The Origin of China Commercial Gangs

In ancient China, there were ten business gangs, including Huizhou, Shanxi, Shandong, Fujian, Guangdong, Ningbo, Dongting, Jiangyou and Longyou. Among them, Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants have the largest scale and the strongest strength. They have been in business for 500 years, but in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, they were replaced by Ningbo Gang.

The position of Shanxi merchants in the history of China's economic development: 500 years of prosperity; Trade routes spread all over the country and neighboring countries such as Russia, Japan and Mongolia. The financial institution bank, which originated from Shanxi merchants, occupied the leading position of China finance for more than a hundred years in the late Qing Dynasty and was known as "Huitong World". However, this visit still shocked me. The cultural atmosphere conveyed by the Shanxi Merchants Courtyard is far beyond my imagination. And unexpectedly, most of the Shanxi merchants who own these courtyards started from scratch: the Qu family started as a hawker; The Wangs started out selling tofu; Chang's family began with a "businessman" who bought and sold small things with his wallet on his back. According to records, other Shanxi merchants are basically the same.

Among the top ten business gangs, Shanxi and Shaanxi businessmen are the first to rise. In the early years of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1368- 1398), in order to supply grain and grass in the northern frontier, Shanxi and Shaanxi merchants rose rapidly by virtue of their geography. The main activities of Shanxi merchants in Ming Dynasty were in the Yellow River basin, the main saltworks and Sichuan area. With the unification of the country and the expansion of its territory in the Qing Dynasty, Shanxi merchants expanded their activities and became the main merchant forces in Northeast China, Mongolia and Xinjiang, even reaching as far as Tibet. Shanxi merchants also monopolized the trade with Russian Chaktu and engaged in long-distance trafficking trade from southeast to northwest. Shanxi merchants not only manage salt industry, but also manage tea, grain, cotton, cloth, silk and usury. The pawnbroking industry and usury of Shanxi merchants are very famous, and they are called "western debts". Merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties accumulated huge wealth. It is said that the assets of Huizhou merchants in the Ming Dynasty reached two million, and the wealth of Shanxi merchants exceeded that of Huizhou merchants. In the Qing Dynasty, there were not only "100,000 investors, but also many people with assets of 2 million yuan" in Shanxi. During the Daoguang period, Shanxi merchants created a draft bank to operate the exchange industry, which was famous all over the world. However, the draft number is almost unique in Shanxi merchants' industry in the late Qing Dynasty. Due to the constant financial default in the late Qing Dynasty, the stubborn conservatism of banks and the influence of the Revolution of 1911, banks declined completely shortly after the Revolution of 1911.

Huizhou merchants gang:

China's business gang should be the most domineering Huizhou business gang. On behalf of Hu Xueyan.

From the middle of Ming Dynasty to the middle of Qing Dynasty, Huizhou merchants dominated the business circles in China for more than 300 years and were in the golden age of development. At that time, Huangshan Baiyue had ten rooms and nine merchants, and giant merchants appeared one after another. The natural beauty, humanistic modality and commercial economy complemented each other and flourished. Then, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, social unrest, changes in government policies and the rise of capitalism, however, Huizhou merchants failed to implement business transformation in time due to their own reasons, and did not take the ship of China's modern capitalist development, which irreversibly fell from the peak to the bottom, and Huizhou fell into a dilemma.

Longyou business gang:

Longyou Business Group refers to Qushang Group centered on Longyou County, Quzhou District, Zhejiang Province. It sprouted in the Southern Song Dynasty and flourished in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. It is famous for its jewelry, books and paper industry. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (1573- 1602), it was the first time to compete with merchants from Huizhou, Shanxi and Jiangyou in shopping malls, so there was a proverb of "wandering around the world". Based on the land of one government and one county, it gathered a lot of money and became one of the top ten business gangs in China. By the Qing Dynasty, it was gradually replaced by Ningshao business gangs.