History of the Rise and Fall of the Qiao Family
The Qiao Family Courtyard is the common name, and its name is "Zai Zhong Tang". It turns out that the name of the owner of the house is Qiao Zhiyong. Yong means the mean, which means being impartial and having both uses, so the house is named "Zaizhongtang".
How did the Qiao family have the financial resources to build such a large house? This starts with Qiao Zhiyong’s grandfather Qiao Guifa. Qiao Guifa's parents died when he was young, and his family was so poor that he had to live in his uncle's house. Due to discrimination from his aunt, Qiao Guifa returned to Qiaojiabao Village to live independently when he grew up. Once, someone was getting married in the village, and he went to help. Unexpectedly, he was a step late, and was ridiculed by the person in charge. Qiao Guifa, who was still in his prime of life, could not bear this kind of torture. In anger, he left his mouth and suffered in Baotou for 30 years.
At first, Qiao Guifa, a bachelor with no clothes to cover his body and no food to eat, worked as a clerk at the Hehe Pawn Shop in Laoguanying Village, Salaqiting, Baotou. Among the clerks was a fellow from Shanxi named Qin. The two hit it off and became brothers with different surnames. More than ten years later, the two have slightly different interests. So they started a new business and established their own business. Qiao and Qin were able to assess the situation, work together, plan carefully, and manage with painstaking efforts. They started from selling tofu, sesame cakes and scattered groceries, and further made silverware on the side. Because he treats people well and is good at management, his business is booming day by day.
In the face of this booming business, Qiao Guifa and his descendants adhere to the ancestral precepts, are always vigilant and work hard, and strive to maintain profitability and continuous development. The children of the Qin family were just the opposite. They ate, drank, whored, and gambled, and lived a luxurious and luxurious life. In the end, they were unable to make ends meet, so they had to withdraw their principal from the account one after another. The Qin family would make up for all the capital withdrawn by the Qin family, with the Qin family taking one share and the Qiao family adding one share. In the end, the joint venture between the two companies became the sole proprietorship of the Qiao family.
The Qiao family's business in Baotou became more and more prosperous, and its financial resources became stronger and stronger. Later, the Qiao family's shop named "Fu Sheng Gong" became the number one business in Baotou. From this, the folk proverb "First there was Fu Sheng Gong, then there was Baotou City". This folk proverb was a common saying known to the industrial and commercial circles and residents of Baotou in the past: At that time, the Qiao family had more than a thousand houses in Baotou. .
In addition to bank accounts, banks, merchants, pawn shops, tea houses, grain stores and other production accounts and their respective properties, the Qiao family also has 280 acres of vegetable garden land in Baotou, and 2 acres of land in Qiaojiabao Village. More than one hundred acres. There are also some real estate properties in Qi County and in places such as Beijing, Tianjin, and Taiyuan. As for the gold, silver, jade, treasures and antiques hidden in the home, it is even more difficult to estimate. With so much money, the Qiao family built their own large house in their hometown in Qixian County.
In 1907, 89-year-old Qiao Zhiyong passed away and mourned at home for eight months. From home to the cemetery, more than a dozen colorful sheds were erected along the street. There are various paper bundles in the shed. During the funeral, there were more than a dozen groups of fine and fine music households, with loud drum music, an honor guard stretching for several miles, and nearly a hundred horse-drawn carriages. The mourners had already arrived at the cemetery, but the ones who had left behind were still at the dinner table.
There is no such thing as a banquet that lasts forever. In 1937, the gunfire at Lugou Bridge ruthlessly broke the peaceful life of this big family. In September 1938, due to the harassment by the Japanese army, more than 60 members of the "Zai Zhongtang" family left one after another and took refuge in Ping, Tianjin and other places. They never came back. The Qiao family and family rules
The Qiao family has been passed down for seven generations from its rise to its decline.
Qiao Guifa, the first generation entrepreneur, started in Baotou and gave birth to three sons. Among them, Qiao Quanmei was the third son. He inherited Qiao Guifa's foundation and founded the "Fushenghao" brand in Baotou. Qiao Quanmei gave birth to two more sons. The second son, Qiao Zhiyong, is the "Zai Zhongtang" of Qiao's family compound today. 's master.
Qiao Zhiyong lived to be 89 years old and lived through five dynasties: Jiajing, Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi and Guangxu. He was known as the "Liang Rich Man". He was a scholar when he was young, but later abandoned Confucianism and went into business. He emphasized credibility, practical results, and the use of talents, and his career developed greatly. So he built a lot of construction projects, opened up the palace, made friends with officials, and became famous for a while.
