Huizhou Merchants and Shanxi Merchants from the Perspective of Geography, History and Culture

In the history of China, there have been two merchant forces that have attracted special attention: one is Huizhou merchants, referred to as "Huizhou merchants"; the other is Shanxi and Shaanxi merchants, commonly known as "Shanshan merchants", referred to as "Western merchants" or "Shanxi merchants." From the middle of the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, these two merchant forces spread all over the country, controlling the lifeline of China's economy for more than 300 years, and had a great impact on the economy and culture of various places. Shanxi merchants originated in the Yellow River Basin, and Huizhou merchants originated in the Yangtze River Basin. Merchants in the two places not only have their own characteristics, but also have many similarities.

What Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants have in common

1. Similar living conditions

Huizhou is south of the Yangtze River and Shanxi is east of the Yellow River. The two places are thousands of miles apart. There are great differences in climate and geography, but they have one thing in common, which is that there are many people, few land, and lack of products. High mountains and fierce waters are not conducive to agricultural production. The acute shortage of food and surplus labor have become the natural root causes of the emergence of Huizhou merchants. Shanxi and Shaanxi have historically had many people and little land, especially the Loess Plateau, Qinling Mountains, and Taihang Mountains. The ecological environment is poor and is very unfavorable for agricultural production. "Wutai Xinzhi" states: "Jin customs put merchants first, not abandoning the roots and pursuing the roots. The land is narrow and the people are full, and the fields are insufficient for farming. Fenzhou, Taiyuan, calls several major counties in Raowo, and Xinzhou in the north of Guanzhou, all rely on the capital, the three rivers, the two lakes, the ridge surface, and the east, west and north ports. They all get rich thousands of miles or thousands of miles away, without relying on the soil."

2. The same opportunity to prosper

Although the people in Huizhou and Shanshan had a very early history of doing business, it was in the Ming Dynasty that formed the merchant power that influenced the national economy. In order to resist the southern invasion of the Mongolian army, the Ming Dynasty stationed hundreds of thousands of troops along the Great Wall from Liaodong to Jiayuguan. In order to solve the food and salary of the border troops, on the one hand, the Ming government allowed the garrison to open up wasteland and produce grain. On the other hand, at the expense of transferring the right to sell salt, it encouraged merchants to transport grain, forage, clothing, cotton and other materials from the mainland to Liaodong, Jizhou, Xuanfu, Datong, Pianguan, Yansui, Ningxia, Guyuan, Ganzhou and other border garrison places. Historians call this policy "opening China and France." After the implementation of "Opening China and France", Shanshan merchants took advantage of their geographical advantages and rose rapidly. Seeing that the Shanshan merchants had made a fortune, the Huizhou merchants also took advantage of their capital to go north and set off to Jiubian to compete with the Shanshan merchants for commercial rights. It has become a business force that "lives in everything, reaches everything, goes to everything at the time, strives for everything, is refined in everything, is exclusive in everything, and holds everything."

3. Similar folk customs, get rich through diligence and diligence

The living conditions in Shanshan and Huizhou are relatively difficult, and the people have a fine tradition of hardship, hard work, and thrift. The "Examination of She Customs and Rites" stated that the local people "are frugal in household affairs. In the rich family, the solar eclipse will only be a piece of meat, and the poor only serve rice and vegetables." Diligence and thrift accumulate necessary funds for going out to do business, and is also an important factor in the growth of Huizhou merchants from small to large and from weak to strong. The fine tradition of diligence and thrift of the people in Shanshan is also an important reason for the development of commerce here. For example,"Qing Yi Zhi" quoted "Old Puzhou Zhi" as saying that the Puzhou area "is" simple in nature, frugal in nature, hard in fields and spinning, and especially for businessmen." Diligence and frugality are not only a virtue of the local Shanxi people, but also become a magic weapon for Shanxi people living in other places, especially Shanxi businessmen, to overcome difficulties and achieve careers.

