On December 20, 1916, Cai Wanchun was born in Shishanzhuang, Zhunan Township. Despite his family's poor circumstances, his parents saved money and sent him to a private school, where he studied Chinese under Zheng Shusheng together with his neighbor, Chen Peiyuan.
In 1924, Cai Wanchun enrolled in the Zhunan Public School, where he studied for six years and was consistently ranked at the top of the class, winning prizes for his calligraphy and oratory.
In 1930, at the age of 15, Cai Wanchun graduated, and, unable to continue his education due to his family's poor circumstances, persuaded his father to send him and his older brother Cai Wansheng to join his great-aunt Chen Taro in Taipei's Hanting (present-day Guting District), where they lived in No. 97, Tingzhou Street, in the Jinding District. Chen Taro had a vegetable garden on Tingzhou Street (now Fu'an Nursery School), and brothers Cai Wansheng and Cai Wanchun helped Chen Taro work in the fields and sell vegetables. Later, brothers Cai Wansheng and Cai Wanchun went to the Taipei Central Market to sell wholesale fruits.
In 1931, at the persuasion of Tsai Wan-chun, the family moved to Camping, rented land for farming, opened vegetable gardens and fishponds, and rented land in Xindian for citrus cultivation, so to speak, as an ordinary tenant farmer.
Unsatisfied with the status quo, Tsai Wan-chun enrolled in Shiseido Cosmetics and worked as a salesman in the Taichung branch before being promoted to branch manager, a position he held for six years. This experience developed his management skills. In 1937, the Japanese invaded China and the Anti-Japanese War broke out, affecting Taiwan as well. Cai Wanchun quit his job at Shiseido and returned to Taipei.
Tsai Wanchun read a piece of news in the newspaper that synthetic soy sauce could be made from fish, vegetables and fruits, which reminded him of the delicious fish soup he used to mix with rice when he was a child, so after a lot of planning and development of recipes, he obtained a supply of soybean raw materials from the military, and started to make "Maruzhuang" soy sauce in the empty space of the temple in Camping's house, which was the first to make soy sauce with fresh fish soup. Marusho" soy sauce was the first of its kind to be made from fresh fish broth. The beans were used to make the famous miso soy sauce, and the production of "Maruman" rice vinegar was later expanded. In addition to being sold on the market, it was also supplied to the local garrison. In just a few years, with the best-selling soy sauce and rice cooler, the family's situation improved greatly, and by the time Japan announced its surrender, the Cai family had 600,000 yuan in savings, which was not a small amount at the time, and became the starting point of the family business.
With the family's savings, the ambitious Tsai Wan-chun chose to rent a house near Taipei's Ximen Market to run his business, which included groceries in addition to soy sauce and vinegar.
In 1938, at the age of 23, Cai Wanchun spent 210,000 yuan to buy four houses on Hengyang Road in Taipei (in the area of the current Yongyu Department Store) and set up the Daewan Trading Company, which dealt with groceries. At the end of the same year, he was matched by his great aunt and married Yu Fengjiao.
After the restoration of Taiwan in October 1945, Tsai Wan-chun started new businesses one after another. He first offtake the original Japanese-run "Meiyue Tang", the Dawan merchant firm into the Dawan shopping mall, in the shopping mall on the second floor opened a Dawan hostel (approved by the government of the Class A hostel), and also engaged in the daily use of general merchandise and cosmetics. Because of the location of the commercial center, the operation of the law, the business is flourishing. 1946 to 1948, Cai Wanchun and successively invested in the production of Dawan soap, Dawan hair oil, Dawan face cream; set up a toy factory in the Tingzhou Street; construction and operation of the Paramount Inn; the establishment of the Dawan Industrial Timber Company, set up the Dawan kiln factory in Songshan, set up the Pavilion Iron Factory, etc., the business expansion is very rapid.
In 1949, Cai Wanchun set up the Daewan Industrial Company, which dealt with local products and imported goods, but soon closed down due to poor management. Then he set up the Dawan Industrial Company, operating Taiwan bananas, dried bamboo shoots, pineapples, rice, cement and brown sugar and other products out of Japan; at the same time, set up the Dawan Industrial Pharmaceutical Company (for the Dongguang Industrial Raw Materials Company's predecessor), the importation of industrial raw materials, rubber, plastics, fertilizers, and medical equipment, etc., and gradually had a position in the shopping malls.
