Huishang, or Huizhou merchants, was one of the ten merchant confraternities in ancient China. Huizhou merchants generally referred to businessmen from the six counties under the Huizhou Prefecture -- Shexian, Xiuning, Qimen, Yixian, Jixi, and Wuyuan.

The success of Huizhou merchants had no doubt played a decisive part in the emergence and growth of Huizhou culture.

Most researchers believe that Huizhou merchants as a whole came into being in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), began to develop between the late Yuan (1271-1368) and the early Ming dynasties, formed a power around the mid-Ming period, flourished during Jiajing's reign (1522-1567) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), reached their culmination during Qianlong's reign (1736-1796), and then declined in the late Qing period. The history of Huizhou merchants covers about 600 years, and for 300 years they dominated the region. They occupy a significant place in the history of Chinese commerce.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, as the capital was moved from Kaifeng to Lin'an (now Hangzhou), the political and economic center shifted to the south. This stimulated the economy of neighboring areas to develop, and then the Central Plains culture was introduced to the South. Huizhou, as a communication hub between the south and the North, was significant to the economy of southeastern China. As a result of Huizhou's particular geographical condition and the need of economic development, landowners began to take up business.

By the years of Guangxu's reign (1875-1909), one could hardly find a pawnbroker who was not from Huizhou; there was "no place too far for Huizhou merchants to expand." They pressed eastward to the north of Jiangsu Province, westward to Yunnan, Guizhou, and Gansu provinces, northward to the east and south of Liaoning Province, and southward to Fujian and Guangdong provinces. They also sailed to Japan and Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, leaving their footmarks on "almost half of the globe."

The resourceful Huizhou merchants were well versed in the expertise of obtaining a position so as to be assigned to the court. Their strategy was to "provide funds for academic pursuits with business profits, get political positions through academic pursuits, and ensure business profits from the political positions." Therefore, politics and commerce were closely related to Huizhou merchants.

Having gained fame and fortune, they returned home in all their glory and went on with large-scale construction, building mansions, ancestral temples, guildhalls, roads, and bridges to honor their ancestors and to extend the influence of the clan. They were bent on establishing academies, schools, and examination centers and cultivating feudal intellectuals to consolidate the patriarchal clan system.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, 2,108 people from five counties were granted the title of jinshi after they passed the final imperial examinations, which were held every three years and presided over by the emperor; during this period, the literary works of 43 people from Shexian County alone were included in "Best Poems" or "Best Essays." There are stories about "three successive Jinshis from one place, four Hanlins (members of the Imperial Academy) within ten li," "father and son both ministers," "brothers both prime ministers," and "three generations of imperially-honored courtiers."

With academic studies and etiquette greatly advocated, Huizhou was a cradle for talented scholars who made achievements in various domains. Huizhou culture, enriched with these achievements, displayed a splendid view of liberal arts and history.