Zhang Changfu, the manager of EDA Company, is from Ningbo. Although he is an amateur in technical issues such as recording and production, he has the vision, ability of management, and a mature social relationship network.

We have to mention the word "comprador" here, which was born after foreign businessmen entered China.

Compradors are intermediaries and managers employed by foreign investors and assisted in their trade activities in China.

Because of the need to be familiar with English and foreign trade, the earliest comprador was a broker from Guangdong.

As China's port opening increases, concessions grow, economic business expands, compradors shrink, brokers who used to form temporary employment with foreign banks in the form of contracts gradually became fixed agents, i.e. compradors.

The comprador is not only the headmaster of a foreign company, the accountant and bank bank administrator, but also the confidential secretary of the senior class.

Foreign investors enter the newly opened port and find a local competent party. Most of them hire original compradors in Guangzhou or old relatives and friends recommended by them.

With the expansion of foreign business forces, a large number of local compradors appeared in Ningbo, Huzhou and other places.

By the 1860s, general affairs and compradors had become another industry besides scholars, farmers, industry and commerce.

Compradors whose main responsibility is to handle foreign companies' business, their salary is only a sign of their status as employees, while commissions become their important income.

Zhang Changfu is a standard comprador.

He is smart and good at seizing opportunities, and has made great contributions to the development of Shanghai Baidai Company.

It was he who brought the recording equipment and technicians to Peking and recorded a large number of records from famous Peking Opera artists, which made Baida Company famous in one fell swoop.

When recording Lin Zixuan's records, he was also positive because he realized that pop songs are the vitality of the record industry.

However, Lin Zixuan's desire to share the money was getting better and more demanding, which seriously damaged Zhang Changfu's interests.

Among Zhang Changfu's income, his salary is only a very small part, and his income mainly relies on commissions. He also has another identity, that is, an independent businessman.

Many record dealers in Shanghai have his funds behind it, and some even opened by his relatives.

Lin Zixuan's request for sharing would not have much impact on the French. He could just pass the money onto the record price, which would harm Zhang Changfu's interests.

So, he rejected Lin Zixuan.

However, the situation is not good now, and the new record has failed. The French are very dissatisfied. He needs Lin Zixuan to turn the unfavorable situation around.

Especially when he heard that Lin Zixuan was even more anxious when he was in contact with Moudeli Foreign Company.

Mouter is the biggest competitor of Shanghai BIDD.

In 1897, the British Merchants Mouter, located on Nanjing Road, was the first to introduce wax phonograph and cylindrical wax phonograph to Shanghai. Due to the first introduction of Mouter, the records were collectively called "Mouteri Records" for a long time.

In mid-March 1903, Fred Gaisburg, a recording technician of the British phonograph company, came to Shanghai. Under the leadership of Xu Qianlin, the comprador of the Mouter Foreign Company, Gaisburg conducted its first record recording in China on the 19th.

The batch of records was sent to the British Gramophone Company's factory in Hannover, Germany to process into pieces and mass-produced. It was then shipped to Shanghai in June of that year, and was sold by Moudeli Foreign Company.

Since then, the foreign company of Toutaili monopolized China's record sales market for several years.

This situation was not gradually improved until the establishment of Bode Foreign Company (that is, Shanghai Baida Company later) in 1908.

Nowadays, in Shanghai, the competition between Moutai and Shanghai BD.

The product of the British phonograph company, also known as Victory Records, is a puppy listening to the phonograph on the cover of its record.

Oriental Bedroom Company is an agent of the French Bedroom Recording Company's product, called Bedroom Recording. Its record cover is a rooster that is dawning.

Therefore, the newspaper jokingly called the competition between the two companies a "battle of chickens and dogs".

As a competitor, Zhang Changfu naturally paid attention to the every move of the foreign company, and even put a spy inside.

So, he learned that Lin Zixuan and Moudeli Foreign Company were about to cooperate.

This was bad news for him.

The reason why he rejected Lin Zixuan at the beginning was that he knew that other record companies would probably not accept Lin Zixuan's share requirements.

For compradors like them, they will never do anything that harms their own interests.

But it turns out that the foreign company may have made concessions.

In recent years, BD.com has developed rapidly and has steadily suppressed the quality and sales of the record.

Due to technical reasons, the quality of the record of Medell's foreign company is not high, but the price is cheap and it is capable of competing with BD.

The foreign company seeks profits to win over Lin Zixuan probably wants to make breakthroughs in the content of the record and achieve development.

Thinking of this, Zhang Changfu couldn't sit still.

If he wants to win over Lin Zixuan, he must not give Xuli a chance to turn around, otherwise Baida Company will suffer huge losses in the Chinese market.

Zhang Changfu has deep connections in Shanghai, especially in the French Concession.

He knew about the relationship between Lin Zixuan and Feng Jingyao, and Feng Jingyao had a close relationship with the French. He conveyed the message of cooperation to Lin Zixuan through the relationship between French.

The reason why it is so complicated is that he wants to use the French to suppress Lin Zixuan and make Lin Zixuan restrain himself.

This way, you won't be too passive when negotiating.

Unlike the public concession in Shanghai, in the French concession, it was dominated by the French Governor in Indochina.

The public concession is a local autonomous body for local foreign expatriates. It is not directly dominated and managed by any foreign consul or even British consul. It is a highly autonomous autonomous body.

Therefore, in the French Concession, the French have great power.

Zhang Changfu’s meaning is very obvious. My boss is French. Even if you don’t give me face, you still have to give face to the French.

This is taking advantage of the situation!

Compradors rely on foreign businessmen to survive, and relying on foreign businessmen's power has become their instinct.

Lin Zixuan dislikes this way of relying on foreigners to suppress Chinese people, but it does not hinder the business cooperation between the two parties.

Who made the record companies in China not develop in this era?

Lin Zixuan never thought of cooperating with Mouteri Foreign Company. The record quality of Mouteri Foreign Company is not bad, but his reputation is not good.

In order to pursue profit, they used to find a large number of fake opera records by famous artists, and they just asked someone to sing, saying that they were produced by famous artists, so they deceived many people.

The cooperation with Mouteri Foreign Company was originally the smoke bomb he released.

He did talk to the manager of Mouteri Foreign Company about releasing records, and also mentioned the issue of overproduction. Mouteri Foreign Company's manager was hesitant.

Lin Zixuan put pressure on Zhang Changfu with the competition between EDA and Toutai Foreign Company.
Chapter completed!