Kang Suh

Kang Suh

Jiangxi guild hall, also known as Longevity Palace, is also called "Jiangxi Temple", "Jiangxi fellow townsman hall", "Yuzhang guild hall". It refers to the institutions set up by the Jiangyou business group in the capital and major cities, with museums for the gathering and lodging of fellow villagers. The existing Jiangxi Guildhall mainly includes Jiangxi Guildhall in Singapore, Jiangxi Guildhall in Anqing, Jiangxi Guildhall in Yeji, Lu'an, Anhui, etc. The founder of Jiangxi guild hall is one of the three talents of Qianlong's "heaven, earth and man". During the period of the Republic of China, there were 402 guild halls in Beijing, 65 of which were in Jiangxi, ranking the first in all provinces.

origin

As long as they have a certain amount of financial resources, the first thing they have to do is to build the Longevity Palace. Longevity Palace is the "Jiangxi guild hall", also known as the "Jiangxi Temple", "Jiangxi Tongxiang hall", "Yuzhang guild hall". Jiangxi is one of the birthplaces of Taoism in China. Mount Longhu and mount Sanqing are prominent in Taoism. Taoism and Taoism played an important role in the formation of Jiangyou business group in history. It can be said that the Jiangyou business group belongs to the "Dao business". The Dao is spread by the Shang, and the Shang is prosperous by the Dao.

As long as they have the strength, they will build the unique symbol of Jiangyou business group. Xu Zhenjun, the cultural idol of Jiangxi people's ancestors, can never be forgotten, whether he is rich or well-off, whether he is in a group or alone.

Longevity Palace

Some Jiangyou businessmen have been living and working in other provinces for a long time, even for generations. Some of them have never returned to Jiangxi and can't speak Jiangxi dialect. However, local people still call these Jiangxi businessmen and their descendants Jiangyou businessmen. Why? We think that this historical, folk, moral and religious phenomenon is worth exploring. In ancient times, Jiangxi was a big base of traditional Confucian culture. Naturally, the Jiangyou business group was influenced by Confucian culture and respected those heroes who were honest and upright, and Xu Zhenjun, who was intelligent, healed and honest, was loved by the people. At that time, there was a folk saying that "there was no theft for people and no fraud for officials.". My husband (refers to Xu Zhenjun) is a living man, but he can't do anything when he is ill. After the death of Xu Zhenjun, people in Jiangxi built "Xu Xian Temple" in his former residence in memory of him. Since the early Ming Dynasty, the Longevity Palace has been built in almost all the provincial capitals and Kyoto, which is scattered all over the country. The Longevity Palace in Tianjin is built in downtown area, and its scale is different from that in Nanchang. The Wanshou Palace in Hankou is a large complex of buildings with rigorous layout and well-organized layout. Its rich color and fine carving are inferior to those of Nanchang Wanshou Palace. It is one of the leading buildings in Wuhan town. Yunnan Province from north to south, straight to the Yunnan Myanmar border, Longevity Palace is everywhere. Even in Changting County, a remote mountain city with abundant peaks, there is a Longevity Palace. During the Anti Japanese War, it became a temporary campus of Xiamen University. There are more than 300 mansions in Sichuan Province. From 14 mansions in the early Ming Dynasty to the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, the number of mansions in Jiangxi increased by 51, accounting for 13% of the 387 mansions in Beijing.

Longevity Palace is not only the symbol of Jiangyou business group, but also the symbol of its wealth and strength. The Longevity Palace is not only a place for the villagers to carry out friendly and sacrificial activities, but also a place for the businessmen, the officials or the officials to discuss business and stay temporarily. The magnificent and magnificent architecture of the Longevity Palace shows the brilliance of the business group in Jiangyou

effect

1) Meeting place. Mediation and Adjudication of disputes. The main business of Longevity Palace is to mediate disputes. Almost every day, there are two or three cases, mostly five or six. Its main functions include: resolving commercial disputes, mediating internal contradictions, inviting the meeting leader to testify in business activities such as renting shops, breaking up partnership, buying and selling houses and pawning real estate, so as to avoid unnecessary commercial disputes. In addition, it is inevitable that there will be such or such conflicts and disputes among fellow villagers, such as family in laws, property inheritance, neighborhood discord, quarrel and so on. When the conflicts intensify, they will turn to the headman of the guild to be the "peacemaker", that is, the so-called "tea reception" judgment. It is necessary to distinguish between right and wrong, and the disputes can be settled. Solve commercial disputes and mediate internal contradictions. In order to avoid the intensification of commercial conflicts, the steward of Longevity Palace should be invited to testify in business activities such as renting shops, breaking up stocks, buying and selling houses, and pawning real estate.

