When it comes to the Wu family's tea business, there is no dispute that a doorway in the east of Beixinqiao Street (that is, the present address of Wu Yutai) is the birthplace of Wu Yutai and even the whole Wu enterprise. It is said that this used to be the gate of a dilapidated rich and powerful house. It was in this gate hole without a house number that the Wu family started a tea business. At that time, only the words "North Xinqiao Road East Hall" were printed on the wrapping paper. After several years of hard work, the Wu family accumulated some silver coins, so they bought the gate hole, which was repaired, built the shop facade and used the font size. In 1887 (13th year of Guangxu), the Tea Stack was officially opened with a hanging plaque, which has a history of 126 years. At that time, Wuyutai Tea Stack was mainly engaged in warehousing, transportation and wholesale sales.
Since then, the Wu family has been more enterprising and painstaking, and gradually gained a firm foothold in Beijing. In order to expand their business, the Wu family bought all the deserted mansion (about 15 acres) connected with the back of this gate hole. Mr. Wu rebuilt the whole courtyard and built about 5 rooms around the group. At the southern end of the courtyard (north of Camel Hutong Road), a spacious gatehouse was also built, which was called Wuyutai Courtyard by Beijingers. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the founder of Wu Yutai, Mr. Wu Laoye, made the business of tea stacks bigger and bigger, and successively opened more than ten stores and businesses under the name of Wu Yutai. Before his death, Mr. Wu divided all the estates into five parts, and wrote five notes for his five sons to draw lots. Whoever caught them would get the estate. It happened that the five sons caught benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith in the right order. So the four, five and six brothers discussed the reorganization of their respective shops, houses and other properties, and * * * lived together and * * * operated together. In order to facilitate the management of the three brothers, a management organization was established, named Lizhixin Brothers Company.
at the beginning of the company's establishment, Wudeli Tea House (No.West andNo. North) with rites was established; Wu Yutai Tea Stack and Wu Dingyu Tea House in Zhiji; Xinji's Xieli Tea House and Xieshun Candle Department Store are six stores, and hundreds of thousands of taels of silver from each room are handed over to the company for management. Every year, Chinese New Year is prepared from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. The year before is the busiest time for tea sales. It is necessary to decorate the storefront and prepare various grades of tea. Chinese New Year is a time when people concentrate on spending money, so business is particularly good. On the 3th night, Wu Yutai's tea shop also closed early as usual, and all the clerks also entered a state of holiday rest, and they had to carry out a series of folk activities in a lively way, forming a unique atmosphere for Wu Yutai's New Year. Wu Yutai's midnight ceremony is the beginning of the New Year's Festival. Sesame stalks are tied into a niche-like basket of money and grain to symbolize the growing business of sesame in the coming year. A specially-made set of firecrackers is called 2,, which is about two feet long. The structure of this hanging firecrackers is also very particular. From the bottom, it is a single hanging, from the top, it becomes a double hanging and explodes at the same time, and from the top, it is a four hanging and explodes at the same time, to show that it is more and more prosperous.
in just a few minutes at midnight, children from poor families often hold a paper statue of the god of wealth and shout at the door of the store to send the god of wealth! Every year, Wu Yutai receives hundreds of God of Wealth. As the saying goes, home and the outside are smooth. The three brothers, Li, Zhi and Xin, have mutual understanding and mutual accommodation. The company is headed by Wu Xiqing, the fourth room (Book of Rites), who is called Mr. Si Wu. He is honest, diligent, conscientious, and painstaking. He does everything according to the articles of association of Lizhixin Brothers, and conducts business activities with Wu Yutai as the center.
Mr. Si Wu believes in Buddhism, strictly abides by moral norms, and also has a strong Confucian thought. He is enthusiastic about public welfare undertakings and holds some social positions. He spares no effort to public welfare undertakings, so he often participates in some Buddhist activities, often helps the hungry and cold families in society, and opens a temporary porridge factory in Dongzhimen area every winter.
Although the Wu family is a deep house compound, it is quite a big house, but it is really an ordinary family. Wu Yutai's tea shop and its joint number are also recognized by consumers in this ordinary attitude. After the Yuan Dynasty, more and more people drank tea. In the Ming Dynasty, the custom of drinking tea in Beijing became more popular. In the Qing Dynasty, Manchu officials gradually developed the hobby of going to the teahouse when there was nothing to do. Beijing tea market has developed for hundreds of years. What kind of customer service is it? Is it a noble family or a common people? Borrowing a couplet from that year may explain Wu Yutai's basic management thought: Kyoto is full of luxury, how many rich and expensive giants there are; The people in the ancient city are still frugal, after all, they are mostly small families. Wu Yutai's management policy and attitude of serving the common people won social praise. At the beginning, there were no chain stores. People in and outside the city just ran dozens of miles and went to Wu Yutai's tea house to buy tea. Wu Yutai Tea House propped up the sales sky in Beijing just like a giant column and became the tea house with the biggest income in Beijing.
more than a hundred years may be the thickness of a page in history textbooks, but for Wu Yutai, it is the dedication and pursuit of several generations. A hundred years ago, Beijingers would say that there was an Anhui tea shop in Beixinqiao called Wu Yutai. A hundred years later, Beijingers will say: Wu Yutai tea is a necessity of people's life.