Research On The Business Activities Of Huizhou Merchants In The Middle And Lower Reaches Of The Yangtze River In The Ming And Qin

This paper mainly takes the Huizhou merchants in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangze River in the Ming and Qing Dynasties as the object of research,it explores the the opreating status in this area with its main salt industy,pawn industry,wood industry and tea industry.It will be more fully to understand the development of Huizhou merchants in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze river region by exploring their Time and regional Characteristics from the perspective of regional historical geography.The research shows that the salt industry,pawn industry,wood industry and tea industry are the most important business of the Huizhou merchants.so it wil be highly representative to study the Huizhou merchants'operating activities of these industries.The study of this paper shows that the fortunes of Huizhou merchants in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze river during the Ming and Qing Dynasties is also closely related to these industries.Among them,the development of salt industry can be described as a great opportunity for the rise of Huizhou merchants.The salt industry is a state-owned monopoly industry all the time and there's a great resistance to running salt industry.But since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty,the Government implemented the opening and folding system so that businessmen could support salt sales directly in the Mainland,the Huizhou merchants got development under this circumstance.Due to geographical advantages,Huizhou merchants mainly engaged in Huai salt,and because of the high profits of salt industry,the sacle of huizhou merchants was increasing and the the salt industry had quickly become a pillar industry of Huizhou merchants.Facts showed that the most prosperous stage of salt development was also the most robust period of Huizhou merchants in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,and the other three industries were also driven by the great development.And when the salt industry declined,Huizhou merchants' business activities also came to an end.During the four major industries of Huizhou merchants,only pawn industry opreated in the local area without long-distance traffic.The difference between pawn of huizhou merchants and the others was that the interes huizhou merchants charged was much more lower.Besides,the Ming Dynasty was the only one to open the private Pawn as the sole pawn industry,so the pawn quickly opened in every place in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River area.Because of the war in Qing dynasty and high tax the government charged,the pawn of Huizhou merchants finally declined.The development of the the pawn of Huizhou merchants not only had impacts on the pawn industry in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,but also had deep influences on future generations,the "Chaofeng" has become a specific call of all the pawnshop dispensers instead of pawnshopkepper of Huizhou merchants.The wood as well as tea industry need long-distance traffic,and they also have similar characteristics in some areas.On the one hand,Huizhou produced wood and tea,on the other hand,because the wood and tea are seasonal plants,it wil have some influences on purchasing wood and tea in part,besides,the merchants running wood and tea are all exceedingly wealthy men.However,the two industries also have differences during the development of Huizhou merchants,especially the wood industry,its development had continued to the Republic of China period even the Huizhou merchants had declined in the late Qing Dynasty.Although the tea industry began to decline in the late Qing Dynasty,it also had a resurgence in Tongzhi period.The tea of huizhou solda board and even led shanghai a new foreign trade port.During the operating of the four major industries of Ming and Qing Dynasties in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,the development of Huizhou merchants not only led to the development of the region's economy and stimulate the production of commercial towns,but also promoted the embryonic development of capitalism and commodity economy.As famous Confucian merchants,Huizhou merchants also attaches great importance to the development of cultural undertakings,they donated to build schools around and brought Huizhou culture to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,these measures had profound implications for the cultural undertakings.Beyond that,Huizhou merchants were also keen on public facilities construction and charity and their benevolence had positive meaning about maintaining social stability.