The historical evolution of ancient times

During the Ming Dynasty, foreigners traded with China and were alone in a corner of Macau. Our northern province is far from Macao, and no one dares to go abroad. Only Taigu people are far-sighted and go to Macao to do business first. As for the territory of China, there were Taigu merchants' footprints 300 years ago, not to mention. Therefore, larger shops, such as Shen Rong Village, Satin Village, Mianjian Village and Yangbu Village, were set up from Taigu. Other banks, cloth shops, iron shops, bamboo shops and Nanjing grocery stores all occupy an advanced position.

There are many big stores in Taigu, and the goods sold are not available elsewhere. Naturally, the business in the whole province is concentrated in Taigu County. Merchants from Pingpu in the south, Jiangxi, Xin, Dai, Ning, Bao in the north, and even Dashuo and Guisui all come to Taigu to purchase goods and transport them back to us for sale. From an ordinary point of view, Taigu has become a commercial port. Since the train passed, vendors in the central counties and northern provinces near Jingsui Road have gone to other provinces to handle goods. However, the sales of Taigu's main commodities have not declined. As for the merchants of Han Hou Lingnan, they still come to Taigu to purchase everything. This is all because of its large scale and good credit. As stated in the business textbook, Taigu has a long history of business, and people began to engage in business activities as early as the Song and Jin Dynasties. However, under the cruel rule of Jin and Yuan Dynasties, the social economy was in a backward stage and commercial activities developed slowly. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the weather in Taigu was favorable, people's lives improved, the state implemented a policy of recuperation, a large number of immigrants moved into Taigu, the agricultural economy recovered, and Taigu's commercial activities also grew from small to large, with a certain scale. It was not until the middle of the Ming Dynasty that Taigu commerce developed greatly, with many participants, various forms of commercial activities and further expansion of scale compared with the previous period. According to the twenty-four-year edition of Taigu County Records (1596), Taigu is famous for its diligence, worship of Confucian classics, respect for etiquette and justice, and honesty and beauty. Today, scholars are eager for friendship, farmers are eager for wildness, businessmen are diligent in trade, there are no cities and villages, and there are no textile houses. It can be said that the land is completely beneficial and the diligence is not reduced. According to the old man in Taigu, the Sun family in Taigu was a rich man in Ming Dynasty. Members of Gouzi Village did tea business in Hankou in the late Ming Dynasty and set up a branch in Beijing. In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Cao Shi, the king of the North, began to grow vegetables, raise pigs and grinding bean curd in Santa, Chaoyang District, Rehe Province, Northeast China. Later, he opened a restaurant to operate non-staple food business, so there was a saying that Cao Jia came first and then went to Chaoyang County. It can be seen that by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Taigu people's commercial activities had been quite frequent.

Shunzhi 18 (1644), after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, after the development of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, Taigu commerce was unprecedentedly active. During this period, a large number of dajia who went out to Taigu to make a living built magnificent mansions after returning home, such as Cao Shi in the north, Wang in Shangzhuang, Zhang in Baiyan, Wu in the south, Qiao in Dongli, Du, Jia in Rencun, Li Meizhuang, Guo in Rencun, and Zhao, Meng, Wu, Sun, Dang and Kang in the city. They set up a comprehensive company in their hometown. During the Qianlong period, there were more than 70 Taigu firms/kloc-0, and there were countless semicolons. Taigu merchants traveled all over the country.

