In the early days of the Revolution of 1911, he joined the League and engaged in the anti-Qing and railway protection movement. Subsequently, he successively served as editor, editor-in-chief and reporter of Chengdu Qunbao and Sichuan Daily, and took over as president and editor-in-chief of Sichuan Daily on 19 19. Actively participate in the May 4th Movement, participate in the young chinese Society, and advocate "saving the country through education". 192 1 year, served as the education director of Yongning office in Huzhou, actively carried out public education activities, and hired Wang Heyun, a member of China Juvenile Association, as the principal and education director of South Sichuan Normal School respectively, to carry out people-centered public education and new education experiments, which affected the whole Sichuan and died halfway because of the scuffle between warlords in Sichuan.
1924, Chengdu established the Museum of General Education. There are various exhibition halls, museums, libraries, sports grounds, music performance rooms, amusement parks and so on in Shaocheng Park. The zoo and other cultural and entertainment places have concentrated all kinds of engineering and technical talents and literary and art experts in Chengdu, giving full play to their talents. But it became popular for a while and made the same mistake as the educational experiment in southern Sichuan. From this, the idea of "saving the country through industry" came into being, all of which took the transportation industry as the "mother of all trades". So, in the autumn of 1925, he gave up his studies and returned to Hechuan to start Minsheng Industrial Company. He envisaged to run other industries on the basis of shipping and maritime transportation, combine industry with education, and promote social reform in order to achieve the goal of rejuvenating China.
Lu Zuofu started shipping from scratch, and it was extremely difficult to raise funds at the beginning. Fortunately, with the support of friends, we raised 8000 yuan and went to Shanghai to order a shallow armored ship with a load of 70.6 tons. 1926 returned to Chongqing in the autumn, named "Minsheng", and opened the Jialing River-Chongqing-Hefei route. In addition to being responsible for onshore affairs, they also try their best to improve management. Lu also personally boarded the ship to receive passengers and put forward the slogan of "all for customers". From the manager to the sailor, they are all service personnel, with warm reception, thoughtful service and delicious food, which quickly won the praise of the society, and the classroom was full and overwhelmed. Earned more than 20 thousand in the first year.
/kloc-in the spring of 0/927, he went to Beibei to serve as the director of the flood control bureau of Jiang (North), Ba (County), Bi (Mountain) and He (Chuan) Gorge. While eliminating bandits, he carried out rural construction experiments in the canyon area. Beichuan Railway, the first railway in Sichuan, was built here. Tianfu Coal Mine, the largest coal mine in Sichuan at that time, was established. Established the largest textile printing and dyeing factory in southwest China-Three Gorges Weaving Factory; Established the China Western Academy of Sciences, the only largest private scientific research institution in China; Take the lead in establishing rural telephone network in Sichuan; The northern hot spring park, known as Beidaihe in Chongqing, has opened. He built roads, canals, farms, factories, parks, stadiums and old cities here, and established hospitals, libraries, museums and various schools in towns. At the same time, Minsheng Company has also developed rapidly. By 1929, two new ships, "Minchuan" and "Wangmin", with a total tonnage of 230 tons, were built, and the route was expanded from Jialing River-Chongqing-Lian Line to Yangtze River-Chongqing-Fucheng Line and Chongqing-Shanghai Line. At that time, Lu was appointed by Liu Xiang as the director of Chuanjiang Navigation Management Office.
