Beijing's 1920s export boom was run by American merchants
Research finding · not yet checked at the source
- Date
- 1912–1926
- Collection
- Tuft the World research brief: The Non-English Record
- Publisher
- Popular history (北京记忆 / NetEase); labour data from the 1924 Bao Lide (C. G. Dittmer students) & Zhu Jiquan survey
- Themes
- Global diffusion of tufting, Woven carpet
Cite this source
Research notes
1920: 354 factories, ~5,000 workers. 1926: exports peak at 115 times 1912 [figure not found in any source]. F. C. Fette and A. Shoemaker dominated; Fette and merchant 李黎轩 (also 李梦书) founded 燕京地毯厂 [names corrected; the brief had 李立轩 and 仰经地毯厂], ~1/3 of output by 1924 with 1,200+ workers. Labour: 2–3 yuan a month, 9–16 hour days, apprentices unpaid and beaten. Citation check (Oct 2026, from search results; pages not opened): partly confirmed. Name corrections: the Chinese partner appears as 李黎轩 (also 李梦书), not 李立轩, and the joint factory as 燕京地毯厂, not 仰经地毯厂. The source says it reached 6 workshops and 1,200+ workers, controlling about one-third to one-quarter of Beijing output by about 1924. Fette is given as an American (initials vary). The 1926 '115× 1912' export figure, the 2–3 yuan monthly wage and the Shoemaker detail were not found. The 1924 survey of 207 Beijing carpet shops found 6,834 workers, 74% of them apprentices, with 94% working 12–14 hours a day and 93% working 7 days a week. That is harsher than '9–16 hours'. The '354 factories / ~5,000 workers' figure for 1920 matches ihchina's 354 workshops; the worker count was not verified. Source: 北京记忆丨解放前的北京地毯行业 (The Beijing carpet trade before 1949), NetEase. Found at: https://www.163.com/dy/article/EUGOOS4L05434VBG.html Also: https://ccj.pku.edu.cn/Article/DownLoad?id=184317073&type=ArticleFile · https://www.ihchina.cn/project_details/14500