Most of the merchants in Taigu are merchants, and their commercial sphere of influence is connected to Tianjin to Korea and Japan in the east; the north exports, through Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia, directly to the hinterland of Russia; the south reaches Zhengzhou in the south of the south to the two lakes and two guangzhous, and returns to Xuzhou to control the two rivers, and travels as far as Southeast Asian countries; the west goes to Shaanxi and Gansu into Sichuan to reach Yunnan, and through Xinjiang to Paris, London, Berlin and other places in West Asia and Europe. The bulk goods are tea, miscellaneous goods, silk, Chinese medicinal materials, etc. Except for Chinese medicinal herbs and tea, all of them are the bulk of the North Road business. The Chronicle of Chinese Industry describes Taigu's commerce this way: "Tea is harvested from the Two Lakes, and it is also an important business left behind by the former ticket house, which used to be dominated by trade with Mongolia and Russia... The Beijing goods industry is also very important to Japan, and when the ticket number is in full swing, Taiguzhi has the so-called Jingguang miscellaneous goods and Suguang miscellaneous goods trafficked to Mongolia to trade with the Mongolians. "In fact, the tea and Beijing-Guangzhou miscellaneous goods industry has begun to trade with Mongolia and Russia long before the ticket number was produced, and the production and development of the ticket number has promoted trade with Mongolia and Russia, making it reach its peak.
The Business of Chinese Herbal Medicines is based on the South Road Business as a bulk, and the Taigu merchants who operate the Business of Chinese Herbal Medicines on the South Road are called Guangbang, which is a special team in the Taigu Merchant Gang, specializing in import and export business. They export Chinese medicinal materials native to China through the ports of Guangzhou and Hong Kong, import the southern medicines produced in Southeast Asia and Central Asia, and directly transport them to Qizhou and Yuzhou, the national medicinal materials market, for wholesale sales. In addition, it is also sold in Taigu Tou and supplied to Shanxi and the northern provinces for consumption.
Sales are made during the dart period and are sold on credit. The dart period originated in the long-term trade between Taigu merchants and Mongolian russia, and later became the common practice of Jin commerce. From Taigu to Zhangjiakou, start to borrow, Zhangjiakou sells goods and returns to Taigu to repay, that is, a dart period.
There are two types of darts in Shanxi, one is the Taigu dart and the other is the Taifen dart. Taigu Dart is the dart of Taigu County, and Taifen Dart is a dart for Taiyuan, Yuci, Qi County and Fenyang and Pingyao counties belonging to Fenzhou Province. The two dart periods are different in each county, but the interest rate per dart loan is based on the Taigu dart first and prevails.
Taigu dart
Taigu darts have two kinds of long darts and short darts, long darts are also called annual darts, once a year, designed for merchants who transport tea and medicinal materials in Nan Province; short darts are opened four times a year, divided into four dart periods of spring, summer, autumn and winter, designed for retailers in Shanxi counties and neighboring provinces. During the dart period, Taigu merchants sold goods wholesale in the form of credit sales, and settled the payment on dates ranging from one to four darts, which greatly facilitated the business activities of small and medium-sized traders, and also won credibility for Taigu merchants, attracted business, and expanded turnover. Every dart period, merchants gather in Taigu, organize goods, return the payment, bustling and bustling. The wholesale business accounts for more than 80% of total sales.
The 19th edition of the Taigu County Chronicle of the Republic of China recorded the grand situation at that time: "The walkers must not be taken care of, the emperors must not be rotated, and the thoroughfare is narrow." In the 9th year of the Republic of China (1920), when the Japanese East Asia Tongbunkan surveyed and published the "Complete History of Chinese Provinces" aimed at invading China, it was also said that Taigu "has been the central market for the distribution of materials since ancient times... The prosperity of commerce is the crown of the province." In the 15th year of the Republic of China (1926), the Shanxi Department of Education edited the "Primary School Business Textbook" and commented on Taigu as follows: "Taigu is the first commercial area in Shanxi Province... There are many large shops in Taigu, and the goods sold are not found elsewhere, so the business of the province is naturally concentrated in Taigu County. Ping, Pu, Dai, and Xie in the south of the province, Xin, Dai, Ning, and Bao in the north of the province, and even merchants and traders from all over Dashuo and Guisui did not come to Taigu to purchase goods and transport them back to their own places for sale. From the ordinary point of view, Taigu has actually become a trading port..."
