The story of Huizhou merchants.

Huizhou merchants, namely Huizhou merchants and Xin 'an merchants, commonly known as "Hui Gang", refer to Huizhou merchants (official merchants) and are one of the three major business schools.

Huizhou merchants originated in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, stood out in the Tang and Song Dynasties, developed in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, flourished in the early and middle Qing Dynasty, and declined in the late Qing Dynasty, which lasted for more than 600 years and dominated the business circles in China for more than 300 years.

1, the rise of Huizhou merchants;

The main economic structure of Huizhou is mountain forest economy, which is in short supply and unbalanced. For example, Huizhou Mountain produces beautiful materials, which are just firewood in the forest; There is a lot of tea in China, but more tea is just grass, which needs to be exported. Only through commercial trade can we get the demand of benefiting the people.

Therefore, in order to make a living, the Hui people chose business as one of their ways to make a living. On the one hand, they feel that they were born in Huizhou, but on the other hand, they don't hesitate to throw themselves out when they are twelve or thirteen years old. Huizhou people have been doing business for a long time.

2. The development of Huizhou merchants.

In the early days, Huizhou merchants only engaged in the simple export of tea, wood, porcelain clay and other products, in exchange for the complementary trade of grain, cloth and salt that Huizhou lacked, and their business mode was mainly simple Huizhou-centered business. Therefore, at the beginning of its rise, it was just an obscure small gang.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were grain merchants, cloth merchants, silk merchants, porcelain merchants and ink merchants, but the main industries were salt industry, tea industry, wood industry and pawn industry.

After the Ming Dynasty, it not only managed local timber in Huizhou, but also managed timber from all over the country, and developed and expanded.

Since then, business has become the "first-class cause" of Huizhou people. Among adult men, business accounts for 70%, and it is higher at the peak. ? [2]? Its activities cover urban and rural areas, from Huainan in the east to Yunnan, Guizhou and Guanlong in the west, from Youxian and Liaodong in the north to Fujian and Guangdong in the south. Huizhou merchants traveled as far as Japan, Siam, Southeast Asian countries and Portugal.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the feudal rule declined, the tax payment became more and more serious, and the situation of Huizhou merchants became more and more difficult.

Due to the rise of chaebol in Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which are closely related to imperialism, warlords and bureaucrats, Huizhou merchants gradually lost their position of manipulation, monopoly and monopoly in the commercial field and began to decline.

Extended data:

Four merchants in ancient China:

1, Huizhou merchants

Huizhou merchants came into being in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, grew up in the Tang and Song Dynasties, flourished in the Ming Dynasty and declined in the late Qing Dynasty. Huizhou merchants refer to the merchants and merchant groups in Huizhou area in southern Anhui after the partition of jiangnan province and jiangnan province in Ming and Qing Dynasties, not all Huizhou merchants. Loose individual businessmen in various areas of Anhui Province outside Huizhou Prefecture are generally called "Huizhou merchants" and correspond to Huizhou merchants.

2. Shanxi merchants

Shanxi merchants are the earliest businessmen in China, and their history can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The Ming and Qing Dynasties were the heyday of Shanxi merchants. During this period, Shanxi merchants once dominated the domestic business community for 500 years.

3. Shang Chao

The embryonic form of Chaozhou merchants began to appear after the immigrants from the Central Plains successively entered Chaoshan through Putian, and then they continued to advance to Nanyang because of the small land and large population, forming a world-class pirate group in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. 1850 Before and after the Opium War, Chaozhou merchants helped the Qing Dynasty to clear the Taiping Army. Therefore, it was granted the privilege of opium monopoly.

4. Shang Yong

Guangdong businessmen emerged and developed in Lingnan area, and then spread to domestic areas and countries around the world. Lingnan's history and culture nourished Guangdong businessmen; The opening of modern China promoted the rise of Cantonese businessmen. The revitalization of national industry and commerce in the early 20th century provided Guangdong businessmen with better development opportunities. In the process of growth, development, expansion and transformation, Guangdong businessmen have formed their own unique historical and cultural characteristics.

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-Huizhou merchants

Baidu Encyclopedia —— Four Big Business Groups in Ancient China