Transition: The Rise and Fall of Commerce in an Ancient Chinese Village

Author: Huang Dehai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: On the high plains of Weinan in Shaanxi Province, the ancient village of Dangjiacun still stands today. It has a history of over 660 years and left behind a commercial legend once described as "earning a thousand taels of silver daily." During the late Yuan Dynasty and throughout the Ming Dynasty, the people of Dangjiacun achieved two major milestones: the marriage alliance between the Dang and Jia clans and their cohabitation as a unified family, laying a solid ethnic foundation for their commercial rise in the early Qing Dynasty. In 1654, Dang clan member Dang Depei traveled to Henan Province for business and achieved great success shortly after. Several decades later, Jia clan member Jia Yitang also ventured into business in Henan. Not only did he establish a larger commercial firm, but he also adopted the "joint-stock system" of management, emulating the practices of the Jin merchants. The immense success in business led the people of Dangjiacun to embark on extensive construction in their ancestral village, leaving behind 123 traditional courtyard houses. By the late Qing Dynasty, due to the gradual decline of their business in Henan and the turbulent political climate, the commercial firms of both the Dang and Jia clans either closed down or relocated far away, with some returning to their ancestral homes in Shaanxi Province. From starting from scratch to the peak of "earning a thousand taels of silver daily," and then to the gradual decline in the late Qing Dynasty, it seems as if there was always a hidden hand that lifted Dangjiacun to great heights in the early Qing and then brought it down hard in the late Qing. The commercial development of Dangjiacun has attracted the interest of economists. The author of this book conducts an in-depth analysis from an economic perspective, incorporating cultural and geographical factors, to reveal the underlying reasons behind its rise and fall. This not only fills a gap in the study of Dangjiacun but also provides a new case and perspective for enriching the research on Shaanxi merchants.