Steamship Merchant Bureau set up an office in Hankow on January 14, 1873 and Steamship Merchant Hankou Sub-bureau was established the same year.

150, 000 grams of gold was invested to purchase the wharf outside the British concession, marking the beginning of Chinese commercial ships’ operation on Yangtze River shipping line by Chinese commercial ships.

Zhaowen Newspaper was published on August 8, 1873 by Ai Xiaomei. It is the first Chinese newspaper published by Chinese people in mainland.