4. They all regard integrity advocated by Confucianism as business ethics and seek profit through righteousness.

Successful Huizhou and Shanxi merchants attach great importance to business ethics and regard "integrity" as their creed in being a person and doing business. For example, Huang Meiyuan, a merchant in Anhui Province,"said he was trustworthy and loyal. When traveling in the Jianghu, everyone thought he was sincere and allowed to do it." The rules and regulations change at the same time, losing profits and becoming more empty, clever but not cunning. Although they are not arrogant about profit, Jia Dajin will make the family richer." An important reason for the success of Shanxi merchants in their careers was also to emphasize faith, to gain profits through hard work, to get rich through frugality, and not to deceive or cheat. Even in the context of political instability and social turmoil such as the Taiping Rebellion and the Eight-Power Allied Forces 'invasion of Beijing, we were willing to take financial risks ourselves and win the trust of the people.

5. The business methods are the same, and all of them use the same ethnic group and fellow villagers as business entities, with a patriarchal nature.

Huizhou is not only a place with beautiful mountains and rivers, but also a place with limited traffic. Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, many aristocratic families of the Central Plains settled here to avoid war, forming a tradition of living together, focusing on patriarchal system and paying attention to family status. Shanxi is surrounded by mountains and is relatively closed. It also has a tradition of living together. Until modern times, large castles with one surname in one village can still be seen in southern and central Shanxi. Therefore, both Huizhou merchants and Western merchants have a strong patriarchal color in their business methods. The fourth volume of the "Jin Taishi Ji","Letter to the King of She", states: "The people of the two cities of She and Xiu have no land, but the merchants are everywhere in the world... The people of the two cities use their relatives to work with them because they are businessmen. Therefore, if one family gets a business, it is not just the only family that eats it." Shanxi merchants have a set of "hidden rules" in employing people. Employees are all from their own tribe or hometown, and foreigners are not hired, in order to control employees by monitoring their families.

Differences between Huizhou merchants and Western merchants

Although Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants have many things in common, they are after all two business gangs from different regions. The influence of different regional cultures has formed their different characteristics.

1. Different geographical centers of activities

The original Huizhou merchants emerged to solve the contradiction between Huizhou's small land and large population, and their activities generally ranged from Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, after the implementation of the "Opening China Law", Huizhou merchants began to move north, and they "traveled to the suburbs of Wu, Yue, Chu, Shu, Guangdong, Yan, and Qi, and even reached the border, dangerous islands, and traveled several times inside Yu." After Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, the salt law was reformed and the method of accepting silver and opening up middle schools was implemented, and Huizhou merchants withdrew from the ranks of border merchants. In addition to monopolizing the supply of goods to the military and civilians in the border fortress, the Western merchants also divided some domestic merchants from the border merchants to compete with Huizhou merchants in Lianghuai, Changlu, and Zigong for the salt market. During the Wanli period, Huizhou merchants developed rapidly relying on Huizhou's geographical proximity to Yangzhou, the Huai salt distribution center. However, they operated fewer varieties and mainly operated in the Yangtze River Basin. However, Shanxi merchants operated many types of goods and covered a wide range of activities. Especially after the rise of ticket merchants in Jinzhong, their commercial networks spread all over the country, as far as Russia, India, Japan, Korea and other countries.

2. Each of the commodities operated has its own emphasis

Although Huizhou and Shanshan both have a tradition of doing business, they were operated to meet the needs of the local people in the early days. Although the commodities distributed were relatively extensive, they did not form a scale. After the implementation of "opening China and France" in the middle of Ming Dynasty, Hui merchants mainly engaged in salt business, and also pawn and timber; besides salt business, Western merchants also acted as border merchants, trafficking grain, cotton cloth, tea and other bulk commodities to the border, and trafficking furs and horses from Mongolia and the Western Regions to the interior. After the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Shanxi merchants used the commercial network established across the country to operate the financial and credit industry. In terms of varieties of business, in addition to being slightly inferior to Huizhou merchants in terms of salt, Shanxi merchants exceeded Huizhou merchants in terms of business scale in grain, cotton cloth, tea and other fields.

3. Different characteristics of regional culture

Huizhou merchants valued Confucianism, while Shanxi merchants valued righteousness; Huizhou merchants used the master of Neo-Confucianism as their banner, while Shanxi merchants used the martial arts Guan Yu as their banner. Emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce is the consistent thought of Confucianism and also the orthodox idea of feudal society in China. However, in places such as Huizhou and Shanxi, due to the fact that natural conditions are not suitable for agricultural production, the idea of valuing commerce over agriculture, and even the custom of valuing commerce over Confucianism has been formed. For example, it is said in "Yongzheng Zhu Pi's Edict":"About merchants in Shanyou are the first, the second are still willing to work hard for farmers, the third one is joined in the camp, and the lowest one is ordered to study."

