Historical investigation of handmade cigarettes

The formation, development and extinction of handmade cigarettes are closely related to the development of political and economic situation in China, and handmade cigarettes have played different roles in different periods. In the early days, it was a supplementary commodity of machine-made tobacco and the main economic income of refugees during the Anti-Japanese War. After liberation, it was also the main source of counterfeit and shoddy cigarettes. Cigarettes are products with high taxes and high profits. The special production conditions and organizational structure of handmade cigarettes lead to the nature of tax evasion, infringement and counterfeiting, and interference with the normal development of mechanism cigarettes. During the Republic of China, the National Government repeatedly ordered measures to restrict, control and ban handmade cigarettes, but all failed. After liberation, after the people's government constantly rectified and implemented monopoly management and cracked down on clean-up, handmade cigarettes gradually died out.

First, the formation of handmade cigarette industry.

China people have long used the custom of wrapping tobacco shreds in paper for smoking, but rolling tobacco shreds into a cylinder with paper for smoking is a manual imitation of cigarettes made by machines. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, this kind of imitation handmade cigarette appeared in Shanghai, Guangdong and other places in coastal trading ports. In the 25th year of Guangxu (1899), businessman Fan Qingji set up a handmade cigarette workshop in Shanghai. This workshop was born out of the dry cut tobacco workshop. The cut tobacco used is dry cut tobacco. Cut the roll paper according to the specified size, and insert a small wooden stick connected with the canvas into the Xiao Mu tray as a cigarette lighter. In operation, roll paper is put on canvas, some cut tobacco is put on paper, and rolled into cigarettes by hand, and then the cigarettes are sold in 50 boxes or 100 boxes. This kind of cigarette has no brand. Most of the cigarette workshops are female workers, with more than 50 employees at most and more than 50,000 cigarettes a day. In addition to Fan Qingji, there are several manual workshops in Shanghai, such as Xu and so on. Handmade cigarettes have simple equipment and low manufacturing cost. The cost per box is 100 yuan, which is only about110 of the cigarette cost of British American Tobacco Company. Our products are not only sold to Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but also exported to Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi.

With the spread of cigarettes, the production of handmade cigarettes has developed from coastal cities to the mainland.

After the founding of the Republic of China, the production of handmade cigarettes has developed. At first, it was mainly concentrated in flue-cured tobacco producing areas in Henan, Shandong and Anhui. At that time, as British American Tobacco Company tried to plant flue-cured tobacco in Henan, Shandong, Anhui and other places, farmers in these areas began to produce handmade cigarettes from inferior leaves of their own flue-cured tobacco.

Due to the large planting area of flue-cured tobacco and rich raw material resources, Henan Province has provided a continuous material basis for the production of handmade cigarettes. 19 17 Xuchang resident Liu used a cigarette pusher to roll up cigarettes. The following year, Liuji cigarette workshop was established, employing 20 workers and using the pipe pusher 10, which was the earliest manual cigarette workshop in Henan. Subsequently, a large number of handmade cigarettes were produced, including 360 manual workshops from 65438 to 0927 in Xuchang area, with more than 700 hand-pushed pipes, with an annual output of 30,000 boxes (50,000 cigarettes); From 1923 to 1936, there are more than 80 villages in Huiguo Town, Gong County, with a daily output of 4-8 boxes; 193 1, Zhengzhou has grown to more than 500, with about 2,500 employees. In addition, there are Pingdingshan and Luohe areas. Product sales are not only in this province, but also shipped to the northwest.

Handmade cigarettes in Shandong Province are concentrated in Weifang and Jinan. Weifang's handmade cigarettes were founded in 19 14, which is a workshop run by Zhuang Zhaofu, a resident of this city. At first, people used manual pushers to push tobacco. After two or three years, an iron cutter was built from Qingzhou Qilu Iron Works. From then on, while cutting cigarettes, the business was booming, and it soon developed to zhang jia zhuang in the north of the city, making Weifang's handmade cigarette households reach twenty or thirty. The earliest handmade cigarette workshop in Jinan is Huashuncheng, which was established in September of 193 1. It invited two technicians from Henan, Fan Hai and Hou Ruizhen, who studied cigarettes, and closed down in May of the following year due to poor management. Since then, there have been 26 Cheng 'an tobacco companies and Meng Guangzhong workshops. In 1935, there are 12 1 multiple registration certificates. All cigarettes are sold in this city.

