十、托马斯·萨瑟兰：汇丰银行创始人
Thomas Sutherland: Founder of HSBC
19世纪的远东正处于全球贸易与金融格局快速重组的时期，中国同苏格兰间的经贸往来也逐渐加深。托马斯·萨瑟兰正是在此阶段崭露头角的苏格兰金融界人士。从阿伯丁的一名普通文员，到成为汇丰银行的主要创办人，他的经历是19世纪东西方资本流动和金融合作的重要缩影。
In the 19th century, as global trade networks and financial systems were being reshaped, economic and trade ties between China and Scotland were also gradually deepening. Thomas Sutherland was among the Scottish figures who played an important role in this evolving relationship. Beginning his career as a clerk in Aberdeen, he later became one of the key founders of HSBC, helping establish a financial institution that connected Chinese commerce with international markets. His career offers a glimpse into the emergence of cross-border finance and the early foundations of financial cooperation between China and the Scotland.
（一）从北海文员到远东开拓者
From a North Sea Clerk to a Far Eastern Pioneer
图：托马斯·萨瑟兰
Image：Thomas Sutherland
1834年，托马斯·萨瑟兰出生于苏格兰阿伯丁的一个普通家庭。这里面向波涛汹涌的北海，自古便是造船匠与水手的摇篮，也赋予了萨瑟兰坚韧不拔、不屈不挠、敢于冒险的苏格兰民族性格。少年时期，由于家境艰难，他早早辍学，进入铁行轮船公司当文员，在日复一日的航运日志记录中逐渐了解了全球贸易的运行方式。19世纪50年代，这位20岁出头的年轻人被公司派往香港，从最基础的船员、调度擢升为公司在亚洲的业务主管。
Born in 1834 into a modest family in Aberdeen, Scotland, Thomas Sutherland grew up in a city facing the stormy North Sea. Long renowned as a cradle of shipbuilders and seafarers, Aberdeen instilled in him the resilience, determination, tenacity, and adventurous spirit that would come to define his Scottish character. Forced by financial hardship to leave school at a young age, Thomas Sutherland joined the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company as a clerk. Day after day, as he copied shipping logs, he gradually came to grasp the vast currents of global commerce. In the early 1850s, while still in his early twenties, he was posted to Hong Kong, where he steadily advanced from shipboard work and dispatching to become the company's chief representative in Asia.
1863年，年仅29岁的萨瑟兰在香港主持成立了著名的香港黄埔船坞公司并担任首届主席。他将阿伯丁北海以及格拉斯哥克莱德河畔全球领先的蒸汽船只维修技术与现代码头管理经验引入中国，为中外商船筑起了避风良港，并大量吸纳、培训了中国本地第一代现代造船工匠与机械工人。萨瑟兰基于实业建立起了社会声望，为他此后谱写金融传奇奠定了坚实基础。
In 1863, at just twenty-nine years old, Thomas Sutherland oversaw the establishment of the renowned Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company and became its first chairman. Drawing on one of the world's most advanced steamship repair technologies and modern dockyard management practices from his native Aberdeen and the shipbuilding hub along Glasgow's River Clyde, he introduced these innovations to China. Under his leadership, the dockyard became a safe haven for both Chinese and foreign merchant vessels, while also recruiting and training China's first generation of modern shipbuilders and mechanical engineers. Through these industrial achievements, Thomas Sutherland earned widespread respect and established the reputation that would later provide the foundation for his legendary career in finance.
（二）创办汇丰银行
Founding HSBC
图：汇丰首座总行大楼（图片正中）
Image：HSBC's First Head Office (centre)
1864年，在乘船从香港前往汕头出差的途中，30岁的萨瑟兰在甲板上偶然翻阅到《布莱克伍德杂志》关于介绍英国银行业务体系的文章，兴起创办银行的念头。当时英格兰银行盛行中央垄断模式，而苏格兰则推崇合伙制、服务本地社群、支持地方工商的自由银行传统。萨瑟兰认为，在香港运营但总部在海外的外国银行不能满足中国本地业务需求。虽然没有银行工作经验，萨瑟兰起草了招股说明书，并成功说服了香港多家主要商行和华商巨头入股。1865年3月3日，银行在香港皇后大道获多利行正式开业，最终采用“汇丰”为名，寓意汇款丰裕。
In 1864, while sailing from Hong Kong to Shantou on a business trip, the thirty-year-old Thomas Sutherland chanced upon an article in Blackwood's Magazine describing Britain's banking system. Reading it on the ship's deck, he conceived the idea of founding a bank. At the time, England's banking industry was dominated by the centralized model of the Bank of England, whereas Scotland maintained a tradition of free banking built on partnerships, community service, and support for local commerce. Thomas Sutherland successfully spotted the gap in the market for a local bank with international reach. Although he had never worked in banking, he drafted a prospectus and persuaded Hong Kong's leading British trading firms and influential Chinese merchants to become founding shareholders. On 3 March 1865, the new bank opened for business at Wardley House on Queen's Road. It would soon become known as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), adopting the Chinese name Huifeng, signifying "abundant remittances and enduring prosperity."
