Li Hung-Chang personally approved the business license

It is said that after Sheng Hsuan-Huai was transferred to a post in Tianjin in 1892, he introduced Cheong Fatt Tze, "the richest man in southeast Asia", to Li Hung-Chang, and stated his stories of being engaged in industry and the establishment of wine company through introduction of seedling equipments. Li Hung-Chang was very excited after hearing the stories,and moved by his spirit of rejuvenating the country by industry, therefore, Changyu, a “foreign wine” making company, gradually became a distinctive flag in Beiyang Government New Deal, which was directed by Li Hung-Chang.

In 1895, Li Hung-Chang not only personally approved the business license for Changyu company, but also granted exclusive treatment for the company. Li Hung-Chang left such words on the license: " The patent is granted for fifteen years, and it is not allowed for Chinese and foreign merchants within Mukden, Zhili and Shandong province to counterfeit in fifteen years, or to seize the patent.”

Cheong Fatt Tze won recognition from Li Hung-Chang, which had direct relation with his large-scale investment in China, but it was also because Li Hung-Chang thought highly of business acumen of Cheong Fatt Tze. Shortly after Changyu was set up, Zhang Chengqing (nephew of Cheong Fatt Tze), the first general manager went to visit Li Hung-Chang, the Governor of Zhili and Beiyang minister in Tianjin on behalf of Cheong Fatt Tze. Li Hung-Chang arranged to meet him in drawing room, and Zhang Chengqing, dressed in plain clothes and a small cap, stepped quickly to the hall, and he was neither humble nor pushy when talking in the hall and behaved himself quite well, which surprised all high-ranking officials at present. As the saying goes, there are no weak troops under a capable general. With such awesome hanger-on, we can see the ability of Cheong Fatt Tze at that time.