How hard-working are the people of Huizhou in "Ming Dynasty Under the Microscope"?

Recently, a popular TV series "Ming Dynasty Under the Microscope" brought us back to the daily life of the people in the Ming Dynasty 450 years ago.

White walls and black tiles are the portrayal of Huizhou. Source: "The Silk Case of the Ming Dynasty under the Microscope"

Although the "Jin'an Prefecture" and the eight counties in the play are fictional, according to the historical background of the original novel and the white-walled and black-tiled Hui-style buildings that appear from time to time in the picture, the answer points to a place that is well-known in history -

Huizhou!

The origin of the story in the play begins with an annual silk tax of 3,530 taels per person.

According to the purchasing power of the Ming Dynasty at that time, this tax was enough to buy 7,278 shi (about 664 tons) of rice.

Taking into account the huge difference between the value of grain at that time and today (for example, the rice yield per mu today is nearly 6 times that of the Ming Dynasty), if converted into RMB based on purchasing power, it would be more than 20 million yuan, which is an absolute huge sum of money.

However, this tax only accounted for a negligible 2.76% of the total tax revenue of Huizhou Prefecture that year (128,053 taels), so much so that no one noticed that it was overpaid for a hundred years!

This shows the prosperity of Huizhou.

The six counties of Huizhou were changed to eight counties in the play. Source: "The Silk Case of the Ming Dynasty under the Microscope"

Where exactly is Huizhou? Today we can only find Huizhou District in Huangshan City on the map. But ancient Huizhou has long maintained a structure of one prefecture (state) and six counties, with six counties under its jurisdiction: Shexian, Yixian, Xiuning, Qimen, Jixi, and Wuyuan.

Since modern times, Huizhou Prefecture has undergone administrative division changes. First, Wuyuan was transferred to Jiangxi, and then Jixi was transferred to Xuancheng City, Anhui Province.

It was not until November 1987 that the State Council issued a document announcing the abolition of Huizhou Prefecture and the establishment of the prefecture-level city of Huangshan.

Many "new Huangshan people" are still upset about the name change: Who said we are Huangshan people? We are obviously Huizhou people!

Dousan Street in She County. Photo by Zhang Jianping

Is there only one tourist attraction left in Huizhou?

Of course not! Huizhou's value does not lie in its name. Mountains, rivers and villages are one of the main reasons why tens of millions of tourists visit Huizhou every year.

The essence of Huizhou culture is reflected in its own system ranging from philosophy and art to lifestyle.

01

Without Huizhou merchants, there would be no Huizhou

The Hui-style buildings with white walls and black tiles are the most beautiful business card that Huizhou has left to the world.

The creation of this unique architectural aesthetic is attributed to Huizhou's developed commerce and the resulting Huizhou merchant group.

The peach blossoms in spring complement the white walls and black tiles. Photo by Fang Thomas

When we talk about Huizhou merchants today, our first reaction would be the salt merchants of the Ming and Qing dynasties, or the famous red-topped businessman Hu Xueyan.

In fact, commercial activities in Huizhou started very early and formed a considerable scale.

The "Newly Revised Changmen Creek Records of Qimen County" written in the Tang Dynasty recorded that at that time "within a thousand miles, there were seven or eight people engaged in the tea industry."

In the famous Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi's "Pipa Song", there is already the line "Merchants value profit over separation. Last month they went to Fuliang to buy tea" (In the middle of the Tang Dynasty, Chishan Town of Yi County and Fuliang County of Raozhou were divided to establish Qimen County).

It can be seen that Qimen area had become an important tea distribution center in the Tang Dynasty.

Cunyangshan House, built during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, is a side hall of the Zunxun Hall, the former residence of Bao Qiyun, the younger brother of Bao Zhidao, the general merchant of Lianghuai Salt Transport in the Qing Dynasty. Photo by Zhang Jianping

Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the northern gentry groups have been destroyed by wars. However, it was in Huizhou, a "refuge", that the clan concept on which the aristocratic families relied was preserved and gradually became a key factor influencing regional development.

As the saying goes, "There is no town without Huizhou", Huizhou people set up their homes wherever they go. The friendship between fellow townsmen and clansmen has led them to spontaneously form chambers of commerce in the places where they live.

At the same time, it is also conducive to forming a monopoly and maximizing profits for the family to engage in the same industry. For example, most of the pawnshops are run by merchants from Xiuning.

In the 1920s, the Cao family of Xiong Village accumulated millions of dollars through business and was known as "Cao Baiwan". Photo by Zhang Jianping

With good management skills and the ability to work together, the Huizhou merchants quickly accumulated a lot of wealth.

