Chien Chao-nan (1875-1923), industrialist, founded and ran the Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company.

Nanhai (Namhoi) hsien, Kwangtung, was the birthplace of Chien Chao-nan. His family had lived in the district for generations. However, in the late nineteenth century some impoverished members of the family migrated to Siam (Thailand) and other parts of Southeast Asia. Chien Chao-nan had two younger brothers and two sisters.

He went to Japan as a young man and established himself as a merchant, dealing principally in marine products. In 1894 his brother Chien Yu-chieh (Kan Yu-chieh), then 18 sui, went to Japan to help with the business. The youngest brother, Chien Ying-fu (Kan Ying-fu), remained at home in Kwangtung. About the turn of the century, the Chien brothers' business in Japan failed. Salvaging what they could of their assets, they left for Hong Kong. There the brothers established themselves as general merchants, trading not only with Japanese companies but also with the overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, particularly Siam, where an uncle, Chien Ming-shih (Kan Ming-shih) , had become a prosperous restaurant owner. Chien Chao-nan noticed that, increasingly, Chinese were smoking cigarettes, which had been introduced into China by the British- American Tobacco Company (BAT), which continued to dominate the market, although some Chinese businessmen had organized the Peiyang Tobacco Company in north China. Chien paid close attention to this growing industry. In 1905, when China boycotted American goods to protest discriminatory measures against the Chinese in the United States, Chien Chao-nan decided to implement his plan to establish a cigarette factory. In 1906 he organized the Nanyang Tobacco Company in Hong Kong. The name of the firm was selected because it was complementary to that of the Peiyang Tobacco Company in the north. In later years, however, it became identified with the other meaning of Nanyang, that is, Southeast Asia. The reason for this identification was that much of the success of the enterprise was due to the support given it, mainly for patriotic reasons, by overseas Chinese in that area.

The Nanyang Tobacco Company, one of the first Chinese firms to attempt the manufacture of a completely Western product, enjoyed some early success. But the boycott of American products soon ended, and the company's sales declined. The brothers persevered, however, and Chien Yu-chieh traveled to Southeast Asia in an attempt to boost sales. The youngest brother, Chien Ying-fu, joined the organization about this time, and he was later stationed in Singapore to handle the company's interests there. Sales gradually improved, and with financial assistance provided by their uncle in Bangkok, the brothers reorganized their business, still located in Hong Kong, in 1 909. It then changed its name to the Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company [Nan-yang hsiung-ti yen-ts'ao kungssu]. The success of the company during the next few years was helped by the rising tide of Chinese nationalism, which had the indirect effect of assisting its sales position in overseas Chinese communities. In Singapore, Chien Ying-fu, the youngest brother, made substantial donations to the republican movement headed by Sun Yat-sen. Although these contributions were made by him personally, the funds probably came from the company. The Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company became a public company in 1 9 1 5 ; it was one of the first Chinese enterprises to take that step. At that time it was capitalized at HK$1 million. Although the company established cigarette-manufacturing plants on the mainland, its business office remained in Hong Kong.

The enterprise was developing rapidly. In 1918 the Chien brothers decided on another reorganization and moved their headquarters to Shanghai. The capital was raised to HK$5 million, and greater public participation was invited. Among the new investors was Lao Nien-tsu, a well-known Cantonese merchant in Shanghai. He became a director at this time. The Hong Kong factories continued to operate as before, but the Shanghai plant was greatly expanded, and factories were established at Hankow and in Manchuria. The Chien brothers were among the earliest Chinese businessmen to recognize the value of modern advertising methods. After the First World War, they began a new propaganda and sales campaign on a scale far more extensive than any previously attempted by Chinese entrepreneurs. In part the campaign relied on the distribution of trinkets, but the larger and more significant element was the company's sustained emphasis on patriotism. One of the most effective Nanyang Brothers sales slogans was "Chinese Smoke Chinese Cigarettes." Their campaigns also built good will by providing indirect advertising for other Chinese tobacco manufacturers, most of whom operated on a very small scale. Chien Chao-nan, as head of the Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company, became one of the leaders of the Chinese business community in Shanghai and was elected a supervisor of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. He built one of the finest residences in the city and became known as a generous host. A devout Buddhist, he erected a private Buddhist shrine in his home. Chien died at Shanghai in 1923 when he was not yet 50.

After the death of his elder brother, Chien Yu-chieh assumed full control of the Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company. Plants in various cities were expanded, and the company began the cultivation of tobacco in Honan province and other areas. Although its operations could not be compared to those of the British-American Tobacco Company, it was nevertheless responsible for about 20 percent of the total output of all Chinese cigarette factories. During the 1 920's the company did present a growing threat to the foreign concern, which had previously had an overwhelmingly dominant position in the market. It designed its brands in such a way that each one would compete with a particular BAT brand.

By 1931, however, the Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company was encountering difficulties. Its competitors included not only the more powerful Western interests but also new and aggressive Chinese-owned cigarette factories. By the eve of Sino-Japanese hostilities in 1937, the financial condition of the enterprise was stated to be precarious. After the Japanese occupied the coastal areas of China and Hong Kong, the Nanyang Brothers plants were placed under Japanese military control and operation. The plants were repossessed by the company at the end of the war in 1945, but it lacked the funds to restore machinery and equipment. Financial control of the enterprise reportedly passed into other hands, though Chien Yu-chieh remained the nominal head of the company. In 1949 when the Chinese Communists gained control of the mainland, they gave their patronage to Chien Yu-chieh and acclaimed him as a member of the approved group called the national bourgeoisie. In the autumn of 1949, he was appointed a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, one of 15 representatives of industrial and commercial circles in China. After the establishment of the Central People's Government, Chien was named to membership on the financial-economic committee of the Government Administration Council. He was also made a member of the Central-South Military and Administrative Commission and a member of the provincial government council of Kwangtung. He was elected a deputy to the National People's Congress as a representative from Kwangtung. Chien Yuchieh died in 1957 at the age of about 80.