The starting point of China's financial industry can be traced back to the institutions dealing with credit business in the Zhou Dynasty before 256 BC, which were called "Quanfu" in Zhou Li.

In the Southern Qi Dynasty (479 ~ 502), there appeared an institutional "quality bank" that used the collected objects as collateral to lend money, which was later the pawnshop. At that time, it was run by temples, monopolized by nobles in the Tang Dynasty, and private banks appeared in the Song Dynasty.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Qianzhuang (called Bank in the North) was once the main body of the financial industry. Later, Qianzhuang, Guanyin Qianzhuang and other financial institutions appeared one after another.

Capitalism sprouted in China in the Ming Dynasty, but it developed slowly. The emerging commercial groups contributed greatly to the development of China's financial market.

There are ten famous business gangs, including Huizhou, Shanxi, Shandong, Fujian, Guangdong, Ningbo, Dongting, Jiangyou and Longyou. Among them, Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants are the largest and the strongest. They operated for 500 years, but in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, Ningbo Gang came from behind and took its place.

The position of Shanxi merchants in the history of China's economic development: 500 years of prosperity; Trade routes spread all over the country and neighboring countries such as Russia, Japan and Mongolia. The financial institutions' banks, which originated from Shanxi merchants, occupied the position of financial bull for more than a hundred years in China in the late Qing Dynasty, and were known as "Huitong World".

Among the top ten business gangs, the first to rise are businessmen from Shanxi and western Shaanxi.

In the early years of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1368- 1398), Shanxi merchants rose rapidly by virtue of geography.

In Ming Dynasty, Shanxi merchants mainly lived in the Yellow River valley, main saltworks and Sichuan area.

With the unification of the country and the expansion of the territory in the Qing Dynasty, the activities of Shanxi merchants expanded and became the main merchant forces in Northeast China, Mongolia and Xinjiang, even as far away as * * *. Shanxi merchants also monopolized the trade with Russian Chaktu and engaged in long-distance trafficking trade from southeast to northwest.

Shanxi merchants not only manage salt industry, but also manage tea, grain, cotton, cloth, silk and usury. Shanxi merchants are famous for their pawn business and usury, and they are called "western debts".

Merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties accumulated huge wealth. It is said that the assets of Huizhou merchants in the Ming Dynasty reached one million taels, and the wealth of Shanxi merchants exceeded that of Huizhou merchants. In the Qing dynasty, Shanxi was not only "a hundred thousand investors, but also many people with assets of ten million and two thousand".

During the Daoguang period, Shanxi merchants created a draft bank to operate the exchange industry, which was famous all over the world.

However, the draft number is almost unique in Shanxi merchants' industry in the late Qing Dynasty.

Due to the persistent financial default in the late Qing Dynasty, the stubborn conservatism of banks and the influence of the Revolution of 1911, banks declined completely shortly after the Revolution of 1911.

From the middle of Ming Dynasty to the middle of Qing Dynasty, Huizhou merchants dominated the business circles in China for more than 300 years and were in the golden age of development.

At that time, Huangshan Baiyue had ten rooms and nine merchants, and giant merchants appeared one after another. The natural beauty, humanistic modality and commercial economy complemented each other and flourished.

Then, in the late Qing Dynasty, social unrest, changes in government policies and the rise of capitalism, however, Huizhou merchants failed to implement business transformation in time due to their own reasons, and did not take the ship of China's modern capitalist development, which irrevocably fell from the peak to the bottom, and Huizhou was in a dilemma.

Longyou Business Group refers to Qushang Group centered on Longyou County, Quzhou District, Zhejiang Province. It sprouted in the Southern Song Dynasty and flourished in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. It is famous for its jewelry, books and paper industry.

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (1573- 1602), it was the first time to compete with merchants from Huizhou, Shanxi, Jiangyou and other places in shopping malls, so there was a proverb that "dragons traveled all over the world".

Based on the land of one government and one county, it gathered a lot of money and became one of the top ten business gangs in China. By the Qing Dynasty, it was gradually replaced by Ningshao business gangs.

Undoubtedly, China's business gangs not only promoted China's economy, but also promoted the development of China's financial market through their ability to develop China's financial market and the use of tools.

Due to the long-term feudal rule, modern banks appeared late in China.

After the Opium War, foreign banks began to enter China, and the earliest one was Li Ru Bank of England (1845).

Subsequently, Macquarie Bank (Standard Chartered Bank) and HSBC Bank, Dehua Bank of Germany, Zhengyin Bank of Yokohama, Japan, Oriental Bank of Credit Suisse Bank of France and Dawson Bank of Russia were established one after another.

The first bank founded by China people was China Commercial Bank established by 1897.

After the Revolution of 1911, especially after the beginning of the First World War, China's banking industry began to develop rapidly, and banks gradually became the main body of the financial industry, while banks and banks retreated to a secondary position and gradually declined.

The development of China's banking industry basically promotes the development of national capitalist industry and commerce.

This shows the close relationship between finance and industry and commerce, and its important influence on the national economy.

Shanxi merchants in China built a financial system covering many provinces in China in the Qing Dynasty, but the function of this financial system is mainly limited to access and acceptance, and there are not many investment factors, so it cannot be regarded as the emergence of financial markets.

After the Revolution of 1911, the development of China's banking and securities industry really opened the door to the development of China's financial market.

People's Republic of China (PRC)'s financial industry was founded in the revolutionary base area.

The earliest financial institutions were rural credit cooperatives in Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei and other places during the First Revolutionary Civil War, and the first farmers' bank in Chaishanzhou Special Zone, Hengshan, Hunan Province, founded by farmers' associations in February.

With the development of revolutionary war, rural credit cooperatives and banks have been established in various revolutionary base areas.

1 948 65438+February1,People's Bank of China was established in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province.

After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), banks in revolutionary base areas and liberated areas were gradually merged into the People's Bank of China.

* * * Confiscate bureaucratic capital banks and carry out socialist transformation of private financial industry.

On this basis, establish a highly centralized and unified national banking system.

At the same time, in the vast rural areas, * * * mobilized and organized farmers to establish a large number of collective rural credit cooperatives, and made them play the role of national banks in rural grassroots institutions.

The combination of highly centralized "unified" national banking system and numerous rural credit cooperatives was the most remarkable feature of China's financial industry in 1950s and 1970s.

Since 1979, China has started the financial system reform.

The People's Bank of China got rid of the specific industrial and commercial credit business and began to exercise the functions of the central bank; National specialized banks were established one by one; Insurance companies are re-established and vigorously develop domestic and foreign businesses; Joint-stock comprehensive banks and regional banks began to be established; A large number of trust and investment institutions have developed; Leasing companies, finance companies, urban credit cooperatives, cooperative banks, securities companies, stock exchanges, credit evaluation companies, Sino-foreign joint venture banks and foreign banks have all developed to a certain extent, forming a modern financial system with professional banks as the main body, central banks as the core, and various banks and non-bank financial institutions coexisting.

With the continuous development of economy, various new financial instruments have been developed, and the emergence of world-class financial centers has greatly promoted the development of China's financial market.

Now the central government has proposed to build Shanghai into an international financial center. The opening of the Growth Enterprise Market and the introduction of stock index futures are all conducive to the long-term healthy development of China's financial market and the circulation of the capital market.