A family school in Xidi Village in Tunxi, part of the Huizhou area

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Compared with other groups of merchants, Hui merchants had  distinctive feature of doing business while favoring Confucian teachings. Aspiring to cultural superiority, rather than making a fortune, was the ultimate goal for Hui merchants.

Cultural literacy helped them gain wealth, which they were able to use to further improve their cultural literacy, educate young members of the clan, hold various cultural activities and build cultural facilities. Most notable was Hui merchants’ contribution to literary development in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

A study on the personal letters between merchant Fang Yongbin and his friends in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) revealed the merchants’ motivation to associate with literati. On the one hand, Fang tried to make up for his failure in the national exam by being friends with literati.

On the other hand, affirmation from literati was something that merchants could be proud of. The position of merchants in ancient China was at the lowest level of the hierarchy of scholar-farmer-artisan-merchant. Merchants were usually despised for seeking nothing but profit. Merchants changed this prejudice by helping poor scholars and financing cultural activities. Many literary works in the Ming and Qing dynasties described the daily lives of merchants and showed morally and culturally affirmative attitudes towards these merchants.

Hui merchants also contributed to the spread of literary works. They were enthusiastic about printing literary works. They financed the publication of works of poor scholars and hosted various literary activities. These efforts also helped the Hui merchants gain a footing in the cities and towns outside the Huizhou area.

The Hui merchants also engaged themselves in literary creation. Some of them had their own collections of poems and Song prose. One family, surnamed Cheng, in Xiuning County, organized a club of poets and hosted regular literary activities. They even published a collection of poems written by family members. The aesthetic awareness, daily concerns and emotions expressed in their works provide us with a different angle for studying the era.

The Hui merchants valued family and the cultural literacy of the family. They paid great attention to educating the young people in the family and encouraged them to become honorable scholars. Some of the families upheld this cultural tradition for centuries.

Hui merchants also promoted the transformation of literature in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Hui merchants had money, leisure time as well as literary taste. They represented a significant part of the readership and audience of traditional operas and novels, which contributed to the prosperity of these literary genres. Adhering to the principle of filial piety in traditional ethics, Hui merchants invited the literati to write biographies of their parents, which became a notable genre of literary works in this era.