Huizhou's unique geographical environment and cultural traditions have formed an environment conducive to the development of Confucian culture. Wuyuan is the hometown of Zhu Xi, a master of Confucian culture. Cheng Zhu Neo-Confucianism had a great influence on Huizhou society. After Huizhou people went out to do business and made a fortune, they used considerable financial resources and energy for cultural consumption, either studied poetry and books to improve their cultural cultivation, or opened schools and colleges to train their children to enter career careers. Therefore, Zhu Xi, a master of Confucian Neo-Confucianism, who was admired by successive dynasties, became the banner of Huizhou merchants, and Cheng Zhu Neo-Confucianism became the spiritual pillar of Huizhou merchants. In the Anhui Guild Hall, Wenchang Pavilion was one of the main buildings, and Zhu Xi became an idol worshipped by Anhui merchants.

The Western Shang Dynasty was a widespread merchant force. In order to safeguard their common interests, they took the loyalty, filial piety, and integrity advocated by Confucianism, accepted by Buddhism and Taoism, and recognized by the broad masses as their spiritual support, and established an organizational form and idol worship to publicize and strengthen this spirit. Its organizational form is the Shanshan Guild Hall, which has a guild nature and a pan-religious nature. Its idol is Guan Yu, known by the people as a Martial Saint. Because Guan Yu was originally from Jiezhou, Shanxi Province, Shanshan merchants worshipped him not only as the embodiment of loyalty, but also as the patron saint of the merchants. In the Shanshan Guild Hall built by Shanshan merchants, there were shrines dedicated to and sacrificed to Guan Yu, and they were used as the main building in the Guild Hall. From content to form, this kind of building aims to promote Confucian moral concepts and praise Guan Yu's loyalty. Every year, it is said that the 13th day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar is Guan Yu's sharpening day, and the 24th month of June is Guan Yu's birthday. Shanshan Guild Hall in various places sacrifices to Guan Yu. In addition to grand ceremonies, performances of operas praising Guan Yu's loyalty and loyalty are also indispensable. Therefore, a well-decorated theater or stage must be built opposite the main hall of Shanshan Guild Hall where Guan Yu is dedicated. In the Shanshan Guild Hall, wood carvings, stone carvings, brick carvings, clay sculptures, and color paintings based on Guan Yu's opera stories can be seen everywhere. It can be seen from this that the loyalty, filial piety and integrity advocated by Confucianism are consistent with the moral and ethical concepts believed and advocated by Shanshan merchants.

In terms of their attitude towards traditional opera, Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants have both similarities and differences. The similarities are that they all love opera, provide performance venues, subsidize performances, establish drama troupes, and participate in artistic activities. The differences are: due to regional and aesthetic differences, Huizhou merchants liked Kunqu Opera and Pihuang, and founded family classes, using private garden halls as performance venues to satisfy their own sensual entertainment; Shanxi merchants liked Bangzi opera in their hometown and established famous classes. In addition to satisfying their own entertainment, they also promoted Bangzi opera to all parts of the country through commercial roads. The guild hall is not only a gathering place for Shanxi merchants, but also a local public cultural and entertainment center. The artists in the Hui Shang family class are very different from the artists in the Jin Shang family class. The artists in the Hui Shang family class have the nature of slaves and have no personal freedom; the artists in the Jin Shang family class are in an employment relationship. Huizhou merchants directly manage the family troupe, while Shanxi merchants do not directly participate in the troupe activities and are managed by the foreman.

China society has rapidly entered the era of industrialization and information from a farming society. During the period of great changes in the commodity economy and society, it is very meaningful to inherit and develop excellent national and regional culture to meet the needs of the masses for cultural and entertainment, and to study and understand the influence of Huizhou and Shanxi merchants on modern Chinese society and their contribution to economic and cultural development.

(The author is the deputy director and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of Drama, China Academy of Art)