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    The Frank Jay Raven Story
    The Frank Jay Raven Story
    The Frank Jay Raven Story
    Ebook124 pages1 hour

    The Frank Jay Raven Story

    By Shanghai.Manholes

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    About this ebook

    This is the true story of the American taipan atop colonial Shanghai’s real estate, financial and insurance sectors pre World War II. The man behind:

    The Raven Trust Company, Federal Inc., U.S.A. (普益银公司 / 普益銀公司)
    American-Oriental Banking Corporation (美丰银行 / 美豐銀行)
    American-Oriental Finance Corporation, Federal Inc., U.S.A.
    Asia Realty Company, Federal Inc., U.S.A. (普益地产公司 / 普益地產公司)
    American Asiatic Underwriters, Federal Inc., U.S.A. ("A.A.U", 美亚保险总公司 / 美亞保險總公司)

    Through A.A.U., run by Cornelius Vander Starr (C.V. Starr), C.V. Starr and Raven opened The Asia Life Insurance Company (友邦人寿保险公司 / 友邦人壽保險公司) and the Underwriters Savings Bank for the Far East. Eventually C.V. Starr opened American International Underwriters Inc. in New York City and American International Assurance Company Ltd. in Hong Kong. The New York City company ultimately became American Insurance Group (A.I.G.) and the company in Hong Kong became, the now Bermuda-based but Asia-focused, AIA Group.

    *** Frank Jay Raven, Frank J. Raven, Frank Raven, The Raven Trust Company, 普益银公司, 普益銀公司, American-Oriental Banking Corporation, American Oriental Banking Corporation, American Oriental Bank, Mei Feng Bank, Meifeng Bank, 美丰银行, 美豐銀行, American-Oriental Finance Corporation, American Oriental Finance Corporation, Asia Realty Company, 普益地产公司, 普益地產公司, American Asiatic Underwriters, 美亚保险总公司, 美亞保險總公司, Cornelius Vander Starr, C.V. Starr, The Asia Life Insurance Company, 友邦人寿保险公司, 友邦人壽保險公司, Underwriters Savings Bank for the Far East, American International Underwriters Inc., American International Assurance Company Ltd., American Insurance Group, A.I.G., AIA Group, United States Court for China, US Court for China, Shanghai International Settlement, Shanghai Municipal Council, S.M.C., Colonial Shanghai.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherShanghai.Manholes
    Release dateDec 26, 2013
    ISBN9781370852482
    The Frank Jay Raven Story
    Author

    Shanghai.Manholes

    A history buff with a soft spot for Shanghai. I have also published some of the datasets I have compiled on Shanghai's Manholes and Hydrants from pre-world war annual reports using Tableau Public. The link is on this page.

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      Book preview

      The Frank Jay Raven Story - Shanghai.Manholes

      THE FRANK JAY RAVEN STORY

      by

      Shanghai.Manholes

      Smashwords Edition

      The Frank Jay Raven Story

      The story behind the man Time Magazine credited as levying the most severe blow to American business prestige in China since the founding of the [Shanghai] International Settlement in 1843.

      A husband, a father, an American, a war veteran, a civil servant, a tea-tootling evangelist, builder of a China-based financial powerhouse and credited with perpetrating one of the biggest commercial scandals in colonial Shanghai’s history – Frank Jay Raven.

      • • •

      Frank J. Raven, Frank Raven, The Raven Trust Company, 普益银公司, 普益銀公司, American-Oriental Banking Corporation, American Oriental Banking Corporation, American Oriental Bank, Mei Feng Bank, Meifeng Bank, 美丰银行, 美豐銀行, American-Oriental Finance Corporation, American Oriental Finance Corporation, Asia Realty Company, 普益地产公司, 普益地產公司, American Asiatic Underwriters, 美亚保险总公司, 美亞保險總公司, Cornelius Vander Starr, C.V. Starr, The Asia Life Insurance Company, 友邦人寿保险公司, 友邦人壽保險公司, Underwriters Savings Bank for the Far East, American International Underwriters Inc., American International Assurance Company Ltd., American Insurance Group, A.I.G., AIA Group, United States Court for China, US Court for China, Shanghai International Settlement, Shanghai Municipal Council, S.M.C., Colonial Shanghai.

      Published on Smashwords by:

      Shanghai.Manholes

      The Frank Jay Raven Story

      Copyright 2013 by Shanghai.Manholes

      ISBN: 9781370852482

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal use only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

      CONTENTS

      Preface

      Introduction to the Frank Jay Raven Story

      A Bit About Shanghai During Raven’s Time

      Raven’s Road to Shanghai

      Raven In Shanghai: A Pillar of the Community

      Raven In Shanghai: A Public Record Timeline

      Raven: Stateside after Shanghai

      Motivations Behind Raven’s Prosecution

      Conclusion

      Endnotes

      PREFACE

      This text was created to better understand an American adventurer turned financial and real estate mogul in the Far East during an exciting time in history. It details the life of Frank Jay Raven, a native of California, before he moved to Shanghai and his life while in Shanghai during the first half of the 20th century. It does this through various public records in an effort to map out a timeline of events that led to his rise and fall in Asia while also letting one see who he was, how he rose in Shanghai society, his influence in American political circles, and the shocking turn of events that was his Shanghai decline and prosecution.

      While not the intended purpose this texts helps to support some of the assertions made by Eileen P. Scully in her book detailing the history of the United States Court for China, Bargaining with the State from Afar: American Citizenship in Treaty Port China 1844-1942. Principally that, aside from the criminal nature of Raven’s actions being questionable to a legal expert, the notions that political shifts, the ending of the colonial era pushed by a modernizing China with America’s assistance, and the fact that at the time the United States did not support the interests of its citizenry abroad all played a stronger role in Raven’s downfall than anything else.

      INTRODUCTION TO

      The Frank Jay Raven Story

      Those that had come before had set the stage but by the beginning of the 20th century it was clear that America had arrived on the international playing field. With the end of the Spanish American War in 1898, resulting in the annex of many of Spain’s former colonies, not only had America arrived but she found herself in the colonial spotlight grappling with whether or not the former colony herself wanted to reverse roles and be a colonial ruler. In the times prior to this it is true that America had expansionary ambitions but, for the most part, they were very different. From the American point of view the past annexes were centered around conquering the land west of the original thirteen American colonies and on the same continent which was destined to be hers from coast to coast – Manifest Destiny – and not in far off lands across oceans.

      What transpired between the ending of the Spanish American War and World War II was America’s half-baked attempt in colonialism with the country teetering between swings of full support to outright distain. The colonial soul searching continued until the victors of World Word II untimely rendered the practice all but obsolete and ushered in a new era and method of international diplomacy.

      It was in this time, during the Spanish American War, that Frank Jay Raven set out for the far reaches of the then embryonic American Empire to first serve his country and then to build his fortunes. He rode through the good and the bad, helped shape America’s policies on its citizenry abroad, positively projected the American image and flew the American flag proudly on foreign soil. Raven went from being a Californian-born engineer, to a Spanish American War veteran, to a self-made tea-totaling, church going, founder of a financial powerhouse based in Shanghai with an empire spanning banking, real estate, commodities, and insurance. Raven’s economic clout can even be credited with the spawning of today’s American Insurance Group, better known as

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