What do you mean by going west?

From the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the early years of the Republic of China, residents of Shanxi, northern Shaanxi, Hebei and neighboring areas in the Great Wall moved to ethnic minority areas outside the Great Wall for business or livelihood.

Xikou in a narrow sense refers to the entrance to the north of the Great Wall. It is a place where Shanxi merchants and Shaanxi merchants pass customs and trade with Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia. Therefore, there are mainly people from northern Shaanxi, northern Shaanxi and Hebei who take Xikou. Houxikou generally refers to the place where Mongolia engages in agriculture and commodity trade north of the Great Wall, including Shenmukou in northern Shaanxi, Zhangjiakou and Guihuacheng in northern Hebei (now Hohhot).

Most people who go to the west exit are men who can't open the pot at home. It may take decades, but only a few people can really become wealthy businessmen. The bones on the road are short and short, and it is a very hard road. The famous westward migration event has made great contributions to the economic development, ethnic integration and cultural exchange in the Central Plains and central and western Mongolia.

What's the point?

"Westward" has greatly strengthened the contact between the outside world and the mainland. Take Shanxi as an example. Since the Qing Dynasty, there has been a proverb: "Wild geese in Yanmenguan are difficult to fly, and treasures in the naturalization world are piled up like mountains. There is nothing wrong with the drought in Shanxi, and naturalization is ruined. " Yanmenguan, located in the northwest of Daixian County, Shanxi Province, is the crown of the three customs in Shanxi Province. Naturalization is the surrounding area of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.

The meaning of this proverb is: naturalization as a gathering place for merchants has a great impact on Shanxi's economy. In some places in Shanxi, even if there is a drought in this province, it will not have much impact on the local society; However, if there is a famine in the osmanthus region, the people in these places will have to starve, which of course reflects that some places in Shanxi are very dependent on foreign economy.