Businessmen in Nanxun all made their fortune from silk in the lake. Huzhou has a long history of silk. According to Yuanhe County Records, "tribute silk cloth was opened outside Huzhou". It can be seen that as early as the Kaiyuan period in the Tang Dynasty, silk from the lake had become a tribute and a major industry. In the Song Dynasty, there was "cocoon foil stands on the mountain, and every family continues the sound of cars." It embodies the grand occasion of Huzhou silk. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, Hu Si has been sold overseas, and Wu Xingzhi Jiatai has the saying that Hu Si is all over the world. The lake silk collected by Nande is well-known at home and abroad, because the texture of the lake silk in the collection is white, delicate, uniform and full of tension, which is superior to other lake silk. As the Record of Linnan Guobao Temple says: "Lin Nan is a settlement, but the wealth of agriculture and mulberry lies in Zhejiang." (Nanxun was called Lin Nan in ancient times). At that time, the production and texture of lake silk were Nanxun. Dong Lizhou, a poet in Qing Dynasty, praised in Silkworm Mulberry Yuefu: "Silkworm is the only one in my lake, especially Nanxun, a county." With abundant resources and favorable geographical conditions, Nanxun, a wealthy businessman who made a fortune in silk business, formed a big family of "four elephants and eight cows" during Guangxu period.
Liu Yong is the first of the "Four Elephants". It is said that Liu Yong's wealth is as high as twenty-two thousand pieces of silver, and he is known as the "Liu's silver" among the four elephants. When Liu Yong made his fortune, he deeply felt the lack of culture since his ancestors. Although he was rich, he had no money and didn't come to the door. So he tried his best to teach his sons to read and take the imperial examination, so that all four sons could enter the official career. Liu Yong was also honored as a doctor because of his son's kindness, and achieved the goal of honoring his ancestors. Liu Yong also married his daughter to the son of Xu Fu, a first-class university student, and to Jiang Ruzao, the son of Jiang, the general affairs minister of the Qing Dynasty, which made Liu more radiant and became a wealthy family in Nanxun.
Gu Fuchang (1796- 1868), nicknamed Chunchi, is one of the four elephants of Nanxun, a foreign student in China. After starting a business, he was called Gu Liugong. Gu Fuchang's family was poor in his early years, so he dropped out of school and went to sea to do business. At first, he set up a cloth stall. Later, Su Zhenze, a neighbor of Nanxun Zhenjiang, made a living by opening a small cloth shop and made a fortune in silk business. After interacting with foreigners, he became an early silk expert and westernization manager in Shanghai. And opened the ancient silk number, which is the earliest silk merchant in Nanxun.
After becoming rich from silk, Gu Fuchang also managed the only foreign ship terminal in Shanghai at that time-Jinli Source Head, became the manager of Jardine Comprador and Jardine Packaging Company, and was also engaged in real estate business, and was known as the "maiden" of the Four Elephants.
Gu Fuchang has three sons, the eldest son Gu Shousong, whose name is Rongzhai; The second son, Gu Shouzang, has a good handwriting; The third son, Gu Mingshou, praised three words. They are all famous collectors of antiques, epigraphy and calligraphy and painting. Gu's three brothers inherited their father's business, dealing in silk. Gu Shoujian is the most prestigious. He used to be the director of Shanghai Silk Industry Office, and Mr. Gu, a famous patriotic educator, is the great-grandson of Gu Fuchang.
Zhang Songxian (18 17- 1892) was born in Xiuning, Weizhou, and his father Zhang Yuewei opened a small sauce and salt shop in Nanxun for a living. Zhang has two sons, Zhang Song is the second.
Zhang Songxian was good at business. After engaging in the silk industry, he fully managed the export business of Gigi Lai silk and established the "Silk Rolling Company". After he made a fortune in the silk business, he focused on salt affairs and became a salt giant. According to Zhang Jian's "Zhangfeng Cemetery in Wucheng", "At the beginning of Tongzhi, private businessmen were full, which led to the lack of classes and poor salt method. The governor called merchants to gather for discussion, praised the sages and even made an appointment with merchants to collect the private interests of Daishan Mountain in Yuyao and reduce the price to hide the private interests of the enemies of the river and the sea. As a result, the business interests are rich, the official class is full, and the family is getting bigger and bigger. " Zhang Songxian also runs Fiona Fang Wuli Sauce Garden around Nanxun Town, such as Zhang Hengtai, Zhang Hengchang, Zhang Yuanchun, Zhang Qitai and Zhang Yilong, all of which are relatively large-scale sauce gardens.
