The Kidnapping of Wei Tingrong
By Dan Stein // On July 24, 1929, Wei Tingrong’s chauffeur picked him up at the prestigious Sino-French Bank, where he was the boss. The sophisticated, dapper French-speaking Wei was near the apex of Shanghai Chinese society, with wealth and influence unimaginable for most of his countrymen.
But just as it seemed nothing could stop Wei’s ascent, his shiny Ford was ambushed by three gun-toting thugs. They threw the driver out, drugged Wei, and as they feverishly sped around the corner of Rue Chu Paosan (Zhu Baosan Road) his world came tumbling down.
Wei was born in 1890 into a well-off Chinese Catholic family. His father ran a haberdashery in Shanghai, making exquisite tailored suits for the city’s French elite. After studying in France on a full scholarship, funded by Shanghai’s French colonial authorities, he returned to assume the role of General Manager at Credit Franco-Chinois (the Sino-French Bank). The bank was tucked between nightclubs and cabarets on Zhu Baosan Road, known throughout Shanghai as Blood Alley, for the frequent fights that broke out between foreign servicemen after hours. Wei amassed land holdings in the city’s Xujiahui area, and went on to marry the daughter of prominent Chinese businessman Zhu Baosan, for whom the street was named.
Clockwise from left: Credit Franco-Chinois on Zhu Baosan Road – the building still stands; Wei with his wife, Zhu Yuying; Wei’s father-in-law, Zhu Baosan
When Wei wasn’t running the bank, he led the French Concession Chinese Volunteers Defense Corps. In May 1925, his regiment protected the Concession from an uprising of angry protesting Chinese, in what became known as the May 30th Movement. For his service, Wei was awarded the Medaille Or de la Municipalité Française, the French Concession’s highest honor.
Wei was part of the powerful Gentry-Councilor Clique (or Shendongpai), a group of Catholic Chinese who held considerable sway with Shanghai’s French officials. Some in the Clique had Shanghai Catholic roots dating back to the 17th century. Aside from Wei, other key members included Wu Zonglian, former Chinese ambassador to Italy, and Lu Baihong, recipient of papal decorations from Pope Pius IX.
Wei’s home on Zhaojiabang Road
As a rising star in the Clique, and with such an impressive resume, Wei jockeyed to overshadow members of another ascendant organization: the French Concession Green Gang.
This organized crime group was led by ‘Pockmark’ Huang Jinrong and ‘Big Eared’ Du Yuesheng. By 1925, Huang and company had become the pre-eminent gangster organization in the city. Astonishingly, in addition to racketeering and owning a number of theaters, Huang was actually the French Concession’s Chief of Chinese Detectives.
Green Gang bosses Huang Jinrong (left) and Du Yuesheng
To demonstrate the Gentry Councilor’s superiority, Wei wanted to take Huang down a few notches. He anonymously provided local papers with scandalous details of the Chief of Detective’s dark side as a mob boss. With embarrassing optics of their police force being infiltrated à la The Departed, the French authorities relieved Huang of his powerful position.
This alone may not have guaranteed his future kidnapping, but Wei was not done. To add insult to injury, the younger, taller, and more cultured Wei set his sights on Huang’s love interest.
At Huang’s most successful venue, the Gongwutai Theater, a budding actress named Lu Meiyu was about to become a sensation. Some accounts say Huang ‘discovered’ Lu in Suzhou, convincing her to make the move to the big city while pursuing her romantically. It wasn’t just Huang who was enamored: a starring role in the play Misstep to Hate, and a chance magazine pictorial discovery made the whole city fall in love with her. That included Wei.
The Gongwutai Theater today
It’s not clear if Lu was ever truly receptive to Huang’s advances, but what’s certain is she ultimately became Wei’s concubine (he, of course, was still married). While Wei continued tempting fate by ‘stealing’ Lu from Huang, it’s worth pausing to highlight how Lu had something stolen too: her likeness.