In 1957, at the age of 42, Cai Wanchun, in competition with a number of business celebrities, stood out and succeeded Lu Qihua (also said to be Lu Hui, who had been the director of information at Taipei City Hall) as the head of the Taipei Tenth Credit Cooperative (Tenth Credit Cooperative). "(Tenth Credit Union), which became another new starting point for him to become rich. At that time, there were 73 credit unions in Taiwan, and Tenth Credit ranked 61st in business. Under Tsai Wan-chun's leadership, three years later, Ten Trust jumped to second place in the province, and soon ascended to the first place throne, fully demonstrating Tsai Wan-chun's business ability.
Cai Wanchun was indeed a shrewd businessman. In order to cooperate with the authorities in advocating the savings movement, he announced in February 1960 that he could become a customer of Ten Trust by depositing only one dollar, creating the "Happy Deposit" savings movement of opening an account with one dollar.
Cai Wanchun was obsessed with finance. After the restoration of Taiwan, Tsai Wan-chun went to Japan several times to study, and found that Tokyo, Osaka and other busy cities, buildings, and these are mostly owned by banks and insurance companies, triggering his personal motivation to develop the financial and insurance business. In 1960, the Taiwan authorities decided to open up the establishment of insurance companies to the private sector in order to meet the needs of economic development, providing Tsai Wan-chun with a rare opportunity.
Taiwan's financial and insurance industries were regulated in the early days, with limited access to the private sector, and those who were able to apply to run these industries were certainly not idle, but were well-known individuals with political and business backgrounds.
Lin Dingli, a popular politician at the time, applied for a license to operate a life insurance company. However, his financial resources were limited and he could not raise the required capital of 30 million yuan, so he approached Zhang Chuanxiang, a prominent businessman in Taipei City, who was once the Speaker of the Taipei City Council. Zhang Chuanxiang also due to lack of financial resources, he found a rich, also in 1950, Taipei City, the first "city councilor" Tsai Wanchun, so in the cooperation of the three, to obtain the qualification for the establishment of life insurance companies, March 16, 1961, Cathay Property Insurance Company formally declared the establishment of Lin Dingli as chairman, Tsai Wanchun, vice chairman and general manager, April 16, 1961, Cathay Property Insurance Company officially declared the establishment of the company. Vice Chairman and General Manager, and on April 19, Shangren opened for business. The word "Cathay" was taken by Mr. Lin Dingli, meaning "national prosperity and public safety". But no one would have thought that "Cathay" would become synonymous with the Tsai family's business, creating the opportunity for the Tsai family to develop.
Lin Dingli, a native of Jingtong Township, Yunlin County, Taiwan, was born in 1906. During the Japanese colonial era, he defected to the motherland because he was dissatisfied with Japanese rule. He studied at Yinghua College in Gulangyu, Xiamen, and then transferred to Zhangzhou No. 3 High School. After graduation, he went to Shanghai to study at China University, which was closed down, and then he traveled to the east of Japan, where he studied in the Department of Economics at Meiji University.
After returning to China, Lin Dingli entered the military and worked in Saigon, Vietnam, and then in Shantou and Xiamen, where he was engaged in underground work for the Kuomintang.
In 1938, when the Japanese army invaded Fujian Province, Lin Dingli got the correct information beforehand, and was y appreciated by the Director of the Military Intelligence Bureau, Mr. Daigasa. After the victory in the war, Lin returned to Taiwan. In the 1950s, he successively served as the Taiwan Station Chief of the KMT's Secrecy Bureau, the Commander of the Taiwan Province's "Special Unit of the General Command of the Police", and the Director of the Political Research Office, etc. In November 1951, he was elected as a member of the first Provisional Taiwan Provincial Council in Taipei, and then was elected as a Vice-President of the Provincial Council for two terms. In November 1951, he was elected as a member of the first Provisional Taiwan Provincial Council in Taipei City, and was subsequently elected Vice Chairman of the Provincial Council for two terms.
Before and after 1956, Lin Dingli was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for violating grain management regulations, and was released on bail in 1959 due to illness. At this time, Lin Dingli in Fujian during the acquaintance of the provincial construction department director, later for the "Minister of Finance" Yan Jiajian, again as Taiwan's "Minister of Finance" (1958-1963), decided to open up the private insurance industry. Yen believed that Lin Dingli's imprisonment was unjust and that he should be compensated for it, and he asked him to apply for the establishment of an insurance company, and with Tsai Wan-chun's financial support, Lin Dingli was finally able to get his wish.
