The temperature at Qingdao Port in May is gradually cooling. However, compared to the temperature, the atmosphere here did gradually become hotter, and for no other reason, the first Qingdao Autumn Commodity Fair officially kicked off in the Qingdao Exhibition Hall on May 1, 1648.

The Partly Completed Grand Expo Pavilion with hundreds of rooms (it may take several years to complete the building) has now become a landmark of Qingdao Port, and the foreign exchange exchange, the trading registration center, the Commercial Clearing Bank, the Banco de la Plata, the Customs, the Tax Office, the Commercial Arbitration Agency and other units have been stationed in the pavilion area half a month ago, and then began to officially operate.

In the exhibition area, major companies have also applied for booths on the grass the size of two large football fields, and have also sent some technical personnel to communicate with customers. Almost all domestic enterprises in the East Coast Republic of China have sent personnel to participate in the exhibition, such as the famous Ping An Iron and Steel Factory (mainly engaged in the export of steel bars), the North Pharmaceutical Factory (the export of aspirin, sodium sulfate, ferrous sulfide, cod liver oil, etc.), the North Arsenal (flintlock rifles, bayonets, armor, sabers, artillery, etc.), the North Chemical Factory (the export of sulfuric acid, soda ash, soap, etc.), the dye factory (various colors of dyes), the two major domestic textile factories (launched a variety of new fabrics), the three major shipyards (mainly engaged in the manufacture of flute ships, warships, special ships), The First Machinery Factory (mainly engaged in metal farm tools, hardware tools, small machinery), Nanfang Vehicle Factory (mainly engaged in all kinds of animal trucks, buses) and Dafeng Food Processing Factory (mainly engaged in refined flour, soybean oil, soybean meal) and so on.

These companies represent the best of today's industry and agriculture in the Eastern Republic, and this time, the achievements of 17 years of development are brought together at the fair, which is presented to customers from all over the world, mainly in Europe. to better promote East Coast products. It is believed that the East Coast commodity is of high quality and low price, as well as technological advancement. It is impossible for businessmen who come to the exhibition not to be tempted. Perhaps they would have taken into account the remnants of the medieval guild system, trade barriers, local protections, and the mercantilist principles that monarchs had embraced. There will inevitably be a lot of resistance to selling these East Coast goods in the Old World, but it shouldn't be a problem if they are sold on a small scale. As for the future expansion of sales, it will have to seek the support of the local aristocracy.

Captain Kuayt got up early this morning, he has been living on the east coast for nearly a month, and he has been staying in Qingdao Harbor almost entirely for the last half month. Now he had two ships, under the management of his eldest son, and according to the agreement, they should arrive in the port of Qingdao in the next few days laden with lead, tin, zinc, graphite, mercury, sulphur, and other supplies that had sailed from Amsterdam. However, it is difficult to explain the matter of sea voyages. It is too normal for ships to arrive late or a month or two early, and the Qingdao Autumn Commodity Fair only lasts for a month, and he can only pray to God for his son to arrive in Qingdao with two ships smoothly.

Captain Kuayt opened a special account in the Bank of Commercial Settlement, which now contains deposits of more than 4,000 pesos. In addition, he had several banker's acceptances, most of them from the Amsterdam Exchange Bank, but unfortunately the Dutch banking system did not have direct contact with the East Coast, and he had to see if he could find other merchants to exchange them on the exchange market, otherwise he would have too little money available.

In today's Qingdao trading market, only commercial papers issued by five banks, namely Banco de la Plata, Banco de Santo Jorge, Banco de São Paulo, and Banco de Palermo, are recognized, and the validity of the others is not recognized. These five banks form a consortium of banks to provide financing and exchange services for the Qingdao trading market (the exchange is mainly carried out by the Commercial Clearing Bank and Banco de la Plata), with gold marks (28 ounces of gold), yuan or yuan as the bookkeeping/circulation currency.

The choice of currency depends on the customer's own wishes. If the gold mark is chosen, its certificates of deposit, bills of exchange, cheques, and other commercial papers can be used throughout Europe, at least on the Mediterranean coast; If you choose the yuan or the yuan, then it can only be used on the east coast, although the St. George's Bank in Europe also recognizes the validity of commercial paper in the yuan/yuan as the unit of account. But they will first ask you to exchange huàn into a bill in gold marks or bank lira, otherwise other banks or merchants in Europe will probably not accept it.