Handmade cigarettes in Anhui Province are concentrated in Fengyang, Bengbu and Wuhu areas. In the 1920s, poor people in Fengyang began to make cigarettes by hand, using wooden clippers. Four cigarettes were produced at a time, and about 20,000 cigarettes could be rolled out every day. After the trial production was successful, the hand-operated cigarette maker produced 6420 cigarettes per hour. Soon, Bengbu Yuanchang made a hand-cranked cigarette machine, which is very famous. In the early days, Wuhu Park Road Volkswagen Company had a large handmade cigarette workshop with 92 employees, 193 1.

Handmade cigarettes have low cost and are suitable for low-income people. At the same time, in addition to Henan, Shandong and Anhui, hand-made cigarettes in Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Guizhou and Yunnan have also formed large-scale production.

Second, the development of handmade cigarettes.

Enterprises such as British American Tobacco Company and Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company, the mainstay of cigarette industry, are concentrated in coastal areas such as Shanghai, Tianjin and Qingdao. From 65438 to 0937, after the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, these areas fell one after another, which made it impossible for the mainland to import machine-made cigarettes, and the mainland lacked normal cigarette supply. Because of this, handmade cigarettes came into being and developed rapidly. Its main development areas are in the areas ruled by the Kuomintang government that have not yet fallen, namely Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and other places. These areas have their own tobacco resources, on the one hand, they are processed and produced by local residents; On the other hand, it was run by foreign refugees, forming a huge wartime industry. During the Anti-Japanese War, the development of handmade cigarettes was different in different places, and there were roughly two situations.

In the first case, due to the shortage of cigarettes, residents in the province use local tobacco resources to organize hand-made cigarette workshops for processing and sales.

Handmade cigarettes made of flue-cured tobacco and sun-cured tobacco from Hanling in Xinchang, Shengxian and Pingyang, Zhejiang Province have developed rapidly. Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Taizhou, Lishui, Jinhua, Quzhou and other places have set up factories for manufacturing and sales. 1940 In June, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Finance instructed all districts and counties to implement the Interim Measures for the Administration of Handmade Cigarette Factories promulgated by the National Government, allowing merchants to raise funds to set up factories and organize handmade cigarette factories. There are hundreds of handmade cigarette factories in this province.

Handmade cigarettes in Guangdong Province mainly take advantage of Nanxiong tobacco leaves, and dozens of handmade cigarette factories have been set up in Qujiang, Nanxiong, Lianxian, Chaozhou and Meizhou.

Fujian Fuzhou, Linsen, Changle, Lianjiang and other counties have traditional handmade cigarette workshops. Following 1937, Zhangzhou, Longyan, Xiapu and Gutian also started hand-made cigarettes. In the 1940s, handmade cigarette factories spread all over the province. According to statistics, from 1934 to 1949, there were 500 handmade cigarette factories in Fujian, producing more than 1000 brands.

From 65438 to 0944 in Yunnan, with the expansion of flue-cured tobacco planting area, cigarette sales increased. In Kunming, Cairo, Dabaoguang, Luyang, Jingjing and Tiancheng successively opened cigarette factories. From 65438 to 0946, handmade cigarettes developed from provincial capitals to Zhaotong, Yuxi and other counties, and the number of households increased from several to dozens.

