The reasons for the birth of Huizhou merchants

For reference only, the tea market in Qimen in Tang Dynasty was very prosperous. In the Southern Tang Dynasty, Xiuning people took Zang Xun to Fujian. By the Song Dynasty, emblem paper had been exported to Sichuan. Huizhou merchants with huge funds began to appear in the Southern Song Dynasty. Cheng and Cheng Chenghai, Qimen brothers, became rich in business, and were called "100,000 Dagong" and "102,000 Dagong" respectively, collectively called "Cheng 100,000". Zhu's grandfather Suzaku's shops and inns accounted for half of Huizhou's government, which was called "Zhu Banzhou" in history. Some big businessmen with abundant capital also issued "Huizi" in Huizhou. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Jiang Jia, a businessman from Shexian County, lent usury to Huizhou and made huge profits. At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, the capital of Huizhou merchants increased greatly compared with that of Song Dynasty. When Zhu Yuanzhang entered Anhui, he was short of salary, and Jiang Yuan paid him 65,438+2 million at a time. During the Chenghua period, Huizhou merchants successively entered the field of salt industry, and the Shanxi-Shaanxi merchant group, which has always been mainly engaged in salt industry, was severely hit. Huizhou merchants took salt industry as the center and flew around in China business circles.

More than 300 years from the middle of Ming Dynasty to the end of Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty was the golden age of Huizhou merchants' development, and the number, scope of activities, business sectors and capital of Huizhou merchants ranked first in the country. At that time, commerce became the "first-class cause" of Huizhou people. Among adult men, business accounts for 70%, even higher at the peak. The activities of Huizhou merchants spread all over urban and rural areas, from Huainan in the east to Yunnan, Guizhou and Guanlong in the west, Youxian and Liaodong in the north and 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. 183 1 year, the governor of liangjiang was in charge of the salt affairs of the two provinces, and Tao Shu got rid of the accumulated disadvantages of Huai salt and changed it to the "ticket method". Huizhou merchants, who made their fortune with salt patents, began to decline, and the pawnshop industry was also reduced due to the left monopoly and the invasion of foreign banks. Due to the influence of the Opium War and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, tea and wood merchants suffered losses year after year. Especially with the invasion of imperialism, the infiltration of foreign capital and the dumping of foreign goods, most of the industries operated by Huizhou merchants were replaced by them. At the same time, the chaebol in Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, which are closely related to imperialism and warlord bureaucrats, began to rise. Huizhou merchants who only mastered traditional business knowledge and skills gradually lost their manipulation, monopoly and monopoly position in the commercial field and began to decline.

During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, although some Huizhou merchants emerged, such as yi county salt merchant Li Zongmei and Shexian real estate developer Cheng, they could not save the decline of Huizhou merchants as a whole.

Conditions for the emergence of Huizhou merchants

1. The "Wutou Chuwei" in ancient Huizhou is a marginal zone with high mountains and dense forests, changeable terrain and late development. Before the Han Dynasty, the population was small, but three waves of immigrants in the history of late Jin, late Song, late Tang and China brought a large population to Huizhou in southern Anhui. What shall we do? Going out to do business is a way out.

2. Rich resources promote business development. The earliest business of Huizhou merchants was grain in mountain products and other places. If the abundant wood resources are used in construction, ink making, painting, tung oil and paper making, these are all commodities exported abroad, and tea is a well-known brand such as Qimenhong and Wuyuan Green. Going out to do business mainly deals in salt, cotton (cloth) and grain.

3. Huizhou culture has shaped the character of Huizhou merchants-Confucian merchants, and guided their management with Confucian culture.

4. China's commodity economy developed in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Capitalism sprouted in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and was the heyday of Huizhou merchants. 1, all over the country, just like Shanxi merchants, there are footprints of Huizhou merchants everywhere.

2. The business scope is wide, including salt, cotton (cloth), grain, pawn and stationery pen and ink (Four Treasures of the Study).

3, thrift, small business, from small to large.

4. Strong capital. Such as Xiuning, engaged in selling salt in Jianghuai, owned four ships, and the salt sold accounted for more than 1/2 of Huai salt.

