Top Ten Business Groups in China

It can also be called Shanxi Commercial Gang, Huizhou Commercial Gang, Shaanxi Commercial Gang (Qin Commercial Gang), Shandong Commercial Gang, Fujian Commercial Gang (Fujian Commercial Gang, Chaoshan Commercial Gang, broadly including Fujian people such as Taiwan Province Province and Singapore), Dongting Commercial Gang, Guangdong Commercial Gang (Chaoshan Commercial Gang, Guangfu Commercial Gang, Hakka Commercial Gang), Jiangyou Commercial Gang, Longyou Commercial Gang and Ningbo Commercial Gang. Among them, Shanxi merchants, Huizhou merchants and Chaozhou merchants have the greatest influence and the farthest influence. Shanxi Business Group Huizhou Business Group Shaanxi Business Group Shandong Business Group Fujian Business Group Dongting Business Group Guangdong Business Group (Chaozhou Business Group, Guangfu Business Group) Jiangyou Business Group Longyou Business Group Ningbo Business Group all said that the history of China is a long feudal history, and the Confucian culture that values righteousness over profit and the mainstream of farming economy make it difficult for the flower of market economy to sprout. But in fact, human society has never left the activities of businessmen.

According to textual research, Shang (or Shang) was originally the name of a primitive tribe, which was located in the south of Shangqiu, Henan Province, and its ancestor's surname was Qi. The reason why the deed is sealed here is because it follows the merits of Dayu's water control. The tenth generation grandson of Qi was named Wang Hai (BC16th century). Wang Hai is engaged in animal husbandry and is good at business. Its fourth generation, the Sun and Tang Dynasties, destroyed the summer (BC 155 1) and moved its capital to Yin, so Shang is also called Yin, and Shang still calls itself Shang. Later, after Yin died in the Zhou Dynasty, Duke Zhou () told Yin's adherents to continue their business. While people in Shang dynasty were good at business, people in Zhou dynasty called people engaged in this industry businessmen.

Commercial gangs in history generally rose in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a "commercial revolution" was triggered, and ten business gangs rose one after another. Among them, Shanxi merchants, Huizhou merchants and Chaoshan merchants are the three most influential and far-reaching business gangs. The rise and fall of Shanxi merchants. My feelings about Shanxi businessmen come from the TV series "Hang the Red Lantern High" in Gong Li, Zhang Yimou.

The Qiao Family Courtyard in Shanxi on TV is the original castle of wealthy businessmen in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Behind it is the profound cultural heritage of Shanxi merchants. Through the quaint courtyards, quaint brick walls and quaint furnishings of the Qiao Family Courtyard, a magnificent picture of the development history of Shanxi merchants looms. ...

Shanxi merchants are commonly known as "Shanxi Gang", also known as "Western Merchants" and "Shanjia". In the long history, Shanxi merchants used Shanxi's rich specialties such as salt, iron, wheat, cotton, leather, wool, wood, dried cigarettes and so on. Long-distance trafficking, set up a sales number, exchange silk, silk, tea and rice in Jiangnan area, and resell them to northwest, Mongolia, Russia and other places. Their trafficking and trafficking activities spread all over the country, forming a northern gold gang that can best compete with the southern Hui gang. Although the history of Shanxi merchants can be traced back to the Jin and Tang Dynasties of the Zhou Dynasty; But it really rose in the Ming Dynasty (1368- 1398) to Qingganlong (1735- 1799) and Jiaqing (1799- 1820). Especially in the middle of Qing dynasty, Shanxi merchants gradually adapted to the needs of financial exchange business and developed from commerce to finance. During the period of Xian Tong (185 1- 1874), Shanxi Bank almost monopolized the foreign exchange business in the whole country and became a powerful commercial and financial capital group with a dominant position in the whole country. And formed the "North Bank" and "Nanzhuang Bank" two major Shanxi businessmen.

Then, why did the once brilliant "Shanxi merchants" finally decline? Some historians have analyzed the nature of Shanxi merchants, and I think some branches of the decline of Shanxi merchants can be inferred from their research.

"Looking at Shanxi merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties, there are three obvious characteristics: first, the feudal government regarded them as tools for the government to implement fiscal policies and provide military support; Second, there is an unusual relationship between businessmen and feudal government; The third is the feudalization of profits. "

The so-called Shanxi merchants, as a tool for the government to implement fiscal policies and provide military salaries, mainly refer to the big businessmen among them, namely imperial merchants, official merchants, big salt merchants and foreign copper merchants. However, the relationship between Shanxi merchants and feudal government has many forms, such as Yangzhou salt merchants in the Ming Dynasty, whose registered place is in Shanxi, not in Anhui. As for the feudalization of Shanxi merchants' profits in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, we know that although Shanxi merchants were rich, their capital investment in industry was an individual phenomenon, and most of them were in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, and there was no general trend of transforming commercial capital into industrial capital, and commercial capital remained in the circulation field.

In a word, the operation mode of Shanxi merchants' capital in Ming and Qing Dynasties is completely coordinated with the feudal landlord system economic structure, which is a link and serves the feudal landlord system economy. This nature determines that with the demise of the feudal system in China, the backward feudal management mode of "Shanxi Merchants" gradually exposed its incompatibility with the times. Therefore, its decline is inevitable. The whole story of Huizhou merchants. As Zhejiang people, they have a natural affinity for Huizhou merchants, not only because the ancient road of Huizhou and Hangzhou has narrowed the distance between Zhejiang people and Huizhou merchants. Hu Xueyan, a businessman with red top, has forged an indissoluble bond with Huizhou merchants and Zhejiang merchants.