In the second case, due to the influx of refugees from enemy-occupied areas, especially those from Anhui, Henan, Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other places, they used to engage in handmade cigarettes in their hometown. When we get to the home front, we can live by hand. Most of the cigarettes originally produced were wrapped in white paper, without brand name, and the price went with the market, so they were called "refugee cigarettes". After the National Government promulgated the Interim Measures for the Administration of Handmade Cigarette Factories, businessmen began to organize refugees to set up hand-made cigarette factories, so they gradually became formal.

A large number of refugees and wounded soldiers poured into Guizhou, many of whom had the skill of handmade cigarettes, and made cigarettes with local flue-cured tobacco in Guizhou. Later, these refugees set up hand-made cigarette workshops in Cengong County, Bijie County, huangping county, Guiyang City and other places, forming a scale. After seeing that handmade cigarettes are profitable, local people began to join the industry. At that time, there were more than 100 handmade cigarette households in Fuquan, Weng 'an, Guiding and Longli counties alone. Guiyang is also the center of handmade cigarette production. 194 1 year, there are 17 handmade cigarette factories. 1943 increased to 40; 1944 increased to 45.

Guangxi refugees brought hand-made tobacco technology and hand-made tobacco machines, which made the traditional hand-made tobacco industry in Guilin, Liuzhou and Wuzhou develop rapidly. 1938- 1944, four new cigarette factories were built in Guilin, bringing the number of cigarette factories in the city to 66, and there are 267 handmade wooden cigarette factories with 699 employees, with an annual output of 730,084 cigarettes. Liuzhou 1938- 194 1 year, the number of handmade cigarettes has increased to 26; 1944 reached more than 40. In addition, the handmade cigarettes in Wuzhou and Wuming have also developed. From 65438 to 0944, Guilin and Liuzhou fell one after another, and handmade cigarette factories all over Guangxi moved to Sichuan and Guizhou.

Sichuan handmade cigarettes are concentrated in Xiushan, Pingkai, Youyang, Qianjiang, Wanxian and other places, with hundreds of factories. For example, there are only 24 handmade cigarette workshops in19.37 million counties, 52 in 1938 and 222 in 1942. Handmade cigarette workshops are mostly run by refugees from Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, among which the larger one is Qianjiang Wangjinji cigarette factory run by Anhui refugees. The factory employs 70 workers and has 20 wooden cigarette making machines, which produce 3-4 cigarettes a day.

Before the Anti-Japanese War in Jiangxi, there were few handmade cigarettes. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, refugees rolled unlicensed refugee cigarettes with tobacco leaves in the province. Handmade cigarette workshops are located in Jingdezhen, Fuzhou, Xinyu, Ji 'an, Ganzhou and other places, with more than 400 workshops, including more than 300 in Fuzhou, especially in Linchuan, Cheng Nan, Nanfeng and other counties, with hundreds of cigarette brands.

During the Anti-Japanese War in Hunan, handmade cigarettes were concentrated in Changsha, Chenzhou, Changde, Loudi, Shaoyang and other places in western Hunan, reaching hundreds, most of which were built by refugees. The largest area is Xiangxi, the whole region 1943, 159. The largest handmade cigarette factory is Changsha Huazhong Tobacco Co., Ltd., with more than 1000 workers.

