Introduction to "Nine Cities Smoke and Clouds"
Around the middle of the 19th century, the financial industry and banking industry achieved unprecedented development in Europe. At almost the same time, in response to the needs of commercial development, bank accounts in Shanxi and banks in Jiangsu and Zhejiang also sprouted in the land of China.
The Opium War, while bringing humiliation and poison to China, also deeply stimulated China's local industry, commerce, and finance. China's national industry and commerce went from being at a loss to rising up to fight. Despite repeated setbacks, they still forged ahead, arduously and without hesitation through the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, and the birth of New China.
The protagonist of this book, He Wei, grew up from an orphan and went through many hardships to become a representative figure in this struggle; and the people represented by him have not regretted despite every setback in this battle for more than a hundred years, and continue to write epic legends with everyone's wisdom, blood and even life.