Actress Lu Meiyu, love interest of Huang Jinrong and ultimately, Wei Tingrong’s concubine
In 1924, Chen Chuxiang founded Huacheng Tobacco, a scrappy domestic competitor to the powerful British-American Tobacco Company. Huacheng’s first cigarette brand, Golden Rat, was launched to much fanfare at Chinese New Year in 1924, heralding the Year of the Rat. The following year, Golden Rat would benefit from the anti-foreign protests of May 30th Movement. These nationwide demonstrations were in response to British officers killing Chinese protestors–during this time, Wei helped defend the French Concession–and set off a backlash against foreign brands, a nationalist wave that helped Golden Rat propel sales.
Left: Chen Chuxiang, founder of Huacheng Tobacco; Golden Rat Cigarettes
Looking to build on this success, Chen created another brand in October 1925 called Meilipai or My Dear Cigarettes. Literally translated as “Lovely Brand,” Chen was looking for a logo that truly embodied the name. Flipping through a Shanghai pictorial magazine for inspiration, his graphic designer landed on an enchanting image of Lu, dressed in the very latest flapper attire.
Then and there, he drew the My Dear Cigarettes logo, featuring a woman front and center that looked an awful lot like Lu. With instantly iconic packaging that captured the style and modernity of booming Shanghai, and one of its beauties, sales of My Dear Cigarettes skyrocketed.
Having her image blatantly stolen without remuneration, Lu, possibly with the help of Wei, fought back. She sued the company for trademark infringement: they were, after all, infringing on her very own likeness.
Lu won her lawsuit in the summer of 1927, and was ultimately compensated half a yuan for each pack sold. In return, Chen and his My Dear Cigarettes brand could keep using her image. Even with the payout, this and Golden Rat’s continued success made Chen rich, and he built a luxurious villa on Yuyuan Road, just outside the International Settlement borders (today’s Jing’an district).
Left: Meilipai / My Dear Cigarettes; Chen’s mansion on Yuyuan Road today (photo: Historic Shanghai)
Meanwhile, the star of Huang’s French Concession Green Gang and erstwhile deputy, ‘Big Eared’ Du, continued to rise. No immediate action was taken against Wei for his brazen insult. All the while, Huang was no doubt seething. But Du preached patience. The opportunity for revenge would come in due course, they just needed to bide their time.
After carrying out Chiang Kai-shek’s White Terror against the CCP in April 1927, Du’s standing with Chiang’s Nationalists and in Shanghai in general only grew. Moving onto the Gentry-Councilor Clique’s turf, Du and company began currying favor with French Concession authorities. In July 1927, Du represented its 300,000 Chinese residents as head of the Chinese Ratepayers Association, getting them to agree to a 2% tax increase, further lining colonial coffers.
In return for this bounty, four Green Gang members were made Chinese advisors to the Concession’s Provisional Commission, whereas previously advisory roles had only been given to the Gentry-Councilor Clique.
For Du though, being an adviser wasn’t enough.
In early 1928, when Concession authorities wanted a further tax increase, Du named his price: being named a Commission member with full voting rights. Chinese had not been granted full membership privileges before, but times were changing.
Money talked, especially with Du and his recently opened Zhonghui Bank, financed by his various mob pursuits like narcotics and gambling. In July 1929, Du was formally granted a seat on the Provincial Commission.
Zhonghui Bank, designed by Leonard & Veysseyre.
Meanwhile, Du and Huang learned that Wei’s brother-in-law had an axe to grind. Zhao Weixian, a heavy drinker and serial gambler, had also studied in France. Upon returning to China, Wei helped Zhao get a job at the Sino-French Bank, and actually wound up marrying Wei’s sister. However, Zhao exploited the situation, gambling away a chunk of the newfound wealth he was able to access through the marriage, and Wei supposedly tore into him.
The combination of a grudge against Wei and increasing gambling debts, possibly at Du’s casinos, may have made Zhao agree to help. A mere week after Du assumed his role on the Commission, Wei was kidnapped. After the car sped away, Wei was taken by small boat east across the Huangpu River, and stashed deep in Pudong.