The combination of Tsai and Lin can be said to be the beginning of the development of Tsai's political and business ties. Because the Tsai family accounted for 60 percent of the shares of Cathay Property Insurance Company, the company's power is still in the hands of the Tsai family. 1975, Tsai Wanchun's brother, Tsai Wanjai, who has been promoted to general manager of the company, planned the re-election of the company's directors and supervisors, and he was appointed chairman of the board of directors, with his brother, Tsai Wanchun, as the honorary chairman of the board of directors, and Lin Dinh Li, from the chairman of the board of directors, was appointed as the managing director. It is said that Cai Wanchun did not know beforehand, and afterwards blamed his younger brother Cai Wancai for offending Mr. Lin, especially more than my brother. Cai Wancai said his nephew Cai Chennan (Cai Wancun eldest son) announced himself as vice chairman of the company, so his nephew rode on the head of the uncle, so angry, listening to the subordinates suggested that the performance will be the founding father of Mr. Lin "cup of wine to release the military power," the scene.
Subsequently, Tsai Wan-chun applied for the establishment of a life insurance company. 1962 March, the preparatory work, Tsai Wan-chun as director of the preparatory office, Tsai Wan-lin as the director general, Tsai Wan-cai as the executive secretary. August 15, the Cathay Life Insurance Company was formally established, Tsai Wan-chun will be the chairman of the board of directors and general manager, Tsai Wan-lin as the managing director and deputy general manager, Lin Ting-li as the managing director. September 10, the Cathay Building on Nan-yang Street, Taipei, officially opened. On September 10th, the Cathay Building on Nanyang Street in Taipei City was officially opened, and the ribbon was cut by Minister of Finance Chou Hong-tao on behalf of Yen Chia-kam.
Yan's involvement in the insurance business has been a great help to Lin. Lin and the Tsai brothers returned the favor. The first insurance policy issued by Cathay Life was a 10-year pension insurance policy taken out by Mr. Yen, and in September 1972, the company gave the interest to Yen, who had already been promoted to "vice president". The Tsai family thus established a political and business relationship with Mr. Yan.
By this time, two life insurance companies had been established in Taiwan, First and Kuo Kuang, followed by Overseas Chinese, Nanshan, Kuo Hwa and Hsin Kuang. In the midst of fierce competition in the market, the business to individual life companies continued to expand and became the most powerful life insurance company in Taiwan.
Cai Wanchun had a vision for development, and he set up company liaison offices throughout the province to establish strongholds. In order to enhance its credibility, he invested in the construction of branch office buildings in many large and medium-sized cities, first breaking ground for the construction of the Cathay Life Insurance Company building in Laiyi City in 1964, and then in Kaohsiung, Taichung, Pingtung, Hsinchu, and Keelung over the next few years, and increasing the number of liaison offices from nine to 47 in 1967, which yielded good results. The market share of Cathay Life Insurance increased from 31.6% in 1963 to 42.8% in 1967. This is the root cause of the large number of office buildings that Cathay Life owns today.
In addition, the Chua brothers recruited a large number of salesmen to pull insurance, advertising 305 times in different ways in the first two and a half years, recruiting people and absorbing tens of thousands of people into Cathay Life Insurance Co. This was a major reason for the rapid growth of the company's business. After the establishment of Cathay Life Insurance Company, Tsai Wan-chun, believing that land prices were bound to rise due to the scarcity of land and the large number of people in Taiwan, was optimistic about the future of the real estate business, so he set up the Cathay Construction Company on September 14th, 1964, to enter the field of real estate and construction; and on October 12th and November 16th of the same year, Tsai's brothers also set up the International Maritime Transportation Company (which used to have high-speed reefer ships and 10,000-ton freighters engaged in the transportation of bananas and general cargoes between Taiwan and Japan), respectively. On October 12 and November 16 of the same year, the Tsai brothers also set up the International Shipping Company (which owned high-speed refrigerated ships and 10,000-ton freighters that transported bananas and groceries between Taiwan and Japan) and the Kuo-Tai Plastics Company, with Tsai Wan-chun as chairman of all three companies.
In 1971, Taiwan opened up the private sector to operate the trust industry, Tsai Wan-chun brothers set up the Cathay Trust and Investment Company, Tsai Wan-chun as chairman and general manager; in January 1972, the establishment of the Cathay Construction and Advertising Company, Tsai Wan-chun, chairman of the board of directors; in the same year, Tsai merged the Kuo-ting Plastic Company into the Wan-feng Plastic Company, engaged in the production of PVC plastic cloth and blow-up toys. 1973, in order to match the six-year economic plan, the Tsai brothers also set up the Kuo-ting Plastic Company. In 1973, in line with the six-year economic plan, the Tsai brothers also set up the Guotai Petrochemical Company.