At the end of Qing Qianlong, the tariff surplus was 852,000 silver per year, and tea from Huizhou merchants was the first export commodity.

Huizhou merchants engaged in salt industry in Yangzhou had a capital of 40 million taels of silver, while the national treasury of the Qing Dynasty had only 70 million taels.

5. the way to operate. Adhering to the business philosophy of "morality, honesty", "sincerity-oriented, righteousness first", we have gained a good reputation in the market.

6. Return to your hometown after making profits, and set up social welfare undertakings and charities. 1805, Huanghuai flooded, and Huizhou merchants in Yangzhou donated 60,000 meters of stone and 2 million taels of silver. Huizhou merchants' business ethics salt, pawn, tea and wood are the most important businesses of Huizhou merchants, followed by rice, grain, cotton cloth, silk, paper, ink and porcelain. There are many tea merchants in Wuyuan, salt merchants in Shexian, restaurants in Jixi, pawn shops in Xiuning, cloth groceries in Qimen and Yixian.

In addition to engaging in various commercial and trafficking industries, Huizhou merchants also run industries directly. Zhu Jun, a businessman from Xiuning, mined iron ore in Fujian, and Ruan Bi, a businessman from Shexian, set up a paper printing and dyeing factory in Wuhu. They produce and sell it, which is a combination of industry and commerce. Huizhou merchants are mainly engaged in wholesale and long-distance trafficking. Wang Fuguang, a native of Xiuning, sells salt between Jianghuai and owns thousands of ships. Some wealthy businessmen and tycoons have also appointed agents and deputies. Huizhou merchants also used slaves to do business. Cheng Tinghao, a native of Xiuning, once traveled around Jia with dozens of slaves. Huizhou merchants pay attention to talents in their management, so as to know people well, pay attention to market conditions and implement flexible management. One industry is mainly engaged in other industries; There are commercial projects that change according to different market conditions and seasons.

Huizhou merchants pay attention to business ethics, and advocate treating people with sincerity, accepting things with trust, and giving consideration to justice and benefit. Known for hard work, I worked outside, returned after three years, got married and left, and got used to it. Huizhou merchants were literati, while Jia was good at Confucianism, confused with feudal bureaucrats, or entrusted each other. In addition to "urgent public discussion", "donation" and "learning first", they also paid a lot of money to be protected by Cao Shouling and even eunuchs and emperors, enjoying the privilege of being an official. Some Huizhou merchants themselves can't be among the bureaucratic industries, so they urge their children to go to the examiner and become officials and businessmen themselves. Huizhou is adjacent to economically developed areas, Xin 'anjiang is directly connected to Hangzhou, and the waterway transportation is very convenient. Mountain products is rich in natural products and has a material basis for commodity circulation. At the same time, Huizhou has many mountains and few fields, and farming can't support one, so the mountain people have to "go far away." Asking for food in all directions. Moreover, Huizhou merchants have the spirit of "emblem camel" and often go out to do business at noon, regardless of the high mountains and long roads. Although in secluded villages, even overseas, they are all involved.

Before Chenghua in Ming Dynasty, Huizhou merchants mainly engaged in Four Treasures of the Study, lacquerware, buttons and tea. After Chenghua, the Ming Dynasty changed the method of "opening China to France". The method of transporting grain to border areas in exchange for salt and selling it in certain areas was changed to the method of buying grain and giving salt in salt-producing areas and listening to it for sale. In this way, the important salt-producing areas, namely Huaihe River and Zhejiang, became the gathering places of salt merchants, and Huizhou merchants used the advantages of people and land to gradually fly to the business community by developing salt industry management.

