Three Topics On The Study Of Yangzhou Shaanxi Merchants In Qing Dynasty

The policy of "opening the middle" of salt in early Ming Dynasty is the key factor for Shanxi merchants to go out of Guanzhong area and rush to Yangzhou to manage the salt industry in Huaiyang area.After the reform of Ye Qi in the middle of Ming Dynasty,Shanxi merchants began to weaken their strength in Yangzhou.At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty,Shanxi merchants went into decline.The growing power of the late Jin and the Qing Dynasty's entry into the Central Plains are the fundamental reasons for the completely different attitudes of Shanxi merchants and Jin businessmen.Jin businessmen gradually became emperor merchants of the Qing Dynasty,but Shanxi merchants insisted on a clear attitude of opposing Qing Dynasty and restoring Ming Dynasty.Moreover,the unrest brought by Li Zicheng uprising to Guanzhong and the "Yangzhou 10 th" disaster caused a severe blow to Shanxi merchants in Yangzhou.In the early Qing Dynasty,the policy of "investment acceptance" and "oral salt" were carried out in order to restore the production of Sichuan well salt industry.A large number of Shanxi merchants gave up living in the Huaiyang area,but entered the Sichuan area merchants.After their huge wealth,they abandoned business and followed Confucianism.Among them,Shanxi Sanyuan Liang family all participate in the imperial examination industry.Shanxi businessmen in Yangzhou give up business,into the official career of the phenomenon further exacerbated their decline.The decline of Shanxi merchants in Yangzhou in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties does not mean that the business undertakings of Shanxi merchants in Yangzhou disappeared after the establishment of the Qing Dynasty.Instead,they are still engaged in business activities.There are still some people to Yangzhou salt industry,and have strong assets.In the early Qing Dynasty,there were nine Shanxi merchants in Yangzhou.They were Zhang Xun,Sun Zhiwei,Yuan Hongxiu,Zhang Yukui,Wang Xun,Kang Banghou,Lei Zhiyu,Lei Shijun,Yang Jihuai.In the late Qing Dynasty has five:Zhang Lan,Zhang Xia,Chu Jun,Wu Weiwen,Zhou Ying.In addition,the descendants of Shanxi merchants,mainly Confucianism,retained Yangzhou's commercial household registration because of the policy of "salt enforcement and introduction".Such as Guo Chu,Liang Hong,Wang Bin,Liang Haozhi,Yang Zhongxuan,Liu Qigu,Liang Guanwo,Shen Fu,Guo Jun,Zhang Sijiao,Yuan Dun and others.But this is really not comparable to the Ming Dynasty as many as "one hundred people" prosperity.Shanxi merchants in Yangzhou area in Qing Dynasty,mainly from fertile land,business-style Shanxi Sanyuan,Jingyang,Lintong counties.After Shanxi merchants moved to Yangzhou,most of them lived in Jiangdu,Ganquan and Yizheng areas,where transportation was convenient and commercial.The geographical distribution is very uneven.In Yangzhou,most of the merchants in Shanxi were engaged in business in Yangzhou.Most of them "managed salt salt in Jianghuai area for generations",which had the characteristic of family business.Among them,Lintong Zhang and Jingyang Guo are quite representative.Although there were labels such as"dry meat,water bag,old sheep's skin","hard goods and hard temper" and "Shanxi stick mallet"in Shanxi merchants,but in the Qing Dynasty,the figures of Shanxi merchants in Yangzhou,There are also the characteristics of husband reading tens of millions of books and the cultural pursuit of imperial examinations.More than 150 years from Shunzhi(1645)to Jiaqing(1799)),there were 14 scholars in Yangzhou and Shanxi merchants families,including 37 juren and 10 Gongsheng.In addition,Shanxi merchants in the Qing Dynasty also cared about charity affairs,built gardens and troupes,and so on.These activities are also laudable.