Businessman Bach Thai Buoi: Competing fairly with French and Chinese capitalists

“Nhat Buoi, nhi Phu, tam Thu, tu Tin” is a popular saying when referring to the “four great rich men” famous in Bac Ky in the early 20th century. Among them, Nhat Buoi (ie Bach Thai Buoi) was the most successful businessman in the maritime business and was praised by people as the “lord of the Bac Ky river”.

Part 1: Lord of the Tonkin River

Bach Thai Buoi was born in 1874 in a peasant family in Yen Phu village, Thanh Tri district, Ha Dong province (now part of Hanoi ). His birth name was Do Thai Buoi. His father died early, so he had to help his mother earn a living by selling goods on the street. According to some documents, he attended a Catholic seminary, but due to poverty, he had to drop out. Later, due to his intelligence and cleverness, he was adopted by a wealthy man named Bach, so he had the opportunity to continue his studies, and from then on he changed his last name from Do to Bach.

After a period of studying the national language and French, Bach Thai Buoi worked as a secretary for a French trading company on Trang Tien Street, Hanoi, so people called him Ky Nam. In 1894, Bach Thai Buoi moved to work for a construction contractor. Here, he had the opportunity to come into contact with Western equipment and machinery as well as learn the French way of organizing and managing production.

With his fluent French and quickness in work, Bac Thai Buoi was chosen by the Governor of Tonkin Bonnet to introduce Vietnamese products at the Bordeaux Fair, France in 1895. Coming to France, Bach Thai Buoi had his eyes opened to Western civilization. He tried his best to explore and learn the French way of working as well as the art of business.

Returning home, with the spirit of a restless young man, full of excitement, Bach Thai Buoi determined to enter the business world.

With the capital he had saved and the knowledge he had accumulated, Bach Thai Buoi took on the contract to supply construction materials for the French to build the North-South railway. When the French built the Long Bien bridge, he applied to be a foreman. Working at the Long Bien bridge construction site, Bach Thai Buoi saw a business opportunity. Realizing that the construction site needed a large amount of wood, he pooled capital with a Frenchman to act as an agent to supply wood to the Indochina Railway Department and to several other companies. After obtaining a license, he traveled to many places to find and organize wood exploitation.

Businessman Bach Thai Buoi

After three years of hard work, Bach Thai Buoi had earned enough capital to start his own business. At first, he bought corn for export, but his luck was not on his side because it was a bad corn crop year. Because he did not supply enough corn according to the contract, he was sued and had to pay compensation. From this failure, he learned his first lesson in the business world.

In 1908, Bach Thai Buoi won the bid for a pawn shop in Nam Dinh , won the bid for market tax collection in Nam Dinh, Thanh Hoa, Vinh - Ben Thuy with the little capital left. He also opened a Western-style restaurant in Thanh Hoa. In the service sector, he did quite well in business, thanks to which his accumulated capital increased day by day.

After many years in the business world, Bach Thai Buoi decided to venture into a new field: river transport. At that time, because the railways and roads had not been completed, river and sea transport had the opportunity to develop.

Initially, Bach Thai Buoi rented three ships from AR Marty - a French shipping company that transported mail and passengers on the Tonkin River whose contract with the authorities had just expired. He named the three ships Phi Long, Phi Phuong, and Bai Tu Long, with a monthly rental fee of 200 Indochinese piastres per ship. Two passenger ships ran the Nam Dinh - Hanoi route, the other ran the Nam Dinh - Ben Thuy route.

In the early stages of the maritime transport industry, Bach Thai Buoi showed his talent and courage when he had to face Chinese and French opponents with strong power and rich experience in river transport. The first step was price competition. Bach Thai Buoi "attracted customers" by lowering fares, but when he lowered the price once, French and Chinese businessmen lowered the price twice. When he lowered the price twice, they lowered the price three times. The Hanoi - Nam Dinh route ticket price was 3-4 cents per person, one way, and it was only 3-5 cents.

Next was the competition in customer service. He offered free tea to passengers on the ship, while the Chinese offered tea and cakes. Bach Thai Buoi was facing bankruptcy. The revenue from the three ships was only about 15-20 Indochinese piastres a month, while the charter price was already 200 piastres.

In that extremely dangerous situation, Bach Thai Buoi used his spiritual strength to escape and rise up: when material things were difficult to deal with, he used psychological tactics. He hired speakers and posted posters all over the ports, calling for "Southerners to support Southerners", "Southerners do not carry gold to dump in the Ngo River". His call resonated directly into the hearts of the patriotic Vietnamese people, encouraging the spirit of compatriots. Bach Thai Buoi also hung a tube on the ship, so that anyone who saw his work was encouraging would put money in it to help the ship owner cover the loss. As a result, all passengers abandoned the Chinese ship and went to the Vietnamese ship. Thanks to that, Bach Thai Buoi won and his financial resources grew stronger and stronger, enough to buy the three ships he was renting.

Launching ceremony of Binh Chuan ship on September 7, 1919 (Source: History Library )

In 1912, Bach Thai Buoi opened the Nam Dinh - Hai Phong river route. In 1915, he bought the fleet and repair shop of Marty et d'Abbadie when the company went bankrupt. He quickly owned 12 more ships, meaning his fleet had 15 ships, running all over the river routes in the Northeast.

In 1916, Bach Thai Buoi moved his headquarters from Nam Dinh to Hai Phong and established the Bach Thai Shipping Company, with a yellow flag with an anchor and three red stars.

In 1917, after Desh Wanden - a French river transport company went bankrupt, he bought 6 more ships along with some barges and a ship repair shop. He named the ships Lac Long, Trung Trac, Trung Nhi, Hong Bang, Dinh Tien Hoang, Le Loi... to show his national pride and self-respect.

By 1919, Bach Thai Buoi's company had many branches in Nam Dinh, Vinh - Ben Thuy, Hanoi, Mong Cai, Hon Gai, Viet Tri, Da Nang, and Saigon. On September 7, 1919, Bach Thai Shipping Company made the Vietnamese maritime industry famous when it launched the Binh Chuan ship at Cua Cam (Hai Phong) entirely designed and built by Vietnamese people. The Binh Chuan ship was 42m long, 7.2m wide, 3.6m high, with a tonnage of 600 tons, a 450-horsepower engine, running on steam with a capacity of 8m3, and a speed of 8 nautical miles/hour. The first trip of the Binh Chuan ship was from Hai Phong to Saigon on September 17, 1919, stopping at the ports of Ben Thuy, Da Nang, and Quy Nhon. The Southern bourgeoisie had a bronze plaque engraved with the words “Au Binh Chuan, le premier bateau annamite à Saigon” as a souvenir for the ship. This event was considered a symbol of the “movement to revive the business world and promote implementation” of Vietnamese businessmen at that time.

After the launch of the Binh Chuan ship, Bach Thai Buoi expanded its operations throughout Indochina, to Hong Kong, China, Japan... But the peak of development of the Bach Thai Shipping Company was in the late 1920s and early 1930s, when Bach Thai Buoi owned over 40 ships, had up to 2,500 employees with offices and branches in Hanoi, Nam Dinh, Tuyen Quang, Viet Tri, Ben Thuy, Quy Nhon, Da Nang, Saigon. And from then on, Bach Thai Buoi was dubbed by his contemporaries as the "lord of the Bac Ky river" and was one of the four most successful businessmen in Bac Ky, including Hoang Trong Phu, Bui Huy Tin, Nguyen Huu Thu./.

Saigon Businessman