As a prosperous business district in Shanxi, Taigu has gradually become a powerful force in the business activities of Shanxi merchants. According to relevant historical records, after the middle of Qing Dynasty, merchants from Jinyang gathered and Taigu business entered its heyday. In the twenty-second year of Daoguang (1842), it was recorded in "Rebuilding the Silver Monument of Daguanlou in Taigu" that there were more than 600 firms that donated silver at that time. Nearly half of the adult men in the county have been out for a long time to engage in business activities, and Taigu firms are spread all over the country's major docks. In business, there are various banks, medicinal materials, silks and satins, leather goods, woolen cloth, cloth, pawn, grain, groceries, non-staple food, local products, hemp iron, pigments, teahouses and inns; As far as the scope of activities is concerned, there are Taigu merchants' businesses in the flood and drought terminals in Northeast China and Mongolia in the north, Sichuan and Guangdong in the south, Xinjiang and Qinghai in the west, and Beijing, Tianjin, Xu, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Fujian in the east. In Dayi and all parts of the country, Taigu merchants' businesses are almost available, and in Russia, they also walk outside Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar), Irkutsk, Moscow, Japan and the United States. During the Guangxu period in the late Qing Dynasty, there were many firms in East Street, West Street and South Street in the county, among which the famous ones were Xiechenggan, Zhixin, Jinshengrun, Dadeyu, Dadechuan, Gonghequan, Yuyuan Garden and Baolongtang, as well as Bang Qi and Pingbang semicolons located in Taigu, including Dadetong, Dadeheng, Sanjinyuan and Heshengyuan. Hukou Village: Li Jinde, Yongtongwu and Sanjinchuan; There are more than 20 medicinal materials companies such as Guangshengyuan, Guangshengyuan, Guangyiyi, Guangmaoxing and Guangyuanxing. Satin department stores include: Wan Juheng, Jin Quanchang, Heng, Heng Shengtai, etc. Local groceries include: Rui Yu Long, Yixinglong, Daquanyong; Raw tobacco industry is moderate in both the west and the north. Most of these companies are mainly engaged in wholesale business, followed by retail business. At that time, there was a gentleman named Liu Dapeng in Taiyuan. When he was teaching in Taigu private school, he wrote a Diary of My Heart Retirement, which recorded the prosperity of Taigu at that time: Taigu was the first rich area in Jinchuan, where big businessmen and great masters gathered. Towns and villages are also rich in halls, so customs and luxury are the most important in all cities. He also said that there are 1 household with 5 million gold, 3 or 4 households with10 million gold, dozens of households with hundreds of thousands of gold and countless tens of thousands of gold. On October 22nd, the 21st year of Guangxu (1895), during the winter bidding period, people on business came in an endless stream, with Jin Yuanbao on their shoulders and Zhu Ti in their hands. There are three things I have to say about Taigu's business. First, Taigu standard; The second is Taigu Zhou Xing Bao Jing; The third is the Shanxi General Chamber of Commerce established by Taigu. Businessmen handle goods and trade in cash. At that time, money and goods were scarce. Most of them trade first and then pay regularly. Payment period is divided into four seasons: spring standard, summer standard, autumn standard and winter standard. Paying once a quarter is called bidding period, and bidding period settlement is a contract operation with high credit. Selling goods on credit is not only a matter for business firms, but also a loan for banks. The relationship between commodity sellers and buyers has also become the relationship between creditors and debtors. Shanxi merchants apply the bidding period, and the most common ones are Taigu bidding and Taifen bidding. Taigu standard is the standard of Taigu county, and Taifen standard is the standard of Pingyao and Jiexiu, which belong to Qixian, Yuci and Fenyang in Taiyuan respectively. Geographically, Taigu is not only eastward, but also divided into another area. In fact, it was the prominent position and advantage of Taigu at that time. As a county, its power can compete with Yuci, Qixian, Pingyao and Jiexiu, so it is unique. Taigu bidding is divided into four bidding periods, namely, February in spring, May in summer, August in autumn and 1 1 month in winter, each period lasts for 3 days. Because many banks and firms are headquartered in Taigu, during the bidding period, foreign loans, payment, profits and other cash will be transported back to the headquarters for settlement. During the bidding period, there was an endless stream of mules and vehicles transferring the bidding amount from other places in the warehouses of various banks. At the same time, foreign businessmen gathered in Taigu to deal with orders and purchase contracts of major companies, clear old debts and start new business relationships. Major firms in Taigu set up camps in foreign commercial ports and sent special personnel to purchase goods, such as silks and satins from Suzhou and Hangzhou, medicinal materials from Sichuan and Guangzhou, summer cloth from Sichuan, silk from Shandong, fur from Mongolia, tea from Hubei and Hunan, and foreign goods from Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. , a large number of shipped back to Taigu, and then wholesale to foreign merchants. Major firms in Taiyuan, the provincial capital, also purchase goods from Taigu. On the day of the bidding period, major commercial houses will also perform singing opera for three days. The ancient Taigu County is naturally full of traffic, crowds and excitement.

