Fujian's business gangs are mainly maritime businessmen. It first flourished in the Jin and Tang Dynasties, and reached its peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties after the development in the Song and Yuan Dynasties.
Fujian, backed by mountains and facing the sea, has unique natural advantages. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the "Silk Road" on land declined and the Maritime Silk Road rose. In addition to Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Fujian has also become the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. From the end of the Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, Quanzhou even surpassed Guangzhou, and was known as one of the largest trading ports in the world at that time.
In the Ming dynasty, the government monopolized the tribute trade officially, and the pieces of civilian goods were not allowed to enter the sea, and smugglers gradually appeared. Because of the competition with European pirates, but also because of the high pressure and prohibition behind it, that is, the China government, Fujian business gang means armed business gang. At the same time, Japan is also very dissatisfied. The Japanese government stipulates that they pay tribute once every ten years, with no more than two ships at a time and no more than 200 people. Although they often find various excuses to pay tribute beyond the quota, they are far from reaching the normal trade frequency. So Chinese and Japanese businessmen combine with each other and refuse to do business, so they will be harassed by you. The government called them pirates, pirates, and even Japanese pirates, so China gave birth to Qi Jiguang and other famous anti-Japanese soldiers. In fact, as mentioned above, most of them are not bandits, but businessmen fighting for trade freedom. Therefore, the sun crowns are one after another along the southeast coast, stopping in eastern Zhejiang, central Fujian and Guangdong. In the 43rd year of Jiajing (1564), the Japanese invasion was basically wiped out. At the suggestion of some officials, in the first year of Qin Long (1567), the government finally opened the floodgates and allowed businessmen to go to the East-West Trade Exchange. Although it is stipulated that businessmen must apply to the government for ferry tickets when going out to sea, there are restrictions on the number of ships, trading places, personnel and goods, and Japanese slaves are strictly prohibited, after all, the illegal underground state has moved towards open and normal trade, so Fujian business gangs have developed greatly, and developed business gangs that violate the ban specifically for Japan, such as the famous Zheng Zhilong Group (Zheng Zhilong even married a Japanese woman). In the first year of Chongzhen (1628), Zheng Zhilong accepted the appeal of the Ming government and annexed other business groups on this ground, thus establishing the maritime state of Zheng. All ships in Fujian and even the southeast coastal provinces are not allowed to travel privately without Zheng's flag, and each ship has to pay protection fees, with an annual income of tens of millions. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, and the Qing entered the customs. Zheng Chenggong, the son of Zheng Zhilong, rose up against the Qing Dynasty and then retreated to Taiwan Province. The government has implemented a strict policy of sea ban, which has dealt a heavy blow to Fujian's commerce. In the 22nd year of Kangxi (1683), the Qing government unified Taiwan Province Province, leaving no remnants of Zheng. In the 23rd year of Kangxi (1684), a group of people, including assistant minister Jinghai Hou of Quanzhou Pass, Fujian Province, requested to open the sea ban, which was adopted by the imperial court and set up a customs office in Xiamen. As a result, Fujian's commercial vitality gradually recovered, and Xiamen became an international foreign trade port. However, the past time is no longer coming, the southeast maritime kingdom has been controlled by the East India trading company of western European countries, and Fujian businessmen can no longer restore the glory of the Ming Dynasty. In particular, the advantage of China's trade surplus no longer exists. With this deficit flooding into China, a new contraband: opium. Therefore, there is another group in the Fujian business gang, opium smugglers.
(7) Dongting business gang
Dongting business gang is a business group formed in the area of Dongting Dongshan and Dongting Xishan in Taihu Lake. Dongting Mountain is located in the southwest of Suzhou, which runs east-west. It used to be the two largest islands in Taihu Lake. Due to sediment deposition, the northeast of Dongshan is now connected with land. A Moli Mountain and a Xumu Mountain are located in the east of Dongting Mountain, so they were called Dongdongting in the Ming Dynasty. Xishan was called Linwu Mountain in ancient times, also known as Baoshan and Yuji Mountain.
At that time, the two mountains of Dongting Lake were in the middle of Taihu Lake, and the external traffic depended entirely on waterways. Old, weak, women and children are good at manipulating boats. In addition to the unique natural environment of Taihu Lake, the Ming Dynasty proverb said that "Taihu Lake runs through the world". Besides food crops, other products are also highly commercialized, so Dongting people have innate commercial advantages. In the Ming dynasty, the Dongting business gang rose. Feng Menglong said in "Awakening the World": Dongting "People from two mountains are good at Huo Zhi, and business is good when they travel in all directions, so there is a slogan in the rivers and lakes called" Drilling the Heaven and Dongting ". Therefore, there was also a proverb that "the emblem is everywhere in the cave", which shows the power. The main areas of Dongting business gang activities are: along the first canal, it can be divided into Jiangnan area centered on Taihu Lake basin and the vast northern area north of the Yangtze River. Second, along the Yangtze River, this is the most active area of Dongting business gangs. Third, the trading port is an important town in Shanghai. After the Opium War, the Dongting business gangs active along the Yangtze River and the Canal began to move to Shanghai, especially the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. They either act as comprador of foreign banks and foreign companies or set up their own banks and banks. Of course, they also run their own silk warp industry, run foreign gauze industry at the same time, and even set up industrial enterprises, and began to change from commercial capital to industrial capital.
(8) Jiangyou Commercial Group
In ancient times, Jiangdong was called Jiangzuo, and Jiangxi was called Jiangyou. Gai looks from the north of the river, Jiangdong is on the left and Jiangxi is on the right. " Therefore, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jiangxi was often called Jiangyou, and Jiangxi merchants were called "Jiangyou merchants" or "Jiangyou merchants".
During the Song Dynasty, Jiangxi was an economically developed area. However, economic development will also be accompanied by some drawbacks, one is the rapid population growth, and the other is the serious government tax revenue. Therefore, during the Ming Dynasty, there was a serious outflow of population in Jiangxi, and some people turned into businessmen. Therefore, Jiangyou commercial gangs are characterized by a large number of people, a wide business scope, a wide range of activities, scattered funds, strong permeability but weak competitiveness, and many small businessmen. At that time, people compared Huizhou merchants with Jiangyou merchants and said: Xin 'an is rich, Jiangyou is poor. It also reflects the characteristics of Jiangyou merchants starting from a small business.
Jiangyou Commercial Group deals in the following industries: grain, tea, porcelain, cloth, paper, wood, tobacco and indigo, salt, pawn shops, books and groceries.
After the Opium War, Jiangyou merchants lost their advantages and went into decline.