In the Gengzi year of the Qing dynasty, bandits plagued the empire from within while foreigners ran rampant beyond its borders. The two empress dowagers were at odds, the court was in disarray, officials were corrupt, factional strife was fierce, border troubles were constant, and the nation was in decline. The Boxers’ blades and the foreign devils’ artillery left Empress Dowager Cixi utterly rattled. Faced with a scene of devastation, a court on the brink of collapse, a weakened military, and a rising reformist faction watching like a tiger poised to pounce, she, once so domineering, could neither eat nor sleep in peace. She was like a cat on hot bricks, trapped in a quagmire with no options left.
The Qiao family of Qixian County, Shanxi, near the capital, amassed wealth while upholding noble conduct. Guided by the principle of building virtue and honoring commerce, they aided the poor and needy and strove tirelessly to improve themselves. They kept to the foundation of building a business on integrity, recruiting talent and choosing promising locations to grow their wealth. They established trading houses far and wide to gather riches from across the realm, and founded banks to channel capital throughout the land. Among the Qiao family’s many outstanding talents, the most unconventional was Gao Yu, chief manager of the De Trading House. A humble Confucian merchant, he had keen insight and stood firm in his principles. He remained composed in dire circumstances and deftly navigated tight spaces, moving between the political and business worlds with consummate skill. Before the war broke out, he decisively closed the trading houses and withdrew their funds, sparing the Qiao family a catastrophe. When the emperor and empress dowager fled west, he generously donated money to welcome them, turning the Boxer Indemnity into the foundation of a financial empire.
