In 1822, a fire broke out in the thirteen lines of Guangzhou, and 40 million taels of silver were burned and melted into water, flowing for two miles. The property of the thirteen lines was very much damaged, and the merchants suffered heavy losses.
Thirteen lines of fire in Guangzhou
Guangzhou Thirteen Lines, the foreign trade center of the Qing government in the 18th and 19th centuries, was one of the few wealthy regions in the country and even the world at that time. Here there was also the world's richest man in the Qing Dynasty at that time.
Through the trade institution of Guangzhou Thirteen Lines, these merchants have achieved success in life and obtained a lot of wealth, but behind this, their survival is in the "internal and external gas".
Thirteen lines in Guangzhou
1. The Thirteen Elements of Guangzhou are produced in response to the current situation
As early as the Ming Dynasty, the budding capitalism of the mainland began to develop, and Guangzhou along the coast has formed a relatively large-scale trading group. In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing, in 1555 AD, the Ming Dynasty government set up a business name in Guangzhou, specializing in foreign trade.
In the Qing Dynasty, although it followed the Ming Dynasty and continued to implement the policy of sea ban, the Qing government also saw the benefits of foreign trade. The Qing government was able to obtain large amounts of silver from it to replenish the national treasury, which was a lucrative business.
Therefore, the Qing government implemented the policy of sea ban, closed the customs offices in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu and other places, and continued to carry out foreign trade. In the twenty-second year of Qianlong, in 1757 AD, Qianlong ordered that only Guangzhou be left as a foreign trade port and continue to do business with foreigners. Since then, the Thirteen Lines of Guangzhou have officially become trade institutions with the nature of an official government.
In the beginning, there were relatively few merchants, "when the customs was set up, there were not many ships, the taxes and salaries were also small, and the thirteen lines of households set up were only a few." With the expansion of trade, the number of merchants also slowly increased, and the number was more than thirteen, but people used to call it thirteen lines, and then used it as an official name.
The birth of the thirteen lines is the need of the commodity market. In the 18th century, with the development of world capitalism and the promotion of the Industrial Revolution, the demand of foreigners outside their own countries was increasing. Coupled with the dependence of foreigners on Chinese tea, silk, porcelain and other commodities, it also needs a place where they can trade with China.
Tai Ho Tong
The Qing government believed that foreign trade would shake the foundation of rule, destroy the natural economy, shake the people's thinking, and be detrimental to rule. Therefore, under the premise that the Qing government, under the demand of the foreign commodity market and the premise of maintaining its rule, conformed to the current situation and opened only one trading place in Guangzhou to meet this need.
However, it is also for this reason that the Thirteen Lines of Guangzhou are in the middle of the Qing government and foreigners, similar to the role of an "intermediary". As an "intermediary," it is inevitable to be angry inside and outside, and it must not only safeguard the interests of the Qing government, but also have good relations with foreigners, and reality cannot have the best of both worlds.
Second, the thirteen lines in Guangzhou make more money and have more responsibilities
The Thirteen Elements of Guangzhou in the Qing Dynasty
According to the "Thirteen Elements of Guangzhou in the Qing Dynasty", in 1822 AD, a fire broke out in the thirteen lines of shangguan district, and this fire burned for seven days and seven nights. In the fire, there were 40 million taels of silver in the Shangguan district, which together weighed about 1.48 billion grams, but they were all burned and melted, and the melted silver meltwater flowed out of the two miles.
This is not counting the valuable porcelain, silk, foreign goods, etc., as well as the shops lined with streets, and the loss of the thirteen lines is even more tragic. But in turn, we can see how rich the thirteen lines are. After talking about the general situation of the merchants, let's take a look at one of the representative figures.
Wu Bingjian
Wu Bingjian, one of the thirteen merchants at that time, was the founder of Jardine Matheson. He is involved in tea, real estate, investment and other industries, and is one of the shareholders of the East India Company, and the business has also been done overseas. In 2001, the Wall Street Journal selected the world's richest 50 people in the past millennium, of which 6 were Chinese, and among these 6 rich people was Wu Bingjian. So how much wealth was he at that time?
According to estimates at the time, his wealth was at least 26 million taels of silver, and the annual revenue of the Qing government at that time was only 40 million taels of silver, with which he became the world's richest man in the same period.
