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Cheating rulers boosted lumber profits
By Guan Wenfei and Pan Zheng |
August 29, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AN old Jiading citizen named Zhou Qique recently donated one of his artifacts - a "cheating ruler" that he has kept for over 70 years - to the Jiading Archive. It was a tool used by businessmen of old days to cheat consumers.
In the early 1940s there were countless lumber workshops in Jiading, and Zhou was employed in Jiading's first lumber mill - Zhang Hengji Workshop. When he first entered the workshop, he accepted several days' "professional training" - actually it was the training for new workers how to cheat in the trade. According to what Zhou had learned, all the cheating secrets were contained in the bamboo rulers.
The bamboo ruler was made of bamboo's surface through complicated process by three times' boiling and drying, so as to make it pliable. It could even be rolled up and quite easy to carry in the pocket. However, such rulers were not easy to buy in shops, because at that time, businessmen and governmental officials colluded and monopolized the market. The government regulated that the lumber rulers could only be provided to selected lumber suppliers. Since common people didn't have access to the rulers, businessmen could easily dictate the terms of trade.
Zhou was quite smart and his boss soon allowed him to do business on his own. At that time, major lumber producers were located in Jiangxi and Anhui provinces. Usually sellers would bundle lumber into a raft and travel along the Yangtze River to various destinations. There were so many water ways in Jiading, therefore, the lumber measuring work would be done directly in the water, which gave some sellers opportunities to cheat.
However, some clever buyers realized that underwater tricks might make the lumber appear larger and demanded that measurement take place on the land. Then, it was time for cheating ruler to show up. Usually, the lumber sellers would hide different cheating rulers in their pockets with different measurements. One side of the cheating ruler was carved with the correct measures, while the other side held the inflated measurement, such as 90 percent ruler or 95 percent ruler, the latter made actually 0.95 foot inflated to 1 foot. The seller would show the right measures to the buyer and secretly turn it to the other side when measuring. It was such a quick movement that buyers seldom noticed it.
After the foundation of the People's Republic of China, the government started to promote fair trade, and cheating rulers were gradually phased out and disappeared into the annals of history. These bamboo rulers not only cast a vivid light on business practices of the past, but also serve as a good warning for current buyers to beware of clever tricks that could cost them cash.
In the early 1940s there were countless lumber workshops in Jiading, and Zhou was employed in Jiading's first lumber mill - Zhang Hengji Workshop. When he first entered the workshop, he accepted several days' "professional training" - actually it was the training for new workers how to cheat in the trade. According to what Zhou had learned, all the cheating secrets were contained in the bamboo rulers.
The bamboo ruler was made of bamboo's surface through complicated process by three times' boiling and drying, so as to make it pliable. It could even be rolled up and quite easy to carry in the pocket. However, such rulers were not easy to buy in shops, because at that time, businessmen and governmental officials colluded and monopolized the market. The government regulated that the lumber rulers could only be provided to selected lumber suppliers. Since common people didn't have access to the rulers, businessmen could easily dictate the terms of trade.
Zhou was quite smart and his boss soon allowed him to do business on his own. At that time, major lumber producers were located in Jiangxi and Anhui provinces. Usually sellers would bundle lumber into a raft and travel along the Yangtze River to various destinations. There were so many water ways in Jiading, therefore, the lumber measuring work would be done directly in the water, which gave some sellers opportunities to cheat.
However, some clever buyers realized that underwater tricks might make the lumber appear larger and demanded that measurement take place on the land. Then, it was time for cheating ruler to show up. Usually, the lumber sellers would hide different cheating rulers in their pockets with different measurements. One side of the cheating ruler was carved with the correct measures, while the other side held the inflated measurement, such as 90 percent ruler or 95 percent ruler, the latter made actually 0.95 foot inflated to 1 foot. The seller would show the right measures to the buyer and secretly turn it to the other side when measuring. It was such a quick movement that buyers seldom noticed it.
After the foundation of the People's Republic of China, the government started to promote fair trade, and cheating rulers were gradually phased out and disappeared into the annals of history. These bamboo rulers not only cast a vivid light on business practices of the past, but also serve as a good warning for current buyers to beware of clever tricks that could cost them cash.
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