At this time, foreign ships were rampant in Chuanjiang, and Japanese shipping companies such as Swire, Shinhwa, Nissin and Jiang Jie in the United States, relying on their strong strength, drastically lowered their draft in an attempt to crush China Shipping Company and monopolize Chuanjiang. Competition is fierce, and Hua Lun Company is facing bankruptcy. Faced with this situation, Lu Zuofu stepped forward and explicitly required all Chinese and foreign ships entering and leaving Chongqing Port to go through customs clearance procedures at Chuanjiang Waterway Management Office. Forcing Nissin Company to accept customs inspection in China has set a precedent for foreign ships to accept local government inspection in China, abolished the stereotype that A-class crew members must use foreigners, and put forward the slogan that foreign ships must compensate for the losses when they capsize China wooden ships, and "China people do not take foreign ships and do not load foreign goods". Won the support of the broad masses of the people, dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of foreign ships and safeguarded national dignity. On this basis, it is proposed to unify Chuanjiang shipping by "breaking the whole into parts", and it is advocated to unite all Hua Lun companies in Chuanjiang to form a company. So from 1930, the activity of unifying Chuanjiang shipping was carried out on Chuanjiang route with Minsheng Company as the center. Minsheng company buys off any company that is willing to sell the boat. Any company willing to merge with Minsheng Company will discount its ship property at a higher price, and then repay the original company's debts in cash at a part of the price, and the rest will be used as the share capital of Minsheng Company, which will be accepted by all personnel before employment. In this way, in less than a year, seven shipping companies with routes above Chongqing merged to take over the ship. Then it expanded to the lower reaches of Chongqing and merged seven companies. Liu Xiang, Liu and other military vessels also became the industries of Minsheng Company through high-priced shares, thus acquiring 28 China merchant ships. By 1935, Jiang Jie Company of the United States and a British shipping company closed down in the competition, and 1 1 The big ship was acquired by Minsheng Company. Nisshin Company turned from profit to loss. Taikoo and Bohe saw something bad and quietly withdrew from Chuanjiang. At this time, Minsheng Company owns 42 ships with a tonnage of 16884 tons, and the number of employees has increased to 2836, with a share capital of 1.2 million yuan and assets of 7.3 million yuan, accounting for 6 1% of Chuanjiang's shipping business.
After the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the National Government appointed Lu Zuoshou as the director of the Land and Water Traffic Management Committee of the Military Commission, and Lu was in charge of Wuhan and Yichang. /kloc-in the autumn of 0/938, Wuhan fell, a large number of people were evacuated to Chongqing, and materials were moved to Sichuan for nearly 65,438+10,000 tons. Yichang couldn't get away, and it was constantly bombed by Japanese planes. Lu concentrated all the ships and most of the business personnel, transported them in stages and batches, and worked day and night. After 40 days of fighting, they finally arrived in Sichuan before the fall of Yichang. This raid attracted worldwide attention and was known as the "Dunkirk" of China. During the whole period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Minsheng Company * * * rushed more than 10,000 personnel 1 0.5 million, with more than 10,000 tons of materials 1 0, and ships 16 were bombed by Japanese planes, sacrificing more than 10,000 employees/kloc-0. When War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression won, the National Government awarded Lu Zuofu a first-class medal. During this period, Minsheng Company purchased more than 70 ships of Hua Lun Company that escaped from the occupied areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. At that time, the highest number of ships reached 137, with a tonnage of more than 36,000 and a personnel of more than17,000. Not only monopolized Chuanjiang shipping, it became the largest shipping enterprise in wartime China, but also controlled many other important enterprises. In addition to the affiliated Minsheng Machinery Factory, which is the largest machinery factory in the rear area, it has also invested heavily in 78 enterprises and institutions in mining, shipping, machinery, textile, food, trade, insurance, news and other industries. Lu himself has served as the chairman or director of dozens of enterprises.
After the war, Lu Zuofu shifted the center of gravity of the Yangtze River route to Shanghai as a base for developing coastal seas, and increased the route from Shanghai to Taiwan Province Province. Nanyang routes such as Shantou and Hong Kong and Beiyang routes such as Shanghai to Lianyungang, Qingdao, Tianjin and Yingkou. And set up branches or offices of Minsheng Company in Taiwan Province, Guangzhou and Hongkong. At the same time, it raised 1 10,000 USD from Jincheng Bank, established "Pacific Shipping Company" and purchased three seagoing vessels, with routes extending to Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Japan. By 1949, there were more than 150 barges of various types, with a tonnage of 72,000 tons and more than 9,000 employees. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), Lu Zuofu returned to Beijing from Hong Kong in June 1950, and the overseas ships he organized 18 set sail from Hong Kong and returned to the mainland one after another. As a special representative, he attended the second session of the first session of the China People's Political Consultative Conference, and served as a member of the China People's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the Southwest Military and Political Committee, and the director of the Northern Pension Cultural Affairs Management Committee. 1952 died in Chongqing on February 8th. Mao Zedong once praised him as one of the four unforgettable industrialists in China. The Central Committee praised him for "doing many good things for the people, which the party and the people will never forget."