Qu family's compound

If you want to understand the mystery of Shanxi Merchants becoming the top ten business groups in China, you can find the answer in the qujia courtyard. The qujia courtyard was built in Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty. Qu Jia is the richest man in Qi County, and also the representative of Jin Merchants in Qing Dynasty. Almost all the land in the east of Qi county is the real estate of Qu Jia, so it is also known as "half city of Qu". Today, the qujia courtyard is only one of many. Looking from the outside, the courtyard of the Qu family is like a castle with strict security, which is magnificent. Inside the courtyard is a five entrance hall, and there is an extraordinary stage in the south of the courtyard, which is the only one in Shanxi.

Now it has become a museum of Shanxi Merchants culture. The exhibition is rich in content, not only can we have an overall understanding of the scope of activities and decline process of Shanxi Merchants in the Qing Dynasty, but also can count the situations of "great merchants" in Shanxi, such as Qiao family, Qi family, Wang family, Cao family, and so on.

Qu family's compound

Qu family's compound

Located at the east end of the old street of Shanxi merchants, it was built in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty and has a history of nearly 300 years.

Qujia courtyard is a traditional residential building built in Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty. It is located in Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province. The owner of that year built 40 courtyards in the county, known as "qubancheng". The total area of the building complex is 23628 square meters, and 7500 square meters have been developed. The whole compound is grand, solemn, majestic, and has a dense atmosphere, which exudes the spirit, temperament, and charm of traditional Chinese culture. It is a rare five entrance hall in China. Minglou courtyard, tonglou courtyard, balustrade courtyard and stage theater are skillfully combined and arranged in an orderly way. Suspended peak, Xiesheng peak, rolling shed top and hard peak have different forms, with distinct primary and secondary, concentrating the elements of traditional Chinese culture and profound artistic heritage, which has extremely high cultural value, artistic value and humanistic value.

architectural composition

The main courtyard is a three-way archway courtyard, with a wooden archway more than 10 meters high and exquisite design

Excellent technology. Exhibition rooms 9-16 are located in this compound. The theme of the exhibits is "tycoons". In the 9th exhibition room, we list the great merchants in Jinzhong, such as Jiexiu Hou family and Fan family, Qixian Qiao family and Qu family, Taigu Cao family, Qinshui Liu family, Pingyao Li family, Lingshi Wang family, Yuci Chang family. The more prominent characters in the Qu family are Qu Yuanchao, Qu Yuanzhen, Qu yuangan, Qu benqiao and Qu Jinshan. Quyuanchao, Yuanzhen and yuangan are close brothers and uncles. They are called "Tian Xi, Wang and Jin" respectively. Although Yuanchao is a child of a rich family, he doesn't like luxury. He is strict in family management. He is frugal, generous and helpful. Yuanzhen was very clever when he was a child. Later, he was also recognized as an expert in business. He hardly lost money in business all his life. Moreover, there is a saying that "a prosperous businessman has insight and does not make money by drilling his eyes.". Qu yuangan is different from them: he is a standard dandy. He likes opera and has undertaken the "shangxiajuliyuan", which is the first famous class in the history of Jin opera.

From both sides of the main courtyard is the Tong Lou courtyard, with exhibition rooms 17-21, where the "business events" are displayed. Exhibition room 17 reflects the opening of the market, which is very lively. There is also a song about how Shanxi businessmen make money. Room 18 shows apprenticeship and salary, silver shares and body shares. Exhibition room 19 reflects the grand occasion of the temple fair, as well as the ancestors, such as Lu Ban, the carpenter's grandmaster, Sun Simiao, the medicine king, and Du Kang, the wine immortal. The 20th exhibition room is a brief introduction of the bidding, and also reflects the grand occasion of the singing stage. As mentioned earlier, Qu yuangan, who founded the "shangxiaju pear garden", likes to be sensual and sensual. He "squanders his sex and makes all his money" and kicks his fortune clean. He spared no expense to hire famous actors from all over the world. In order to improve their skills, juliyuan was divided into two classes, one for the upper and the other for the lower classes. They focused on studying reform and performing, and the other for the training of children performers. They built a stage in the house, which is still in good condition. According to the research, there is only one Qu family in Shanxi Province. There are a lot of plays staged in juliyuan, such as "beating the Golden branch" and "serving the country with loyalty", which are familiar to all of them. They have been playing well for a long time. It can be said that the establishment of juliyuan has brought Zhonglu Bangzi into a new period of development. Exhibition room 21 displays the awards of Guilingji and dingkundan in Panama International Fair. In addition, it introduces the evolution of Guangkai drugstore.

The whole courtyard has 240 houses, covering an area of 5317 square meters. Between the courtyards, there are archways and halls, forming a wonderful pattern of courtyard and door to door. Among them, the stone railings courtyard, the five entrance hall courtyard, the archway courtyard and the theater are the four architectural features of the qujia courtyard. The archway is majestic and magnificent, the pavilion is exquisite and exquisite, and there is a hall between the courtyard. The archway is separated from each other, with distinct layers, lively and interesting. Inside and outside the house, the painting is gorgeous, and there is a heap of gold powder. The wood, stone and brick carvings have a wide range of themes, a sense of peace, and a good knife technique. Mr. Zheng Xiaoxie, an expert from the Ministry of construction of the people's Republic of China, sincerely praised that every building component of the qujia courtyard is a rare work of art and a well deserved treasure of traditional dwellings.

