The century-old Lei Yunshang Drug Store was founded in Suzhou and prospered in Shanghai. It has a history of nearly 300 years. It was founded in Suzhou in 1734 AD (the 12th year of Yongzheng reign in the Qing Dynasty); in 1860 (the 10th year of Xianfeng reign in the Qing Dynasty), the "Shenhao" was set up outside the New North Gate of Shanghai. In 1934, the "Beihao" was set up at the Tianhou Palace Bridge on Henan North Road (today's Tianhou Palace Bridge). Henan Luqiao) in the north. In 1937, a Beihao branch was set up on Jing'an Temple Road (today's Nanjing West Road). Due to the pharmacy's large scale, strong assets and wide influence, it was recognized by the Sinopharm industry as one of the "four largest traditional Chinese medicine stores in Shanghai" in its early years. Since China's reform and opening up, through asset restructuring and industrial and commercial cooperation, today Shanghai Lei Yunshang Pharmaceutical has once again regained its glory. , becoming a strong player in China's traditional Chinese medicine industry.

Lei Yunshang Pharmacy was originally called "Leisongfentang". Its founder, Lei Dasheng, was named Yunshang and his name was Nanshan. Lei's ancestor was originally from Fengcheng, Jiangxi Province. , and later moved to Suzhou to settle. His father's name was Siyuan. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, he was an official in the cabinet and was a member of Shushe. He died in middle age. Lei Dasheng was born in the 35th year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1696). When he was young, he studied medicine and was good at music and poetry. In the early Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, he was in his prime and fell seriously ill in Beijing. After he recovered, he abandoned Confucianism and engaged in medicine and business. He traveled to Shandong and other places, collected Chinese medicinal materials and returned to his hometown of Suzhou. From then on, he practiced medicine and helped people. At the same time, he studied the production of Chinese medicine pills and ointments, and wrote "Jingui Bianzheng" and "Essential Symptoms". Four medical books, including "A Brief Introduction to Danwan Prescriptions" and "Recipes for Classical Diseases", unfortunately the original copies have been lost, leaving only the titles of the four books to be passed down to future generations.

According to textual research, "Suzhou Prefecture Chronicles" has the following brief description of Lei Dasheng's father and son: "Lei Dasheng's courtesy name is Yunshang, a native of Wuxian County, his father's heir source, and his ancestral home is Wanping (recorder's note: Lei Siyuan lived in Wanping County, Hebei Province, and took this as his hometown). He was a Gongsheng student, a secretary in the cabinet, and a military officer. He Wan Powder Ointment Pill was highly valued at that time... According to the same description in Volume 75 of "Wuxian Chronicle", Lei Dasheng was also recorded as follows: "Dasheng started his career as a Confucian scholar and was promoted to the imperial examination in the first year of Qianlong's reign. If Hongbo doesn't stop, he will hide in medicine..." and so on.

In the 12th year of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty (1734), Lei Dasheng opened a traditional Chinese medicine store in front of Tianku in Chuanzhu Lane, Changmen Nei, Suzhou. He took the sign "Lei Song Fen Tang", sold his own patent medicines, and used his own name "Yun Shang" to practice medicine in the store. Lei Dasheng was a skilled doctor and good at treating diseases, and the patent medicines he developed were very effective. The reputation of "Dr. Lei Yunshang" spread throughout Suzhou. Later, people called the pharmacy "Lei Yunshang". As for the official sign of the pharmacy, "Lei Songfentang" was gradually omitted or even forgotten, and now it is rarely known.

Lei Dasheng has five grandsons, named "Li Dafang, Geng Erfang, Qi Sanfang, Jiao Sifang and Song Wufang respectively", and these five grandsons are passed down from generation to generation. In the 44th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1779), Lei Dasheng passed away at the age of 84. Lei Songfentang was jointly run by his five-room grandchildren, each with one-fifth of the property rights. After more than 200 years of reproduction, Qisanfang has been the only son for a long time, and his equity has always remained one-fifth, making him the major shareholder. There are many grandchildren in other houses, and the share capital is scattered. The equity held by the descendants of each house varies greatly.