Zhang Songxian also bought land, opened a pawn, a money house and a transportation company. It is said that his wealth is second only to the Liu family, ranking second among the four elephants.
Zhang Songxian has two sons, the eldest son, Zhang Baoqing, who is upright in character; The second son, Zhang Baoshan, is blessed by the word.
Zhang Junheng, whose real name is Shi Ming, is the only son of Zhang Baoqing and the grandson of Zhang Songxian. Because his father died early and his mother handled all the affairs of Nanhenghe at that time, he named this mansion "Tang Yide". Zhang Junheng was a juren in the 20th year of Guangxu (1894). After inheriting his ancestral business, he did well in business and prospered his industry. He showed filial piety to his mother, and built a Buddhist temple in his magnificent garden "Teachers College" for her to worship the jade Buddha, so that she could burn incense and worship the Buddha, and also built a stone tower to seal up the Diamond Sutra written by Liu Gongquan in the Tang Dynasty. The park was completely destroyed in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Now the mansion in Zhang Shiming has become one of the tourist attractions in Nanxun, and is known as "the largest mansion in the south of the Yangtze River". The mansion covers an area of 4,792 square meters, with 150 buildings combining Chinese and western styles, especially the wood carvings, brick carvings and stone carvings in the mansion, which are exquisite in craftsmanship and have high cultural relics value.
Zhang Jingjiang, whose real name is Ceng Cheng, also known as Ren Jie, whose real name is Jingjiang, whose real name is Drink Guang and whose real name is Fierce Zen, is the son of Zhang Baoshan, the second son of Zhang Songxian, ranking second, so people in the town call him Mr. Er.
Zhang Jingjiang joined the League led by Sun Yat-sen in his early years and donated money for the revolution. Dr. Sun Yat-sen once said: "Since the founding of the League, there have been articles on fundraising abroad, and so has Zhang Jingjiang, which made the greatest contribution at that time. But the store in Paris earned 60,000 to 70,000 yuan to help. " Zhang Jingjiang was a member of the Standing Committee of the National Government, elected as the chairman of the Central Political Conference of the Kuomintang, and served as the chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Government. He is one of the four elders of the Kuomintang.
Because Zhang Songxian's two grandchildren are very famous in academic and political circles, they are called "Zhang Jiacai" in the Four Elephants.
Among the four elephants is Pang Yunzeng (Jin Zibang, 1833- 1889), whose real name is Gao Yun and his ancestral home is Shaoxing, Zhejiang. My father is a master, and Pang Yunzeng is also an apprentice in the silk industry. Therefore, he is familiar with the management of silk. After he became rich, he opened "Pang Yitai Silk Company" and met the owner of Huqingyutang Chinese Medicine Store in Hangzhou. Pang Yun once had the help of officialdom friends. Later, through Li Hongzhang, his son Pang Yuanji won the favor of Empress Dowager Cixi in the seventeenth year of Guangxu (189 1) and was specially awarded the title of "face of Ponzi family" among the four elephants, because he was awarded the title of Doctor Rong Lu and Doctor Guanglu.
Pang Yun once imitated Hu Qingyutang in Hu Xueyan, opened a large-scale "Pangzide" pharmacy in Nanxun, and built a pharmacy stack and pharmaceutical workshop. Until now, the old-fashioned "Pangzide" pharmacy is still open in Baoshan Street, Nanxun.
Pang Yun had three sons, all of whom died young. The second son Pang Yuanji and the third son Pang Yuancheng.
Pang Yuanji, alias Chen Lai, was a Jinshi in the sixth year of Guangxu (1880) and a Jinshi in Jiangxi. Pang Yuanji followed in his father's footsteps. In addition to operating Pangzide Pharmacy and Qingyitai Sauce Garden, he also founded a silk weaving factory and a cotton mill, and also engaged in real estate. He built the largest garden "Yiyuan" in Nanxun Dongzha, which is superior to other gardens in greening. It was destroyed during the Anti-Japanese War, and now it's gone.