During the period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, great changes have taken place in the traditional handmade cigarette industrial bases in enemy-occupied areas such as Henan, Anhui and Shandong. Due to the shortage of cigarettes in Kuomintang-ruled areas, some handmade cigarette households fled to the southwest rear, where they set up handmade cigarette workshops. The remaining handmade cigarette households are still engaged in cigarette business and flow into the Kuomintang-controlled areas through various channels. There are thousands of handmade cigarettes, hundreds of hand-operated iron machines, more than 20,000 employees and more than 30 million sunrise cigarettes in Henan Province. Luoyang and Xuchang are areas where users of handmade cigarettes are concentrated, among which the number of employees in Huiguo Town, Gongxian County, Xuchang is nearly 1 10,000 households. Pan Zhai Workshop in the south of Luoyang, yi river is very famous. A hand-operated iron can produce 70-90 boxes of cigarettes every month. In addition to local supply, products are mainly sold to Shaanxi, Gansu and other places. Handmade cigarettes are widely distributed in Anhui, especially in tobacco-producing areas. At most, there were 340 small handmade cigarette factories in Bengbu; 200 boxes of cigarettes a day, 100 varieties. 1937, Fuyang began to produce handmade cigarettes. By 1940, there are more than 500 factories and thousands of sporadic cigarettes. Well-known enterprises in the province include Shouxian Changhuai Handmade Cigarette Agency and Fuyang Hongda Handmade Cigarette Factory. Shandong handmade cigarettes are concentrated in Weifang. In the early days of Japanese occupation, handmade cigarettes developed rapidly, and the number of 1940 increased from more than 20 to more than 400. After the Pacific War broke out the following year, the Japanese army took over Qingdao British American Tobacco Company and established Japanese-funded Qingdao Huabei Tobacco Company to rule cigarettes, so handmade cigarettes were excluded. Since then, Weifang has a total of 150 registered households, and only 52 households have actually opened.

During the period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the development of handmade cigarettes in different places was unbalanced. Affected by the war, there was a shortage of machine-made cigarettes in Kuomintang-controlled areas, which led to the rapid development of handmade cigarettes. 1943 On April 7th, the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Finance of the National Government made statistics on the number and output of handmade cigarettes in the provinces in the Kuomintang-controlled area on 1942. See table 1 for details:

Table 1: 1942 Table of Handmade Paper Cigarette Factories and Their Output by Province

(Source: According to the archives of Nanjing Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, China Second Historical Archives III- 18 1 1)

Judging from the official statistics of the above-mentioned national government, there is still a big gap with the actual situation of the provinces.

After War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's victory, the traffic resumed and the cigarette market gradually recovered, but the situation was different in different places. At first, the domestic cigarette factories in coastal areas were destroyed by the war, and the supply of cigarettes was relatively tight, which led to a large influx of American cigarettes. The market of handmade cigarettes is narrow, and consumers are limited to the lower class citizens and farmers in the city. Handmade cigarette industry in various places is depressed. On August 29th, 1946, Economic Weekly published Zhang Yibin's article "Saving China's Current Cigarette Industry", which wrote: "After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, there were 69 original cigarette factories in Guangzhou, but now due to the influx of smuggled foreign goods, the cigarette factories were the first to close down, with only 10 left. ..... In Chaoshan and Meizhou, most of the original more than 50 cigarette factories have been closed, leaving only more than 10 self-made cigarette factories, and sales have been hit hard. Only sold to lower-class citizens or rural areas. Qujiang cigarette factory has also closed down, and more than a dozen have a bleak future. " In inland areas, due to the gradual entry of cigarettes from coastal areas and other places, local prices have risen and cigarette sales have dropped sharply. Some cigarette factories run by refugees have closed down and returned home, and the handmade cigarette factories in the city have been dissolved or moved to the county seat to continue production. For example, the hand-made cigarettes in Xiangxi, Hunan Province, which flourished for a while, began to be neglected, and only a few owners continued to operate; A large number of handmade cigarette industries in Guiyang, Guizhou moved out, which made the relatively closed handmade cigarette industry in Tongren County develop.

After a period of time, the procurement of raw materials for flue-cured tobacco and sun-cured tobacco and the sales channels of cigarette products resumed smoothly, and handmade cigarettes also began to recover. From 65438 to 0946, there were more than 30 cigarette factories in Liuzhou, Guangxi and 4 in Yishan. The number of handmade cigarette factories in Guiyang, Guizhou has been restored to 22. There are 100 cigarette manufacturers in Zhejiang province, and semi-mechanical and manual cigarette factories are concentrated in Ningbo, Wenzhou, Taizhou, Quzhou and Lishui. Each factory has 5-6 wood machines, 5-6 employees and 50,000 cigarettes a month. Shandong handmade cigarettes are thriving again in Weifang, Yidu, Huai 'an, Changyi, Shouguang and other places, with more than 500 households in Weifang Chengguan alone. However, the good times did not last long. With the restoration and establishment of British American Tobacco Company, Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company and National Capital Tobacco Factory, handmade cigarettes are once again affected. Most of the handmade cigarette factories in Ningbo, Wenzhou, Quzhou and Taizhou, Zhejiang, are closed. All the handmade cigarette factories in Shaoxing and Lishui closed down or closed down; 24 newly opened handmade cigarette factories in Jinhua and Lanxi counties closed 19. The longest construction period is 14 months, and the shortest is only 2 months. 1948 There are six handmade cigarettes in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, but 1949 has no handmade cigarette factory.

