Rishengchang Draft Bank
Draft Bank is a financial institute which appeared from Qing Dynasty, the earliest draft bank is Rishengchang Draft Bank, whose owner is Mr. in Pingyao County of Shanxi Province. It was mainly devoted in handling remittance, money exchange, deposit, loan and other financial business. There were 35 branches in China's big and medium-sized cities. Its business covered Europe, America and Southeast Asia. And the Rishengchang Draft Bank had been the financial center of China for about 100 years.
Located in the south of the West Street of Pingyao County, the site of Rishengchang Draft Bank is well preserved. Places of the temple blocks south to north with a three entrances compound in depth. There are five wide rooms facing the street with thick wooden door and color painting under the eaves where a plaque hangs. In the right side is the main hall with three wide rooms, which are used as the office to handle exchange business. On the hall, storied houses are built to store things. Three single storey buildings on the south of the main hall are where the staff lived. In the back courtyards, there are five main halls and three guesthouses in the east and west part, which are the residences for honored guests and senior officers. Corridors in the west are for the horse and carts. The whole courtyard is deep and high and delicately designed with excellent security measures.
The banking company had established a complete and strict management system because at that time the communication and transportation conditions are quite backward. For example, when a new employee came into the company, the manager always left several dollars in the yard to test the employee. If he returned the money to the manager, he passed the first examination. Second pass is the abacus, the main tool to calculate. Young people had to stand in the yard to practice abacus for several weeks, even in winter. What is more, the owner of the company did not involve in the daily business because he employed a general manager, and gave him some shares to attract him work harder and earned more money. The draft bank always made the trades fair. In 1914, the 90-year-old Rishengchang Draft Bank went bankrupt, causing big trouble to the national financial market.