Urban Folk Customs: The Second Collection of Stories and Folk Culture

Author: Liu Liangming, Liu Fang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-05-01
Features: The novel narrates the story of a merchant named Ruo Xu, who travels on land to trade but consistently fails in his endeavors, earning him the nickname "the unlucky merchant." Later, he boards a ship and uses a mere two or three silver taels, which he had been given as a loan, to buy over a hundred catties of Dongting red tangerines to take aboard. To his astonishment, these tangerines sell for over eight hundred silver taels in foreign lands, bringing Ruo Xu immense joy. On the return journey, he discovers a massive turtle shell on a deserted island. Later, a Persian merchant explains that it is a giant tortoise shell, which he sells for an astonishing fifty thousand silver taels. These vividly depict the opportunistic mindset and of merchants in their pursuit of wealth. The novel also details the trading process between the Persian merchant Mabohua and Ruo Xu and others, highlighting the crucial role of commercial information and specialized knowledge in business operations. These descriptions not only supplement historical records but also serve as concrete visual materials of commercial activities during that era.