During this period, handmade cigarettes in the liberated areas developed rapidly. At that time, civil war broke out and traffic was blocked. On the one hand, the liberated areas face the economic blockade of the national government; On the other hand, the liberated areas also imposed an embargo on American cigarettes and cigarettes produced in the Kuomintang-controlled areas. In order to realize self-help in production, hundreds of cigarette factories have been opened in liberated areas such as Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei, Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan and Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia. According to Shijiazhuang Daily on June 4th 1948, there was no private cigarette factory before liberation. At that time, stubborn American cigarettes such as "Coffee" and "Mi Xu Lin" were very popular. After liberation, stubborn American goods were banned from entering the country, and handmade cigarettes mushroomed. As of September, there are 60 handmade cigarette factories in this city. About 10 a day, 89944 a month (20 PCs per box 10, 20 PCs per box). "

Third, the demise of handmade cigarettes.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the national economy was in the stage of adjustment and recovery, communication between urban and rural areas was difficult, and people's purchasing power was relatively low, while the cost of handmade cigarettes was low and the tax amount was low (at that time, the tax amount of handmade cigarettes was about 30% lower than that of cigarettes with the same mechanism). The sales of machine-made cigarettes are affected, and hand-made cigarettes form a certain market. There are more than 600 hand-made cigarette households and employees in Guizhou Province.

More than 3000 people, the minimum monthly output is 500 ~ 1000 boxes, sold locally. The number of handmade cigarettes in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province is concentrated, reaching 10000 in winter. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it has developed rapidly and its output has exceeded that of machine-made tobacco. At that time, there were 488 registered handmade cigarette households in Nanjing, 54 applied for registration and 50 registered temporarily, totaling 597 households.

At present, there are 2685 registered woodworking machines 1290. Handmade cigarettes are large in all parts of Anhui. According to the statistics of Chuxian 1950 in the first half of the year, there are more than 5,000 handmade cigarette households. At the beginning of 1949, there were 476 registered handmade cigarette households/kloc-0, with an annual output of about10.7 million boxes.

According to the statistics of the representatives of the first national cigarette industry conference held by the Ministry of Food Industry 1950 in June, there are 15279 handmade cigarette households in China, with a monthly output of 133 14 boxes. See Table 2 for the specific regional distribution:

Table 2: Statistics of National Handmade Cigarette Users from June 65438 to June 0950

(Source: Draft document of the first national cigarette industry conference of the Ministry of Light Industry. )

The existence of a large number of handmade cigarettes is not conducive to the development of cigarette industry and affects the national tax revenue. The local people's government standardized the management of handmade cigarettes. There are more than 300 handmade cigarette households in Tianjin. In order not to hinder the development of machine-made cigarettes, the industrial and commercial bureau is responsible for cleaning them up and making them all switch to production. In Guizhou Province, the registration of newly-opened handmade cigarette workshops was stopped first, then scattered handmade cigarette factories (households) were concentrated for production, and then joint action was organized. After rectification, the number of handmade cigarette households has gradually decreased. Tobacco monopoly is implemented in Northeast China, and handmade cigarettes are definitely abolished.