In addition to using this money for further investment, improving living standards and benefiting the community are the main purposes of Huizhou merchants.

Many villages in Huizhou are villages with the same surname. People in the same village are of the same clan. The clan concept gives Huizhou merchants a strong sense of responsibility. They believe that they must contribute to their clan, which is also a great thing to bring honor to the family.

The Wu family of Xixinan was wealthy, so they specially invited water conservancy experts to build water conservancy projects such as ditches for the village. These canals built in the Ming Dynasty are still in use today.

In addition to donating to public projects, the Wu family is best known for its interactions with literati and poets.

Jianjiang, the leader of the Xin'an School of Painting, once lived in the Wu family's Jiashan Temple for a long time. Famous Ming Dynasty talents such as Dong Qichang and Zhu Zhishan were all guests of the Wu family.

The plaque "Yi Lun You Xu" written by Ming Dynasty calligrapher Dong Qichang for Baolun Pavilion is 5.4 meters long and 2.2 meters high. It is the largest plaque in Huizhou. ‍Photo/Zhang Jianping

It is worth mentioning that the Wujiajia Mountain back then is the Huangshan Mountain that everyone knows today.

It was not uncommon for Huizhou merchants to interact with literati, but the most amazing thing about the Wu family was the art collection.

The Wu family became wealthy from the salt industry, and their huge wealth allowed them to collect many art treasures. The most famous of these is the original copy of "Eulogy for My Nephew", the "second best running script in the world" which sparked public opinion in 2019 due to its exhibition in Japan.

Portrait of Wu Yongqing from the Wu family. Photo provided by Zhang Jianping

However, not all literati were interested in Huizhou.

People often quote Tang Xianzu's words "The most obsessed place in my life is Huizhou, which I have never dreamed of going to" to praise Huizhou. In fact, this is the noble Mr. Ruo Shi's satire on Huizhou's "world of fame and fortune", indicating that he is unwilling to go to Huizhou to seek fame and fortune.

However, being dissed is itself a part of strength, which also indirectly shows the great power of Huizhou people.

There are many large families like the Wu family in Huizhou. Most of them maintain close ties with literati, and the most important way is to build academies.

Zhushan Academy was built in the 20th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (1756). Photo by Zhang Jianping

02

No matter how poor you are, you can’t be poor in education

Huizhou merchants have always been known as Confucian merchants. Their emphasis on culture and education is unmatched anywhere else in the country.

The relief on Hui ink is so exquisite that it looks like a work of art. Photo by Zhang Jianping

Bao Boting, a Hui merchant from the Bao family in She County, once said bluntly: "When you are rich, you cannot delay teaching. What is the use of just accumulating wealth?"

What good is it to have a fortune if you don’t provide education? Almost all the big families in Huizhou have the experience of giving up farming to do business, and then investing in schools for their children after getting rich.

It is no accident that Huizhou's literary style flourished, because this is where the orthodox Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was located.

Zhu Xi, Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao were all born in Huizhou. The "moral principles and ethics" expounded by Neo-Confucianism were the mainstream thought in ancient China and deeply fit the cultural core of Huizhou merchants who valued clans.

The people of Huizhou, who hoped to gain more say through the imperial examination but also had to maintain the stability of their family, naturally attached importance to Confucianism.

Xidi Jingai Hall, the word "filial piety" written by Zhu Xi. Photo by Knightlee

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, "the most prosperous academies in the world were Donglin, Jiangyou, Guanzhong, and Huizhou." This form of academy originated in the Tang Dynasty and is an important vehicle for the dissemination of Huizhou Confucian culture.

Since the Ming Dynasty, Huizhou merchants made huge wealth by monopolizing the salt industry, and academies also received a lot of funding. Even in the deep mountains and valleys, one could hear the sound of recitation. People at that time called Huizhou "Zou Lu of the Southeast".

The Chinese have always been generous in education. No matter how difficult the family situation is, they will give their children the best education. The people of Huizhou can be said to be one of the best examples.

Xu Guo, a native of She County and the Minister of Rites during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, had his father fail in business when he was young, so he had to do business and study at the same time. Unfortunately, he failed the provincial examinations five times in a row. After selling all his family property, he ran to the river to commit suicide. Finally, he was sponsored by a timber merchant and was able to continue his studies.

Xu Guoyi's experience is enough to show how much importance Huizhou people attach to education.