Yuanji and the people in the town called him Pang Chenlai. He is good at painting and appreciating ancient paintings, and is a famous connoisseur and collector of ancient paintings at home and abroad. Before liberation, China ancient paintings and calligraphy could be regarded as authentic as long as they were stamped with Pang Xuzhai's appraisal seal, and even foreign collectors were willing to pay a lot of money to buy them.
Pang Yuancheng, formerly known as Chen Qing, was later renamed Qingcheng, with the name of Yuan Confucianism. Guangxu twenty-one years (1895), Jinshi. He devoted himself to education, founded hospitals and advocated western medicine. In the thirty-second year of Guangxu (1906), he donated money in Shanghai to support Ma's establishment of Fuhe Public School (19 17), protesting imperialist interference in China's education, and Qingcheng was renamed Fuhe Public School.
Cheng Yuan is also a member of the League led by Sun Yat-sen and one of the core figures of the Shanghai Branch of the League.
Xing Gengxing, the head of Nanxun Eight Cattle, opened Xing Zhengmao Silk Sutra, which was later renamed Hengshun Silk Sutra. And set up pawn shops, setting up the most pawn shops for Nanxun. In addition, there are Xingjia pawnshops in Haining, Taicang, Shanghai, Haiyan and Pinghu. And real estate or something.
The famous poet Zhou Changda has a happy word. Born in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, he moved around in the middle of Qianlong and set up Shentaisi and Shenchangsi. People in the town call his family Zhou Shentai, one of the eight cows in Nanxun.
The deep autumn fairy tea opened the Silk Book of Qicheng. One of the eight cows in Nande.
Formerly known as Xiong, the word Zhuping. It is a well-known Si Shitong, and the peripheral Yuchangji Jingxing. Yingyuan is a tourist attraction in Nanxun and one of the eight small gardens in Nanxun.
Golden boy, the word bamboo court. Dropped out of school at an early age, started doing business in Shanghai and became a successful businessman. His eldest son, Jin Shouyi, whose name is Qin Yuan, inherited his father's business, managed silk, founded Jinjiaji silk business, and also opened a pawnshop to manage real estate. He was called "Xiaojinshan" and was one of the eight cows in Nanxun.
Zhang, who founded Thai Silk Company, was the director of the business department of Shanghai Commercial Bank. One of the eight cows in Nanxun.
Mei Hongji, the word Yue Tea. Yuheng Silk was founded in Beijing and Hangzhou, and his son Mei Zhanzhong opened the earliest machine-made silk factory in Nanxun, which is one of the eight cows in Nanxun.
Shao, Kaisenda silk warp, has Shao Yueji silk number in Shanghai, producing Qingshi brand silk warp. The town called him Shao Senda, one of the eight cows in Nanxun.
There are 72 dogs in Nanxun, including four townships in Nanxun. There are Qiu Maotai, Qiu Gaimao, Qiu Yichang, Qiu Desheng, Shen Tuji, Shen Yongchang, Shen Yongfeng, Shen Tianchang, Li Hengde, Li Wanshun, Li Demao, Wu Jinchang, Wu Qichang, Wu Yongji, Zhu Guanglong, Zhuang Hengqing, Xing, Bu Tongchang, Han Yichang, Gui and Li Demao. There are four towns and villages: Zhangjia in Beixiaowei, Zhangjia on the fifth floor, Jinjia in Xieqiao, Tingsheng, Qiujia in Masonry, Wenjia in Qili Village, Chenjia in Zisiwan and Wangjia in Cangguqiao.
Because the saying of "four elephants and eight cows" belonged to gossip at that time, what we got was hearsay, and there was no formal statistics and detailed records, so the 72-pier dog could only be mentioned briefly.
The theory of "Four Elephants and Eight Cattle" reflects that Nanxun has been a town since it was founded in the Spring of Southern Song Dynasty (1252), from the names of Xunxi and Lin Nan to the establishment of town officials. After the town was named Nanxun, it became a prosperous town in the south of the Yangtze River, and merchants gathered, leaving a library, Xiaolianzhuang and Zhangzhai for future generations.