A Study On The Relationship Between Huizhou Merchants And Hangzhou In Ming And Qing Dynasties From The Perspective Of Jiangnan Canal

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties,with the vigorous development of the national commodity economy and the rectification and repair of the canal by the rulers of the past dynasties,many emerging towns along the canal have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.Not to be underestimated.The Huizhou Merchant Gang,which emerged in the middle of the Ming Dynasty,took advantage of the Xin’an River,the ancient Hui-Hang Road and other important water and land transportation routes to come to Hangzhou,a famous canal city adjacent to Huizhou.It developed into an important business place and overseas Chinese residence for Hui merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties.During the Ming and Qing dynasties,the commercial activities of Huizhou merchants in Hangzhou had a clear two-way interactive relationship with the economic and social development of Huizhou and the business region.The two coexisted and prospered and complemented each other.First of all,Huizhou merchants took advantage of the geographical advantage to go to Hangzhou to do business,which has the characteristics of long duration and wide influence.The contradiction between people and land with more mountains and less land in Huizhou and the current situation of structural imbalance of products,prompts Huizhou people to go out of the mountains and choose to go out to do business.Although it is blocked by mountains,the developed water system in the territory has become an important link between Huizhou and the neighboring Jiangnan region.Hangzhou,as the end city of the canal and developed inland water transportation,provides convenient transportation for Huizhou merchants to carry out goods transportation,and Huizhou merchants can carry out large-scale material trafficking,thereby continuously strengthening economic and cultural ties with all parts of the country.Secondly,Huizhou merchants and Hangzhou can be said to be mutually successful and mutually beneficial.On the one hand,Hangzhou has provided a good market development foundation for Huizhou merchants to promote the prosperity of Huizhou merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties.This is mainly manifested in that Hangzhou promotes the "point-line-surface" combination of Huizhou merchants’ business scope,and then develops both domestic and foreign markets.,and thus promote the vigorous development of Huizhou merchants’ overseas trade;on the other hand,the business activities of Huizhou merchants also reacted to Hangzhou,which not only promoted the development of Hangzhou’s commodity economy and the prosperity of cities and towns,but also contributed to the construction of urban infrastructure and culture in Hangzhou.Education and leisure and entertainment have had a profound impact.In addition,Huizhou merchants,known as "Confucian merchants",also brought their rich business experience and the business philosophy of Confucianism and Taoism to the business area,expanding the influence of the "Confucian and Jia" Confucian merchant culture.Finally,the social impact of the two-way interaction between Huizhou merchants and canal towns in the south of the Yangtze River still has important reference significance to this day.In recent years,new terms such as "new Huizhou people" and "connecting Shanghai with Hangzhou" have emerged,and the rise of modern Huizhou merchants has attracted widespread attention from all walks of life.The more than 300 years of historical experience of Huizhou merchants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties in the business world still has important reference significance for the current development of Huangshan City and even Anhui Province.In particular,the two-way positive interaction between Huizhou merchants and canal towns in the south of the Yangtze River seems to be an important manifestation of the importance of inter-regional economic and cultural linkages.