Hui merchants are as famous as Shanxi merchants, also known as Xin 'an merchants, Hui merchants or "Hui Gang". It is the general name of merchants or merchant groups in the old Huizhou government. Can't be equated with Huizhou merchants. Hui nationality has a long history of doing business. As early as the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there were records of Xin 'an merchants' activities. With the development of later generations, the commercial gang group was formed during the Ming Chenghua and Hongzhi years (1464- 1505). Jiajing (152 1- 1566) declined in Ming Dynasty, and Huizhou merchants gradually declined.

Generations of Huizhou people managed Four Treasures of the Study by selling salt, tea and mountain products, and embarked on a trade route only available in textbooks in the future: entering Suzhou, Hangzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou in the east, seizing the Wuhu trade route, controlling Huaishui Port in the south, reaching Hunan, Shu, Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan in the south, and traveling between Beijing, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan, covering distant northwest and northeast provinces. Finally, it entered Jiangxi and Hunan in the west, and reached Fujian and Guangdong provinces in the southeast until it sailed into the sea to trade with Japan. At this time, Huizhou merchants reached their peak, and "no business without emblem" began to spread all over the world.

The biggest difference between Huizhou merchants and other merchants is the word "Confucianism". Compared with Shanxi merchants who are bent on doing business, the pursuit of wealth is only a means for Huizhou merchants, and seeking fame and rank is the final result. Therefore, although Huizhou merchants do a lot of business, they are half-hearted. During the 70 years from Qianlong to Jiaqing, they also managed the salt industry in Huaibei. 265 children of Huizhou merchants passed the imperial examination, while only 22 children of Shanxi merchants passed the imperial examination.

By the end of 19, when the feudal economy represented by Huizhou merchants declined, it was the time when the capitalist commodity economy landed in China. From the perspective of economics, it is obvious that only by investing heavily in industry and realizing the combination of industry and commerce can we get a new life. But the "official standard" Huizhou merchants can't do it, and they don't have the financial resources to invest in the industry. The origin of tide merchants. "chapman" is the same name as chapman and Guangdong businessmen. Ancient Chaozhou merchants were not as famous as Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants, and the rise of Chaozhou merchants was after the Ming Dynasty. After the rise of private overseas trade in the period of Zheng De in Ming Dynasty (1506~ 152 1), the coastal residents of Chaoshan began to engage in large-scale commercial adventures at sea. By the middle and late Ming dynasty, a large number of Chaoshan people flocked to the tide with ships as partners. Since the Qing dynasty, the red-headed boat has become a symbol of Chaozhou businessmen; Merchants in Qing dynasty were also called red-headed shippers.

The glorious period of Shang Chao businessmen is still near and modern. Since modern times, due to the invasion of foreign economic forces and the slow pace of China's modern times, Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants have gradually declined because of their adherence to tradition, while Chaozhou merchants have risen in Southeast Asia, Hongkong and Chaoshan areas with the climax of modern overseas immigration. During this period, although the tide merchants were once silent after World War II, after several years of hard struggle, they finally rose in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s. A number of world-class rich people such as Li Ka-shing and Chin Sophonpanich have emerged.

Why can tide merchants stand the test of history, develop since ancient times and write new glories today?

In fact, modern tide merchants carried forward the independent business spirit of ancient tide merchants, and had a certain open mind in the process of participating in international commercial trade. In modern tide merchants, we can see the effective combination and fusion of some traditional cultures and modern commercial cultures. It is the development and integration of this culture that may be the reason why Chaozhou merchants can still develop and further grow after the decline of Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants.

The three major business groups in China in Ming and Qing Dynasties, namely, Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants, declined, leaving only Chaozhou merchants.

The prosperity of commercial gangs in China can be traced back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, when the activities of commercial gangs had expanded to the whole mainland. During the embryonic period of capitalism in Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were ten business gangs in China, among which Shanxi merchants, Huizhou merchants and Chaozhou merchants had the greatest influence. Compared with the five new business groups, only the Guangdong business group still stands.

Shanxi merchants rose in Ming Dynasty and reached their peak in Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang years of Qing Dynasty. In the commercial map of Shanxi merchants, financial business is the most powerful. During Xianfeng and Tongzhi years in Qing Dynasty, Shanxi merchants almost occupied the exchange business of the whole mainland. The so-called "North Nanzhuang" refers to the two major banks and Qianzhuang Group controlled by Shanxi merchants.

Huizhou merchants are as famous as Shanxi merchants, and their penetration is almost pervasive. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Huizhou merchants controlled the main waterways of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, which were distributed all over Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shandong, Hebei, Beijing and Northeast China, and even went to Japan to engage in commercial activities. "No emblem, no business" shows the prosperity of Huizhou merchants at that time.

Chaoshang refers to the Chaoshang in Guangdong, and it is a modern thing for Chaoshang to really become strong. Chaozhou businessmen have always been famous for their strong adventurous personality and willingness to do things. Chaozhou businessmen also actively expanded their territory and left their homes to Indonesia and Malaysia to conquer the world. It is precisely because of this open mind that Guangdong Commercial Group has developed rapidly after the reform and opening up.