At the beginning of the Republic of China, "Zai Zhongtang" was hosted by Qiao Yingxia, Qiao Zhiyong's descendant. Qiao Yingkui is the last helmsman of "Zai Zhongtang" and was the chairman of the Association of Thirty-Six Villages in the East of Qi County.
The seventh generation of "Zai Zhongtang", according to incomplete statistics, there are more than 40 people scattered in Beijing, Shanghai, Taiyuan, Kunming, Datong, Baotou, Xuzhou and other places.
When Qiao Zhiyong was alive, he donated money to buy officials. Qiao himself was a "second-grade tonic", who divided provinces and then supplemented them, and was rewarded with feathers.
The same is true for descendants. Men are called "doctors" and women are called "yiren". Almost everyone is an official.
In order to bring glory to the family, the Qiao family made many friends with powerful people. Qu Zhen, the "source of the Three Jin Dynasties", was the niece-in-law of "Zai Zhongtang". Zhao Tieshan, "the best pen in North China", is the nephew of "Zai Zhongtang". The family rules of "Zhongtang" are very strict. Firstly, they are not allowed to take concubines, secondly, they are not allowed to abuse servants, thirdly, they are not allowed to go to prostitutes, fourthly, they are not allowed to take drugs, fifthly, they are not allowed to gamble, and sixthly, they are not allowed to drink alcohol. Most of the family's children have received secondary education or above. They set up private schools, hired teachers without salary, and the outstanding ones were sent to Taigu Mingxian School, Tianjin Nankai Middle School, and universities for further education. Study in the United States after graduation. There are only two people of the "Yingzi generation" who have gone to university. Among the 20 sixth-generation brothers, 11 are college students, 2 have obtained doctorates, and 1 has a master's degree. Many of them are engaged in careers such as professors, translators, and engineering designers.
The Qiao family’s way of life
In the past, many dandy children often went bankrupt because of their extravagance and squandering. In view of these lessons, "in the middle hall" since the time of Qiao Zhiyong, some family rules and laws have been established to restrain the children and maintain the dignity of the family.
At that time, most wealthy families had three wives and four concubines, but for generations, no one in the Qiao family had a concubine. Qiao Zhiyong married six women in his life, all of whom were re-married. Yingxia's wife, Liu Juxiu, was the school beauty of Union Medical College. Due to the age difference, the woman had other relationships after marriage, and they divorced. However, Qiao Yingxia has never married since. The third child, Yingxiao, married the daughter of Ma's family in Duanyao Village, Qixian County. In the 24th year of the Republic of China, the couple traveled to Peking together. As a result, his wife was kidnapped by gangsters. Because they failed to rescue her in time, she was brutally murdered. Qiao Yingxiao never returned again. Marry. The fourth child, Qiao Yingkui, was the last host of "Zai Zhongtang". He served as a local political official and had a certain reputation. Everything was going well, but there was one thing that didn't go well. His wife only gave birth to a daughter and did not raise a son. At that time, there was a "unfilial piety" According to Qiao Yingkui's status, it was natural for him to ask Mrs. Jie to give birth to a son to continue the family relationship. However, due to family rules, he only adopted a nephew to support himself.
The Qiao family is always tolerant when it comes to treating servants. They not only ensure that the servants are well fed and clothed, but also respect their personality. The only maids in the "Zhongtang" are adult married women. There are no unmarried little maids. The Qiao family treats their servants kindly, and their commissions are relatively generous. They also give rewards during festivals and festivals, and they also send meat, wheat, coal, and firewood to each family. Older servants who are raised and willing to return home are given a small pension every year. When they occasionally make mistakes, the Qiao family never speaks harshly or beats or abuses them. When the servant's family encounters natural or man-made disasters, the Qiao family always enthusiastically helps.
Because of this, the servants have always treated the Qiao family like gods: they work with all their heart and fulfill their duties. It is said that even now, some servants of the Qiao family are still full of longing for their master when they talk about him. The Qiao family is also worthy of praise for its good deeds of harmonizing the countryside and helping those in need.
The Qiao family tied three cows outside their door every day. Anyone who wanted to use them could take them and return them in the evening. If the neighbors are in trouble, such as those who have died in the family and cannot afford to bury them, those who are sick and have no money to seek medical treatment, or those who are in poor circumstances and cannot survive the New Year, they can get a small amount of charity by just asking a few times in front of Qiao's house. If there is a disaster, "in the middle hall" will open a warehouse to provide relief, and if an epidemic is prevalent, medicine will be given out. Although this expense costs a considerable amount of money every year, it has won a good reputation.