The Guangfenliejuefang is inscribed with the names of the officials who passed the imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties in the Cao clan of Xiong Village. Photo by Zhang Jianping

The good combination of merchants and scholars is also the uniqueness of Huizhou culture. Among the four classes of people, scholars have always been ranked first.

Merchants had the lowest social status. At the beginning of the imperial examination system, merchants were not even allowed to take the examinations.

The fact that people in Huizhou can directly say such pragmatic words as "studying is good, doing business is good, and being efficient is good" may be the real reason why Huizhou culture has developed in this land.

Bishan Bookstore is a popular destination for many people. Photo by Thomas Fang

03

Huizhou, landscape is its background

In the story of Huizhou, if Huizhou merchants are the direct driving force behind the creation of Huizhou culture, then the mountains and waters from nature are the driving force behind the birth of this special regional culture.

“After visiting the Five Sacred Mountains, you will not look at any other mountains. After visiting Mount Huangshan, you will not look at any other mountains.” Huangshan City, the inheritor of ancient Huizhou, has truly become a name card for Huizhou, Anhui, and China.

After visiting the Five Mountains, you won’t want to see any other mountains. Photo by Fang Thomas

Huizhou has experienced violent geological movements, which has formed a basic pattern of a fault basin in the middle and uplifted blocks on both sides. From a geographical point of view, the Huangshan Mountains are the watershed between the Yangtze River and Qiantang River systems. It is connected to Tianmu Mountain in the east and Jiuhua Mountain in the north, and is the center of the southern Anhui mountains. With Huangshan as the leader, Huizhou has many mountains and hills.

Located at the junction of Changgai Township, She County and Chun'an County, Zhejiang Province, the top of Sheling Mountain in Guocun is 1,265 meters above sea level. Photo by Zhang Jianping

According to the Brief History of Huizhou Region, the area of ​​Huizhou Region before its abolition was 13,403 square kilometers, of which the total area of ​​mountains and hills reached 10,578 square kilometers.

It is because of these mountains that we have the Xin'an School of Painting, the Huizhou merchants who travel all over the world, and the Huizhou we see today.

Most of the tourists from other places who visit Huizhou come to see the mountains. The writer Yu Dafu was also deeply impressed by the mountains when he traveled to Huizhou:

"This car has to go into the mountains and imitate the pangolin and the immortals' earth escape techniques before we can get to Huizhou... I first counted silently in the car how many turns we have to make and how many ridges we have to cross before we can get to Huizhou, but then I was so scared by the dangerous scenery around me that I actually forgot the number."

Come read with me, Yi County. Photo by Li Qiong

Huizhou's mountains are so famous that the role of water is often overlooked.

The most important Xin'an River flows eastward into Zhejiang, the Changjiang River and Le'an River flow southward into Poyang Lake, and the Qingyi River flows northward into the Yangtze River.

Huizhou is dominated by mountains and hills, but the rivers and water systems that originate from them have been eroding and scouring, resulting in mountain basins of varying sizes scattered throughout Huizhou, which in turn provided space for the later Huizhou people to thrive. The ancient towns and villages of Huizhou were all built on basins and valleys.

Xin'an River is the mother river that gave birth to Huizhou. Photo by Zhang Jianping

In the entire traditional Chinese society, agriculture was the basis, and Huizhou's geographical conditions were definitely not favorable.

Huangshan, with its strange pines and rocks, does not look like a good place for farming. Huizhou people can only engage in limited agricultural production in basins and riverside plains.

For example, the first scene at the beginning of the play is about two farmers arguing over the ownership of four mu of thin land (about 266.7 square meters). The saying "If you don't cultivate in your previous life, you will be born in Huizhou. When you are thirteen or fourteen years old, you will be thrown out." is exactly this truth.

This plot in the play probably reflects the fact that Huizhou has a large population and a small amount of land. Source: "The Silk Case of the Ming Dynasty under the Microscope"

04

The nature of mountains makes people blocked, the nature of water makes people free

In the story of Huizhou, the role of mountains is to block, while the role of water is to communicate.

Xin'an River is like a picture of a thousand miles of green mountains and rivers. Photo by Fang Thomas

Huizhou was an immigrant society. When war broke out in the late Western Jin Dynasty, the steep mountains of Huizhou were enough to serve as a barrier between the war and the people.

This "paradise" that has not yet been fully developed has become one of the settlements for refugees from the north.

Northern aristocratic families, organized as family units, settled here one after another, and the seeds of Huizhou people's obsession with blood ties were planted at this time.

