Business Management and Social Life of Bibliophile Wang Qishu in Early Qing

Wang Qishu was a famous bibliophile and sealer of the early Qing Dynasty, and received much attention from publishing history and art history scholars. However, although his profession as a Huizhou salt trader was widely known, scholars still knew little of his salt business for lack of documents. In view of this, this paper intends to make a detailed description of Wang Qishu’s birth and death dates, his activities at various places in Jiangnan, his salt business operation and his social life. The paper points out that land contracts account for the vast majority all Huizhou documents that have survived to date, while contractual documents related to commercial affairs are rare. However, these newly discovered documents include not only salt business contracts, but also some land contracts and household documents concerning their hometown. Based on this, it would be possible to examine the business operation and social life of salt traders in greater detail, and to examine the process of Huizhou merchants turning from prosperity to decline, both of which are of great value. It can be seen from the documents that Huizhou salt merchants in the Qianlong era, through rent and sales of salt certificates, became the leisure class who made profits from their monopoly of salt certificates. Just like his artistic accomplishments in various respects, Wang Qishu, as a Huizhou merchant, also got involved in various businesses. Judging from available materials, he was not only a salt merchant, but also a pawnbroker, a publisher, and even a medical theorist in the sight of later generations. These different aspects reflect the personality characteristic−' trading while favoring Confucianism”, and cultural achievements of Huizhou merchants living in the high Qing era, whose influence has continued to modern times.