Why do Shanxi people want to go west?

Where is the west exit? The west exit in a broad sense refers to the exit north of the Great Wall. The most famous ones are Shahukou in Shanxi, Fugukou in Shaanxi and Dushikou in Hebei, while Xikou is the trade center between Central Plains people and Inner Mongolia, so the main people who move westward are Shanxi people, Shaanxi people and Hebei people. Usually, Xikou in a narrow sense is considered as the killing tiger mouth in Youyu County, Shanxi Province. Why do you want to go west, represented by Shanxi people? In fact, it has a certain historical background. Before the Qing Dynasty, going to the Western Seas was considered to be only sporadic behavior of people, and the scope was very small. In the Qing Dynasty, after the prosperous period of Kanggan, there appeared an important period of population development in China. According to historical records, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the national population exceeded 300 million. The rapid growth of population has led to the sharp contradiction between man and land. People in traditional agricultural society, once they have no land, will present a crisis of survival. The so-called five great migrations in modern times took place under this background. What needs to be clarified is that although the migration of these people is large in scale, it is not an official act, which is different from the equally famous "Huguang filling Sichuan". Anhui in the south and Shanxi in the north, because of the harsh and barren natural environment in ancient times, cultivated the two most powerful business gangs in feudal society-Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants. During the nearly 400 years from the end of Ming Dynasty to the end of Qing Dynasty, a large number of Shanxi people immigrated to Mongolia, especially Inner Mongolia, which greatly changed the population and cultural structure in central Inner Mongolia and had a great influence. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Shanxi people went to the Western Ocean, Shandong people went to the Western Ocean and Guangdong people went to the South China Sea. The people of China spontaneously formed three population movements. Now, it seems that these are the three great adventures with unlimited business opportunities. However, for people at that time, there were endless tears behind them. Shanxi people call Zhangjiakou, east of Datong, the "East Exit", and Hukou, Youyu County in the west, the "West Exit". Walking to the west exit refers to the road from Shahu exit to Inner Mongolia grassland. The history of going to the West can be traced back to the early Ming Dynasty. In order to resist the southward invasion of the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty built nine frontier fortresses on the Great Wall in the north, with 800,000 troops stationed. The logistics of 800,000 troops was a great test for the Ming dynasty at that time, so the Ming dynasty thought of a very clever way, called "changing warehouse receipts for salt". Simply put, it is to outsource the logistics to the people. Whoever transports the grain to the border can take the salt given by this * * * to Jiangnan to sell salt. Shanxi people took advantage of their geographical position, taking into account both grain merchants and salt merchants, and quickly completed the primitive accumulation of capital, laying the foundation for future generations to advance westward. In the Qing Dynasty, the scale of westward travel reached a peak, but they were no longer the front line of grain transportation, but for survival. The contradiction between people is most acute in the northwest. In order to find food for the people, the Qing Dynasty could only guide them to reclaim wasteland in Inner Mongolia. In addition, Mongolian princes and nobles covet land rent, and both sides contributed to this population migration. At that time, there was a saying: I would rather go to Kanto ten times than go to Xikou once. There are mountains, water and forests in the northeast, except for cold spots, at least you won't be hungry. However, going west is different. It is necessary to kill the tiger's mouth, and it is also the most rampant place for bandits. There is a local folk song: kill the tiger's mouth, kill the tiger's mouth, poor and have no money, either lose money or behead with a knife. The first person's yearning for a better life is created by people. Everyone yearns for a better life and hopes that their life can be better. In that particular historical period, Inner Mongolia can completely satisfy Shanxi people's yearning for a better life and their own ideal pursuit. To develop Inner Mongolia, there are many skilled craftsmen in Shanxi. For example, there are many kinds of experts in farming in Shanxi, but there is not so much land in Shanxi, and they can only do long-term work for landlords and rich people, but their hard work is very little. However, in Inner Mongolia, it is another scene. There is a large area of land to be reclaimed. They can not only display their skills here, but also gain a good family business. Explained by the current Internet theory, this is a product thinking, that is, the relationship between users and needs. As a result, generations of Shanxi ancestors embarked on the road to the west with their yearning for a better life. Although it is a hard journey to go west under the guidance of the second spirit, Shanxi people have always had an indomitable spirit and always attached great importance to doing business. As we all know, the first-class talents in Shanxi used to go into business and then became famous. Therefore, business culture has always had a far-reaching influence in Shanxi. For example, Shanxi merchants sell tea in the south, sell tea and collect fur in Mongolia and Russia in the north, and work hard between the north and the south of the motherland. At that time, the people in Shanxi were also willing to let their children learn to do business and work as waiters in shops, so at that time, the whole Shanxi society had such a business spirit, that is, an indomitable spirit of struggle in pursuit of ideals. It is under the guidance of this idea that we can overcome many difficulties and go out to seek survival and development. Third, the natural environment is harsh and forced to leave their homes. There is an old saying in ancient Huizhou, "I was born in Huizhou in my previous life and lost it when I was thirteen or fourteen years old"; There is also a saying in Shanxi, "Hequ protects Texas, and it will not be collected for ten years and nine years. Men go outside and women dig wild vegetables. " "Describe the bad local environment, it is difficult to survive. The natural environment in northern Shanxi is harsh, all kinds of natural disasters occur in bidding, and the land is barren, making it difficult for local people to survive. In order to survive, it is also common for local people to often run away. On the other hand, the famous "butyl five Seven Famines" happened in Shanxi in the late Qing Dynasty, the weather was extremely bad, and the worst drought occurred in modern times. The local rivers were short of water, and the local people fled on a large scale to survive. Some places in Shanxi are very poor, and there is a famous proverb: "Hequ Dezhou will not accept it for ten years, and men will go outside and women will dig wild vegetables." "There were many people who left messages in these places. Fourth, the immigration consolidated the territory. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the rule was tottering, especially the continuous infiltration of northern Russia, which made the territory of the Qing Dynasty very unstable. In order to consolidate its territory, the Qing dynasty changed the tradition of "banning border blockades", especially after losing outer Manchuria and outer northwest, Russia began to take care of Mongolia again. Mongolia is vast and sparsely populated, and various resources such as cultivated land are very rich. The Qing Dynasty encouraged immigrants to guard the border and actively recruited a large number of poor immigrants from Shanxi and Hebei to develop land in Mobei and Monan areas. Shanxi was very close to Chahar, Suiyuan and other parts of Inner Mongolia at that time, so it was natural to "get the moon first by being close to the water tower". "When Yan Xishan ruled Shanxi, he was in Shanxi and was in charge of Suimeng. In this way, some soldiers of the Inner Mongolia generation stayed in Inner Mongolia to be officials. From the source, whether going to the west or the east, people are begging for a living in order to survive, similar to migrant workers now. Under the model of farming civilization, once the income from cultivated land is not enough to support the family, we can only think of other ways. It is against this background that people begin to go out. In fact, in addition to going to Kanto and the west, there is also a big migration action, that is, going to South Asia, in which Fujian people are the majority. According to what was said at that time, Fujian people took the sea as their field.