Qu's original hometown is the eldest son of Shangdang County, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty Qu Ji often traveled back and forth between Qi County Shangdang to sell local products, taking advantage of the price difference between the two places, making profits from it, for a long time, with a little savings, he settled down in Qi County. His son still made a living from hawkers, and as the trade flourished, the Qu family gradually became wealthy. By the 9th century, the family road initially presented a well-off scene, ended the life of street vendors, began to set up shops, and established a trade name. The 14th Shiqu Tonghai became rich by doing business by "going to the west exit", and opened the "Changyuanhou" brand name alone. In the 15th century, Quyingman added two large tea estates of Changyuanchuan and Changshunchuan, and purchased tea from Liangxiang and then distributed it to various places. In the 16th century, Qu Changying began to trade salt in the Yangtze River basin, and by this time, the Qu family had accumulated a large amount of commercial capital.
By the time of the 17th "Yuan" generation, Qu's commerce entered a golden age and reached the peak of glory. Xu Ke listed the "rich households in Shanxi" in the "Qing Barnyard Banknotes" and said: The assets of the Qu family in Qi County are between 300 and 4 million taels of silver. It's actually much more than that. Later, it was said that the "prosperous rich man" Qu Yuanzhen built a silver kiln before his death, and after his death, the descendants dug up 3 million taels of silver from it. In addition, it is also said that after the Xinhai Revolution, when Yan Xishan was the governor of the Shanxi Provincial Military Government, he was in financial difficulties, so he asked someone to act as an agent for Qu Yuanzhen, and Qu Yuanzhen lent 300,000 taels of military expenses. These rumors also confirm the extent of his wealth.
The seventeenth generation of the Qu family had three famous rich people: Tian Xi Cai Zhu (Qu Yuan Chao), Wang Cai Zhu (Qu Yuan Zhen), and Jin Cai Zhu (Qu Yuan Gan).
Qu Yuanchao, Yuan Zhen and Yuan Gan are uncles and brothers, with different temperaments, but they have their own successes. Although Yuanchao is a child of a rich family, he does not like luxury, is strict in housekeeping, self-respecting, generous and helpful. Yuan Zhen has been very smart since he was a child, and later he is also a recognized master in business, and he has almost never lost money in his business life, and there is such a sentence "prosperous rich man, with eyesight, making money without drilling money eyes". Qu Yuangan is different from them: he is a standard gentleman, he likes opera, and undertook the "Upper and Lower Pear Garden", which is the first class in the history of Jin Opera.
(To be continued)
Written on November 6, 2019