Compilation of historical materials of Wu'an Merchant Gang
1. Origin and development
The Wu'an merchant gang originated in the middle of the Ming Dynasty and was active during the Qianlong and Jiaqing years. Wu'an is located at the junction of Hebei, Shanxi and Henan provinces. The territory is mountainous, the land is barren and the people are poor. The population pressure is high, which encourages people to go out to do business to make a living. "Zhangde Prefecture Chronicles" during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty records: "Wu'an has the largest number of merchants, and Xiangfang Village Market is full of goods." This shows that Wu'an's commerce was quite developed at that time.
During the Qianlong period, Wu'an merchants began to expand to the northeast, northwest and other places. The five brothers of the Wu family in Longquan Village "went to Guandong in five small cars" and set up the "Lintai" drug store in Shenyang, which became the starting point for Wu'an merchants to do business outside the Guandong. Almost at the same time, the Boyan Fang family established the "De Taiyong" business name in Yinchuan, creating a business territory for Wu'an merchants in Ningxia.
In the 11th year of Xianfeng's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1861), the Zhangde Wu'an Clan was established in Yaowang Temple in Qizhou, and 42 people including Rong Fengtai were elected as its leaders. This was the beginning of what Wu'an businessmen called the "Wu'an Clan". In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1889), Wu'an silk merchants in Suzhou built the Wu'an Guild Hall, marking the formal formation of the "Wu'an Merchant Gang" of "Southern Silk and Northern Medicine".
2. Business structure: Southern Silk and Northern Medicine
1. Beiyang: Monopolizing the medicinal materials market in Northeast China
The development of Wu'an drug merchants in Northeast China reached its peak in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. As immigrants from within the customs rushed to the outside of the customs on a large scale, Wu'an medicine dealers seized the opportunity. Wherever the immigrants gathered, they opened medicine shops, forming a monopoly that blossomed throughout the Northeast: "Wherever there is smoke, there are Wu'an people selling medicine."