1950- 195 1 year, rural land reform was implemented, farmers were given land, and hand-made cigarettes were gradually reduced. After the urban democratic reform, most of the handmade cigarettes stopped production, and a few developed into cigarette factories. 1950 In May, the State Council and the Ministry of Finance issued the Monopoly Regulations, which stipulated that raw materials such as cigarette roll paper and aluminum paper should be monopolized, further limiting the development of handmade cigarettes. In July of the same year, the Ministry of Food Industry promulgated the Interim Measures for Handmade Cigarettes (Draft). 1956, the socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce was completed, and all manual cigarette workshops and individual cigarette households were either joint ventures or banned.

1962 with the implementation of the rural people's commune regulations (draft), the state has opened some free markets and allowed commune teams to set up collective sideline businesses and individual household sideline businesses. Handmade cigarette factories, shops and community groups in some old areas have flourished again and gradually spread from rural market towns to small and medium-sized cities. The number of people who make handmade cigarette tools and process tobacco on behalf of customers has also increased. Some people engaged in handmade cigarettes are decentralized workers, residents, vendors and schools that have failed the exam. Most of the tobacco leaves needed to produce handmade cigarettes come from bazaars, and some vendors deliver them to your door. Most of the required paper and wrapping paper were stolen by cigarette factories, paper mills and printing houses, and some of them were obtained through relationships. Handmade cigarettes are not only of low quality, but also harmful to people's health. Because of this, some areas where handmade cigarettes are rampant have been banned by the government. 1963 On August 6th, the Central Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Light Industry, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Supply and Marketing Corporation jointly issued the Notice on Prohibiting the Production and Sale of Handmade Cigarettes, reiterating that cigarettes are only produced by cigarette factories affiliated to the Ministry of Light Industry, and no other unit or individual may produce or hand-made cigarettes. Strictly prohibit the production, confiscate cigarette materials and destroy manufacturing tools.

During the Cultural Revolution, the management of cigarette production and sales was seriously damaged, and handmade cigarettes developed quietly. After 1978, due to the decline of machine-made tobacco production and insufficient market supply, hand-made tobacco took the opportunity to rise. Especially in Anhui, Henan and other areas, traditional self-sufficient handmade cigarette households have formed some groups that illegally produce cigarettes. At first, handmade cigarettes were mostly self-packaged cigarettes without trademarks, and later evolved into brand-name cigarettes copied from state-owned cigarette factories.

From 65438 to 0982, Pingdingshan, Kaifeng, Xuchang and other areas in Henan Province were engaged in the production of fake cigarettes. Among them, there are 26 brigades in Zhanghua Township, Wuyang County, including 24 brigades engaged in handmade cigarettes, 270 households in Meiwan Brigade, and 23/kloc-0 households engaged in handmade cigarettes. From 65438 to 0984, nearly 20 counties in Anhui were engaged in the processing of fake cigarettes, and some grass-roots towns even became "professional townships" and "professional villages" for producing fake cigarettes. The means of production have also developed from manual to semi-mechanized and mechanized. Counterfeit cigarettes include well-known brands such as China, Hongtashan and Peony. These handmade fake cigarettes have established sales networks in many places. Production continued until the 1990s.

On September 23rd, 1983, the State Council issued the Regulations on Tobacco Monopoly. Regulation: It is forbidden to produce handmade cigarettes for profit and prohibit the sale of handmade cigarettes. 1984 65438+1October 6th, the State Council agreed to change the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Light Industry into the National Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, which is a set of institutions with China Tobacco Corporation. Therefore, with the cooperation of the government, public security, industry and commerce departments, tobacco monopoly bureaus around the country began a joint crackdown. 65438-0986 The State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the Price Bureau jointly issued the Notice on Strengthening the Management of Cigarette Market, and resolutely banned handmade cigarettes.

1991on June 29th, the 20th meeting of the 7th the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) passed the tobacco monopoly law of People's Republic of China (PRC), which brought tobacco monopoly into the legal track. 65438-0993 the State Council issued a notice on further strengthening monopoly management. With the strengthening of tobacco monopoly, handmade cigarettes gradually died out.