By consulting detailed business archives, this paper presents a complete case study on the Japanese shipping expansion in China and the responses of shipping conference. The unstable situations in China made the business operation risky and the subsidies made Nisshin Kisen Kaisha, the main Japanese company in China waters, able to secure their revenues. This research contends that the subsidies might have affected the working of shipping conference. Meanwhile, a profitable company might impose a more expansive policy. On the other hand, a company in loss might tend conservative. Finally, this paper suggests that the Chinese merchants could benefit from the market dominated by the Western, if they learned how to manage the western-style organisations.