In the 10th year of Xianfeng’s reign in the Qing Dynasty (1860), the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom marched northward, and the city of Suzhou was in chaos. Pharmacies were unable to operate normally and were closed. The Lei clan members distributed the valuable medicines stored in the store to their grandchildren, and left their hometowns one after another to make a living. At this time, Lei Zichun from Qi Sanfang and Lei Junsheng from Song Wufang left Suzhou together and went to Shanghai. They set up stalls selling medicine in the Xinbeimen area outside the city to make a living. Later, the descendants of each family also went to Shanghai one after another. They live by setting up medicine stalls, and the stalls are all located in the area between the New North Gate and the Old North Gate. Over time, this area has formed a market and has certain characteristics. The lives of Lei's descendants who were wandering in Shanghai gradually stabilized, so the grandchildren jointly opened a branch of Songfentang in Shanghai to restore the ancestral business. Due to limited funds, they recruited two foreign shareholders named Ping and Tong in Shanghai. In the 10th year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1860), they opened a pharmacy called " Lei Songfentang applied for a license. A few years later, the store expanded to Minguo Road (today's Renmin Road). At that time, the pharmacy was small, the store was simple, and the funds were limited. The total capital was 800 taels, of which Pingyuan accounted for the capital. The major shareholder is 200 taels, Tong Qingji has 100 taels, and Lei's five-fang grandchildren each have 100 taels. The bulk of their products are ancestral pills, including Sha Yao Chansu Pills, Zhuge Xingjun Powder, and Babaohong. Lingdan, Xihuang Xingxiao Pills, Meihua Diantongue Pills, Zijin Tablets and later Liushen Pills are all well-known Lei's self-produced patent medicines.

The business purpose still maintains the characteristics of an old store in Suzhou. It only sells self-produced patent medicines, with as many as three to four hundred varieties, and does not deal in recipe recipes for decoction pieces.

In the 40 years since the establishment of "Lei Song Fen Tang Shen Hao", the pharmacy business has remained stable year by year without major ups and downs. In the 28th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1902), the pharmacy business underwent tremendous changes. This year, an epidemic plague occurred in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, and the demand for medicines increased sharply. The patent medicines produced by Lei Songfentang are all marketable summer medicines. For this reason, the sales volume has greatly increased, the turnover has doubled, and the profits this year have been very considerable.

Due to insufficient funds when preparing to establish the company, two shareholders with foreign surnames were recruited as a partnership. Due to the proper management, the business expanded and the assets soared. It was enough to be a sole proprietorship, so it was decided to exclude foreign investment and make it the sole property of the Lei family. After discussions between the houses, they spent huge sums of money to acquire the equity interests of two shareholders named Ping and Tong, and finally restored the sole proprietorship of Lei's ancestral business. After several years of operation, most of the pharmacies sold were expensive and fine-material products, and the turnover was much higher than that of ordinary pharmacies selling tablet formulas. For example, Liushen Pills sell for 120 yuan per tael (100 bottles), which is twice the price of gold. For this reason, profits increased year by year and assets expanded rapidly. By the Republic of China, bank deposits alone amounted to 600,000 taels of silver. Someone once calculated based on the market price at that time that Wuzhou Pharmacy spent only more than 200,000 taels of silver to build the 10-story Wuzhou Building on Fuzhou Road in the 25th year of the Republic of China. Lei Yunshang's bank deposits were enough to build three Wuzhou Buildings, which shows how wealthy he is. A spot.

