When did Huizhou merchants originate?

When did Huizhou merchants first originate? No confirmation, probably not later than Jin Dynasty.

Huizhou merchants, namely Huizhou merchants and Xin 'an merchants, commonly known as "Hui Gang", refer to Huizhou (government) merchants.

Huizhou merchants come from Huizhou, including six counties: Yun, Xiuning, Wuyuan, Qimen, Yi and Jixi, that is, Guxin 'an County. Among the six counties, the merchants in Ganning and Xiuning are particularly famous. Huizhou merchants became active in the Song Dynasty, and their heyday was in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Huizhou merchants, a famous business gang in China's history, are all in poor mountainous areas, and they can't survive by farming. In the Ming Dynasty, Anhui Geography said that "it is natural for Hui people to buy more merchants." "Huizhou Fuzhi" contains: "Huizhou Xiebao Valley, the mountain depends on the original foothills, the fields are barren, and the production is extremely thin. Most of them enter school at the age of one, and they can't support anything. Little men practice their skills more, or sell and eat in other counties, which is often nineteen. " Gu said: Huizhou "no land can be obtained below the middle household". There are many merchants in Huizhou, which cover nature. Chaozhou merchants, Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants are the "three big business gangs" in the history of China.

According to the Book of Jin, Huizhou people like "parting" and often go out to do business. On the occasion of Qi and Liang Dynasties, Cao Lao, a native of Xiuning, often traveled between rivers and lakes and worked as a trafficker in Jia. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, in addition to the transportation and marketing of local products such as bamboo, wood, porcelain clay and raw lacquer, the appearance of Huizhou commercial tea, inkstone, Hui ink, Tang paper and Wang Boli pen further promoted the development of Huizhou merchants.

Huizhou is located at the end of the house, which belongs to the marginal zone, with high mountains and dense forests, changeable terrain and late development. Before the Han Dynasty, the population was small, but in the late Jin, late Song, late Tang and China history, the north moved to Huizhou in southern Anhui with a large population. What if the population is large and the mountains are small? Going out to do business is a way out.

Abundant 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.

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

China's commodity economy developed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and capitalism sprouted in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which was the heyday of Huizhou merchants.