1. Catering Industry
The catering industry run by businesswomen in the Tang Dynasty was generally a small-scale operation with relatively small scale and low profits. Except for the hotel run by Hu Nu, it had In addition to a certain commercial scale, other catering industries run by women in the Tang Dynasty had a certain business scale, and only "Taiping Guangji" Volume 286 records that there was a woman named Banqiao Shisanniang in Bianzhou. businesswoman. She has several shops and her business scale is considerable. "There was a Banqiao store in the west of Bianzhou in the Tang Dynasty. The three wives in the store... were widowed. They were more than thirty years old. They had no men or women and no relatives. They had several houses and made meals. However, the family was very rich and many had donkeys. "Animals."
Other records about women operating the catering industry are mostly small-scale businesses, and the types of businesses are relatively simple. Most of them operate a business related to food. For example, it is simply engaged in the trading of tea, wine, and cakes, with the business of wine and tea as the main business content. "Dingming Lu" records that the wife of the famous minister Ma Zhou was originally a cake seller. "The Xie family" in Volume 134 of "Taiping Guangji" records that in Yancun, Wannian County, Yongzhou in the Tang Dynasty, there was a woman, the Xie family, who made her own small liter wine vessel to drink wine during her lifetime.
Most of this small-scale business activities are concentrated in the market and have fixed places and fixed business hours. Historical records are mostly concentrated in "Taiping Guangji", such as the Guangling tea lady recorded in Volume 70, "Every time a tea is sold in the market, people in the market compete to buy it." It is recorded in Volume 106 that after Song Yan, a native of Jianghuai, was saved from drowning, he encountered a "place where the lonely grandma made tea" and there were "two thatched cottages". Volume 382 records that Aunt Guo of Luoyang, who lived in Yucaili, "made a living in Danglong". Volume 109 records that in Fengqiu County, Jizhou, Tang Dynasty, there was an old woman whose surname was Li, who was seventy years old, had no children, and only had two servants. ) Zhengu wine". The wine sold by Apoqing in Chang'an West City is famous all over the country.
Among the many catering businesses, the most distinctive one is undoubtedly the wine shop opened by Hu Nu. "The Orchid looks like a flower, and she smiles in the spring breeze." These wine shops use the smiles of beautiful Hu women as their business signs, attracting a large number of romantic literati and drinkers to enter the wine shops for consumption. "When Wuling was young, in the gold market, a white horse with a silver saddle rode the spring breeze. Where can I go after all the fallen flowers? Laughing into the orchid wine shop." In these Hu Nu wine shops, the wine sellers are mostly young girls with extraordinary looks. The poets of the Tang Dynasty spared no effort in praising the beauty of the wine seller. "There are so many beauties in Jinli, and Danglong sells wine by himself." Diners in the wine shop can enjoy listening to songs and drinking as much as they like. For example, He Chao's "Gift to Orchid in the Hotel": "In the Orchid Spring Hotel, the strings and string instruments are sonorous at night. The crescent moon is spread on the red paper, and the mink fur is sitting on the thin frost. The jade plate is first covered with ice. The carp is cooking the sheep in the golden cauldron. The guests have no work to do, and they are happy to listen to the songs. "Yang Juyuan's "Hu Ji Ci" is one of the famous poems. Under the influence of the increasingly prosperous trend of Hu Nu's wine shop, Wu Ji Yue Nu also imitated the business style of Hu Nu's wine shop and opened wine shops at rural intersections with developed traffic: "The wind blows willows and flowers fill the shop with fragrance, and Wu Ji drinks wine to attract customers. Taste" for commercial gain.
These unique Western-style wine shop models and operating characteristics not only show the heroic beauty of Hu Nu, but also highlight her unique business wisdom, becoming the most Tang-style business operation in the Tang Dynasty. One scene.
2. Weaving Industry
Female traders operating in the weaving industry in the Tang Dynasty were mostly concentrated in towns and operated in small workshops. The general income was only for Basic food and clothing needs. Most of the female merchants engaged in this kind of business are widowed and have no sons in their families. "Taiping Guangji" Volume 21 records Guangzhou He Erniang, who was about 20 years old, lived with her mother, and "weaved shoes as a profession." Volume 196 records that at the north gate of Shengyefang in Chang'an City there lived such an orphaned mother and a widowed girl who "worked on making needles. They were very poor, and they slept on the earthen couch with their mother, unable to move around the cigarette smoke, and they often suffered from long days." “Life is very poor. Volume 242 records that Wen, a widow from Yuecheng County, Kangzhou, also had "Jibu as a career". Volume 303 records an old woman in Dongdu who made a living by selling shoes.
Those female workers who specialize in weaving for the palace can only sell the cloth at a low price if it does not meet the palace requirements.
We can infer from Bao Rong's "Pure Picking Journey" that these female workers are also engaged in commercial economic activities. In addition to weaving and selling cloth, there were also female traders who made ready-made clothes for sale. This kind of business was similar to that of today's tailors. During the Tianbao period, in the city of Chang'an, "there was a woman named Zhang Shifuniang who wore garb." There are undoubtedly many women engaged in this kind of economic activity. This is also due to the different gender requirements of the manufacturing industry and the different division of labor between men and women.