Thirteen lines of trading scenarios
At that time, one or two silver was about equal to 37 grams today, and according to today's silver price of 4 yuan / gram, his wealth was about 3.848 billion yuan, which is still an astronomical number for most people today!
Although the merchants are rich, they are not easy. Let's start with the rise of a businessman. First of all, before you become a merchant, you can be an ordinary guy, a commoner, a shopkeeper, etc. When you have a certain amount of silver capital, it can be hundreds of thousands of taels, or hundreds of thousands of taels, you can apply for a business license from the Qing government.
and foreign trade scenarios
Then, you can start doing business with foreigners. But before doing business, be prepared, because doing business, especially doing foreign trade business, is not all about getting rich, and you must be prepared to lose money.
When you make money, in addition to keeping enough capital, you also have to do some work in the government, especially "donating to lose the official". This is similar to today's fundraising, but with political overtones. Wu Bingjian once spent more than 1 million taels of silver and donated a three-pin official. In addition, you are also responsible for collecting taxes from foreign merchants to the Qing government; in addition, you also have to bear the responsibility of the arrears of foreigners, which is "business arrears".
Thirteen lines of streets
At that time, the Qing government stipulated that merchants and foreign merchants could not owe debts, and if any merchant went bankrupt due to debts, then the money he owed had to be repaid jointly by the merchants. According to statistics, in the history of the thirteen lines in Guangzhou, 24 have gone bankrupt. Think about how much these "surviving" traders have to "lose" on this one!
In addition to the trade and management responsibilities mentioned above, the thirteen lines also have other responsibilities.
Foreigners who want to come to China to do business must be subject to the supervision of the Thirteen Elements. All the actions of the foreign merchants must also be guaranteed by the merchants, "to be fully responsible for all the acts of the foreigners, their ships and their sailors, from buying a basket of fruit to a murder."
Thirteen lines of exterior
For the Qing government, the Thirteen Lines were not only responsible for guaranteeing foreign merchants, but also responsible for collecting taxes and silver from foreign businessmen. "Whoever ships from foreign countries to the Guangdong Customs, imported goods shall be taxable and silver, and the governor shall order the merchants of the foreign merchants to pay when the ships return to sail." When exporting goods for foreign ships, taxable silver, foreign bank guarantors who purchase goods for Yi merchants, are deducted with the goods and paid first. "Collecting taxes sounds domineering, but it's still a thankless job.
In addition, the Qing government also made very detailed regulations on the trade of foreigners in China. For example, it stipulates the maximum period of stay for foreigners to trade in China, the cargo ships coming to China to be inspected, and foreigners to live in designated trading houses. And these very specific regulations must rely on thirteen lines to supervise and implement.
Street scenes in Guangzhou
For example, those foreigners who came to Guangdong to trade and wanted to play in Guangdong could go to some official residences and gardens and other prescribed places unless invited by merchants and local officials, and then they could go to Places such as Haizhu Temple during the controlled time.
Before the Opium War, Guangzhou Thirteen Lines was the only foreign trade port of the Qing government, and with the prosperity of Guangzhou's Thirteen Lines of Trade, it has become a trade center that affects the whole country and even the world.
Kaidoji Temple
The Thirteen Lines of Guangzhou monopolized China's foreign trade for nearly a hundred years, during which time the Qing government harvested most of the world's silver. At the same time, the Qing government also used the trade status of the Thirteen Elements of Guangdong to hunt for rare treasures and some special commodities from all over the world. Merchants also used this to bribe Qing government officials.
silver
Since the Thirteen Elements of Guangzhou trade with foreigners, they also play a role in cultural exchanges between the East and the West. He brought Western science and technology culture to the Chinese mainland, and also let Chinese silk, tea, painting, etc. spread to all parts of the West.
The thirteen merchants and merchants in Guangzhou not only engaged in foreign trade business, but also undertook the responsibility of collecting taxes and silver for the Qing government, guaranteeing foreign businessmen, carrying the pot for foreign businessmen, and shouldering political and cultural exchanges by the way. It can be seen that these half-official and half-businessman merchants shoulder heavy responsibilities and pressures.
