Before Ming Dynasty: Shanxi's commerce. Shanxi shangdu has a long history. As early as the pre-Qin period, there were commercial transactions in Jinnan area, taking Japan and China as markets, praising the people all over the world and the goods all over the world, and retreating after the transaction, each in his place.
From the Zhou and Qin Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, although there were some big businessmen in Shanxi, compared with businessmen in other places, their status was not prominent, and an organization had not yet formed a merchant force.
New commercial towns such as Jinzhou, Luzhou, Zezhou, Taigu, Pingding and Datong appeared in Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties. Li Tang set up an army in Taiyuan, making Taiyuan the northern capital, straddling the banks of Fenhe River, and enjoying a prosperous business. Han Yu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in a poem: Lang Lang smells street drums like morning.
Song Dynasty, southern Sichuan, southern merchants and northern merchants were famous local merchants, and Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants, as the backbone of modern commerce, also showed their talents at this time. During the Song Dynasty, Shanxi was located in the northeast frontier, and most of the war horses needed in the Song Dynasty were supplied by Liao in the north, and Liao needed handicraft products in the Song Dynasty. In 996, he set up a market in "Border State" in Shanxi, exchanging markets with vassals, while border people went deep into the border to trade. Later Zhao and Song Dynasties, for fear of endangering their own political power, ordered several times to close the market, which was actually impossible.
Although the war had a certain destructive effect on the industry and commerce in the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan regime ended the drama-cutting situation in the Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties, especially the completion of the post station in the Yuan Dynasty, which expanded the area of commercial activities. From the Travels of Marco Polo, we can see that businessmen from Taiyuan to Pingyang Linfen have made huge profits all over the country.
Ming Dynasty: Rise
The rise of Shanxi merchants, first of all, was the implementation of the policy of "opening China" in Ming Dynasty, which provided an opportunity for the development of Shanxi merchants. The description of existence in the Ming Dynasty is widely quoted by researchers: Pingyang, Ze and Lu are the richest businessmen in the world, and there are not hundreds of thousands who are not rich.
Secondly, Shanxi is rich in mineral resources, and handicraft industry and processing manufacturing industry have begun to take shape at that time, which provided a material basis for the development of Shanxi merchants and made them gradually brilliant; In addition, due to the narrow land and dense population in the south of Shanxi, going out to do business has become a means for people to make a living. At that time, merchants in Jinzhong had spread all over the country, and there was a popular saying in Beijing: the capital of the capital, there were many Jin people. With the increasingly fierce commercial competition, Shanxi merchants began to appear commercial organizations in order to strengthen their own strength and safeguard their own interests.
At first, local businessmen were employed by well-funded businessmen, who jointly operated and cooperated with friends and became a loose group of businessmen. Later, it developed into an oriental partnership system, similar to the shareholding system. This is a great pioneering work of Shanxi merchants, and it is also an important reason for their enduring. Although Shanxi merchants appeared in the form of local organizations in the Ming Dynasty, their development reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty, and its important symbol was the establishment of guild halls. The guild hall was originally designed to contact the feelings of fellow villagers, and later developed into an organization to safeguard the interests of peers or fellow villagers.
Qing dynasty: the most powerful commercial gang
Shanxi merchants developed into the Qing Dynasty and became the most powerful business gang in China. World economic historians compare them with Italian businessmen and give them high praise. The development of business has not only brought wealth to people, but also changed the concept of "learning to be an excellent official" for many years. It is said that there are two thousand pieces of silver at home, so it is better to be an official in a teahouse than to be a guest in Chapiao Village. The teahouse ticket number was a very popular industry at that time.
During this period, Shanxi merchants lived in China and enjoyed a good reputation in Europe and Asia, and their brilliant achievements attracted worldwide attention. In particular, it is worth pointing out that in the process of Shanxi merchants dominating, Shanxi merchants have three monuments, namely camel gang, boatgang and ticket number. Guangdong merchants, Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants are the three largest business gangs in the history of China.
Shanxi merchants can be traced back to the warrior jackal, the father of Wu Zetian, during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. When Li Yuan and his son set out from Taiyuan, the timber merchant Wu gave great financial support. It was with the financial resources of the most elite Taiyuan Army and Wu Shi that Li Yuan and his son began to seize the national political power. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the Wu family was named lord protector, which was equal to that of Cheng. You can imagine how much property Li Yuan and his son got from Wu Shi at that time, and Wu Shi also got huge returns from his original ingenious political investment. Later, an unprecedented Empress Wu Zetian was born in the history of China. Of course, this is another story.
The success of Shanxi businessmen lies in the policy of honesty and unity. The brilliant figure of Shanxi merchants is Qiao Zhiyong.
Shanxi merchants declined in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China for various reasons, and Shanxi began to become relatively dull on the economic stage in China. It can almost be said that Shanxi businessmen can only talk about Kong Xiangxi, Li Yanhong, Chen Nian and Guo Taiming. The culture of Shanxi merchants has not been well preserved, so that Shanxi is still in a backward state in the whole country.