Huizhou Merchants And Cultural And Educational Causes Of Jiangsu And Zhejiang Provinces In Ming And Qing Dynasties

In Ming and Qing Dynasties, the region of Jiangsu and Zhejiang was the major place for trading andinhabiting of Huizhou merchants, who played an active role in the development of local cultural andeducational causes in various ways. They paid special attention to education and sponsored andparticipated in the erection and rebuilding of educational institutions, such as financing the governmentalschooling, the academies of classical learning and public schools. Involved in the enterprises of bookcollection and block printing, they set up libraries for scholars, and printed rare and reliable editions forthe academia. They offered financial support for their fellow-townsmen who resided in Jiangsu andZhejiang and went in for the civil service examinations. Moreover, they were also engaged in theassociation with literati with whom they undertook academic activities.There are a variety of factors accounting for the participation of Huizhou Merchants in the cultural andeducational causes of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Firstly, it was the necessity of being assimilatedinto the local community. Secondly, it was the result of the practice of "trading with devotion toConfucianism". Thirdly, it was influenced by the atmosphere of emphsizing learning in Huizhou and theregion of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Last but not the least, it was the inevitable consequence of the interfusionof literati and merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties.The practice of Huizhou Merchants had profound and lasting influences. Firstly, it promoted thedevelopment and prosperity of the cultural and educational causes in the region of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.Secondly, it paved the way for the descendants of Huizhou merchants to settle down in that region.Thirdly, it promoted cultural interrelation of Huizhou and the region of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Lastly, therelationship between Huizhou merchants and local people had been improved, which was conducive tothe assimilation of Huizhou merchants into new social circles of the region of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.