Rishengchang
Encyclopedia
Pingyao
Pingyao is a Chinese city and county in central Shanxi province, China. It lies about 715 km from Beijing and 80 km from the provincial capital, Taiyuan. During the Qing Dynasty, Pingyao was a financial center of China...
, Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
province, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, is considered the first draft bank in China's history. It was founded in Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
(1823). In the nineteenth century, at its peak, it controlled almost half of the Chinese economy and its branches were widespread throughout China's big urbans and capital, Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. And in some western and southeastern countries, Rishengchang also owned its branches and offices. A famous Chinese writer named Yu Qiuyu has once stated that Rishengchang is the " rural grandfather " (） of all the modern Chinese banks.
The exchange shop is now a museum and in 2006 was included on the List of monuments of the People's Republic of China (6-484).
Rishengchang & Piaohao（）
During the late Qing Dynasty, a new development occurred: the creation of piaohao (票号), which were essentially banks that provided services like money transfers and transactions, deposits, and loans. After the establishment of the first piaohao in Pingyao, the bankers in Shanxi dominated China's financial market for centuries until the collapse of Qing Dynasty and the coming of British banks.Rishengchang Code Rule
In 1824, Rishengchang set up a branch in TaiyuanTaiyuan
Taiyuan is the capital and largest city of Shanxi province in North China. At the 2010 census, it had a total population of 4,201,591 inhabitants on 6959 km² whom 3,212,500 are urban on 1,460 km². The name of the city literally means "Great Plains", referring to the location where the Fen River...
. The main business was cheques or drafts which called the "tickets" in Chinese. The secrecy of the production and writing of the "tickets" had very strict request and were never allowed to make mistakes. At that time, Taiyuan was the base camp of Shanxi businessmen's distribution and maintenance of goods. In order to work efficiently, Rishengchang introduced the world's most advanced printing technology at that time --- the "watermark" method. So Rishengchang used this method to produce and print the "tickets". Additionally, each "ticket" was stamped with a seal in the key parts. Of couse, the amounts and recipients of the "tickets" were strictly controlled.
When the Shanxi traders went to other province and the frontier border transaction station, they always brought the drafts which were written by the professional official in Taiyuan Rishengchang using the ink brush
Ink brush
Ink brushes are used in Chinese calligraphy. They are also used in Chinese painting and descendant brush painting styles. The ink brush was invented in China, believed to be around 300BCE...
. The handwriting must be simultaneously bulletined and sent to other 51 branches of Rishengchang. Specifically, the drafts were executed with codes --- using Chinese writing to replace numbers and regularly changing the password method in case of the disclosing of confidential information. Obviously, these code cannot be decrypted by people, even the hackers.
The fact was that in Taiyuan Rishengchang history, the matter the money has been falsely claim never happened. This fully embodies the intelligence of Rishengchang's operators.