Shanxi Merchants Culture Museum

The Shanxi Merchants Culture Museum, which is opened by using this wonderful building, is the first museum to display Shanxi Merchants culture in China. Through 7 series and 25 exhibition rooms, this paper reveals the mystery why Shanxi merchants can become the top ten business groups in China, and shows the profound cultural connotation of Shanxi merchants. Shanxi businessmen's heroic spirit of pursuing profits and seizing the market; pioneering spirit of opening up territory and making arduous efforts; farsightedness and sagacity of thinking of change when you are poor; patriotism of being loyal to the country and taking the overall situation into consideration; business ethics of honesty based and controlling profits by righteousness; business strategy of courage, insight and quick response; humanistic thought of selecting talents and recommending talents and knowing people and doing good jobs; coexistence of labor and capital and stock based It is of great significance to the development of socialist market economy, such as the distribution principle of dividends, the commercial competition of sizing up the situation and adjusting measures to local conditions, the capital operation of taking advantage of win-win economy, the personnel management of people-oriented, the separation of two rights and flexible incentive mechanism, the establishment of ticket companies to promote the rapid development of the financial industry, and the tea industrialization management mode It is of great practical significance. Especially after China's accession to the WTO, the study of the spirit of Shanxi businessmen is of far-reaching historical significance.

Historical evolution

Qu family

The family is one of the most famous merchants in Jinzhong since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are more than ten courtyards and more than 1000 houses in Qixian County, Shanxi Province, covering an area of more than 30000 square meters. There were three well-known tycoons in the 17th generation of the Qu family: Tian Xi (Qu Yuanchao), Wang (Qu Yuanzhen) and Jin (Qu yuangan). Qu Yuanchao's residence is located at No.33, East Street, Qixian City, which was built in the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty.

Changshengchuan is the largest tea house of the qujia family. It was originally named changshungchuan. It was established in the Qianjia period of the Qing Dynasty and has been more than 200 years. It is located at No.14 Duanjia Lane in Qixian city (now Qixian people's Congress, CPPCC and other organs compound). At the beginning, it was very small and crude. From the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty to more than ten years of the Republic of China, it was gradually completed. Changshengchuan began to deal mainly in tea, and later sold salt (from Haizhou to Hunan and Hubei) and Xiabu. Its general number is located in Qixian County, and there are more than ten places around the semicolon. After the beginning of the Anti Japanese War, the semicolons of changshengchuan in the Japanese occupied areas were withdrawn one after another, and Chengdu semicolon was used to represent the general semicolon in the Anti Japanese war area, and the general semicolon of Qixian became the Japanese garrison. After liberation, Qu Renfu donated the property of Qi county (including the property of his book house and Jingxin school). Qu Renfu (1880-1963) was elected as a member of the Provincial Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the people's representative of Shanxi Province.

Background analysis

Shanxi merchants are a big business group in modern times. They have been in charge of the economy of the Qing Dynasty for more than 200 years. The theme of exhibition room 1-4 is "an overview of Shanxi Merchants". In No.1 exhibition room of qujia courtyard Museum, we can first see "Shanxi Merchants in Qing Dynasty" and "main business road map", from which we can see that the scope of business activities of Shanxi Merchants is all over the country, far away from Russia, Eastern Europe and other places. In addition, the border trade was mentioned. No.2 exhibition room mainly from the rise of Shanxi merchants, strategic transfer, border business to internal business, guild hall, to the whole country as the clue, explains in detail how Shanxi merchants from the rise to prosperity. Taking the Qu family in Qi County as an example, the Qu family was originally from Shangdang's eldest son county. In the Ming Dynasty, the ancestor Qu Ji often went back and forth between Shangdang in Qi county to sell local products. He used the price difference between the two places to make a profit from it. With a little savings, he settled down in Qi county. His son still made a living as a peddler. With the prosperity of business, the Qu family gradually became rich. By the 9th century, the family had begun to be well-off. After the end of the life of street vendors, they began to set up shops and establish shop names. In the 14th century, qutonghai became rich from "going to Xikou" and set up its own "changyuanhou" brand. In the 15th century, two large tea houses, changyuanchuan and changshuanchuan, were set up in quyingman to purchase tea from Hunan and distribute it to other places. In the 16th century, Qu Changying began to trade salt in the Yangtze River Basin. By this time, Qu family had accumulated a lot of commercial capital. By the 17th generation of "Yuan", Qu's business had entered a golden age and reached a brilliant peak.

When Xu Ke listed "many rich families in Shanxi" in "Qingbai notes", he said: the assets of qujia family in Qi county are between 3 million and 4 million taels of silver. In fact, it's much more than that. Later, it was said that "wangcaizhu" was the source of the canal

Chinese PinYin : Qu Jia Da Yuan