By the early 1970s, the Tsai family business under the name of "Cathay" had gradually become a conglomerate; by the end of 1973, the Cathay Group, with the Tsai family at its core, had nine major affiliates with total assets of 10.8 billion yuan (excluding International Petrochemical Corp.), but because of its involvement in the financial sector, its liabilities amounted to 8.5 billion yuan. Liabilities amounted to 8.5 billion yuan. The group has a Cathay management committee that is responsible for contacting and coordinating the various molecular enterprises.
Subsequently, the Tsai family continued to expand its business strength. in early 1974, the Tsai brothers set up the Cathay Profit and Market Company, which was renamed Cathay Leasing Company in April 1976, leasing out production equipment, with Tsai Wan-chun as chairman; in 1975, they annexed the former Dongyu Textile Company's factory buildings and reorganized it to set up the Guoxin Textile Company, which produces cotton and blended yarns. at the end of 1976, the health and beverage factories of the Yuanbao Industrial Company were reorganized to form the Guoxin Food Company, which is a subsidiary of the Guoxin Food Company. At the end of 1976, the health drink factory of Yuanbao Industrial Company was reorganized into Guoxin Food Company to produce active acid mother's milk drink. 1979, Cai Wanchun started to build the Lai Lai Shangri-La Hotel.
In addition to the above core family businesses, the Tsai family also incorporated Xushun Foods, Shude Engineering, Mitsui Engineering, Guoxin Electronics, Changzhou Industry, Taiwan Shoes, Luen Thai Transportation, Ideal Industry, Ideal Furniture Design, Long Ding Enterprises, Guoxi Color Printing, Lai Lai Department Store. More than a dozen companies, including Cathay Automotive Industries and Golden Court Design & Furniture, have been brought into the Group's scope through equity acquisitions and other acquisitions. Among them, Cathay Life, Cathay Construction, Cathay Plastic Industries and International Marine Transportation are all stock-listed companies.
By the end of the 1970s, the strength of the Cathay Group had grown rapidly, operating businesses involving finance, insurance, transportation, construction, advertising, plastics, leasing, textiles. Food and beverage. Electrical and electronic appliances, engineering and many other industries, has been a powerful enterprise group. By the end of 1977, the total asset value of the 10 major enterprises belonging to it amounted to 35 billion yuan, surpassing Wang Shuiqing's Formosa Plastics Group. If we add other peripheral enterprises, the scale is even larger, with more than 70 related enterprises. In addition to owning four major financial institutions (Cathay Property Insurance, Cathay Life Insurance, Ten Trust, and Cathay Trust), it also owns Cathay Plastics. In addition to the four major financial institutions (Cathay Property Insurance, Cathay Life Insurance, Ten Trust, and Cathay Trust), the Tsai family also owned Cathay Plastics, International Shipping, Cathay Construction, Ideal Industries, Pacific Industries, Atlantic Beverages, and Lai Lai Hotel. Among them, in 1977, the turnover of Cathay Trust and Investment Company and Cathay Life Insurance Company both ranked first in the industry; Cathay Property Insurance Company was second only to the public Taiwan Product Insurance Company and China Product Insurance Company; Cathay Plastics also ranked 27th among the private enterprises, second only to Y.C. Wang Formosa Plastics Company in the PVC manufacturing field.
The Cathay Group has also made significant progress in social welfare, establishing the Cathay General Hospital, the Cathay Life Women's Basketball Team, and the Shih Hsin Higher Industrial and Commercial Vocational School. Cathay Museum of Art and the Social Welfare Foundation of Cathay Corporate Institutions, among others. Choi Wan-chun also remodeled his old home on Ting Chau Street into the Fu An Nursery School named after his father, to engage in philanthropy in honor of his father. Cai Wanchun also cared y about the development of his hometown, donating a Wanchun Library and expanding his alma mater in Zhunan Township. In today's Zhunan Shishanli area, you can still see the "Fu'an Bridge", "Wanchun Bridge" and temple pagodas that he invested in. In addition, he founded a factory in his hometown to increase employment opportunities and prosperity. He was also honored as a model of "respect for the military and patriotism" for his donations to support the military.
The Tsai family has since become one of Taiwan's most prominent families.