This syndicate system is exclusive, and they refuse to recognize the validity of bank bills outside the system here. To be able to squeeze into this circle you have to get the unanimous consent of the five banks, the East Bank's own Northwest Reclamation Bank, the United Industrial Credit Bank, and the Venice Bank of the Republic of Venesia are currently negotiating their access, the first of which is basically no major obstacle, but the Venetian Bank of Circulation has encountered a little trouble, because the Genoese oppose their entry into the banking system, and difficult negotiations are still going on on and off.

There were already a lot of merchant ships in the harbor, mostly Portuguese ships, a few from New England and Virginia in North America, and of course Dutch merchant ships from Brazil, but not many. Captain Couay sat on the second-floor balcony of a restaurant at the top of the hill, sipping a Westlake beer and looking out into the bay.

Today, Qingdao Bay has begun to take shape, with a ship repair yard, a lighthouse, a dock and a boom called "steam power", which is quite complete and modern. There are two highways at the wharf, which effectively divert the pressure of freight and passenger transport, one of which is partly for passenger transport and partly for freight, both transported by four-wheeled carriages; The other track, which was carried back and forth by special horse-drawn carriages, was responsible for transporting bulky goods such as grain, steel bars, munitions, etc.

There are also some small restaurants and small hotels that have sprung up in the dock area, mainly engaged in catering and accommodation business. Some of these inns also had a few prostitutes who had come from Italy to do business - the Italians were very good at this, and were very popular with the over-energetic sailors. Sailors like to go to the docks to drink spirits and have fun after making money. But they didn't dare to make trouble, and the hapless people who had been in trouble in the past were said to have been sent to a place called "Australia" by the "black skinned police" (Home Office police) on the east coast, which sounded like a place to never return.

Merchants from all over the world who came to Qingdao Port to trade carried a large amount of goods, almost everything! The Portuguese and Dutch are more knowledgeable, and they will bring goods from the East Coast Import Zero Tariff List to sell; The English, on the other hand, did not have the same great ability to organize their supplies, and they exported their own specialties, such as Virginia tobacco, New England pickled fish and dried fish, and cotton from the Spanish colonies of Florida and Georgia; Although the two countries were at war at this time, there were still two brave Spanish captains who did not know where to find out the news, and then risked being confiscated by the people on the east coast, carrying a whole shipload of wool and a large number of horses to the port of Qingdao - high-quality horses from Europe were also goods with zero import duties.

The merchants who landed were registered at the customs office and then went to the tavern and inn to settle down. Captains or merchants who have finished their rest usually rush to the outside of the exhibition hall, where they are first shocked by the grand building and then guided by the waiter to exchange huàn currency at the foreign exchange exchange.

In the port of Qingdao, direct transactions between foreign currencies are not allowed, and cash transactions are also not supported here (transactions of more than 100 yuan must be transferred to the bank, and almost no one will have a transaction amount of less than 100 yuan). The foreign currency carried by the merchants must first be traded in the foreign exchange in the exhibition hall area, the transaction is free, the merchants negotiate the price with the foreign exchange dealer (some companies established by the public) according to their own judgment, and then each transaction price is reported to the foreign exchange exchange staff as the intermediary to register and publish on the big blackboard.

Transaction prices are recorded in yuan, a non-circulating currency that is only deposited in the East Coast banking system, and is the only currency for transactions at the Qingdao Autumn Commodity Fair. Customers can choose three units of yuan, yuan and mark when depositing, but the mark is generally only used for bulk trade settlement with Genoa, of course, if the merchants are willing to settle in this unit in private; The yuan is the currency in circulation that can be used for commercial activities below 100 yuan, but the yuan is the accounting currency, and the price is fixed at 2 grams of gold, which is also a concept that the East Coast is gradually promoting (to warm up for the gold standard in the future).

In order to strengthen the concept of the circle, but also to facilitate everyone's understanding, before the Qingdao Autumn Commodity Trade Expo, the State Administration of Precious Metals on the East Coast recently revised the conversion ratio of yuan and circle to 1:1. The fair was a festival for retail merchants, and the captains could go to the bank to open a bank account and convert it into a dollar after exchanging the foreign currency they brought with them into an east coast silver dollar. Of course, you can also directly ask the foreign currency exchange merchants to issue you a commercial paper with a yuan account, or even you can go directly to the commercial clearing bank to open an account, knowing that this bank accepts foreign currency deposits.

At 10 a.m. East Coast time, the first Qingdao Autumn Commodity Expo officially opened. Captain Couay put down his beer glass, and although his son didn't make it on time, he decided to take a look inside the fair. (To be continued......)