Hui merchants and Shanxi merchants were the two major business gangs that had an important impact on China's economy during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Now many TV series are telling their stories, and many people are studying their business methods, management systems, and history of rise and fall. In my opinion, the biggest difference between them is their cultural origins. Huizhou merchants valued Confucianism, while Shanxi merchants favored martial arts.
Hui merchants respected Zhu Xi, a native of Wuyuan, Huizhou in the Ming Dynasty, now part of Jiangxi. Huizhou merchants not only built ancestral halls in their hometowns to "sacrifice Zhu Wengong's family rituals", but also worshiped Zhu Xi in the guild halls they built when doing business in other places. They regarded Neo-Confucianism as the norm for family conduct and business activities. Therefore, Neo-Confucian concepts had a great influence on Huizhou merchants. Huizhou merchants "like Jia and like Confucianism" and "left Confucianism and right Jia". They valued Confucianism more than serving Jia, and they especially placed high hopes on their children's Confucianism. According to statistics, there were 392 Jinshi in Huizhou during the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, only those in She County obtained academic qualifications (including registration), including 4 bachelors, 7 ministers, 21 ministers, 7 imperial censors, 15 cabinet bachelors, 5 champions, and 2 second prizes. , 1 was ranked second in the martial arts rankings, 8 were Tanhua, 5 were Chuanlu, 3 were Huiyuan, 13 were Jieyuan, 296 were Jinshi, and nearly 1,000 people were elected. The whole Huizhou was even more impressive.
The Shanxi merchants who emerged in the Ming and Qing Dynasties almost at the same time as the Huizhou merchants worshiped Guan Gong, a Shanxi native. Wherever there are Shanxi merchant activities, there are often Shanxi merchant guild halls and Guan Gong temples. Shanxi merchants in some places even built the Guandi Temple first and then the guild hall. Shanxi merchants regard Guan Gong as their most respected god, regulate their behavior and business activities with Guan Gong's "integrity, benevolence and righteousness", and regard Guan Gong culture as their ethical orientation, so that Guan Gong culture has exerted great influence on its spirit, morality and behavior. Quite effective.
The huge wealth acquired by Shanxi merchants had an overwhelming impact on the folk customs of Shanxi. There was a phenomenon of "learning and excellence leads to business" instead of "learning and excellence leads to officialdom". In the second year of Yongzheng's reign (1724), Liu Yuyi, the governor of Shanxi Province, said: "Shanyou has a long-established habit of attaching more importance to profit than to having the same name. Those with handsome sons will often join the trade, the next best is to be a subordinate official, and the third is to join the army. ” The emperor of Yongzheng, Zhu Pi, said: “On the right side of the mountain, merchants are the first, followed by those who are willing to work in agriculture, and those at the bottom are ordered to study.” Liu Dapeng, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, said: "At this time, those who have children are not allowed to study, and they often imitate merchants. They say that they will be poor after studying, and they will not be as rich as merchants. Therefore, in counties where the number of children taking the examination is not enough, Most of them were in Shanxi Province. "
As a result, there were 114 top scorers in the imperial examinations of the Qing Dynasty. Among them, Anhui ranked third after Jiangsu and Zhejiang, with 9 top scorers, while Shanxi had 114 top scorers in the imperial examinations of the Qing Dynasty. No champion. However, there are still five Wu champions in Shanxi. This is probably due to the fact that Shanxi has always had many battlefields, and there are also many martial arts practitioners among merchants. In addition, due to the needs of commodity trafficking and financial circulation, Shanxi has many escort agencies and bodyguards. Even the famous Xingyi Quan in the martial arts originated in Taigu County, Shanxi. , it has a lot to do with it. From this, we have every reason to conclude that Huizhou merchants valued Confucianism and Shanxi merchants favored martial arts.
The phenomenon of Confucian businessmen in China occurred when Confucius and Confucianism became the orthodox ideological ideology of feudal society. Confucian culture became the core and main body of Chinese traditional culture, exerting a dominant influence on social life. It even gradually formed and developed in the process of forming the cultural and psychological structure of the Chinese nation.
Confucianism founded by Confucius was just one of the schools of thought in the pre-Qin era. It was only after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu's proposal to "depose hundreds of schools of thought and only respect Confucianism" that Confucianism was identified as one. Since then, in the long process of the development of feudal society, although Confucianism has been challenged by Buddhism and Taoism, forming a tripartite situation of the three religions in the Wei, Jin, Sui and Tang dynasties, Confucianism has still been the foundation of the governance of the past dynasties. In particular, Confucianism absorbed the reasoning and speculative spirit of Buddhism and Taoism during its debate, integration and communication with Buddhism and Taoism, creating a new situation in Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming dynasties. Confucianism further developed and matured and became the official philosophy. After the strengthening and long-term influence of the ruling class, Confucianism has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, forming the deep cultural psychological structure and national character of the Chinese nation. Practicing Confucianism has become the main way for scholars to enter the officialdom. Therefore, advocating Confucianism has become a strong cultural atmosphere, and the Confucian psychology of society has naturally become a fashionable pursuit.
