Seeking information about Shen Wansan, the richest man in Suzhou!

Shen Wansan was famous and wealthy; Wansan refers to the three beauties among ten thousand households, so it is also called Sanxiu. As a nickname for the extremely rich, it was a person born in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty.

In the middle of the Yuan Dynasty, Shen Fangsan's father Shen* moved from Shenjiayang, Nanxun, Wuxing (now Huzhou, Zhejiang Province) to Zhoudong* (Tuzhai), and then to Yinzibang. After Shen Wansan became rich, he regarded Suzhou as an important business place. He once supported the Zhou regime of Zhang Shicheng in Pingjiang (Suzhou), and Zhang Shicheng also established a monument and biography for Shen Wansan. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang established Nanjing as his capital, and Shen Wansan helped build one-third of the capital. Zhu Yuanzhang appointed his two sons as officials; he also built 1,654 "corridors" and four restaurants in Nanjing..." . With a comfortable residence, Shen Wansan was sent to the army by Zhu Yuanzhang and spent the rest of his life in Yunnan.

Shen Wansan left his footprints in Zhouzhuang, Suzhou, Nanjing, and Yunnan. As the place where he established his business; "Wan San's residence is about half a mile northwest of Zhouzhuang, that is, the Dongzhuang land, Yinzi Bang, warehouse, garden pavilion and residence are interconnected" (Volume 2 of "Anniversary Town Chronicles"), "Wan San's family is in Zhouzhuang , broken houses still exist" (Ming Dynasty Yang Xunji "Su Tan"). Although he was rewarded by Zhang Shicheng and Zhu Yuanzhang, he was unwilling to leave this treasure land. "Yuan, Wang Xing, courtesy name Zhizhong, a native of Wuxian County, Shen Wansanyan As a guest of the West, he was paid one yi for every literary achievement" (Volume 6 Miscellaneous Notes of "Zhouzhuang Town Chronicles"). It can be seen that he even wanted to stay in this wealthy land and did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to cultivate his children and grandchildren, so that the Shen family Prosperous for a long time.

There are three types of reasons for Shen Wansan's wealth: "reclamation theory", "wealth sharing theory" and "tongfan theory".

1. Reclamation theory. There are records in many historical materials, but the one that truly put forward this statement is the key point in the article "The Wealth and Decline of the Rich Shen Wansan in the Early Ming Dynasty" published by Chen Zhaohong of the Kunshan Cultural Management Association at the "Academic Symposium on Economic History of the Ming Dynasty". It is proposed that Shen Fangsan "started from farming" and then "expanded fields and houses, and became rich in gold and jade", and even "had a huge capital of tens of thousands, and fields all over the world." "Shen Wansan became rich by cultivating, and even became a millionaire, known as the number one in Jiangnan.

2. The theory of wealth sharing. Some people think that "Shen Wansan's wealth was obtained from the Lu family of Wujia, and Lu's richest family was from Jiangzuo... "And Xiu". (Volume 6. Miscellaneous Notes of "Zhouzhuang Town Chronicles"), and some people said that "the rich man Lu Daoyuan in the Yuan Dynasty was the best in the world...". In his later years, two people who managed his wealth were paid with assets. "One of them was Shen Wansanxiuye," (Yang Xunji's "Su Tan"). In short, Shen Wansan became a wealthy man in the south of the Yangtze River after obtaining the assets of the Lu family in Fenhu, Wujiang.

3. Tongfan theory. According to the "Wujiang County Chronicle", "Shen Wansan lived in Zhouzhuang, the 29th capital of Wujiang. He was the richest in the world. According to legend, he got it from Tongfan." The famous historian Wu Han also said: "The reason why Suzhou Shen Wansan became rich was his overseas trade." This shows that Shen Wansan became a millionaire because he shipped goods to overseas trade.

