Qiao Zhiyong was a representative of Shanxi merchants in the late Qing Dynasty. At the critical moment of the family business, he abandoned literature and went into business. With his continuous efforts, business is booming. By the end of Qing Dynasty, Qiao's family owned more than 200 banks, money houses, pawn shops and grain shops all over China, with assets of tens of millions of taels of silver.
In the 23rd year of Jiaqing, Qiao Zhiyong was born in a merchant family in Qixian County, Shanxi Province. His father, Joe Quanmei, died when he was a child. He was raised by his brother, Joe Guangzhi. As a teenager, due to the death of his brother, Qiao Zhiyong dropped out of school to go into business and began to take charge of the business of the Qiao family. When Joe was in charge of housework, his family business was booming and he became a businessman in the rich side of Shanxi.
The name of its subordinate complex is Ba Baotou, which has the saying that "the complex is prosperous first, then Baotou City". In addition, two major banks, Dadetong and Dadeheng, are located in commercial ports and docks all over China.
Qiao Zhiyong is easy-going, honest and "doing business with virtue". Qiao Zhiyong did many good deeds in his life. In the third year of Guangxu's drought, Qiao Zhiyong opened a granary to help the victims. In the thirty-second year of Guangxu, Qiao Zhiyong died at the age of eighty-nine.
Extended data
Shanxi merchants, usually in the sense of Shanxi merchants, refer to Shanxi merchants in the five hundred years of Ming and Qing Dynasties. Shanxi businessmen are engaged in salt industry, banking and other businesses, especially banks. Shanxi merchants also left rich architectural heritages for China, such as the famous Qiao Family Courtyard, Changjia Manor, Sanduotang of Cao Family and Wang Family Courtyard. The feudalization of Shanxi merchants' profits in Ming and Qing Dynasties mainly manifested in donating money to help pay, buying land and usury capital.
The most famous is the Shanxi draft bank in Huitong World.
The most famous form of financial capital in Shanxi merchants' capital is the draft number. Draft bank, also known as draft bank or exchange bank, is a financial institution specializing in exchange business. Before the appearance of the draft number, merchants had to pay in cash for their purchases and transactions, and they had to rely on special escort agencies to transport the cash back when making money in other places, which not only cost a lot of money, but also took time and effort and often made mistakes.
This forces Shanxi businessmen who go out to do business to seek new ways out. Later, they investigated the places where Shanxi merchants traded, selected lean partners, and opened semicolons in Tianjin, Zhangjiakou, Shenyang, Suzhou, Shanghai, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Guilin, Chongqing and Changsha to attract business. Because this kind of exchange pays money here and uses money there, the procedure is simple and easy to use.
Therefore, in addition to Shanxi businessmen and foreign businessmen, there are also governments and officials who entrust remittances. With the increase of capital, the position of foreign exchange is getting bigger and bigger, and the profits are getting more and more. Then it absorbs cash and issues loans, and Rishengchang's business is booming.
Other Shanxi merchants also learned from Rishengchang's experience and invested in the draft banks, forming the famous Shanxi draft banks.
By the eve of the Opium War, there were about eight banks in Shanxi. In the ten years after the Opium War, three Shanxi banks, Rishengchang, Weifuhuo and Rixinzhong, set up 35 branches in 23 cities across the country, which not only specialized in foreign exchange business, but also engaged in deposit and loan business, combining foreign exchange with deposit and loan, taking advantage of foreign exchange acceptance period, occupying customers' cash for usury and obtaining high profits.
Reference source Baidu Encyclopedia-Qiao Zhiyong