Since the Han Dynasty, concepts such as Confucian scholars, Confucian ministers, Confucian scholars, Confucian historians, Confucian officials, Confucian generals, Confucian prime ministers, and Confucian doctors have appeared one after another. These concepts not only indicate identity, but also have a sense of boastfulness. "Book of Han. Kuang Zhang Kong Ma Biography" says: "Since Xiaowu Xing, he studied Gong Sun Hong and became a Confucian prime minister. Later, Cai Yi, Wei Xian, Xuancheng, Kuang Heng, Zhang Yu, Zhai Fangjin, Kong Guang, Pingdang Yan, Ma Guan, and Dang Ziyan were Confucian, occupied the position of prime minister, wore Confucian clothes, and passed down the words of the previous kings. "Jiang Yan's "Sun X's Tomb Inscription" praised him for "both body and mind, cloud and learning." Preparing Confucian History". Su Shi has a poem that praises the rise of Confucian generals: "There are only ten Zhulun among the Confucian generals." Liu Yin's "Zhang Yangong Study Hall" also said: "The Confucian officials helped each other in the Kaiyuan Dynasty." Hong Mai's "Yi Jian Jia Zhi" " also mentioned: "There was a Qi man named Xie Yuquan, who was a Confucian doctor in the world." During this period, the concept of Confucian merchants appeared the latest. Not only was this term not included in the similar book "Pei Wen Yun Fu" compiled during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. Article, "Ci Yuan" and "Ci Hai" have not been included.
The most important reason for this is that Confucianism, as the ideology of the ruling class, has long insisted that "the foundation of sufficient food lies in agriculture" and that local officials "take it as their duty to encourage farmers" and does not regard business as an important way to develop the economy. The status of merchants in society has always been extremely low. Confucian scholars did not disdain them, and it was difficult to record them in official history. They were only occasionally mentioned in official histories or novels.
The Ming Dynasty was an important turning point in the development of China's commercial economy. Due to the development of production, the urban population increased sharply. Economists implemented a whip method to reduce land tax, bank difference, power difference and various local tribute and corvee. etc. are converted into silver taels and levied. Recently, producers have to sell part of their agricultural products to obtain currency to pay taxes. This has greatly promoted the development of agricultural commodity production, and the agricultural self-sufficiency economy has gradually transitioned to a commodity economy, and the commodity economy has accelerated. Development has brought about changes in concepts. During the Jiajing and Wanli periods, Zhang Juzheng carried out the reform of the economic system and put forward negative opinions on the traditional policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce. He said: "If business cannot communicate with farmers to benefit farmers, agriculture will suffer; farmers cannot work hard to capitalize on their own work." Business is a disease of business. Therefore, the power of business and agriculture is always a matter of trade-off." He clearly put forward the idea of ??"provincial levy is to support farmers and promote business, and lighten the market to support business and benefit farmers", which puts commercial development at the forefront. The status of agriculture goes hand in hand. The famous thinker Huang Zongxi further put forward the slogan "Business and industry are both fundamental". He said: "Confucianism in the world does not pay attention to it, and regards industry and commerce as the last priority, and makes arrogant opinions to suppress it. Work is what the Holy Master wants, and business makes him willing to go out." The development of business is self-evident under the influence of the conditions of the times and progressive ideas.
Huizhou merchants emerged under the conditions of this era.
Since ancient times, Huizhou has had many mountains and few fields, and the land is barren. The agricultural income is not enough to support itself, so it has to turn to handicrafts and commerce in order to protect itself. "Huizhou Prefecture Chronicles" records: "Huizhou Baojie Valley, the mountains are at the foot of the original, the fields are barren, and the yield is very meager...most of them can't pay a tithe at the age of one. Most of the small people are skilled in crafts, or they have to pay for it." Those who eat other counties are often nineteen. ""Jiangnan Tongzhi" is also called Huizhou. "The mountains and rivers are beautiful, but the mountains and valleys are rough, the soil is barren, the water is strong, and there is little rain and it is easy to dry up. "If there is a sudden rain, the mountains will rise violently." Therefore, Gu Yanwu said: For the people of Huizhou, "all the middle and lower families have no land to work on. There are many merchants in Huizhou, so it is natural that they are powerful." The lack of basic conditions for the development of agriculture is the basic reason that forces Huizhou people to go out to do business in large numbers to make a living. In Huizhou, it was not only the poor and helpless farmers who went out to do business without hesitation; even some wealthy families with assets or families of scholar-bureaucrats also discovered that they could get rich quickly through business, and they became extremely interested in investment and business. Lin Xizhong said: In Huizhou, "those who have property among the people mostly do business abroad, and those who are here are weak and half-independent." Gui Youguang also said: "Although there are scholar-bureaucrats in the Huizhou area, they all travel around as livestock merchants." It can be seen that Hui people's business is the result of thousands of years of folk customs and accumulated habits.