(2) Public welfare and charity places. Contact the villagers, unite and help the fellow villagers who come and go to the town, and solve some temporary difficulties for them. For example, the unemployed and vagrants in their hometown will be given a place to settle down, or subsidized the travel expenses to return home, or help to introduce jobs, so that they will not be displaced and sleep on the streets. In ancient times, the Longevity Palace in many places held private schools and schools to provide educational opportunities for the children of businessmen living in Jiangyou. The establishment of these undertakings made a certain contribution to improving the local cultural level. Some of the palaces also set up various public welfare charities, such as Yidu, yuyingtang, sanatorium, bridge and road repair, coffin alms and so on.

(3) Places of worship and sacrifice. Jiangyoushang's public sacrifice was mainly held in Wanshou Palace. The most prominent religious culture of the businessmen in Jiangyou is the activity of "worshiping" the real king. The Longevity Palace regularly holds "worshiping" (also known as God worship) activities. Although the "worshiping" activities are different due to regional differences, some are held by the largest Longevity Palace in the local area, while others are held by different industries and surnames, but the time is the same, from the first to the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. "Pilgrimage" is the biggest and most grand activity of each Longevity Palace in a year. During the period of "worshiping" Zhenjun, businessmen from all over Jiangyou will take Wanshou Palace as the stage to donate money and invite the troupe to perform in Wanshou Palace. In the autumn of August of the lunar calendar, the farmers' farm work has come to an end. In the busiest commercial street, the dramas that farmers like to watch are performed for free, and the local people come to watch them one after another. Year by year, it has become a major feature of the Longevity Palace, where Jiangyou merchants are located.

Lu Xun also described the situation of watching the free open-air opera in Shaoxing when he was young. However, it costs a lot of money to invite troupes to perform. Every year, businessmen from Jiangyou invite many troupes to perform in the Longevity Palace, sometimes for as long as a month. Why do they spend so much money? In fact, this is a business strategy tradition of Jiangyou merchants, which closely links "pilgrimage" activities with business activities, creates a kind of business popularity, and expands the sales volume of goods. This kind of strategy should be said to be successful. If this kind of activity loses money, it will not be held year after year for a long time. It can be said that the Wanshougong drama show held by Jiangyou merchants is the predecessor of today's commercial temple fair.

In addition to the "worship" activities, there are also other activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors in Wanshou Palace, such as the paper burning sacrifice on Qingming Festival, the "Daojiao Dugu" on Zhongyuan Festival (commonly known as July and half), and the ancestor worship on winter solstice and Chinese New Year. The Longevity Palace regularly holds sacrificial activities recognized by the villagers. The time and arrangement of the activities are decided by the meeting leader of the Longevity Palace and the local directors of Jiangyou business, and the location of the activities is generally in the Longevity Palace. For example, on the 28th birthday of the first month of each year and in addition to the regular worship of Xu Zhenjun, activities are arranged for the birthday of Guanyin Bodhisattva on February 19 of the lunar calendar, the Taoist day of Guanyin Bodhisattva on June 19, the "worship" ceremony of Zhenjun from the first to the 15th of August, and the monk's day of Guanyin Bodhisattva on September 19.

(4) Commercial agency. Jingdezhen is a city with porcelain industry as the center. Jiangyou merchants have played a positive role in the communication of domestic and foreign economy, active material exchange and prosperity of Jingdezhen porcelain market. It can be said that the Longevity Palace is a link between Jingdezhen porcelain and the external economy.

No matter where they come, they will go to Wanshou Palace to seek help and exchange information. When Nanchang businessmen come to Jingdezhen, they usually live in Wanshou Palace. Otherwise, they will not get help from Nanchang businessmen living in Jingdezhen, and they may be excluded from their hometown. Smart businessmen will not lose a lot of business information and convenience to save some accommodation expenses. For businessmen, information is money. In order to obtain accurate information, Nanchang businessmen usually complete the purchase of porcelain with the help of Wanshougong intermediaries.

(5) Funding venues. My grandfather's brother is a manager of Hongjiang oil company in Hunan Province all the year round. He is very clear about the activities of Hongjiang right business. According to him, there are two main forms of fund-raising activities within Jiangyou merchants

First, raise funds in the form of "shaking the meeting". This kind of form generally needs to be carried out in Wanshou Palace, which requires the presence of the meeting leader and more than half of the first scholars, and the initiator is an honest and reliable businessman among Jiangyou merchants. Otherwise, no one is willing to participate in the shake meeting, and the "shake meeting" fund-raising will be aborted. The general process is as follows: the sponsor has known difficulties, which are temporary difficulties, and he must be a person who has the ability to repay. Then, the sponsors need to obtain the support of several large families to determine the total amount of money to be raised. Then, through mutual influence and contact, they can make a general arrangement for the staff, make an appointment for everyone to take the money and gather in the hall of Longevity Palace. The sponsor must prepare melon seeds, cakes and snacks for the participants. When all the staff arrive, the head of the Longevity Palace, that is, the person in charge, will announce the reason for the fund-raising, the amount and total amount of each share, the participants and the time of fund-raising. Finally, it will announce that the sponsor has priority to get the first session, and the rest of the participants will be informed

Chinese PinYin : Jiang Xi Hui Guan