Who was the richest man in the world in Beiyang period?

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the richest man in the world turned out to be from China, and he was already richer than Little Shenyang.

He had assets of 26 million taels of silver before 150; 200 1 was rated as one of the top 50 richest people in 1000 by the wall street journal. He is also a "red-crowned crane merchant" like Hu Xueyan. He is Wu Bingjian of the Qing Dynasty.

Wu Bingjian (1769~ 1843), also known as Pinghu, was originally from Fujian. His ancestors have been doing business for generations, and his father Wu Guoying founded Jardine Matheson Group. At the age of 32, Wu Bingjian took over Jardine Matheson's business and began his career as a foreign trade agent for more than 40 years. The Wu family's career also began to rise rapidly and accumulated huge wealth.

When it comes to Wu Bingjian's road to wealth, he has to mention Guangzhou Thirteen Lines. During 1757, the Qing government adopted a closed door policy, leaving only Guangzhou for foreign trade.

Wu Bingjian is also a red top businessman.

The 13 Guangzhou Bank became the only legal foreign trade channel. Goods shipped by foreign businessmen will be resold to China through thirteen banks, and goods exported from China will be exported through thirteen banks.

In the thirteen lines, the * * * organization of the Hong merchants is called the Gonghang, and its leader is called the Chief Merchant. Besides, among the thirteen banks, Wentong Bank, Guangli Bank, Jardine Matheson Bank and CreditEase Bank are the most famous. On the eve of the Opium War, Wu Bingjian surpassed his three peers and became a Guangzhou businessman leader with a large amount of assets.

He has a business mind and is kind to his peers. From 18 1 1 to 18 19, Wu Bingjian * * * lent more than 2 million silver dollars to bankrupt Hong Kong businessmen, making most Hong Kong businessmen with weak funds have to rely on him. With the help of "netting" hong merchants, it has been in the leading position of hong merchants for decades.

Wu Bingjian not only owns real estate, real estate, tea gardens and shops. In China, Wu Bingjian invested in the American insurance industry and bought American securities when most people in China didn't know what the insurance industry on the other side of the ocean was.

Also set foot in American railway investment. According to statistics, the interest of the Wu family's investment in the United States can reach more than 202,000 silver per year. At the same time, he is also the largest creditor of the British East India Company.

Nevertheless, Wu Bingjian is still the object that the Qing royal family and officials can arbitrarily deprive. As the saying goes, "Better be a dog than a businessman". Wu Bingjian applied for retirement many times, but the Qing court refused.

In order to spend his old age safely, he was even willing to hand over 80% of his property, but he was still not allowed. The claim for silver was 6 million taels, one third of which was funded by thirteen banks, of which Wu Bingjian took 165438+ more than two million taels. He once wrote to an American friend that he really wanted to immigrate to the United States unless he was too old.

In this painful struggle, Wu Bing died in September of 1843.

Excerpted from Baidu netizens, thank you.