In the Qing dynasty, money was based on the behavior of combining money with money, with silver as the main factor and money as the supplement. Silver is generally cast into ingots and circulated in the market. The heaviest silver is 52 1 ingot, and the medium ingot is 120 ingot. Small ingots of one to five taels are also very popular, called small ingots or shovels, and there are scattered silver pieces below one or two taels. Generally speaking, the exchange standard is 1200 ounces. Because the fineness of silver varies from place to place, the financial standards are also different. In order to increase its credibility, Taigu ticket merchants have stipulated the financial standard of Taigu currency circulation, which is called Guqianping. All foreign silver coins must be recast into silver ingots in Taigu Silver Furnace according to the purity of 998, and stamped with the steel seal of Taigu Zhouxing Bao Jing before they can be circulated in the market, which is higher than the standard of Shanxi 2.4 treasures. Therefore, Zhou Xing Bao Jing of Taigu enjoys a high reputation throughout the country. At the same time, it further promoted the development of Taigu business. The ancient city of Taigu has a long history and a large scale. The ancient city was built in the sixth year of the Northern Zhou Emperor Jiande (577), with a history of 1400 years.

Taigu belonged to the State of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period, and when King Xiang of Zhou was king, the Duke of Jin gave the doctor's father a food city, so Yeung Yi came into being. Yang Yijun was built in the Western Han Dynasty. In the eighteenth year of Emperor Kai of Sui Dynasty (598), it was renamed Taigu County. Before the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Taigu had been subordinate to Taiyuan Prefecture.

The county seat was originally Baita Village. There is a folk saying that Baita Village comes first, then Taigu City. Jiande, emperor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, moved here in six years. After that, he built a city with a circumference of 5 kilometers and a height of 6 meters. In the ninth year of Zheng De in the Ming Dynasty (15 14), the wall of Taigu was raised to 8.3 meters, with brick doors, on which heavy buildings were built, and watchtowers were built at the four corners of the wall. In the fourth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1576), the ancient city of Taigu was changed into a brick city. The cornerstone of the city is 1.67m, and bricks are laid from the foundation to the mound. Foundation width 14m and height12.5m.. East, west, north and south are urns, and the west gate is a heavy door. There are three buildings on the urn, and the turret is redecorated. There are 56 police shops around, all of which are brick. In the Qing Dynasty, although the ancient city was repaired from time to time, its scale and architecture were basically the same as that of the Ming Dynasty. Until 1930, Taigu city wall and urn were intact, and the moats on the west, south and north sides remained the same. The second major feature of Taigu Ancient City is its clean streets and exquisite houses. Taigu city is really famous. The Drum Tower is built in the center of the street. As the ancient city of Taigu, Drum Tower has a landmark building, which is far from the center of the ancient city. It not only contains the idea of traditional aesthetics, but also objectively plays a positioning role in the architectural planning of the ancient city. The ancient city of Taigu has four streets, eight wells and seventy-two lanes. With the Drum Tower as the center, it radiates east, south and west streets. To the north of the building is the old county government, and the north street intersects with the middle section of the west street. On this basis, most of the streets and lanes are horizontal and vertical, and the houses in the whole city are divided into several squares. Make the whole ancient city building standard neat, advance and retreat.