（三）助力洋务运动
Supporting China's Self-Strengthening Movement
图：清政府在洋务运动中营建的江南制造总局（左上）、福州船政局（左下）、唐胥铁路（右上）、北洋舰队（右下）一景。
Image: The Jiangnan Arsenal (top left), the Fuzhou Navy Yard (bottom left), the Tangxu Railway (top right), and the Beiyang Fleet (bottom right), all established by the Qing government during the Self-Strengthening Movement.
19世纪中后期，萨瑟兰带领下的汇丰银行深度参与中国洋务运动。当时，清朝洋务派代表人物李鸿章、左宗棠等人大力兴办中国近代军事与民用工业。面对巨大资金缺口，汇丰银行多次为清政府修筑早期铁路、筹建新式北洋海军等重大公共工程提供重要金融贷款和国际信用支持。金融动脉的打通，成功促进了中国同苏格兰在纺织、机械、教育等领域的民间交往。诸多中苏学者、商人、工程师和医生等与彼此建立深厚情谊。
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, under Thomas Sutherland's leadership, HSBC became closely involved in many of China's Self-Strengthening Movement. As leading reformers such as Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang sought to build modern military and civilian industries, the then Qing Dynasty government faced severe financial constraints. HSBC provided loans and international credit that helped finance major projects, including some of China's earliest railways and the development of the Beiyang Fleet. By facilitating the flow of capital between China and international markets, the bank also helped expand commercial and cultural ties between China and the Scotland, encouraging exchanges in fields such as textiles, engineering, and education. Over time, Chinese and Scottish entrepreneurs, engineers，scholars and physicians forged lasting professional relationships and personal friendships.
萨瑟兰1872年成为铁行轮船公司的总经理，1884年至1900年间担任英国国会议员。1922年，萨瑟兰在英国伦敦安详辞世，香港上环特设“修打兰街”以示永久纪念，成为跨越百年的时代路标。
Thomas Sutherland was appointed General Manager of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company in 1872 and served as a Member of the British Parliament from 1884 to 1900. He passed away peacefully in London in 1922. Sutherland Street in Sheung Wan of Hong Kong was named in his honour, standing for more than a century as a lasting tribute to the remarkable Scot who forged enduring links between East and West.
图：2025年，悬挂“汇丰香港160周年”的中式帆船驶过汇丰香港总行大厦。
Image: In 2025, Chinese traditional junk boat, decorated with HSBC 160 anniversary branding, passes in front of HSBC Hong Kong head office.
作为外资金融机构的重要代表，汇丰银行已在中国市场深耕逾160年，见证了中国市场的变迁与金融开放的深化，并成长为资产规模最大、网络覆盖最广、在华投资最多的外资法人银行之一，在连接中国海内外资源，助力中国企业“走出去”、外资企业引进来等领域中发挥重要金融桥梁作用。
As one of the leading international financial institutions operating in the Chinese market, HSBC has maintained a presence in China for more than 160 years. Throughout this period, it has witnessed the country's economic transformation and the steady advancement of financial liberalization, while growing into one of the largest foreign-incorporated banks in China in terms of assets, geographic reach, and investment. Today, HSBC continues to serve as an important financial bridge, connecting domestic and international markets, supporting Chinese enterprises in their global expansion, and helping overseas businesses invest and grow in China.
中国“十五五”规划创造的全新机遇，叠加高水平对外开放的不断深化，为外资金融机构等在华深耕营造了稳定、透明、可预期的政策与市场环境。中苏经贸、金融等领域的友好交流合作，将在新时代的浪潮中续写更加辉煌的篇章。
The opportunities presented by China's 15th Five-Year Plan, together with the country's continued commitment to high-standard opening up, are creating a stable, transparent, and predictable policy and market environment for foreign financial institutions and other international businesses to deepen their presence in China. Building on a long history of cooperation, China and the Scotland are poised to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in economic, trade, financial and other sectors, unlocking new opportunities for even greater shared success amid the tides of the new era.