3. Metallurgy
The metallurgy industry in ancient times was a highly technical industry, and it was not easy for ordinary people to obtain this technology. Therefore, there are very few records about the commercial nature of the smelting industry in historical records. Among the businessmen who made a living from the smelting industry, the Luoyang widow Gao Wuniang was the most famous, and she inherited the business from her husband. "The Gao Wu Niang in Luoyang was more beautiful than her beauty, so she married Li Xianren. Li Xianren was an immortal in the sky, and she became friends with the Gao family. She always lived in Luoyang and started her own business in Huangbai. The Gao family could pass on her method." After her husband died, Gao Wuniang still "made Huangzi her career". After Gao Wuniang mastered this smelting technology, she became rich very quickly, which aroused the jealousy of others and was reported by others. "Later, most of the silver was sold, which was reported by the Fangsi."
4. Other industries
Other commercial transactions engaged in by businesswomen in the Tang Dynasty were basically closely related to people's daily consumer goods. There are "vegetable sellers" who make a living by selling vegetables, "whisking vegetables to feed them day and night"; there are also people who earn a small amount of living expenses from selling flowers. Monk Minchu once "met a woman selling flowers" on the road. . There are also women selling paints along the street. "Taiping Guangji" records a man who "went to the market and saw a beautiful woman selling Hufen." While Banqiao Sanniangzi was running the catering business, she also temporarily rented out herds of livestock. "If we ride in public or private cars, if anyone is not caught, we will treat them lightly and estimate them as a reward."
In the fiercely competitive commercial trade, the history books of the Tang Dynasty also record many strong business women who became rich through business. In addition to Gao Wuniang who was engaged in the smelting industry of yellow and white mentioned above, Yang mentioned in the "Compilation of Epitaphs of the Tang Dynasty" was also a successful businesswoman with business acumen. She was said to be able to "manage property and know how to deal with Tao Gong." Dharma, you have no fear of floods and droughts, and you have good fortune and misfortune.” The Lu family in "Taiping Guangji" is also a business-savvy woman. According to the book, "among the Tianbao, there is the Cui family of Qinghe, who lives in Xingyang." There are also records in history books about other unknown successful women in business: When the chef king of Yuqian County in Tang Dynasty was selected, he met a widowed businesswoman on the way, who was the wife of a Jia man. Her husband died ten years ago, and there is still an old business in the flag pavilion. If you earn three hundred dollars a day in the morning and evening, you can pay for it."
In addition to the female traders who conduct commercial activities in fixed places, there are also some female traders who sell goods everywhere. Volume 8 of "Beimengsuoyan" records that Zhao Zhongxing, a Jinshi in the late Tang Dynasty, was a heroic hero. Once, he met a widowed businesswoman named Jing Shisanniang in a Zen monastery in Suzhou. The businesswoman "because of her admiration for Zhao, So we carried him back to Yangzhou together." During the Yuanhe period, Xie Xiao'e was a "trader's daughter" and she traveled around the world with her father and husband to engage in some kind of commercial activities. Jing Shisanniang, a businesswoman who is generous with her wealth and kindness, is doing business in Suzhou. Among these businesswomen, there are also many unscrupulous female traders. They use substandard products to make huge profits in commercial transactions. Volume 134 of "Taiping Guangji" "Xie Shi" records that the female merchant Xie Shi suffered from retribution after her death because she was short of a few pounds when selling wine. "When I was born, I drank a lot of wine. I made a small liter of wine. The price was too much, but the amount of wine was too little. Now I am guilty of this crime. I am a cow at the foot of the mountain in the north. I was recently sold to Master Xiahou of Dharma Realm Temple. Now I am plowing rice fields in the south of the city. It is very Hard". Perhaps because their wealth aroused the jealousy of others, they were slandered and compiled into stories to warn future generations. However, there is no denying that illegal business practices also exist among them.
As far as the businesswomen of the Tang Dynasty themselves are concerned, they have the following characteristics: First, judging from their age, most of them are older. For example, the Gao Wu Niang in Luoyang married two husbands, so she must be quite old; the old woman who sells shoes in Dongdu is also in her old age, etc. Secondly, judging from their marriage and family, they are generally widowed. For example, Wen, a widow from Jibu in Yuecheng County, Kangzhou. Furthermore, the business costs run by these businesswomen are relatively low, the business scale is small, and the business locations are relatively fixed.
Most of them are concentrated in relatively safe and stable cities and towns. Although business activities here are relatively frequent and transactions are convenient, this may also have a certain relationship with the unique physiological and psychological characteristics of women.
In short, the Tang Dynasty’s inclusive and open social atmosphere and the prosperity of commerce and trade were necessary conditions for the existence and prosperity of female businessmen in the Tang Dynasty. To some extent, they promoted the development of female businessmen’s activities in the Tang Dynasty and It provided a broad social background for the social activities of women in the Tang Dynasty; conversely, the extensive and active participation of women in social and commercial activities also reflected the open-mindedness of the social culture of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty was the most splendid era for ancient female groups in social and economic activities, and laid the foundation for later generations of women to engage in business activities. Although the businesswomen of the Tang Dynasty did not reach a certain scale, and their business scope and business contents were not comparable to those of the male group, in terms of their cultural connotation and the social significance of women's roles, the women businessmen of the Tang Dynasty were given a deeper role. social significance.