Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 685 Expo ([-])

The temperature in Qingdao Port in May gradually cools down.However, compared with the temperature, the atmosphere here is indeed getting hotter. For no other reason, the first Qingdao Autumn Commodities Fair officially kicked off in the Qingdao Expo Hall on May 1648, 5.

The partially completed Grand Exposition Hall with hundreds of rooms (complete completion may take several years) has now become a landmark building in Qingdao Port. The foreign exchange exchange, transaction registration center, commercial clearing bank, and Bank of La Plata Units such as the customs office, the tax office, and commercial arbitration institutions have entered the embassy area half a month ago, and then began to officially operate.

In the exhibition area, major companies also applied for booths one by one on the grass that is comparable to the size of two large football fields, and also sent some technical personnel to communicate with customers.Almost all enterprises in China East Coast Republic sent staff to participate in the exhibition, such as the famous Pingan Iron and Steel Works (mainly engaged in the export of steel bars), the North Pharmaceutical Factory (exports aspirin, sodium sulfate, ferrous sulfide, cod liver oil, etc.), the North Arsenal ( flintlock rifles, bayonets, armor, sabers, artillery, etc.), northern chemical factories (export sulfuric acid, soda ash, soap, etc.), dye factories (various dyes), two domestic textile factories (introduced a variety of new fabrics), three major Shipyard (mainly engaged in the manufacture of flute-shaped ships, warships, and special ships), No. [-] Machinery Factory (mainly engaged in metal farm implements, hardware tools, and small machinery), Nanfang Vehicle Factory (mainly engaged in all kinds of animal-drawn trucks and buses), and Dafeng Food processing plants (mainly engaged in refined flour, soybean oil, soybean meal), etc.

These enterprises represent the essence of the industry and agriculture of the East Coast Republic today. This time it can be said that the development achievements of the past 17 years have been gathered at the expo, and they will make a concentrated display to customers all over the world (mainly in Europe) for better promotion. East Coast merchandise.I believe that with the high quality and low price of East Coast products and the advanced technology, businessmen who come to participate in the exhibition cannot be tempted.Maybe they will take into account the guild system left in the Middle Ages, trade barriers, local protection, and the principles of mercantilism that the monarchs of various countries respected. It shouldn't be a problem to sell some on a large scale.As for how to expand sales in the future, it is necessary to seek the support of the local nobles.

Captain Couette woke up early this morning. He has been living on the east coast for nearly a month, and almost all of the last half month has been in Qingdao Port.Now he has two ships, which are managed by his eldest son. According to the agreement, these two ships should arrive at Qingdao Port in the next few days, loaded with lead, tin, zinc, graphite, mercury, sulfur and other materials sailing from Amsterdam.However, it is hard to say clearly about the sea voyage. It is normal for ships to arrive late or early for a month or two. The Qingdao Autumn Commodity Fair only lasts for one month. The ship arrived in Qingdao smoothly.

Captain Couette opened a special account in the Commercial Clearing Bank, which currently has a deposit of more than 4000 pesos.In addition, he also holds a few bank acceptances in his hand - most of them are from the Amsterdam Exchange Bank, but the tragedy is that the Dutch banking system does not have direct dealings with the East Bank, and he will only have to see if the situation can be resolved in time. Find other merchants in the trading market to exchange, otherwise your available funds will be too little.

In today’s trading market in Qingdao, only the commercial papers issued by five banks, Bank of Commercial Clearing, Bank of La Plata, San Giorgio Commercial Bank/Bank, Bank of San Paolo, and Bank of Palermo, are recognized, and the validity of other banks is not recognized. .These five banks form a banking consortium to provide financing and exchange services for the Qingdao trading market (the exchange is mainly done by the Commercial Clearing Bank and Banco de la Plata), with gold marks (28 ounces of gold), yuan or yuan as bookkeeping/circulation currency.

Which currency to choose depends on the customer's own wishes. If you choose Gold Mark, then its certificates of deposit, bills of exchange, checks and other commercial papers can be circulated throughout Europe-at least there is no problem in using them on the Mediterranean coast; if you choose the currency of yuan or yuan Then it can only be used on the east coast. Of course, the St. George Bank in Europe also recognizes the validity of commercial papers with yuan/yuan as the unit of account, but they will first ask you to convert them into gold marks or bank liras. Currency bills, otherwise other European banks or merchants are likely to deny it.

This system of banking syndicates is exclusive, and they refuse to recognize the validity of bank notes outside the system here.If you want to squeeze into this circle, you must get the unanimous consent of the five banks. Currently, the Northwest Reclamation Bank of the East Coast Republic, the United Industrial Credit Bank, and the Venetian Circulation Bank of the Republic of Venice are negotiating to join. The first two basically have no major obstacles, but the Venetian Circulation Bank has encountered a little trouble, because the Genoese oppose their joining this banking system, and are still conducting difficult negotiations intermittently.