A massive search effort immediately commenced. Joint patrols from the French Concession, International Settlement, and Chinese police spread across city searching for Wei, but had no luck. He had disappeared without a trace.
A few days later, one account describes how Wei’s wife Zhu Yuying received a letter instructing her to meet an intermediary in Hangzhou for more information on his whereabouts. There, a shadowy figure allegedly produced Wei’s pocket watch, while indicating he was still alive. The intermediary toyed with Zhu, saying the ransom was a mere 1000 yuan.
Zhu returned to Shanghai, showed the letter to Wei’s concubine Lu, and as the account goes, they wept together.
As the weeks went by, the police began to suspect someone close to Wei was responsible. Zhao was named a suspect, but the police couldn’t quite pin it on him. What’s more, Zhao even came to see Lu to comfort her.
Lu Meiyu’s home today, on Gaoyou Lu.
Fifty days after Wei’s Ford sped away, around the time of Mid-Autumn Festival, the International Settlement police received a tip. They heard that Wei was being held in Pudong’s Liuzao Town, close to today’s Pudong International Airport. By the time police got there though, he was already gone. Apparently Wei had convinced one of the captors to let him go, and suddenly showed up back in downtown Shanghai.
It was never confirmed with any certainty who was responsible for Wei’s abduction, but the timing, a week after Du was named to the Provisional Commission, and Huang’s burning desire for retribution, certainly make these two suspect. Wei originally believed Zhao was behind it, but couldn’t prove it. Zhao even sued his old benefactor for libel after being accused and Wei settled with him. Wei may have sensed the Green Gang was the culprit, as payback for taking Huang down, and decided to step back from society and keep a lower profile.
However, this is not the end of Wei’s story. Wei went on to have a whopping 14 children in all and became a prolific collector of classic Chinese art. After 1949, along with many other businessmen, he felt compelled to donate to the State. Several of his collected works are in the Shanghai Museum today, including the Ming ink painting Filtering Wine by Ding Yunpeng, Qing calligraphy scrolls reading “The Sea is A Dragon’s World, The Sky A Crane’s Home” by Deng Shiru, and a landscape by preeminent modern painter Zhang Daqian.
Ming Filtering Wine: Image from Shanghai Museum Website
While Wei remained in China until his death in 1974, many of his children and relatives left. His granddaughter went on to marry the Hong Kong Cantopop Star Chen Yixun, or Eason Chan, who performs to sellout crowds around the Chinese speaking world.
Cantopop star Eason Chan, Wei Tingrong’s grandson-in-law (photo: Wikipedia)
As for his son Ignatius, who settled in Chicago and became active in the Catholic Church there, a tantalizing detail in his obituary states that his mother was a “former Soochow opera star and commercial celebrity.” From the 1970s, he made several return trips to China to see her, and was by her side when she died in 1984. His mother’s given name in the obituary is not Lu Meiyu, but whether there’s a connection is an investigation for a future article.
Today, Wei Tingrong’s name has faded, but his is a remarkable story that deserves to live on. Once at the apex of Shanghai society, with a dramatic kidnapping that was the talk of the town, and linkages with some of the most famous names and stories of the day: Lu’s My Dear Cigarettes saga, and the Green Gang’s rise, Zhu Baosan, and even Blood Alley.
References
Martin, Brian G. The Shanghai Green Gang: Politics and Organized Crime, 1919-1937. (University of California Press, 1996)
Wakeman Jr., Frederic. Policing Shanghai: 1927-1937. (University of California Press, 1996)
Tabaqueria Filipina, Hwa Ching Tobacco and Colin Mackenzie & Co
https://industrialhistoryhk.org/tabaqueria-filipina-hwa-ching-tobacco-and-colin-mackenzie-co/
The Shanghai Museum’s “Filtering Wine”
https://www.shanghaimuseum.net/mu/frontend/pg/article/id/CI00004141
Ignatius Wei Obituary
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/chicagotribune/name/ignatius-wei-obituary?id=2615442
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