|
Ten Great Merchant Guilds
The Ten Great Merchant Guilds () were the variously influential groups of merchants and businessmen in Chinese history. They were: * Shanxi Merchants (晉商) - also known as Jin merchants * Huizhou Merchants - based in modern Huangshan, Anhui * Longyou Merchants (龍游商幫) - based in modern western Zhejiang province * Ningbo Merchants (寧波商幫) * Dongting Merchants 洞庭商幫 - based in the Dongting region of modern Suzhou * Jiangxi Merchants (江西商幫) - also known as the Jiangyou Merchants (江右商幫) * Guangdong Merchants * Shaanxi Merchants * Shandong Merchants * Fujian (Min) Merchants See also * Hong (business) * Cohong The ''Cohong'', sometimes spelled or , a guild of Chinese merchants or ''hongs'', operated the import-export monopoly in Canton (present-day Guangzhou) during the Qing dynasty (16441911). During the century prior to the First Opium War of 1 ... References Guilds {{China-hist-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shanxi Merchants
Shanxi merchants, also known as Jin merchants (), were the group of merchants from Shanxi province, China. ''Jin'' is an abbreviated name of Shanxi. Even though the history of noticeable Shanxi merchants can be dated back to as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, more than 2000 years ago, Shanxi merchants became prominent during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and their dominant influence in Chinese commerce, within the nation and with neighboring Mongolia, Russia, and Japan, lasted for more than 500 years. The Shanxi merchants also operated an early Chinese type of draft bank known as the ''piaohao''; these were the dominant form of banks in China until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911. History Shanxi merchants were among the earliest Chinese businessmen and their history could be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period. Southern Shanxi first came into commercial prominence due to its proximity to the political and cultural centers of ancien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huizhou (region)
Huizhou () is a historical region in Anhui Province which is known today as the Huangshan City – the southernmost region of the province. In Ming and Qing dynasties, Huizhou was a prefecture corresponding to Huangshan city and Jixi County of modern Xuancheng, plus Wuyuan County in northeastern Jiangxi. Anhui, the name of the province, is a portmanteau word combining the first characters of Anqing and Huizhou. History During the Song dynasty (1211), Huizhou was named from Shezhou () or She Prefecture (), now the name of She County under Huangshan City. The prefecture remained intact for about 800 years with six counties: Shexian County (), Yixian County (), Xiuning (), Qimen (), Jixi (), and Wuyuan (). The region was known for its production of writing utensils. In the late Ming dynasty, the city also became known for publishing texts on a broad range of subjects, such as genealogy, classic literature, and illustrated novels and dramas. The carvers of the printing blocks we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huangshan, Anhui
Huangshan (), is a prefecture-level city in southern Anhui Province, People's Republic of China. Huangshan means ''Yellow Mountain'' in Chinese and the city is named after the famously scenic Yellow Mountains which cover much of the city's vast geographic expanse. The prefectural city of Huangshan includes three urban districts and four counties. The urban center of Huangshan was originally the city of Tunxi and is now called Tunxi District. Locals still call the city Tunxi to distinguish urban core from other parts of Huangshan. Huangshan occupies the southernmost part of Anhui. It is bordered by Chizhou to the northwest, Xuancheng to the northeast, Jiangxi Province to the southwest and Zhejiang Province to the southeast. Huangshan's history dates back to the time of the First Emperor. The city's current jurisdiction covers much of the historical and cultural region of Huizhou (), which together with Anqing formed the name of Anhui Province. Huangshan is home to two UNESCO Worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ningxia (NW) and Inner Mongolia (N). Shaanxi covers an area of over with about 37 million people, the 16th highest in China. Xi'an – which includes the sites of the former Capitals of China, Chinese capitals Fenghao and Chang'an – is the Xi'an, provincial capital as well as the largest city in Northwest China and also one of the oldest cities in China and the oldest of the Historical capitals of China, Four Great Ancient Capitals, being the capital for the Western Zhou, Western Han, Sima Jin, Jin, Sui dynasty, Sui and Tang dynasty, Tang List of Chinese dynasties, dynasties. Xianyang, which served as the Qin dynasty capital, is just north across Wei River. The other Prefectures of China, prefecture-level pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shandong
Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural and religious center for Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism. Shandong's Mount Tai is the most revered mountain of Taoism and a site with one of the longest histories of continuous religious worship in the world. The Buddhist temples in the mountains to the south of the provincial capital of Jinan were once among the foremost Buddhist sites in China. The city of Qufu is the birthplace of Confucius and was later established as the center of Confucianism. Confucianism developed from what was later called the Hundred Schools of Thought from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Shandong's location at the intersection of ancient and modern n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou, while its largest city by population is Quanzhou, both located near the coast of the Taiwan Strait in the east of the province. While its population is predominantly of Chinese ethnicity, it is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse provinces in China. The dialects of the language group Min Chinese were most commonly spoken within the province, including the Fuzhou dialect of northeastern Fujian and various Hokkien dialects of southeastern Fujian. Hakka Chinese is also spoken, by the Hakka people in Fujian. Min dialects, Hakka and Mandarin Chinese are mutually unintelligible. Due to emigration, a sizable amount of the ethnic Chinese populations of Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hong (business)
A ''hong'' () originally designates both a type of building and a type of Chinese merchant intermediary in Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ... (formerly known as Canton), Guangdong, China, in the 18–19th century, specifically during the Canton System period. Guangzhou The name ''hong'' () originally referred to the row of factories built outside of the city walls of Guangzhou 广州 (Canton), near the Pearl River. The Thirteen Factories were used during the Canton System period to host foreign traders and the products purchased, under the aegis of the ''cohong''. The Hong (or Factories) were usually owned by hong merchants such as Pan Zhencheng (Poankeequa 1). The Guangzhou Hong changed location several times after fires, and became less important ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cohong
The ''Cohong'', sometimes spelled or , a guild of China, Chinese merchants or Hong (business) , ''hongs'', operated the Canton System, import-export monopoly in Canton (present-day Guangzhou) during the Qing dynasty (16441911). During the century prior to the First Opium War of 1839-1842, trade relations between China and Europe took place exclusively via the ''Cohong'' - a system formalised by an imperial edict of the Qianlong Emperor in 1760. The Chinese merchants who made up the ''Cohong'' were referred to as (行商) and their foreign counterparts as (literally "foreign traders"). Foundation and structure In 1704, the ''Baoshang'' system was established. This system granted a number of Chinese merchants license to trade with Western merchants as long as they helped to collect duties from the Westerners, successfully aligning trading interests with the government's revenue collection. This was the predecessor for the later Cohong system. According to John Phipps, author ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guilds
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes depended on grants of letters patent from a monarch or other ruler to enforce the flow of trade to their self-employed members, and to retain ownership of tools and the supply of materials, but were mostly regulated by the city government. A lasting legacy of traditional guilds are the guildhalls constructed and used as guild meeting-places. Guild members found guilty of cheating the public would be fined or banned from the guild. Typically the key "privilege" was that only guild members were allowed to sell their goods or practice their skill within the city. There might be controls on minimum or maximum prices, hours of trading, numbers of apprentices, and many other things. These rules reduced free competition, but sometimes maintained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
