profitable than growing opium! Many farmers had started switching to opium poppy cultivation in the last couple of years, but upon hearing that Zhang Family Cloth Store was offering high prices, they immediately regretted planting that opium. Hesitant, they did not know whether to eradicate the opium immediately and hastily plant cotton or fruits and raise silkworms. However, if they did so, they would be unable to sell their opium and earn any money.
“Why are you so delighted, Wang Laer? Have you come across something good?”
Wang Laer pulled out a bag of coins, shaking it so the villagers could hear the sound of the copper coins clinking together. He proudly told them, “Jiangnan Cloth Store is buying raw materials at high prices. I signed a contract with them promising to eradicate the opium and start growing raw materials immediately. Once the raw materials are planted, I can sell directly to Jiangnan Cloth Store! For this, they even prepaid me five hundred copper coins!”
“What! Such wonderful news!”
Many villagers excitedly surrounded Wang Laer, asking about how he managed to sign a contract with Zhang Family Cloth Store and receive money before starting to plant the raw materials.
Wang Laer tightened his grip on his purse, loudly letting them know, “It’s in the alley near the government office! I heard that only the first thousand people can sign the contract! If you come too late, you’ll miss the chance to sign and get the money! I advise you all to quickly eradicate the opium. It’s harmful anyway! It’s better to start growing the raw materials immediately! We have experience in growing them! Starting over will definitely earn us more! I also found out that the fabric from Zhang Family Cloth Store is being sold abroad! They will continue to buy raw materials in the future!”
The eyes that had dimmed from hardship suddenly filled with vitality and hope. The crowd excitedly thanked Wang Laer and promptly sprang into action. They rushed to find Zhang Family Cloth representatives to sign contracts and secure money, then headed home right away to clear out their opium fields! They hurried to plant the raw materials!
With the Zhang Family Cloth Store’s reputation skyrocketing overseas, their fabrics in the domestic market fetched exorbitant prices, making them a rare commodity. In contrast, foreign cloth was suddenly abandoned by the market and businesses suffered without anyone to buy. Merchants from all regions became anxious, desperately seeking connections, hoping that Zhang Family Cloth Store would overlook past grievances and resume supplying them with fabric to sell.
In the meantime, rumors about the adverse health effects of foreign cloth began to circulate.
“Miss San from Liu Yuanwai’s family only wore Western clothes for seven to eight years, and look at her face full of acne! This is all because of those foreign garments!”
“I heard that the daughter of Wu Changqi also had her face disfigured because of wearing foreign cloth!”
“I wondered why I’ve been aging so quickly! It must be because of wearing foreign garments! How infuriating! Who would have thought that foreign cloth could be so harmful!”
Various rumors swept across towns and villages nationwide. Foreign cloth had utterly failed against local fabric! Many people began to burn their foreign garments and cloth.
The dealers selling foreign cloth panicked and hastily sold off their inventory at a loss. The foreign cloth market had completely collapsed!
“This isn’t enough!” Zhang Laoye felt quite pleased lately. Once the price of foreign cloth dropped to the lowest point, they could swoop in and buy it in bulk! At that time, they could easily add a slight markup and sell it to other countries.
Chapter 40: Despite Low Status, Never Forget the Country
After this battle, Zhang Family Cloth Store became renowned far and wide!
With Zhang Laoye at the helm, Jiangnan’s merchant association saw business people from various industries hoping for Zhang’s assistance in opening up overseas markets.
This victory allowed Zhang Laoye to rediscover the ambitions of his youth. It also made him deeply realize that their Han Chinese goods were the best! Foreign products were not as noble as they seemed! Foreigners could come to their country to do business, and they too could venture out to the world to trade! Earning money from foreigners! Learning foreign technology! Just as Zhang Fang stated, one day their country’s technology would surely surpass Western technology! The efforts made today are all to hasten that day’s arrival!
As Zhang family’s business flourished, Zhang Laoye was able to spend more money to buy raw materials at high prices.
Farmers in the southwest, eager to provide raw materials to Zhang Family Cloth Store as soon as possible, cleared out their opium and replanted mulberry trees for silkworms.
The George family had not given up; they used massive amounts of money to bribe officials in the court to deal with Zhang Family. After all, in this country, of the four categories—scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants—merchants had always been most repressed by the authorities.
While some paid to undermine Zhang Family, others paid to protect it. Merchants from Jiangnan’s merchant association mobilized their connections in the court, offering money or gifts to ensure that officials protected the Zhang family.
In recent years, the George family had led foreign merchants in various industries to compete for the market with local traders. For years, they had endured the humiliation of being dominated by foreign merchants! They no longer wished to be bullied by foreign merchants! Thus, local traders had to unite to resist foreign merchants collectively!