Similar stories happened twice, in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, and in the late Northern Song Dynasty, when the immigrants became the majority of Huizhou residents. From this perspective, probably all Huizhou people do not belong here.

Hongcun Deyi Hall makes the best use of flowing water. Photo by Zhang Jianping

The Huizhou people have really never stopped moving. The nature of Huizhou immigrant society is not only about "coming in", but also about "running out".

Wang Shizhen, a man from the Ming Dynasty, said: "Generally speaking, in Huizhou and Shezhou, thirteen people are in the county, and seventeen are in the whole country." It seems that people in Huizhou are restless.

In addition to several ancient post roads, Huizhou is connected to the surrounding provinces by the extensive water system.

Because of the mountainous area, most of the rivers in Huizhou are turbulent, so it is easy to leave but difficult to enter. For Huizhou people who plan to go out to make a living, the turbulent water has its own advantages.

Timber merchants in Huizhou sold timber to other places by "putting rafts", that is, bundling the timber into rafts and letting them float downstream.

The old dock of Changjiang River, which was demolished in 2004, was once the "home port" of Huizhou merchants in history. Photo by Zhang Jianping

During the monarchy, merchants were discriminated against and doing business was considered "losing the main purpose and pursuing trivial matters", but the people of Huizhou "depended on business". Did they have a rebellious mind? Did they insist on going against the imperial court?

The people of Huizhou were forced to do business because there was too little arable land here.

However, it is thanks to this harsh environment that the hard-working "Hui camels" were born; it is their leaving their homes that shaped the unique Huizhou culture.

05

Hui, a symbol of Chinese aesthetics

Whether doing business or serving as an official, the people of Huizhou have left their footprints all over the country. While changing the appearance of their hometown, they are also changing everything in the place where they live.

The prosperity of Yangzhou during the Qing Dynasty benefited from the Huizhou salt merchants living there.

Due to the tradition of respecting Confucianism, these businessmen were not just nouveau riche who knew how to squander money. Their lifestyle also left a unique beauty in the profound culture of the Chinese people.

The production of oilcloth umbrellas in Gufeng, Jingxian County. Photo by Fang Thomas

Among the scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, the ones who have left the most intuitive impression on us today are none other than the Huizhou craftsmen.

Perhaps because of the flourishing learning atmosphere, the most famous handicrafts in Huizhou are stationery: Wang brushes, Hui ink, Chengxintang paper, and She inkstones.

Since Huizhou is mountainous and has many pine trees, it can meet the needs of mass production of pine soot ink. The production method of Huizhou ink is complicated, and in Huizhou it is further divided into three schools: Shexian, Xiuning, and Wuyuan.

In addition, the literati and scholars who came and went in the homes of Huizhou merchants also participated in the process of craftsmen making ink, making Huizhou ink both practical and artistic. Despite the changes in the world, Huizhou ink has always been listed among the "Four Treasures of the Study" commonly known by the Chinese people.

Hui ink and gold. Photo by Zhang Jianping

The production of Jingxian Xuan brushes. Photo by Fang Thomas

The three carvings of Huizhou directly benefited from the strong financial resources of Huizhou merchants. When Huizhou merchants built houses or ancestral halls for their families, they could not do without the decoration of brick carvings, stone carvings and wood carvings.

From figures, landscapes to flowers, plants, birds and animals, these are all common themes in Huizhou's three carvings. While decorating the house, they also play a subtle role in teaching, allowing the tribesmen to be influenced by Confucian culture.

Because of these exquisite carvings, the Huizhou-style buildings with white walls and black tiles appear simple and elegant from a distance, but are full of rich details when viewed up close, fully demonstrating the aesthetic taste of the Huizhou people.

The Qing Dynasty brick-carved gatehouse in Hu Village, Jixi County. Photo by Zhang Jianping

The same is probably true of Huizhou culture. At first glance, it seems to be a regional culture dominated by Huizhou merchant culture, but a closer look reveals the rich and delicate cultural connotations behind it.

It contains the Chinese people's emphasis on education, their pragmatic thinking of seeking change when faced with poverty, and their profound understanding of family inheritance.

The ancient "Huizhou Prefecture" administrative division no longer exists.

However, the Huizhou culture, which has gone through many vicissitudes, has never been cut off. It shows its original posture among the mountains and rivers, and also hides in the tangible and perceptible cultural symbols, proving its existence to future generations.

Taipingshan House, the ultimate symmetrical aesthetic unique to the Chinese. Photo by Jin Jie

Source: Authentic Scenery