Hermann MANDL

Hermann Mandl was an Austrian businessman of Jewish descent, who went to China in the 1870s. He quickly became acquainted with Chinese customs and fluent in the Chinese language. Based on this, he made a successful career in European and American companies in China. In 1888, he founded his own company, H. Mandl & Co., with offices in Hamburg, Shanghai and Tianjin successfully representing major German companies like Krupp and Siemens. In 1896 he went to Paris for some years before returning to China and ultimately to his home town Vienna. He was also Consul of the Netherlands at Tianjin and owned a famous collection of Chinese art.