The guild hall is a symbol of the maturity of a business gang. The so-called business gang is a unique business group formed by blood relationship and geographical relationship. Businessmen from the same region make use of the natural kinship of their fellow villagers and clans to support and help each other and form a stable and standardized business group organization.
Why can the business gang culture become the most classic characteristic culture in Yaowan ancient town? What are the characteristics of the business gang culture in Yaowan ancient town? What are the cultural characteristics of the business gang culture in Yaowan ancient town? It is an unavoidable topic to study the history and culture of Yaowan ancient town.
Yaowan Ancient Town is located 35km southwest of xinyi city, Xuzhou, at the intersection of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and Lake Rome. It has a history of 1300 years since the city was founded in the Tang Dynasty, but as an important commercial town, it prospered because of the Grand Canal. It is located in the middle of the central canal and is the hub of the north-south waterway. Its commercial geographical value is very prominent, and it is called the golden turning point of the Grand Canal. Goods from all over the country rely on Yaowan Wharf to realize north-south circulation, and some of them are also exported to Nanyang, Taiwan Province Province, Japan and other places. "One day in Qian Fan, ten-mile boats are parked at night." The prosperity of water transport promoted the rapid prosperity of Yaowan industry and commerce. From the early Qing Dynasty to the heyday of the Republic of China, there were more than 360 banks, pawn shops, shops, factories and workshops in the town, which became the center of canal merchants and was known as the "Golden Waterway Golden Triangle" and "little shanghai".
Businessmen from all over the world poured into Yaowan, and the commercial economy developed rapidly. Due to the need to maintain the environment and order of economic development, business gangs also came into being. Various regional cultures and foreign cultures exchanged and merged in Yaowan, forming a unique, inclusive and unified Yaowan business gang culture with cohesion and centripetal force. During the Kangxi period, there were seven guildhalls in Yaowan ancient town, including Anhui, Fujian, Henan, Jiangxi, Shandong, Shanxi and Su Zhenyang, which marked the formation of the cultural characteristics of the business gang in Yaowan ancient town.
As the ancient town of Yaowan is located in the middle section of the Grand Canal and the dividing point between the north and the south, merchants from the south and the north gather in Yaowan, with Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui, Su Zhenyang and other areas in the south and Shanxi, Henan, Hebei and Shandong in the north. During the Kangxi period, the ancient town of Yaowan developed rapidly in water transportation and commerce because of the Grand Canal, and a large number of businessmen gathered in various places, which provided a foundation for the formation of business gangs. The scale of business is huge, which requires a stable business environment and order to ensure the stable development of businessmen's business activities and economy, and the formation of business gangs can most effectively meet the needs of this economic development.
During the 10th anniversary ceremony of Kangxi, the old officials of the Ming Dynasty in Yu Sheng led their clansmen and villagers to Yaowan in the earthquake-stricken area for business development. These old officials and businessmen of the Ming Dynasty not only have abundant funds, but also have high cultural quality, strong business awareness, rich experience and strong management ability. In order to adapt to the business environment in Yaowan and provide reliable guarantee for business activities, business gangs have become their most practical and handy choice.
In many commercial cities, although the business is relatively developed, it is difficult for foreign businessmen to form a climate because of the strong local business power. Before the opening of the Central Canal, the ancient town of Yaowan was not a commercial town, and there was no local commercial strength. After the grand canal was opened, businessmen from all over the country flocked to it, and business developed rapidly. Because there is no local commercial strength, the strength of businessmen is relatively balanced, and the four major commercial forces in the north and south have also created conditions for the development of business gangs. Therefore, the business gangs in Yaowan ancient town have no main gangs, and all the guest gangs have achieved balanced development in this balanced environment.
Due to the above reasons, the unique cultural characteristics of business gangs in Yaowan ancient town have been formed, while other cities along the canal do not have the above conditions and cannot form distinctive cultural characteristics of business gangs.
The Eight Pavilions in Yaowan Ancient Town in Ming and Qing Dynasties is a unique commercial phenomenon. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were countless commercial cities along the Grand Canal, including Dezhou, Cangzhou, Linqing and Taierzhuang in the north and Qingjiang, Yangzhou and Zhenjiang in the south. Many cities have huge commercial scale, but the characteristics of business gang culture are far less distinct than those of Yaowan ancient town.
There are many halls, which are the most in the ancient town of Grand Canal. Business gangs are linked by blood and friendship. Guild halls are not only the landmark buildings of business gangs, but also the symbol of the formation and maturity of business gangs in a certain area. Among the eight halls in Yaowan ancient town, Shanxi Hall, Fujian Hall, Su Zhenyang Hall, Jiangxi Hall, Shandong Hall, Anhui Hall and Henan Hall were all built in Kangxi period, and only Hebei Hall was built in Qianlong period. This shows that as early as Kangxi period, all the business gangs in Yaowan ancient town were very prosperous and mature. Shanxi businessmen, Huizhou businessmen, Fujian businessmen, Jiangxi businessmen, Jiangsu businessmen, Henan businessmen and Shandong businessmen, which rank among the top ten business gangs, all have guild halls in Yaowan. An ancient town has eight halls at the same time, which shows the prosperity of Yaowan ancient town business group.
Each into a system, give full play to business advantages. Business gangs use family ties and friendship to achieve collaborative management, avoid internal vicious competition, enhance external competitiveness, and strive for maximum benefits. The business gangs in Yaowan ancient town make full use of their own advantages and form their own management system, which can not only give full play to their own advantages, but also give other gangs sufficient business space, maintain market order and promote market prosperity. Commercial gangs also merged with each other to form organizations such as grain gangs, salt gangs and transportation gangs. In the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1908), the Yaowan Chamber of Commerce was also established in Pisu Yaowan to coordinate the relations among business groups, handle economic affairs and maintain the economic stability of Yaowan. In a word, under the business gang system, merchants have their own businesses, which has maintained the commercial prosperity of the ancient town.
