Dangjia Village is a symbol and a vicissitudes of memory.
Curious people often have a simple question: Where does Dangjia Village make its money? How to build a model of the “new countryside” at that time? This question seems simple, but it is not naive. Because in the subconscious mind of the Chinese people, there is a complex of pursuing "Great Harmony" for thousands of years. Dangjia Village is different from official residences and the nouveau riche-style Qiao Family Courtyard. It is the wealth and luxury of an entire village! Combined with today's gap between rich and poor, this cannot help but resonate in people's hearts. As the saying goes, "You can't be rich without business." The wealth of Dangjiacun was precisely due to taking a business path that was not respected at that time. This is also the place that people in Dangjia Village talk about most today. They are very proud that their ancestors have the value of "learning to excel in business".
In 1654, Depei, the 11th generation of the second clan, took the lead in going south. It is said that he drove a donkey carrying two bundles of cotton. After more than a month's trek, he came to the north bank of Baihe River, more than 60 miles south of Nanyang Prefecture, where he set up a street stall and sold groceries to make a living. The south bank of the Baihe River is Wadian Town, a commercial town located at the hub of water and land transportation. Dang Depei was a diligent and honest person. Some ship owners who came to the south to sell bamboo and wood building materials often came to rest in front of his stall. Seeing that he was a good character, they often left some unsold goods to him for sale on consignment.
Taking this as an opportunity, he started a timber business. Then he moved to Wadian Town, hired shop assistants, and founded the "Hengxing Gui" business that specialized in wood. This period coincided with the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Qing Dynasty, and the world was initially settled. After the war, Nanyang was in urgent need of timber. He seized this business opportunity and used the water transportation of Baihe River to carry out long-distance trafficking. They trafficked local agricultural products when they went out and loaded them with marketable timber when they came back. With the assistance of his son Dang Jingping, after two generations of 70 years of bleak management, by the early years of Yongzheng's reign, he had developed into a local business leader and business leader, owning a large number of houses and nearly 10,000 acres of land in Wadian Town. Later, "Hengxing Gui" was divided into four according to the situation of the grandchildren. The four new business houses competed with each other, and they prospered for 200 years. They owned 30,000 acres of land and countless movable properties.
When Dang Depei tasted the deliciousness of "crab", the Jia people were also eager to try it, and finally business giants like Jia Yitang emerged.
Jia Yitang also came to Nanyang Prefecture in the fifteenth year of Qianlong (1750) and founded the "Hexingfa" in Guotan Town, Tang County, which was also a timber trafficking business. Although it is nearly a hundred years later than the party clan, due to the different business philosophy and management methods, the business has grown bigger. Jia Yitang has an emancipated mind and is good at assessing the situation. Starting from the concept of "partnership to seek wealth", he early absorbed scattered funds from the village into shares. At the same time, he promoted the reform of labor-capital shares within the company, which not only expanded the scale of funds but also improved operating efficiency. . This is the reason why Dangjia Village is generally wealthy and why "Hexingfa" has caught up from behind. On the other hand, Jia Yitang knows people well and hires Dang Yushu from the three clans as the chief shopkeeper, making him even more powerful. Dang Yushu is known as a "business wizard". He dropped out of school to engage in business at the age of 14. He immediately emerged in the Xiangfan business world and showed his talent at the age of 20. He "keeps his conduct serious, deals fairly, and reads classics and history in his spare time as an accountant." "Jiang Xia Jin, a gentleman and a doctor, enjoys traveling with him, thinking he is the only one in the market." The joining of Dang Yushu made "He Xing Fa" visionary and prosperous.
First, the headquarters was moved to , Sheqi Town, (today's Sheqi County, Henan Province). Xianqi Town was a major channel for the exchange of goods between the north and the south at that time. Thousands of merchants gathered there and it was famous all over the world. American Billy Lin wrote in his book "Bandits in Henan, China": "...Chengqi Town in western Henan was the loading and unloading place for goods shipped to Hankou, Hankou via the Tanghe River and Baihe River at that time, from Mongolia and Merchants' fleets from the northwest region settled here and loaded their goods onto ships. All in all, the town of Shengqi was one of the most prosperous trade centers in the country."This move gave the company a location advantage for development.
Next, he set up warehouses in the Tang and Baihe river basins with Qizhen as the center, set up branch offices in Xiangfan and Hankou, and expanded his business scope to Hankou and Changsha. Directly reaching Guangzhou and Foshan area. At that time, the area of Qianqi Town was 20 miles, with 72 commercial streets built on 72 lines, and 8 gates were opened for the entry and exit of goods. After the rise of "Hexingfa", in order to facilitate the transportation of timber. For loading and unloading, he paid to open a city gate as his own dedicated wharf on the Tang River. In its heyday, "Hexingfa" had thousands of employees, and its own huge fleet traveled north and south; it had its own commercial street and everything. Real estate and working capital were overwhelming; 100,000 acres of land was purchased in Nanyang and Tang County, so Emperor Jiaqing had to give him a golden plaque saying "Thousands of acres of fertile land"
in Dangjia Village. How rich? During the Xianfeng period, both "Hengxinggui" and "Hexingfa" entered their heyday. From then on, there was a saying in Dangjia Village that there were 50 households in the village at that time. The monthly income is 600 taels. Both the Dang and Jia clans have special "bank branches". A dividend list of the "Yulongjie" company shows that the average annual profit of shareholders is about 15,000 taels, which is similar to that of ordinary small households. At about 10,000 taels. Rough calculations show that in the 150 years since Qianlong arrived in Xianfeng, Dangjia Village’s commercial profits amounted to tens of millions of taels. This does not include the large amount of land income and the income of local businesses. Its wealth The extent can be imagined
Source: Shaanxi Hancheng Tourism
Editor: Kang Jiahao
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