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Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Biographical Note
Scope and Content of Collection
Title: Song Feiqing (宋棐卿) papers
Date (inclusive): 1926-2013
Collection Number: 2013C4
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: Chinese and English
Physical Description:
13 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 motion picture film reel, 1 DVD
(8.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, writings, legal and financial records, printed matter, motion picture film, and audiovisual material relating
to operations of the Oriental Corporation in Tianjin, China, and subsequently in Hong Kong.
Creator:
Song, Feiqing, 1898-1955
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2013, with additional materials acquired in 2017.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Song Feiqing papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Biographical Note
Born in 1898 to a Christian family in Shandong Province, the Chinese businessman Song Feiqing is best known for his role in
modern China's industrialization and for promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship in China. In the early 1920s, Song went
to Chicago to study business management at Northwestern University. In 1925, he returned to China and spent the next several
years working in his father's business in Tianjin. Seeing that China's industry was lacking entrepreneurship, especially in
the textile market where foreign countries were profiting at China's expense, in 1932 Song established the Oriental Corporation
(Dongya) in Tianjin. That corporation became China's first textile company to use Chinese wool to produce its yarn and to
sell its products both domestically and internationally. By the 1940s, the corporation had become the largest yarn production
company in China, having garnered more than 80 percent of the domestic Chinese market.
Song's entrepreneurship transformed the business environment in modern China. In addition, Song brought his religious beliefs
into his management style and enterprise culture, as well as forming a social communication network that relied on the Christian
spirit to serve his entrepreneurial purposes. After the Chinese Communists won the civil war and established the People's
Republic in 1949, Song struggled to keep his enterprises intact but was unable to do so. In 1950, he moved his company to
Hong Kong and later immigrated to Argentina. He died in Buenos Aires in 1955.
Scope and Content of Collection
The papers of Song Feiqing include correspondence, writings, legal and financial records, printed matter, motion picture film,
and audiovisual material relating to the operations of the Oriental Corporation in Tianjin, China, and then in Hong Kong,
including what part Christian beliefs played in Song's management practices. The papers also provide a rare glimpse into the
formation of industrialization and entrepreneurship in China's recent past.
An increment received in 2017 contains documents related to Song Feiqing's life and legacy collected by his children, including
personal correspondence, writings, clippings, photographs, and Oriental Corporation records.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Business enterprises -- China
Business enterprises -- China -- Hong Kong
Oriental Corporation