Merchants need a lot of capital, thanks to the support of strong financial institutions, but also stimulate the rich businessmen with economic strength to use the idle funds in their hands to fund the opening of financial institutions, forming a large number of phenomena of Taigu financial institutions, in Taigu, accounting, money, pawn (quality) shop, ticket number, silver number, silver furnace, bank type is complete, strong strength. These financial institutions practice commercial lending throughout the province, resulting in many creditor-debtor relationships. After the start of long-distance, large-scale commodity trading, Taigu has become the first choice for merchants around the world to raise funds.
The "Chronicle of Xugou County" (this book is a 1941 manuscript and published by Shanxi People's Publishing House in 1992) written by Liu Dapeng, a scholar and Jinci scholar who served as a master in the wu family of Nanxi Village in Taigu for more than 20 years, records: "During the Taifen dart period, Zhuang Duo, the intersection of the counties in Jinzhong, was willing to shop and clear debts. During the Taigu dart period, they went to Taigu to go shopping to clear their debts." Taigu has both a creditor-debtor relationship formed by capital lending and a creditor-debtor relationship caused by the sale of commodities on credit. This determines that most of the monetary borrowing and payment repayment is concentrated in Taigu. The cash returned by various roads is also first concentrated in Taigu, handling settlement and opening interest rates; then other counties use Taigu darts as the standard dart and liquidation, and then form the interest rate of each county. Taigu has effectively formed the trade settlement center of Northern China.
Therefore, Mr. Wei Juxian, a famous scholar of the Republic of China, said in the preface to his book "History of Shanxi Ticket Numbers": "The financial center of Shanxi is indeed the ,...... In fact, Taigu County occupied a large economic power at that time, and the power of one county could reach Yuci, QiXian, Pingyao, Jiexiu and other counties, so it was a dart alone, and the cash from various transports and remittances was first concentrated in Taigu, handling the collection and payment, and opening the interest rate, and Taigu was the first and prevailed. ...... It can be seen that Taigu County was very powerful at that time."
The period of currency settlement is also the period of commodity distribution, which is carried out in the same dart period, and the settlement of currency settlement is carried out three days before the dart period. Every dart period, the merchants in Shanxi counties and neighboring provinces will come to Taigu three days in advance to repay loans, liquidate the payment, and book goods. Therefore, around the dart period, taigu county's financial activities were extremely active. Liu Dapeng described the pomp and circumstance of the Taigu Winter Dart in his diary: "Taigu Yiyi, rich in Jin, is the area where silver and money gather in our province. Now living here, see the street market, business travel, shoulders to shoulder the treasure, holding the Juti, like the flow of water, gushing continuously. Inquiry of the city people, why the number of negative silver people also, the city people cloud: the twenty-fifth day of this month (December 11) is the winter dart date, today's weekly dart begins. On Wednesdays and twenty-fifth days, there was nothing to do. The so-called dart, the businessman returns the loan and silver two also. The old business friends who witnessed the grandeur of the Taigu dart period also recalled: "On the day of the dart period, the business was full of gold and silver yuan treasures, and there was no sleep for two or three days. "Taigu has actually become a private business clearing center in the counties and areas outside the mouth in central Shanxi.
Taigu Yuanbao has a very high financial reputation. The silver collected by Taigu must be reforged and uniformly colored. The industry specializing in casting yuanbao is called "Qingxing Xing", and the yuanbao re-cast by the Taigu silver furnace is called "Zhouxing Mirror Treasure", with a color of 998, which is much higher than the 24 yuan treasure in Shanxi, and is used as full silver in circulation throughout the country without testing. According to historical records, as long as the yuan treasure of the shanxi provincial treasury collects tax and silver, as long as the yuan treasure has the word "Menghe" printed by the Mengjia silver furnace in Taigu County, it is used as full silver without testing.