The buildings in Taigu Old Town account for about one-third of the business, concentrated in four streets, east, west, north and south; Houses account for about two-thirds, concentrated in four corners of the city. The residential characteristics of Taigu ancient city are obvious. Most of the houses of ordinary people are three-thirds system, that is, three quadrangles: the main room, the wing room and the lower room. And some large houses or streets have five main rooms, seven outer rooms and five outer rooms or two inner rooms and three outer rooms. However, most of the main rooms have a slope, commonly known as the ladder room. The outer wall is made of blue bricks, and the upper windows are all open inside. These quadrangles not only have the function of fire prevention, but also have the significance of gathering water and wealth. They all belong to typical northern dwellings in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Many tourists in Beijing say that the quadrangles in Taigu are thick with high walls, and the quadrangles in Beijing are low and narrow. The reason is that Taigu was one of the richest areas in Shanxi during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Ordinary people have money in their pockets, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, and they are afraid of bandits and thieves, so they will spend money to build houses. But Beijing is located at the foot of the son of heaven, and those princes and ministers, even if they have money, are afraid of royal regulations and can only play cards according to the routine.

Looking up the records of Taigu county, we also found that there are many temples in Taigu ancient city with profound cultural heritage. So far, there are more than 30 street names in Taigu City, except for some names because of their location, place names, surnames and residents' wishes. Such as Xinglong Lane, Shiqian Lane, Qianlong Lane, Zui Paradise Lane, He Chun Lane, Maizhu Lane, Yongsheng Lane and Zhenxing Lane. The temples are named after Guanyin Lane, Yangmiao Lane, Nansi Street, Dongsi Garden, Hugongmiao Lane, Sanguanmiao Lane, Shangguan Lane and Dongyuemiao Lane. According to historical records, from the Jin Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, there were 27 temples and shrines in Taigu alone. There are more than 20 memorial archways for champions, scholars, juren and filial piety, and some gatehouses across the street, so the whole ancient city is full of rich traditional culture.

Nowadays, the large-scale city of Taigu ancient city, the moat on the bank of willow, the stone arch bridge, urn and turret that entered the city have all become historical memories. But the two landmark buildings in the ancient city, Gu Lou and Baita, remain the same. Drum Tower, also known as Daguanlou, was built in the 43rd year of Wanli of Ming Dynasty (16 15). The ground floor is brick, and there are four doors facing the county government, running through three streets, east, west, north and south. When the sun goes down, you can see the green halls and tile houses in the city. The old shops on both sides of three streets seem to be telling people about the past. White Pagoda, built in Wubian Temple in the south of the city, is white all over. It is a 7-story brick-wood structure with an octagonal plane and a height of 43.6 meters. It has a history of 1700 years. The tower is a pavilion-type hollow system, and the lotus bottle Lama Temple is at the top. The belly of the tower is empty, and the tower is climbed to the north, and the old appearance of the ancient city still exists. In the Drum Tower where the sunset glow is reflected, swallows fly around, which makes people fascinated. There is an outer wall at the lower part of Zhuangnan, which looks like an urn. The stone coupon at the entrance of Zhuangmen is 10 foot high and 10 foot thick, and the stone tablet is embedded in it to move the villa. Outside the door is a deep ditch several meters wide. If you want to get in and out of the village, you must cross the suspension bridge. The stone railings beside the bridge are also carved with various patterns of long life. When entering the village, take the small courtyard and the stone road first, and then enter the Neizhai Gate, where the plaque of Yanzi's mini-history is written. Outside the door is the outer court, with the Longwang Temple, the mill, the mill, and the place for keeping animals. Inside the gate is Zheng Zhuang Courtyard, with five courtyards, including rockery, residence, Xiao Xuan, chess pavilion and other buildings. Although the stone steps in the courtyard are small in scale, they are built according to the stone potential and grain, which is very beautiful. Because the whole courtyard is built on the mountain, it is patchwork and unique. In recent years, a Hong Kong gentleman is planning to transform and develop tourism here, hoping that one day this ancient villa will also become a highlight of tourism in our province.

There are many historical sites in Taigu town and country, such as Rudong Study Garden and Xiaoheyang, Gongxiyuan and Dongsi Garden, Aiquan, Fengshan, Longquan Temple, Tianning Temple, Guandi Temple and Kannonji. In the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection, six places in Taigu, such as Jingxin Temple, Guanghua Temple and Zhensheng Temple, were listed as national protection units.