The Innovative Research On Taiwan Branch Of Xiehexin Draft Bank Based On The Account Book

As financial institutions in the Qing Dynasty,Shanxi draft banks enjoy the great reputation of "Land of Wealth",which benefits from their branches all over the country,thus supporting them to carry out foreign exchange and deposit business.However,there is no historical record that they once opened branches in Taiwan.In recent years,the account book of Shanghai Branch of Xiehexin published by the Shanxi Merchants Culture Foundation completely records the business transactions between Shanghai Branch and Taiwan Branch in 1892.Therefore,it is of great significance to interpret the account book and make up for the blank in the research field of Taiwan Branch.The publication of the account book makes the author curious about the following problems.First of all,in this account book,it is found for the first time that Shanxi draft banks had set up a branch in Taiwan.So,we are interested in what records about the business transactions between Shanghai Branch and Taiwan Branch have been made,and what information is available intuitively according to these original records? Secondly,the account book only records the business transactions between Shanghai Branch and Taiwan Branch in 1892.Then,does Taiwan Branch exist only in that fiscal year? What about the situation in other accounting years? Can we reasonably determine the duration of the Taiwan Branch? Finally,the existing historical materials lack the record of the establishment of Taiwan branches,and the material of the establishment of Xiehexin Branch in Taiwan is also found for the first time.Although it can not be concluded that Xiehexin is the only one to set up a branch in Taiwan,it can indeed reflect that very few of them chose to set up a branch in Taiwan.So,what factors attract Xiehexin to make this decision?In addition to the above-mentioned questions,there are many other questions worth exploring.But without exception,if you want to answer these questions,the first step must be to interpret the account book,start from the original historical materials,and respect historical records.Therefore,this paper will first carefully interpret the information of the account book,objectively and accurately sort out the business transactions involved in the account book,focusing on the business transactions between Shanghai Branch and Taiwan Branch,and further sort out the specific business transactions between Shanghai Branch and Taiwan Branch in the accounting year,so as to obtain reliable preliminary research findings.On this basis,combined with a large number of historical materials and literature,we will try to answer the above questions.The research on the duration of Taiwan Branch starts from the time when Xiehexin set up its business in different cities and towns,and then infers the rule that Xiehexin set up branches in different cities and towns to expand its business scope.It can be reasonably judged that Taiwan Branch was set up around 1890,and withdrew as early as July 1895,with a duration of at least five years.Under the background of this era,combined with the most original,reliable and authoritative information recorded in the account book,this paper holds that there are two factors that attract Xiehexin to set up its business in Taiwan: one is the trade business between Taiwan and inland,and the other is the official business between Taiwan and inland.The factor of trade business can be further subdivided into:(1)under the background of that time,Xiehexin chose to set up a branch in Taiwan to open up a new source of profits in the coastal areas,because the other two branches,Xiamen Branch and Fujian Branch,which were also set up in the coastal areas,were faced with different degrees of operational difficulties;(2)the income of trade exchange fees between Taiwan and inland was considerable.The factor of official business can be further subdivided into:(1)there is a close relationship between Xiehexin,Xietongxin and Taiwan officials,which will facilitate Xiehexin to set up a branch to carry out business in Taiwan from many aspects;(2)there is a demand for official money exchange in Taiwan,which can make Xiehexin obtain huge profits;(3)Xiehexin can make profits by undertaking donation business in Taiwan.After analyzing the factors that attract Xiehexin to set up branches in Taiwan,this paper extends its vision to the whole draft bank industry and observes the overall law of the expansion and contraction of its branches.After understanding how to adapt to the trend of the times and society to flexibly carry out business expansion and contraction,combined with the actual situation of today’s financial institutions represented by the banking industry,we strive to provide some beneficial reference for the development of contemporary banking industry.The innovation of this paper lies in the accurate and objective collation of the account book which records the establishment of Taiwan Branch for the first time,and all of them are presented clearly and intuitively in the form of charts;secondly,the duration of Taiwan Branch is reasonably judged under the help of historical materials;finally,starting from the sorted materials,the reasons of why Xiehexin chose to establish a branch in Taiwan are analyzed in detail.All of the above work make up for the blank in this research field.