Many merchant ships have come to the harbor one after another, most of them are Portuguese ships, a small number come from New England and Virginia in North America, and of course there are Dutch merchant ships from Brazil, but not many.Captain Couette was sitting on the balcony on the second floor of a restaurant on the top of the mountain, sipping West Lake beer while looking into the bay.

Today's Qingdao Bay has begun to take shape, with ship repair shops, lighthouses, docks and a boom called "steam power". The facilities are quite complete, advanced and modern.There are two port roads on the wharf, which effectively divert the pressure of freight and passenger transportation. One of the asphalt roads is partially responsible for passenger transportation and partly for freight transportation, all of which are transported by four-wheeled horse-drawn carriages; , which is specially responsible for the transportation of bulky goods, such as grain, steel bars, munitions and so on.

There are also some small restaurants and small hotels that have sprung up in the wharf area, mainly engaged in catering and accommodation business.Some of these hotels also housed a handful of prostitutes who had come to trade from Italy—the Italians were very good at this, and it was very popular with over-energy sailors.Sailors always like to drink strong alcohol in the dock area after making money, and then go to have fun.But they don't dare to make trouble. The unlucky ghosts who have made trouble before are said to have been sent to a place called "Australia" by the "black police" (Ministry of Internal Affairs police) on the east coast, which sounds like A place from which you can never return.

Merchants from various countries who came to Qingdao Port for trade brought a lot of goods, almost everything!The Portuguese and the Dutch are more knowledgeable, and they will bring goods on the zero-tariff import list from the east coast to sell; while the English do not have such a strong ability to organize the supply of goods, they export their own specialties, such as: Virginia shredded tobacco , New England kippers and dried fish, in addition to the cotton they bought from the Spanish colonies of Florida and Georgia; the port is not without Spaniards, although the two countries are at war at this time, there are still two full The courageous Spanish captain got the news from nowhere, and then risked being confiscated by the people on the east coast, and brought a whole boat of wool and a large number of horses to Qingdao Port—high-quality horses from Europe were also imported at no cost. Customs goods.

The merchants who landed registered at the customs office, and then went to taverns and hotels to settle down and rest.After the rest, the captain or businessman will usually rush to the outside of the expo hall as soon as possible. They will first be awed by the grand expo hall building, and then they will go to the foreign exchange exchange to exchange currency under the guidance of the waiter.

In Qingdao port, direct transactions between foreign currencies are not allowed, and cash transactions are also not supported here (transactions over 100 yuan must be transferred through bank accounts, and almost no one has a transaction amount below 100 yuan).The foreign currency carried by the merchants must first be traded in the foreign exchange exchange in the area of ​​the Expo Hall. The transaction is free. The merchants negotiate the price with the foreign exchange dealers (some companies run by the public) according to their own judgment, and then each time The price of a transaction is reported by the staff of the foreign exchange exchange as the middleman, registered and published on the big blackboard.

The transaction price is recorded in yuan, which is a non-circulating currency that only exists in the East Bank banking system, and it is also the only transaction accounting currency in the Qingdao Autumn Commodities Fair.Customers can choose three units: yuan, yuan, and mark when depositing, but the mark is generally only used for bulk trade settlement with Genoa. Of course, if merchants are willing to settle in this unit in private, it is also possible; yuan is a real circulation Currency, commercial activities below 100 yuan can be used, but the yuan is the bookkeeping currency, and the price is fixed at 2 grams of gold, which is also a concept that is gradually being promoted on the East Bank (preheating for the future gold standard).

In order to strengthen the concept of the circle, and also to facilitate everyone's understanding, before the Qingdao Autumn Commodity Trade Fair, the State Administration of Precious Metals on the East Coast has recently revised the conversion ratio between yuan and circle to 1:1.The exposition is a carnival for retail merchants. After the captains exchange the foreign currency they bring into East Coast silver dollars, they can go to the bank to open an account and deposit it, and convert it into yuan.Of course, you can also directly ask foreign money changers to issue you commercial bills denominated in yuan, or you can even open an account in a commercial clearing bank. You must know that this bank accepts foreign currency deposits.

At [-]:[-] a.m. Eastern time, the first Qingdao Autumn Commodity Trade Fair officially opened.Captain Couette put down the beer glass in his hand. Although his son failed to arrive on time, he still decided to take a look inside the Expo Hall. This was a rare opportunity.

(End of this chapter)