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Pingyao Historic City and Qiao Family Courtyard Zhang

In the 3rd year of Daoguang ( 道 光 ) dynasty was not on the coast or in the capital
(1823), a time-honored dyeing shop “Xi of Beijing, it was in Taigu, Qi County, and
Yucheng” ( 西 裕 成 ) on Pingyao’s West Pingyao in the inland of Shanxi, and Pingyao
Avenue was replaced with the signboard was the best” [1, 2, 4] .
“Rishengchang” (日 升 昌 ), which literally
means “Rising Sun with Prosperity” [Figure
12]. Rishengchang was China’s first currency
exchange shop or remittance bank, called
piaohao, that accepted the bearers’
certificates from one city/place, to be
5
redeemed for cash in another city/place. The
piaohao system ended the escort ushering
cash in the past, making long-distance
remittances safer, and had greatly accelerated
business operations [5, 9] . The famous writer,
Yu Qiuyu (余秋雨), regarded Rishengchang
as the “Grandfather” of China’s commercial
industry; it was indeed a milestone of China’s
economic development. In the 1840s,
Rishengchang successively established
branches in over 30 cities across China, and at
the end of the Qing dynasty (1911) even
reached Mongolia, Russia, Korea, Japan,
India, Singapore, Europe, America, and other
parts of the world. It had created a unique
Chinese financial management model
through strict self-discipline, forming a
piaohao culture embedded with Chinese Figure 9. Confucian Temple Gate, Pingyao Historic
philosophy and rules that they formulated and City. Source: Photo by the author, 2017
implemented, which were the secret of their
success. Driven by Rishengchang piaohao,
China’s financial industry developed rapidly
and established 51 piaohao nationwide,
Shanxi had 43 (84%), and Pingyao had 22
(43%) [2, 4, 10] .
China’s economy at the time had a
combination of farming and weaving for self-
sufficiency, but the dawn of national
capitalism was already on its way. There was
a saying in Pingyao that “If one can get a job
in piaohao, he won’t want to change it to a
county official.” Hao Xinxi ( 郝 新 喜 ), a
specialist from the Pingyao Historic City
Protection Experts Committee, said: “The Figure 10. Confucian Temple Library, Pingyao
wealth center in the middle of the Qing Historic City. Source: Photo by the author, 2017

5 The escort’s heyday began with the establishment of the first “Rishengchang” piaohao in 1823, and its business
extended as far as Khyagt in the north and Guangzhou in the south of China. Since the “Boxer Rebellion” broke
out (1899‒1901), escort began to decline, with China’s last member of escort going out of business in 1922, the
Chinese escort came to an end [11] .

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