The history of Rong Baozhai?

Rong Baozhai is a famous old shop in Four Treasures of the Study with a history of more than 300 years. Rong Baozhai is located in Liulichang West Street outside Heping Gate. This is a tall and antique building with antique carved beams and painted buildings.

The history of Rong Baozhai:

Rong Baozhai, formerly known as Songzhuzhai, was founded in the 11th year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty (AD 1672). The founder of Songzhuzhai is Zhang, a native of Zhejiang, who initially opened a small Nanzhi shop. The business scope of the paper shop is mainly divided into three parts: first, the paper for painting and calligraphy, as well as various plates and happy birthday screens; Second, all kinds of pens, inks, inkstones, ink cartridges, water bowls, inkpad, weighing scale, pen containers and other stationery; The third is to order the commercial works of calligraphy and painting seal engravers on behalf of customers, and get a certain percentage of commission from them.

The business of Songzhuzhai used to be very prosperous, but the store advocated poor management and did not ask for business, which led to the business getting worse every day. Especially after the Opium War, the business of Songzhuzhai was very bleak. Later, the store hired Zhuang Huchen, a well-known scholar in Shi Jing, as the manager, and changed the name of the store to Rong Baozhai on 1894, meaning "friendship with literature, honor is treasure", and asked Lu Runxiang, a famous calligrapher at that time, to write a large-character plaque of "Rong Baozhai". After this adjustment, Rong Baozhai's business is getting better and better, and it is famous among many Nanzhi stores in Beijing.