In the early 1930s, Lei Yunshang Pharmacy opened Beihao and Beihao branches. As the pharmacy further develops, its business expands and its profits double. In order to expand business, we use abundant funds to open branches in order to develop. After the resolution was passed, preparations were made to buy the former "Tiedaqiao Qingyutang Pharmacy" that went bankrupt due to poor management and was closed down by the court at the north end of Henan Road Bridge, opposite Tianhou Palace (today's No. 30 Henan North Road), and it was renovated and expanded. Opened a branch called "Leisongfentang North No. The mail-order business of Beimen Shenhao was moved to Beihao, which is known as the "all-round national medicine store." It was officially opened in October of the 23rd year of the Republic of China (1934), and the original "Shenhao" of the new north gate was renamed "Nanhao". On the day of the opening, Huang Jinrong, a prominent figure in Shanghai at the time, was specially invited to the store to support him. The turnover that day was more than 6,000 yuan, of which only one kind, tiger bone papaya wine, sold thousands of bottles that day. To please the press, the reporter touted it in news reports as being 50,000 yuan. When the "August 13" Anti-Japanese War broke out in 1937, the north bank of the Suzhou River where the "North" was located became the sphere of influence of the Japanese army. Most of the local shops were closed and residents fled one after another. In order to consider the safety of the property in the store, Beihao temporarily rented a store at No. 719 Xieqiao Lane, Jing'an Temple Road (now the Wujiang intersection of Nanjing West Road), and moved the store's valuable merchandise to a new location for temporary storage to avoid the war. Most of the employees also took refuge with them. Because the residents are concentrated there, the market is stable and there are few pharmacies nearby. After simple decoration at the new location, it opened for business in November of the same year, temporarily called the "North Branch." At the end of the same year, the Qiaobei area gradually stabilized, and the North Branch resumed business. The original temporary North Branch began to develop due to normal business operations. After re-decoration, new high-end wood counter shelves, and refined facade, it became a rather grand traditional Chinese medicine store, which is now Shanghai Leiyun Shangxi Store. The two branches in the north and west were unified under the jurisdiction of Nanhao. In 1980, Nanhao moved to No. 91, Henan Middle Road.

New management model

Traditional Chinese medicine stores are originally an old industry. Pharmacies have long used traditional and ancient management methods. Lei Yunshang Pharmacy is different. He has absorbed a set of scientific management models from new enterprises in society and transplanted them into the ancient Chinese medicine industry as early as the 1920s and 1930s. Formation and implementation. Even some details must be scientific and reasonable, such as ringing the bell to signal the opening of the business every day, and all employees on duty will put their name tags on the "employee list", and flip the name tags when they are off work or on vacation for clarity. All employees in the store are not allowed to leave the store during the day or night. The apprentices specialize in learning production and business, and there are handymen who specialize in all chores that are not directly related to the business. Family members staying in all employee accommodation hotels in this city are required to go home and spend the night three times a month. The dates are scheduled by the employees through consultation and are not allowed to be changed without authorization. It is stipulated that employees have two months of family leave every year. If they do not enjoy family leave, they can be paid a subsidy, which is equivalent to double their salary.

When returning home, you are allowed to bring a specified amount of commonly used medicines for family use, and they will be released after inspection and approval.

The drug store has very strict store rules. Employees are not allowed to wander out at night or gamble. Violators will be fired from the store. Those who cause damage to the store due to work errors will also be severely punished. If an employee accidentally purchases inferior raw materials, he will be ordered to resign. In order to improve the culture of employees, the store holds reading classes for employees, and invites capable people to serve as teachers. Most of the content is selected from "Guanwen Guanzhi". A staff band was also formed. In the early days of liberation, "Lei Yunshang's staff band had a certain reputation and often participated in festival entertainment performances.

Semi-finished products of valuable drugs in the store that have not yet been packaged are stored in the bank vault and are managed by the manager. A key must be checked in person by the manager before it can be shipped out of the warehouse when picking up the goods. For the purchase of valuable raw materials, the supplier must bring samples to the store at the same time within the agreed time and the manager shall designate the person in charge of the purchase. We will work with quality inspectors to strictly inspect and select the best for use, just like the current "tendering and procurement". These management methods are not uncommon in today's enterprises, but in the ancient Chinese medicine shop decades ago, Lei Yunshang's approach was unique. At the beginning of the implementation of these new systems, there were some complaints from some employees in the store, but Lei's management believed that they must be implemented resolutely, and they were finally consolidated.

