Whether Hu Xueyan was the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty, who was Wu Bingjian?
The richest man refers to the ranking of personal legal assets in the world (a certain country) within a certain region or within a period of time. Speaking of the rich people in the late Qing Dynasty, many people can think of Hu Xueyan and others. So was Hu Xueyan really the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty?
Hu Xueyan’s net worth
Hu Xueyan was born in Huli Village, Jixi County, Huizhou, Anhui Province in 1823. When he was young, his family was relatively poor and he made a living by helping others herd cattle.
Hu Xueyan
In the fifteenth year of Daoguang's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1835), Hu Xueyan's father died of illness. Hu Xueyan was only twelve years old at that time.
The next year, Hu Xueyan went out alone. He worked as a clerk in Hangzhou Grain Store and Jinhua Ham Store, and then as an apprentice at Xinhe Bank in Hangzhou. He started as a handyman and completed his apprenticeship in three years. , because of his hard work and steadfastness, he became an official clerk of the bank.
In the 22nd year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1842), when Hu Xueyan was nineteen years old, he was accepted as an apprentice by the shopkeeper of Fukang Bank in Hangzhou. Since he had no offspring, he regarded the flexible Hu Xueyan as his biological son. When shopkeeper Yu was dying, he entrusted the entire bank to Hu Xueyan. This bank worth five thousand taels of silver was the first pot of gold Hu Xueyan earned.
Wang Youling
In the 28th year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1848), when Hu Xueyan was 26 years old, he met Wang Youling, the candidate Zhejiang salt ambassador, and borrowed 500 taels of silver notes from the bank. , helped Wang Youling fill up his official position (this matter needs to be verified), and was kicked out of the bank after the incident.
In the first year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1851), Huang Zonghan, the governor of Zhejiang, was persuaded to buy a stake in the drugstore, and he arranged for the food transporters to take over the drug supply business, and the drugstore developed rapidly.
Hu Qingyutang Traditional Chinese Medicine Store is still open today
In the fifth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1866), Hu Xueyan assisted Zuo Zongtang in establishing the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau. After Zuo Zongtang was transferred to the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, he took charge of the Shanghai Mining and Transportation Bureau, borrowed foreign debts for Zuo Da, raised military salaries and ordered arms. He also relied on the power of the King of Xiang to establish more than 20 Fukang Banks in various provinces. He was engaged in the business of traditional Chinese medicine and silk tea, and opened the Hu Qingyutang Traditional Chinese Medicine Store, which is still in business today. He controlled the business in Zhejiang, with a maximum capital of more than 20 million taels, and was the "richest man in China" at that time.
In the eighth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1882), due to the establishment of a silk factory in Shanghai, the price of raw silk fell, leading to the collapse of Fukang Bank the following year. In the eleventh year of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1885), only a few months after Zuo Zongtang's death in Fuzhou, Hu Xueyan died in a state of resentment and depression. It is said that if you are an official, you must read "Zeng Guopan", and if you are a businessman, you must read "Hu Xueyan".
Wu Bingjian's net worth
Wu Bingjian's ancestors moved from Nankang, Jiangxi to Guangzhou, Guangdong in the early years of Kangxi. They originally made a living growing tea in Lianhua Mountain, and later started doing business. During the reign of Wu Guoying, the Wu family began to participate in foreign trade and was one of the few Chinese merchants allowed to trade silk and porcelain with foreigners.
Wu Bingjian
Wu Bingjian only accepts payment in silver, and he does not want all foreign goods. In 1789, Wu Bingjian took over his father's business. He lent large amounts of money (millions of silver dollars each time) to foreign merchants in exchange for part of the ship shipments.
Wu Bingjian not only owns real estate, real estate, tea gardens and shops in China, he also boldly conducts railway investments, securities trading and insurance business in the United States on the other side of the ocean. At the same time, he is also a member of the British East India Company. The largest creditor, the East India Company, sometimes had poor liquidity and often borrowed money from the Wu family. Because of this, Wu Bingjian enjoyed a high reputation in the Western business community at that time.
The Wu Family Mansion
In 1834, according to the Wu family’s own estimation, their property amounted to 26 million silver dollars. According to the international silver price, this amount is equivalent to today’s 5 billion yuan, and the Wu family's mansion on the bank of the Pearl River is said to be comparable to the Grand View Garden in "A Dream of Red Mansions". They also have a large family with 500 servants.
In 1843, 74-year-old Wu Bingjian died of illness in Guangzhou during the turmoil in China.
Based on the above, we can know that Hu Xueyan was only the richest man in China at that time, while Wu Bingjian was the richest man in the world at that time. In the list of the "50 richest people in the world in the past thousand years", only six Chinese were selected. One of them is Wu Bingjian. Not only did he become the world's richest man in the eyes of foreigners at that time, he was also called "the world's richest man" by some Western scholars.