Businessmen all over the country have also formed a strong cohesion, which can form a trend of responding to all calls. In the fifty-third year of Qianlong (1788), a famous incident of "beating Man Zi boat" happened in Yaowan. Luo Hengtai, an official of Hunan grain transportation, escorted imperial grain to Beijing. He not only embezzled the government's relief food, but also abducted young women to sell it in the south of the Yangtze River, passing through Yaowan, and was informed by Shandong Guild Hall that he would gather the dockers of Anhui Guild Hall and Henan Guild Hall, break up the corrupt officials of the grain ship and rescue them. Later, this event was compiled into various forms of Quyi, which was widely circulated in Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan and Anhui.
Characteristics of North-South Blending of Yaowan Commercial Gang Culture
Business gangs are not only business groups, but also messengers of cultural exchanges in primitive regions. As a regional group, business groups have regional characteristics in housing, religion, education, culture and entertainment. Many business groups gathered in Yaowan, and different regional characteristic cultures were brought to Yaowan to realize cultural blending. The blending and communication of different regional cultures has become a remarkable feature of Yaowan culture. The characteristics of the blending of north and south cultures in Yaowan ancient town are reflected in all aspects of social life.
The fusion of architectural styles. The ancient buildings in Yaowan have their own characteristics, reflecting the style of blending North and South. Shanxi Guild Hall and Shandong Guild Hall are majestic and magnificent, which are the traditional standard models of ancient Chinese architectural art. The Fujian-Jiangxi Guild Hall has injected new vitality into the layout structure of southern gardens, which is rich, luxurious and lively. Shanxi people's housing layout structure is rigorous, showing the characteristics of ancient buildings in Shanxi-"courtyard courtyard"; Fujian folk houses imitate the southern garden-style architecture, with integral brick-wood structure, small green bricks and tiles, and wide courtyard. There are four courtyards in Wu Jia Courtyard, which is the best preserved ancient house in the ancient town. Cities and towns in Jiangxi, Fujian and Suzhou pay more attention to interior decoration, and there are many famous calligraphy and painting. In addition, there are Beijing quadrangles built by extended families, European palace-style foreign bungalows and Catholic churches, all of which are typical European Gothic architectural styles, thus forming the colorful architectural features of Yaowan ancient town.
Diversity of belief culture. Businessmen in different regions have different regional beliefs. Among the eight halls, Shanxi people built Guandi Temple, Fujian people built Tianhou Palace to worship the goddess Mazu, Su Zhenyang people dedicated Kong Shenghe, the door god and Weichi Gong, Jiangxi people built Xiaoyao Palace to worship the father and son, Shandong people built Sanyi Hall to worship Liu, Anhui people dedicated Tathagata Guanyin, and Henan people built a river temple, hoping that the weather would be fine.
The fusion of folklore and food culture. The folk culture of Yaowan ancient town is deeply influenced by the business gang culture. Night market is a unique commercial folk culture in Yaowan. Merchants from all over the country meet in the night market, and all kinds of operations and lifestyles are fully blended. Folk culture is rich and colorful, and the piano book "Hitting Boat" has the characteristics of northern Jiangsu and southern Shandong. It is said that "Ten Qiao Nv" has Jiangnan flavor, and the shadow play is authentic in Shanxi, with regional characteristics such as patrolling the streets, throwing hydrangeas, playing the dulcimer in teahouses, and the Water Dragon Club.
The special food in Yaowan ancient town has unique taste, rich nutrition and the characteristics of businessmen. After nightfall in Yaowan, merchants and flower boat singers gathered, mostly from Jiangnan and Huaiyang. Qinhuai Boat Cuisine and Huaiyang Cuisine have merged, and gradually become Yaowan Boat Cuisine carefully cooked with fresh rivers and lakes, with good color, fragrance and taste, and become a must for cooking in northern Jiangsu. The famous Yaowan mung bean roast, formerly known as Qingjiu, was originally the imperial wine of the Ming Dynasty. It was introduced into Yaowan in the late Ming Dynasty by Zhao Xuemin, a court doctor in Jiangxi. The wine contains more than 50 kinds of precious Chinese medicines such as mung bean soup color, which is a good health care product. When it's dry, it's called tribute wine. Yaowan sweet oil was developed by Jiangxi famous doctors Zong Baiyun and Zhao Xuemin during the reign of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty. It was based on soy sauce and incorporated into the concept of health preservation. Has the effects of nourishing yin and tonifying kidney, enhancing human immunity, invigorating stomach and caring skin. Ma Hong, a native of Zhenjiang, moved to Yaowan and introduced the skills of pastry making. Before the Anti-Japanese War, there were more than 20 pastry shops in Yaowan. Yunpian Osmanthus Jelly, Cunjin Sugar, Glutinous Rice, Mung Bean Cake and Mid-Autumn Moon Cake are still the special cakes in Yaowan.
Yaowan is the most typical ancient town that embodies the Grand Canal culture, and its commercial gang culture features are particularly prominent. Under the management of local business gangs, the north and south cultures fully blended in the ancient town of Yaowan, creating the modern commercial culture of the ancient town of Yaowan. Along the Grand Canal, it can fully reflect the characteristics of the blending of North and South cultures, leaving such a deep impression on business groups. Yaowan ancient town is very unique.
In the protection and development of Yaowan ancient town, we should fully tap the cultural characteristics of Yaowan ancient town, maintain its original historical features and regional characteristics, and pay attention to the protection and development of traditional products, so as to make Yaowan ancient town truly become the first ancient town in commercial culture of the Grand Canal.