Although the pharmacy system is strict, employees are rarely fired for intentional violations. The reason is that the economic benefits of employees are better. Among the "four major households" in Shanghai, the salary income of Lei Yunshang's employees is much higher than that of the other three. Employees, regardless of their position, receive a monthly allowance of 7 yuan. The monthly salary starts from the lowest Starting from 7 jiao, the higher one can reach 2 yuan (base). The year-end dividend is usually paid at 1,000 times the base. Calculated based on the salary of 7 jiao for an apprentice who has just completed his apprenticeship, he can get 700 yuan at the end of the year, which is almost higher than that of an ordinary drug store. Double that of senior staff. Therefore, employees cherish this "golden rice bowl" and consciously abide by strict store rules and never dare to violate them easily.

" "Liu Shen Pills" is Lei Yunshang's famous specialty variety, but unlike other varieties, it was not created by Lei Dasheng but had another origin. Some people think that Lei Yunshang Pharmacy made its fortune from "Liu Shen Pills", but this is not the case. "Liu Shen Pills" It only lasted for more than a hundred years until it became the patented product of Lei Yunshang Pharmacy. When Lei's family opened its store in Shanghai, Lei Zifan, a descendant of Qi Sanfang, opened a small pharmacy named "Lei" on Fangbang Road, Xiaodongmen. Tongjuntang only employs two employees to operate a small amount of self-produced patent medicines. At this time, Lei Zifan had a secret recipe for Liushen Pills, which was obtained by his father Lei Zichun and passed on to him. It was handmade by his wife and daughter in their hometown in Tonghefang, Suzhou and brought to Shanghai for sale, named "Lei Zifan Brand Liushen Pills." Lei Zifan's handwritten small paper advertisements were posted on the walls and telephone poles, attracting many customers, including Japanese ones. This opened up the market and provided a small amount of exports.

In the 28th year of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1902), when Lei Songfentang was successfully operating and expanding its business, the grandsons of various houses thought that "Liushen Pills" should be used. Being run by the ancestral business Lei Songfentang, one family cannot benefit alone. Lei Zifan claimed that "Liu Shen Pill" was a foreign prescription and was not passed down from Lei's family. The grandchildren of each family acknowledged this fact and agreed to contribute. Now Dayang buys out the production and operation rights of "Liu Shen Pills" for 10,000 yuan at a time and stipulates that Fansongfentang will withdraw "regular silver", which is 98%, for every batch of "Liu Shen Pills" sold, which is equivalent to 200 bottles of 100 pills. The 3 taels of silver went to Qi Sanfang alone, and each family had no right to share. This patent fee was commonly known as "Liu Ti", or "Liu Shen Pill Commission", and the written certificate was supervised by the two close relatives to buy out the patent rights. Later, the trademark "Leizifan Brand Liushen Pills" was immediately cancelled, all original supply channels were suspended, "Leitong Juntang" closed down, and two employees were recruited by Songfentang. From then on, "Liushen Pills" became the brand name of Leisongfentang. Patented product. After the process reform, the output increased and the sales expanded, becoming Lei Yunshang's famous product that sold well at home and abroad. In 1929, the price of "Liu Shen Pills" was increased for the first time, and the "Liu Ti" standard was also increased accordingly, each ingredient was 3 taels. In 1931, the price of "Liu Shen Pills" increased again, and the "Liu Ti" standard was revised again. For the convenience of calculation, it was no longer calculated in silver, but was changed to 2% of the total amount, that is, 50 bottles of Liushen Pills were sold. Commission is based on the price of a bottle, and the same applies if the price increases in the future.