Third, the thirteen lines of Guangzhou in the internal and external gas
With the Thirteen Lines of Guangzhou, the Qing government did business with foreigners, so that they could not directly participate in trade activities, but let the Thirteen Lines of Guangzhou replace. In this way, for the Qing government, the Guangzhou Thirteen Elements were non-governmental institutions that managed foreign trade; for foreigners, the Guangzhou Thirteen Elements were equivalent to the Qing government.
Foreign merchants and merchants
As a trading institution, the primary responsibility is foreign trade, and trade must have both sides of the transaction.
Internally, the merchants of the thirteen lines participated in the trade. Because it is to do business with foreigners, the risk of foreign trade is also large, and there is an "access" system to enter the thirteen lines. "The provincial city of Shan Shangmin Ya pedestrians and other people who know that there will be people with real wealth in the future. Willing to charge foreign goods dealers, or present the local officials to charge or change the signboard, each with a confession to the post", this is Li Shizhen's description of the "access" system recorded in the "Fuyue Political Strategy" about the merchants.
trade
This passage also shows that if you want to become a member of the thirteen lines, you must have a certain economic strength, and then apply to the government for something similar to a license, and you must also voluntarily bear the consequences before you can become a merchant of the thirteen lines. Because the Qing government only opened one of the thirteen lines of Guangzhou as a trading place, and the number of merchants in the thirteen lines was not large, coupled with the limited commodity resources, it was very possible to form a monopoly.
Externally, the participants in trade are some large foreign companies and aristocratic foreign merchants. Companies include the East India Company and so on. There are Britain, the United States, France, Germany, etc., and none of these countries are easy to mess with!
(1) Externally, the merchants of the thirteen lines must deal with the pressure from foreigners
In the manufacture of tea for export
The commodities brought by foreigners to trade in China should be sold by the merchants of the thirteen lines, and the commodities they needed should be purchased by the thirteen lines. Such restrictions by the Qing government gave the thirteen lines great benefits, and the merchants could profit from both ends.
Among these foreign merchants, most of them were British merchants, and British merchants, like the Qing government, thought that they were supreme, and no one looked down on anyone. Therefore, these foreign merchants were long dissatisfied with the various trade restrictions of the Qing government, but they could only spread their anger to the Thirteen Elements.
In addition, these foreigners sometimes do not pay attention to credibility. Not paying taxes on time, arrears and non-repayment of goods occur from time to time, but the thirteen lines must also try their best to maintain trade relations.
(2) Internally, the merchants of the Thirteen Lines were to be exploited and unfairly treated by the Qing government and officials at all levels
A dock for foreign trade
On the one hand, under the authoritarian society, if they want to become stronger and bigger under the wings of the government, businessmen have to "honor" officials at all levels to meet their economic needs!
On the other hand, the corruption of Guangdong Customs also made the thirteen lines miserable. Guangdong customs officials relied on this only foreign trade place to purchase exotic treasures in a big way to satisfy the desires of the royal family and the princes and nobles.
In 1800, the Qing government discovered that the "Assassin Bichen" was smuggling feather yarn, and Pan Changyao, a merchant of the Liquan Line of the Thirteen Lines, was implicated and unfairly punished. The Qing government fined 100 times the value of these smuggled feather yarns.
The streets of Guangzhou
At that time, Lin Zexu smoked a ban in Guangzhou, and he arrested the son of one of the merchants to blackmail foreigners. At that time, there was a saying that "it is better to be a dog than the head of the business", Wu Bingjian was once the head of the business, because he was angry inside and outside, and he also resigned several times.
The thirteen lines must bear all kinds of exploitation by the government, and the lower line must face the pressure of foreign businessmen, and the thirteen lines that are sandwiched in the middle are angry on both sides! The situation of survival is difficult!
4. Conclusion
After the Opium War, the Western powers were forced by the Qing government to sign unequal treaties and open other treaty ports. Since then, the thirteen lines of Guangdong have gradually ended, and finally completely withdrew from the stage of history.
Guangzhou Thirteen Lines Road
Today, Thirteen Lines, located in Guangzhou, has become one of the most famous clothing wholesale markets in the country. Although it no longer has the status of the former trade center, it is still bustling and prosperous. Those merchants who are rich and invincible and famous in the past have also become a piece of loess, and the wheel of history rolls on these loesses and moves forward!