After the middle of Ming Dynasty, Huizhou merchants formed four industries: salt, economy, tea and wood. In addition to Bibi, there are various industries, such as cloth, silk, grain and oil, ceramics, lacquerware, medicinal materials, Anhui cuisine, Shaanxi miscellaneous North and South goods, Beijing department stores and so on. For Huizhou merchants, as long as it is profitable; Not if you lose your job. The management mode of Huizhou merchants is also flexible and diverse. Generally speaking, there are five kinds: one is hawking (long-distance selling); The second is group accumulation (hoarding, buying cheap and selling expensive); Third, opening a business (setting up shops widely and competing); Fourth, pledge (operating pawn, giving children and mothers rights); Fifth, return to nature (use a lot of things to freshen up). There are also workshops in front of the store and behind it, or factories that produce directly. For example, Zheng Tianzhen and Zhu mined iron ore in Fujian, Ruan Bi set up a dyeing and weaving factory in Penghu, and worked in Fangcun, all of which were integrated with production and marketing.

The capital of Huizhou merchants started from a small business, but bureaucratic capital was also involved. Family members of businessmen have become prominent officials and enjoy privileges. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, officials were forbidden to do business, but members of bureaucratic families were not forbidden to increase their capital. Or entrust other officials with huge sums of money to operate on their behalf and share the surplus. Huizhou merchants dominated by wealth in the Ming Dynasty often married rich and powerful people. For example, Luo Xiaohua, a Mexican merchant, was a guest of Yan Shifan, the son of Yan Song, a traitor in the Ming Dynasty. Wu Yanghui, a wealthy businessman, said: His eldest father once owed more than 200,000 yuan to that salt. If you don't collude with powerful people, you can't owe the country this huge sum.

Huizhou merchants flourished after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, lasting for more than 400 years, and gradually declined in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. The reasons can be seen from the following aspects:

1. In the 11th year of Qing Daoguang, the Governor of Liangjiang, Tao Shu, got rid of the bad habit of Huai salt. The implementation of the bill law in recent years has not only eliminated tens of millions of salt courses owed by merchants in the past, but also increased tens of millions of income, which has seriously dealt a blow to the interests of salt merchants. So when Tao Shu first proposed to get rid of the disadvantages of salt, the officials of salt merchants strongly opposed it. Although Cao Zhenyong, a Shexian native who started from the salt industry, was the prime minister of Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang dynasties, he could not come forward to oppose it, but Huizhou merchants suffered losses because of the change of salt policy to ticket law. He said sourly, "There was no prime minister who starved to death in the salt policy reform." No matter what Cao Zhenyong said, the salt policy reform in Yan Dan dealt a great blow to Huizhou merchants.

Second, Wang Maoyin, a Shexian native who was then assistant minister of household affairs and in charge of Qianfatang in the third year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty, believed that in order to make the banknote law work and do a good job, we must rely on businessmen, give them convenience in operation and give them special benefits. Not only was his suggestion not adopted by Yi Xu, but he was severely reprimanded for being instructed by others. This is also a great blow to Huizhou merchants who run money houses.

Third, during the Qing and Kang Dynasties, pawnbrokers were banned because of heavy profits, and then the pawnshop tax was raised. Zuo improved his quality of life, but the pawnshop was defeated several times. Xianfeng began to implement "Likin" in four years, and there were many tax cards. It is not as easy as it used to be to make money from Huizhou merchants who are capable of long-distance trafficking.

4. After the Opium War, the imported products from capitalist countries were dumped all over China. The handicraft crystals operated by Huizhou merchants can't compete with those produced by foreign commercial machines, that is, Huimo is the only one, and it is also impacted by imported pen and ink. At the same time, with the appearance of foreign merchants, the domestic comprador class colluded with officials and gentry and became the enemy of Huizhou merchants.

5. In the competition with the emerging Zhejiang merchants in Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi, Huizhou merchants who were deeply involved in feudal production and management were gradually crushed by them. In addition, there is another important reason, that is, during the reign of Xianfeng Tongzhi, Huizhou was at war for years. First Ying Yong was plundered, and then Zeng Guofan's inspector Qimen sent troops to plunder, leaving the whole county empty. In addition, the Taiping Army and the Qing Army fought for attack and defense. Huizhou suffered a rare disaster since ancient times, which severely devastated Huizhou merchants in terms of manpower, financial resources and material resources. In a word, Huizhou merchants are the product of feudal social economy. Although they have a long history, they failed to adapt to the development of society, and their inevitable decline was determined by the semi-feudal and semi-colonial society.