The most important contributors to the family business were Tsai Wan-chun, Tsai Wan-lin, Tsai Wan-cai, and Tsai Wan-de. Tsai Wan-cai and Tsai Wan-de also followed their elder brother for many years and contributed quite a lot to the Tsai family business as well. The fact that the Cai family was able to reach such a brilliant performance was of course inseparable from the close cooperation and competence of the Cai brothers. Cai Wanchun was a typical entrepreneur, smart by nature, not too concerned about small matters, and very discerning in his endeavors. Cai Wanlin is a strategist type of character, do not like to appear outside, but behind the attention. So at the beginning of the business, all the dealings with people, contact. Negotiations and other matters, all by the eloquent Cai Wanchun. Cai Wanchun himself said, "a person's career to be successful, must have the strength, courage, belly three conditions. Because he made friends, know people well, so that in his business gathered many learned, capable, visionary business people. Cai Wanlin, on the other hand, manages the books at home. "Cai Wanlin remembers clearly how much people owe us and how much we owe them." Cai Wancai said of his second brother, Cai Wanlin. Cai Wancai, on the other hand, was very stable, followed the rules and regulations, and was the concrete planner of the management system. He himself said, "I was the one who set the rules and regulations of the main institutions of the Cathay Group, as well as the organizational structure." The youngest, Tsai Wande, followed his older brothers to do some specific management work. In 1979, Choi Wan-chun, the founder of the Cathay Group, suffered a stroke and decided to decentralize his power and split the business by exchanging shares within the family, so the Cathay Group was divided into six; Choi Wan-chun's second younger brother, Choi Wan-lin, split the business into the Cathay Life Group, the Cathay Construction Group and the Mitsui Engineering Group, which was called the "Cathay Life Group". Cathay Life, Cathay Construction, Mitsui Engineering and other enterprises, known as the "Cathay Life Group"; the third brother, Cai Wanjai, got Cathay Property Insurance. Fubon Construction, Fubon Leasing and other enterprises, known as the "Cathay Property Group"; Tsai Wan-chun's eldest son, Tsai Chen-nam's line, divided into the Cathay Trust, Shude Engineering, Lai Lai Shangri-La Hotel, Guoxin Foods and other enterprises, known as the "Guoxin Group"; Tsai Chen-chou's line, the second son, divided into the Taipei Tenth Credit Cooperative, Cathay Plastics, International Shipping, Ideal Engineering, Guoxi Printing and other enterprises, known as the "National Plastics Group"; Cai Chenyang, Cai Chenhong and Cai Chenwei Cai Wanchun's three youngest sons in charge of the Lai Lai Department Store, Lai Lai Construction and other enterprises, known as the "Xinglai Group Cai Wanchun's three youngest sons, Cai Chenyang, Cai Chenhong and Cai Chenwei, were in charge of Lailai Department Store, Lailai Construction and other enterprises, known as the "Xinglai Group"; his younger brother, Cai Wande, was also given a share of less important enterprises. Among them, Cai Chennan and Cai Chenzhou had great ups and downs in their careers; Cai Wande's career development was limited and he was not well known; while Cai Wanlin and Cai Wancai brothers had a smooth career development, and all of them have become the big consortiums in Taiwan nowadays.
Cai Wan-De, also a former shopping mall celebrity, was born in 1932 and graduated from the Department of Chinese Literature of Tokyo University of Arts and Sciences. In his early days, he was a director of the Japan Chinese Merchants Trade Association. Japan's green fruit input guild director, head of the office of Dawan Industrial Company in Japan, Taipei City, the fourth city councilor. early 70s, he served as Cathay Property Insurance Company, Cathay Trust and Investment Company, Cathay Plastics Company and Cathay Construction Company, chairman of the board of directors of Anderson Enterprises, general manager of the International Maritime Transportation Company, the supervisor of the Cathay Life Company. At that time, his position in the family business was higher than that of Tsai Wan-lin and Tsai Wan-cai. In the 1974 edition of Research on Group Enterprises in Taiwan, the core figures of the Cathay Group were Tsai Wan-chun and Lin Ting-li. Tsai Wan-Te and Tsai Chen-Nan, and did not have the names of the brothers Tsai Wan-Lin and Tsai Wan-Cai. Cai Wan Te married Chen Cai Lin and had four boys and one girl, Cai Zhi Liang, Cai Zhi Yang, Cai Zhi Ying, Cai Zhi Yi & Cai Zhi Ping. Although this lineage did not have a large family business and had little influence in society, there were still many family businesses. Cai Wande is still the director of the Cai family companies such as Cathay Property Insurance; the eldest son studied in the United States, is now also the managing director of Cathay Property Insurance Company, several other children just graduated from college, working in different family businesses.