introduction
Hu Xueyan was a famous merchant in the late Qing Dynasty, and when his momentum and wealth reached its peak, it could be said that the wind was strong and there was no difference for a while, and it was recorded in the "Different Dictionaries": "(Hu Xueyan) used official funds to circulate, opened a money house, and his sub-stores were all over the north and south, and his rich name shocked inside and outside." However, due to the limitations of social background and self-consciousness, Hu Xueyan did not have a good ending. Hu Xueyan's life experience is quite legendary, and he lived in the late Qing Dynasty, when China was already in a state of great change.
01
Due to the rise of the Western affairs movement and national capitalism, commerce at the end of feudal society had a brief period of prosperity and prosperity, and the wealthy merchant groups in modern China were born in such social soil. Hu Xueyan, who is known as the "Red Top Merchant", is the most typical representative figure. In the third year of Daoguang (1823), Hu Xueyan was born in Jixi County, Anhui Province, and when he was still young, the Hu family could be regarded as poor. When he was 12 years old, his father had passed away, and in the second year, Hu Xueyan went to Hangzhou, Jinhua and other places to go solo.
As a teenager, Hu Xueyan was diligent and down-to-earth, and at the age of 16, he was recruited as a long-term worker by the "Fukang Qianzhuang" in Hangzhou. The Treasurer of this money house has no heirs, he loves Hu Xueyan very much, not only accepts him as an apprentice, but also hands over the money house to Hu Xueyan before his death, although this money house is not particularly large, the market value at that time was about 5,000 silver, but it became the first wealth won by Hu Xueyan, which was also the first important turning point in Hu Xueyan's life. When Hu Xueyan was 26 years old, he met another important person in his life, Wang Youling.
At that time, Hu Xueyan generously helped Wang Youling tide over the difficulties, and the relationship between the two laid a good foundation. Three years later, Wang Youling became the governor of Hangzhou, so he appointed Hu Xueyan as the agent of the Huzhou Public Treasury. This is not only because he has a good friendship with Hu Xueyan, but also because Wang Youling believes that Hu Xueyan has rich experience in financial management. Hu Xueyan firmly seized this opportunity, he embezzled two silver in the public household for a short time, obtained huge profits by reselling silk, and embarked on the road of red top merchants.
02
Hu Xueyan was undoubtedly a very intelligent person, and he was also bold, and he successfully lobbied Huang Zonghan, the governor of Zhejiang, to join him in setting up the Hu Qing Yao Tang Hu Qing Yao Tang, providing "marching dispersion" for the generals in the army and "Taiping medicine" for the people. Coupled with Wang Youling's escort, Hu Xueyan met the source for a while and mastered a lot of wartime military expenses. In 1861, because the Taiping Army attacked Hangzhou, Wang Youling committed suicide after the defeat of the soldiers, and Hu Xueyan also lost a big backer. However, it didn't take long for him to find a bigger backer, Zuo Zongtang.
After receiving Zuo Zongtang's approval, Hu Xueyan began to take charge of the aftermath of the post-war region, as well as the management of money, grain, and military salaries in Zhejiang. Hu Xueyan has also handled several things that are very meaningful in history, the first shipyard in China's modern history: the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, which was instructed by Zuo Zongtang and assisted by Hu Xueyan. There is also the Lanzhou Textile General Bureau, the first government-run light industry enterprise in modern China, which was also founded by Hu Xueyan with the assistance of Zuo Zongtang. After Huqing Pharmacy was officially put into operation, its scale expanded rapidly, and it can already be on a par with Beijing's time-honored Tongrentang.
This is the result of Hu Xueyan's painstaking management over the years, in the early years, he donated medicine to the army in the name of Hu QingYaotang, and also provided a lot of Taiping medicine for free for the people. During Zuo Zongtang's western expedition, Hu Xueyan also provided a lot of help. In order to repay the favor, Zuo Zongtang vigorously promoted Hu Xueyan, so Hu Xueyan not only obtained the official position of Sanpin, but also received enviable status and rewards such as the imperial horse coat. At this time, Hu Xueyan also reached the peak of his life, and there is a saying in the "Lü Shi Chunqiu Bozhi": "The whole will be lacking, and the extreme will be reversed." ”
03
Soon, the turning point in Hu Xueyan's life came unexpectedly. In the eighth year of Guangxu (1882), Hu Xueyan was already the richest man in China, when he spent 20 million taels of silver to open a silk factory in Shanghai, hoping to monopolize the domestic silk cocoon trade and make huge profits from it. However, this move of his was boycotted by foreign consortia, and due to the outbreak of the Sino-French war, it also led to a huge change in the market. Hu Xueyan lost as much as 10 million taels of silver, and because of such a high loss, merchants around the world worried that they would also suffer losses, so they raced to run.
At this time, the Qing government began to order a strict investigation of Hu Xueyan's assets, especially the Fukang business in the capital. As a result, it was found that Hu Xueyan's losses were huge, and most of them were public funds, so the Qing court asked Zuo Zongtang to urge Hu Xueyan to pay the arrears and dismiss him from his post. At this time, Zuo Zongtang could not care about protecting Hu Xueyan, and sealed his pawnshop business in Hangzhou and other properties one by one to offset debts. Hu Xueyan's business empire, which hu had painstakingly managed for many years, collapsed. In 1885, Hu Xueyan and Zuo Zongtang died successively.
epilogue
Hu Xueyan once warned his descendants according to his own lesson: Do not approach the white tiger. What is a "White Tiger"? On the surface, Hu Xueyan means to keep his descendants away from silver trading, but in fact there is a deeper meaning, that is, not to mix with political struggle. Hu Xueyan relied on his own hard work in his early years to start from scratch, he made many nobles and did a lot of charity, but in the social context at that time, no matter how large his business empire was, once it encountered wind and rain, it was vulnerable.
Resources
"Different Dictionaries"
"Lü's Spring and Autumn"