Qiao Zhiyong and Hu Xueyan lived in the same period. Qiao Zhiyong was born in 1818 and Hu Xueyan was born in 1823. Qiao Zhiyong is 5 years older than Hu Xueyan, and both of them shined on the commercial stage of the late Qing Dynasty, each leading the way.
Qiao Zhiyong is a representative of Shanxi Jinshang, who originally took the road, only because his father and brother Qiao Zhiguang did sorghum hegemony with his opponents in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, and finally failed and depressed, Qiao Zhiyong had no choice but to take over the Business of the Qiao family as the "second grandfather of the Qiao family".
Hu Xueyan is a representative of Anhui Huishang. At that time, the Jin merchants and the Hui merchants were two dominant, and they were equally divided across the country. Compared with Qiao Zhiyong, Hu Xueyan was born slightly mediocre, his family was very poor when he was a child, starting from an apprentice in Qianzhuang and finally becoming a red-top businessman.
Undoubtedly, as the business leaders at that time, the two not only won an absolute social reputation, but also accumulated wealthy and wealthy, so who is richer? Who has more influence? Today, Wen Shijun will discuss with you.
Comparison of the assets of the two men
After Qiao Zhiyong took over the Business of the Qiao family, he mainly engaged in grain stores and pawnshops. Later, he made great efforts to open grain stores and pawnshops throughout Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi and other northern cities.
Later, under the influence of Wang Xie's old Jinshang, in order to realize the dream of "huitong world", he began to dabble in ticket numbers and money houses. According to historical records, qiao Zhiyong's total family property at the end of the Qing Dynasty has reached the point of tens of millions of taels of silver. According to records, when the Qiao family's business was at its peak, the liquidity alone was about 8-10 million taels of silver.
Hu Xueyan was born in the countryside of Anhui, lost his father at an early age, initially started from the running hall, deeply appreciated by the boss, the boss entrusted his money to Hu Xueyan on his deathbed, when the money house was worth 5,000 taels of silver.
Then Hu Xueyan, with a keen eye, first invested in Wang Youling, and then met Zuo Zongtang, all of which contributed greatly to his commercial development. Hu Xueyan's main business is Qianzhuang ticket number, Chinese medicine store, silk and so on. At its peak, its assets reached more than 20 million taels of silver.
Later, Hu Xueyan was implicated in the struggle between Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang, the funds were broken, and most of the assets were sold at a low price, with a loss of 10 million taels. Later, he was raided again, and his assets were cleared in 3 days. It can be seen that even in his heyday, Hu Xueyan was no better than Qiao Zhiyong.
The two have a comparison of influence
When it comes to influence comparison, there are many dimensions. For example, popularity, mindset pattern, patriotic feelings, influence on future generations, etc.
Let's start with popularity. Judging from the literature, Hu Xueyan's social popularity is higher. His title of "Red Top Merchant" alone and the status of "Second Class Knight" wearing a yellow coat, Qiao Zhiyong cannot be compared.
But this is also where Qiao Zhiyong looks down on and despises. Before Qiao Zhiyong became a businessman, he had planned to take the meritorious name and was in charge of Confucianism, so even after doing business, he was also a Confucian businessman, and compared with the heavy profits of other businessmen, Qiao Zhiyong was very different.
Hu Xueyan was born into poverty, and it is estimated that his education level is not very high, and later he climbed the magnate and devoted himself to making money. In the eleventh year of Qing Xianfeng (1861), when the Taiping Army attacked Hangzhou, Hu Xueyan transported arms, grain and rice from Shanghai for the Qing army, and later helped Zuo Zongtang organize the "Changjie Army" and found the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau. With Zuo Zongtang's help, Hu Xueyan not only made money, but also earned fame.
When Zuo Zongtang went west to quell the rebellion against Agubai, Hu Xueyan presided over the affairs of the Shanghai Mining and Transportation Bureau for him, collecting military salaries, ordering arms, and doing intelligence work. When it is popular, the official residence is second and wears a yellow coat. Both prestige and fame have reached their peak.
Let's talk about the pattern of the heart and patriotism.
At this point, Qiao Zhiyong was much higher than Hu Xueyan. Qiao Zhiyong's business mind is "Huitong Tianxia" and "Cargo Tong Tianxia", and this dream of qiao is also the prototype of China's commercial banks. His pattern is not to do business and make money, but to prosper the world's commercial market.
Even if his "Huitong Tianxia" touched the interests of the Qing Dynasty and was later banned from going out in Shanxi by Cixi, he did not flinch, but found someone with the same dream to carry out on his behalf.
Hu Xueyan's pattern, or self, making money is the first priority. It seems that he transported armaments or grain and grass for the imperial court, but it was only to do business with the imperial court and earn silver. It seems that he funded Zuo Zongtang to win the victory of the conquest of the west, and made a lot of efforts and was very patriotic for the continuation of the late Qing Dynasty, but his starting point was still to do business, with patriotic feelings, which was a bit far-fetched.
Qiao Zhiyong did not cling to the magnate, although he was a small self, his patriotic feelings were extremely strong. 1, the end of the Qing Dynasty corruption, spend silver to buy officials, he hated very much, although there is money but refused, which also offended Cixi; 2, Jiangsu and Zhejiang coastal defense needs funds, donating silver Qiao Zhiyong bore the brunt of it, to donate more than the agreed amount of the imperial court; 3, Cixi fled west, Qiao Zhiyong unconditionally donated 300,000 taels of silver.
Finally, let's talk about the influence of the two on future generations.
Hu Xueyan's influence seems to have entered the annals of history, but it is just a classic case of commercial success in government-business cooperation. At best, it is only a certain reference for future generations of merchants.
Qiao Zhiyong's influence is almost buried in the annals of history, and his influence seems to be the three counties of "Qi Taiping". But the Qiao family compound he built in his later years was far-reaching.
The Qiao family compound was built in the early years of Tongzhi, and in his later years, he saw that the Qing government cut the land and paid compensation, and a large amount of silver flowed overseas, and he deeply regretted it, so he violated the ancestral precepts and spent tens of millions of dollars to build the Qiao family compound. At present, the Qiao Family Compound not only represents a pearl of residential architecture in the north of china's Qing Dynasty, but also a brilliant portrayal of the glory of the ancient sages and Jin merchants.
Readers, what do you think about "Qiao Zhiyong and Hu Xueyan"? If you like this article, please forward the favorite Oh ~