Weekly mirror treasure
The "China Industrial Chronicle" commented on Taigu: "In the heyday of ticket numbers, Taigu was originally the commercial center of Shanxi Province, that is, the financial hub of North China. Wei Juxian also explicitly stated in the "History of Shanxi Ticket Number": "The financial center of Shanxi is indeed Taigu. ”
The development of commerce and trade and finance has flourished, and the stimulating service industry and entertainment industry have also flourished, with antique shops, restaurants, car shops, inns, transfer shops, tea gardens, theater gardens, barbers, laundry bureaus, bathhouses, photography and so on. According to statistics, before the 25th year of the Republic of China (1936), there were 121 hotels and restaurants in Taigu County alone, with more than 700 employees, including 34 hotels and 384 employees. There are mule and horse shops dedicated to staying in Shaanxi, hotels specializing in staying in the southeast of Jin, as well as high-grade high-rise shops, in addition to car shops specializing in renting cars. There are 87 restaurants and 316 employees. The rise of the service industry has promoted the prosperity of Taigu Guyi flavor food, making Taigu a famous noodle town in the country, and then promoting the formation and development of Taigu food culture.
The entertainment industry has also developed rapidly, taigu yangge has become more active than ever, and the performance form and singing voice have matured day by day. At the same time, the fusion of Puzhou Zizi, Hebei Zizi, Kunqu opera and other dramas to reform their singing style, forming a reputation for the Three Jins, well-known Shaanxi and Mongolia Zhonglu Zizi opera, also known as Jin opera. From the Guangxu period to the Republic of China, there were a number of pear garden drama classes in Taigu, of which the three good drama classes were "Jinni Garden", "Shuanglin Garden", "Jinxia", "Kunli Garden", "Jinshenghe", "Jinyi Garden", "Shuangni Garden" and "Wanfu Garden". At the same time, it also organizes large-scale classes to cultivate drama professionals. After the closure of the divine gate after the winter dart, the famous characters of Jin opera gathered in the homes of rich merchants and large households in urban and rural areas to make a ticket, which greatly promoted the improvement of jin opera performing arts, promoted the prosperity of Jin opera culture, and also cultivated a large number of outstanding Jin opera performing artists.
At the same time, a large number of specialized personnel with technical expertise or partners or apprentices form professional handicraft workshops, such as carpentry workshops, stonemason shops, masons, paintings, sewing shops, hat shops, oil pressing shops, salt boiling shops, blacksmith shops, coppersmith shops, linen shops, leather shops, vinegar shops, sauce shops, neck shops, wool pocket shops, cage shops, bamboo curtain shops, mirror shops, felt houses, dye houses, mat shops, koji shops, engraving, pen makers, lantern shops, pancreas shops, pewter shops, spike shoe shops, gold and silver smiths, cotton and so on. Taigu's handicraft industry developed rapidly and flourished. It has formed the most famous silver money shop, pawn shop, medicinal material shop, color flower cloth line, Nanjing grocery store, grain line, pigment line, clothing line, antique line, and Qing marketing line.
In the 30th year of Guangxu (1904), the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce of the Qing Government decided on the charter of the Chamber of Commerce and passed the provincial orders, and the first Shanxi General Chamber of Commerce was established in Taigu, organized by the gentlemen of the three counties of Qi Taiping, and cao Runtang of the Cao family of the Taigu Shang dynasty was elected as the president of the first chamber of commerce.
During the Years of the Republic of China, with the help of geographical advantages and capital advantages, the Taigu grain industry sprung up and became another important grain distribution center in the central and southern regions of Shanxi. Mountain goods from the eastern counties, wheat from southern Jin, and millet from southeastern Jin are all distributed in Taigu. However, in addition to some of them being sold to Shijiazhuang, Beijing and other places, most of them are supplied for consumption in the Taigu area, and the number of merchants who come to Taigu from afar to buy grain is increasing. After the 21st year of the Republic of China (1932), the grain plate activity was in full swing, and this gambling grain trade attracted the participation of the business community, and all walks of life rushed to intervene. The business circles of Shijiazhuang, Beijing, Tianjin and other cities have also sent special personnel to Taigu to do this business. In the 23rd year of the Republic of China (1934), the Zhengtai and Tongpu railways simultaneously set up stations in Taigu, with transportation advantages and financial strength, which accelerated the development of Taigu's grain industry. Around the 25th year of the Republic of China (1936), the number of grain stores in the city suddenly increased to 39, with more than 1,070 employees, and the annual grain transaction was as high as 385,250 stones. Most of these grain stores are backed by financial forces. After the Xinhai Revolution, although the ticket number failed, its potential forces, as far as Taigu was concerned, "still fought against Taiyuan, beyond the reach of Yuci." In this way, Taigu soon replaced Yuci as the grain concentration and leapt to the center of Shanxi's grain industry.
Editor-in-Charge: Yan Li