In the long feudal society, Huizhou people have thrived in a barren natural environment for generations, cultivating a diligent and frugal character. Their long-term business experience has enabled them to gain rich business experience. The cultural influence in Zhu Wengong's palace provided them with solid cultural literacy for their business success, enabling them to show higher ability in choosing business locations, establishing business directions, especially weighing the pros and cons of operations, and forming business reputation. Wisdom and maturity. Huizhou is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Its northeast reaches Jinling, Yangzhou and other cities with highly developed commerce and salt industry, and its west borders the porcelain capital Jingdezhen. Tea, wood and porcelain from all over Fujian and Jiangxi are easily available. To the east, it connects Suzhou and Hangzhou to the Taihu Lake Basin, where textiles and silk are extremely developed. Grain, cotton, and iron ore from the Jiangnan area can be sold to all parts of the country through the Yangtze River waterway. Huizhou merchants fully considered and made use of the favorable geographical location. They were merchants or merchants in cities all over the south of the Yangtze River. Their business scope was wide, covering silk, cotton, dyes, cotton cloth, grain, wood, salt, ironware, etc., and " Salt, tea, wood, and quality goods are the four major commodities." Among them, pawnshops are particularly active. "Jiaxing County Chronicle" records: "Xin'an big businessmen and powerful families", "every time they use quality to nourish themselves". The Ming Dynasty's "Records of Shenzong" also records: "Hui merchants opened pawnshops all over the north of the Yangtze River, with thousands of dollars in capital and no more than ten taels in class. There are 213 pawnshops in Henan including Wang Ke." Not only this, Hui merchants also invested in He was involved in handicraft production, opening iron mines and dyeing workshops, and many of them were recorded in "Taihan Collection" by Wang Daokun. For example, Zhu Tianze, a Huizhou merchant, "followed his brother Jia Min and built a class in Tieye Mountain. Many servants led many elders to become senior officials, vying to be known as senior officials, and their career as scholars was very prosperous." Ruan Bi, a Hui merchant, "established his own bureau in Wuhu and called in Cao Cao to govern it. There was no need for indoctrination. The cost was twice as much as that of Leeds, and buyers from the five directions gathered together. His reprints have been reproduced in Wu, Yue, Jing, Liang, Yan, and Lu There are separate bureaus among Qi, Qi and Henan, and Jia wants Jin." Although these Huizhou merchants were far away from their homeland and doing business in different places, they were very good at business and were quite capable of using their scheming skills. Xu Zhongyuan's "Dream Yibi Tan" records that the Wang family in Xin'an was engaged in cloth business. "It was a coincidence that they set up a Yi brand in Wulu. They secretly ordered the clothes workers to give two cents of silver to those who lost their machines. The sewing workers were greedy for small profits. Then the people praised the cloth for its beauty, and the users of it became popular... In ten years, all merchants became rich, and the cloth became popular all over the world." They also collect extensive business intelligence and use various relationships to seek financial gain. During the Wanli period, the imperial court moved to build Qianqing Palace and Jianning Palace, and set up royal procurement to purchase timber in the south of the Yangtze River. When Wang Tianjun, a Hui merchant, got such a thing, he "secured money, relied on power, and begged for payment, and got 160,000 pieces of wood. Not to mention the tens of millions of private trees brought in, these 160,000 pieces of wood cost more than 32,000 silver in taxes and a loss of 50,000 to 60,000 taels in state tax."
Therefore, after the mid-Ming Dynasty, Huizhou merchants developed rapidly across the country, accumulating more capital and exerting a great influence across the country. Xie Zhao* said: "Those who rule the roost from wealthy families will push Xin'an in the south of the Yangtze River, and those in the north of the Yangtze River will push Shanyou." For the big bosses in Xin'an, "those who have a treasure chest of one million, and those who have two or three hundred thousand in their pockets, will be middle-ranking officials." Hui merchants and Shanxi merchants became the two most famous business gangs in China at that time. In contrast, Huizhou merchants favored Confucianism because of Jia, and had broader development prospects and popular reputation than Shanxi merchants.