In fact, the reason why Shen Wansan became a wealthy man in Jiangnan is that the above three factors are indispensable and closely related. If it is said that Shen Wansan "his ancestors started their lives by farming...the eldest father was rich and his inheritance was endless; he was a handsome man and his descendants were powerful," it means that he had the foundation for establishing a career. Shen Wansan received a huge sum of money from the Lu family in Fenhu, and because of his excellent "economic management" ability in "financial management", he had the capital and key to become rich. After he had such a huge sum of money, he continued to open up fields and houses on the one hand; on the other hand, he used Zhouzhuang as a base for commodity trade and circulation, taking advantage of the Baiyan River (Dongjiang River) connecting the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to the west and the Liuhe River to the east; Silks, ceramics, grains and handicrafts from Jiangsu and Zhejiang were shipped overseas, and he began his bold foreign trade activities of "competing for wealth", which quickly made him become a Jiangnan man with "huge tens of millions of dollars and land all over the world". The first richest man. Shen Wansan used part of the money earned from trade to purchase land, and the other part was used as capital for business. Therefore, it can be said that Shen Wansan took cultivation as the foundation and the sharing of wealth as the capital for doing business, and he boldly became a millionaire. Zhouzhuang "was built from a village into a town, which was actually the work of Shen Wansan and his son."

Shen Wansan was so rich that even Zhu Yuanzhang was jealous; but after suffering three heavy blows from the Zhu Ming Dynasty, it quickly declined. .

The first attack occurred around the sixth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1373 AD). According to the "Zhouzhuang Town Chronicles", "In the Ming Dynasty. The Biography of Ma Hou, during the Hongwu period, Shen Xiu, a wealthy man, helped build one-third of the capital and asked for troops to be drafted. Emperor Ren said: "Every man drafts the world's army to disrupt the people, and it is appropriate to punish him." . On the day of the remonstration, the unlucky people will be punished by heaven. How can your majesty punish them? Shi Xiu was sent to Yunnan. "

In addition to Shen Fang's army in Yunnan, his second son-in-law was Yu Shishe. He was also exiled to Chaozhou. Before that, Shen Wansan built the city wall from Hongwu Gate to Shuixi Gate. He also contributed dragon horns, two thousand ingots of platinum, two hundred catties of gold, and ten men of armor and soil. With ten horses, Nanjing verandas, restaurants, etc. were built. This blow not only caused the Shen family to lose Shen Wansan as the head of the family; it also lost most of its wealth, which can be said to be a loss of people and money. Not only that, when Shen Wansan was arrested, there were many implicates in Zhouzhuang town, and there were rumors that the residents of Zhouzhuang would be punished. Fortunately, the town's resident Xu Minwang did not shy away from the ax and the ax was sent to the capital. Only then did the whole town of Zhouzhuang, young and old, be saved.

The second blow came in the 19th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1386). It is suitable to be in the same prison as his brother" (Volume 3 of Zhouzhuang Town Chronicles. Tomb). This time, Shen Wan's third son Shen Wang's two sons Shen Zhi and Shen Zhuang (Boxi) were imprisoned for Tian Fu again. Boxi died in prison that year and was later buried in Xingcun, Zhouzhuang. In this way, the foundation of the Shen family was fundamentally shaken.

The third attack was in the 31st year of Hongwu (1398 AD). "Xuewen conspired with Lan Yu, and ordered to arrest and punish his wife and daughter, as well as his seventy-two families." In February of the 31st year of the Yangwu Period, Xuewen was involved in Hu Lan's party, and even Wansan's great-grandson De All six of them, including the Gu family, died on the same day" (Volume 6 Miscellaneous Notes of "Zhouzhuang Town Chronicles"). This time, the family of Gu Xuewen, Shen Wansan's son-in-law, and the six members of the Shen family, nearly 80 people were all beheaded, and their fields were confiscated. It can be said that The whole family was wiped out. The huge family business that Shen Wansan had worked so hard to manage declined rapidly. "Shen Wansan's family still has a dilapidated house in Zhouzhuang, but it is not very grand." The Shen family suffered three heavy blows and could only do so. The family was destroyed.

In this way, Zhouzhuang Shen Wansan, known as the richest man in Jiangnan, went from prosperity to decline, but he is a figure worth studying and learning from, and his remains in Zhouzhuang have also attracted Chinese and foreign tourists. and experts and scholars are deeply interested.