During the 50-year period, there have been several disputes over the "six mentions", Lei's houses believe. Yifang cannot be allowed to enjoy this patent indefinitely, and we have fought lawsuits to no avail because the original agreement did not specify a period of time, so it can be regarded as an unlimited and permanent enjoyment.

Moreover, the agreement clearly stipulates that the patent will be inherited by Qisanfang's "eldest grandson", and even brothers have no right to compete. Qisanfang's descendants are all passed down by a single family, and there are no brothers competing for patents. Later, the single heir of Qisanfang triggered another lawsuit during the divorce. The woman proposed to split the "six mentions", but the man claimed that this was the remuneration of the "producer" and should be obtained solely by the producer and had nothing to do with his wife. After investigation and evidence collection by the court, it was found that this person was not present during the processing of "Liushen Pills", so the theory of "supervision and production" is not established. In the end, it was decided that the men and women should be divided equally between the men and women. This was the judgment of the People's Court in 1950. It can be seen that the "six mentions" agreement signed during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty was still implemented to the letter after liberation.

In the early days of liberation, Lei Yunshang Drug Store remained unchanged. It was not until 1956 that the situation changed significantly after the private renovation. During the public-private partnership, Lei's descendants actively supported socialist transformation and took the lead in participating in the public-private partnership, playing an active role in Shanghai's industrial and commercial circles at that time. In 1957, the "National Conference of Activists of Women in Business and Business Families" was held in Beijing. Xu Zhaogu, the eldest daughter-in-law of the 16th generation of Lei Shiqi, attended the conference and was cordially received by party and state leaders such as Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, and Zhou Enlai. . In 1958, Lei Yunshang Pharmacy and several other well-known traditional Chinese medicine pharmacies jointly established the "Public-Private Shanghai Joint Pharmaceutical Factory of Traditional Chinese Medicine", and most of the patent medicines were produced under the name of the factory. Among them, "Liu Shen Pills" is listed as a national "Class II commodity" and is allocated and exported nationwide by the Ministry of Commerce according to plans. The "Public-Private Joint Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Joint Pharmaceutical Factory" is under the jurisdiction of the state-owned Shanghai Medicinal Materials Company. The required raw materials are purchased by the Municipal Medicinal Materials Company from the place of origin, and the patented pharmaceutical products are produced in batches and as planned according to social needs.

In the 1960s and 1970s of the 20th century, the three Lei Yunshang pharmacies, formerly known as Nanhao, Beihao and Xihao, changed their store names and moved their locations several times. The original employees are also uniformly deployed within the industry according to work needs by the affiliated medicinal materials companies in Huangpu, Hongkou and Jing'an Districts and the municipal company. It was not until the late 1970s that famous century-old brands in various industries gradually restored their original brand characteristics. Lei Shongfentang Pharmacy, which had been renamed several times, also restored its original store name and was collectively called "Lei Yunshang Pharmacy, which remains unchanged until now." In order to revitalize the glory of Shanghai Sinopharm and realize the goal of modernizing the traditional Chinese medicine industry, under the care and guidance of the Shanghai Municipal Government, the superior resources were pooled, and the "Shanghai Lei Yunshang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd." was reorganized in 2000 with the cooperation of the urban area and industry and commerce. Officially established in September. Shanghai Leiyunshang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a modern large-scale Chinese medicine backbone enterprise. It owns the Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Factory No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, which are affiliated to the former Shanghai Medicinal Materials Company, Shanghai Leiyunshang Pharmaceutical Factory, and Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine. The research institute, Shenxiang Ginseng and Antler Co., Ltd. and the patent medicine sales branch are well-known enterprises in Shanghai. They own famous brands such as "Lei's" and "Shenxiang" and produce various types of Chinese patent medicines and nutritional health products that are well-known at home and abroad.

The establishment of Shanghai Lei Yunshang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. will be a milestone in Shanghai’s construction of a new highland for the modernization of the traditional Chinese medicine industry. It will also be an important sign that Shanghai’s traditional Chinese medicine industry will accelerate its development and enter a new historical period.