Wu Zhongfu

Wu Zhongfu was a Chinese merchant and author from Jiangxi province who had lived and worked in the lower Yangzi valley. In 1792 he compiled work “Shanggu bianlan” (Guide for Traders and Shopkeepers) in 1792. The work was compiled from “Gongshang qieyao” (Essentials for the Artisan and Merchant and the “Jianghu bidu” (Essential Reading for Travelers).

Wu had received a scholarly education in his youth before beginning his commercial training. Claiming to have come from a family of scholars, he, like his father before him, had been driven into business by ill health. The “ill health” was often used as a pretext (as was poor land or the lack of land) scholars used when they abandoned their brush for the abacus). Ill health might also have been used as a device by the author to establish his credentials and create a bond of sympathy with his better-educated readers, the poor Confucianist. He also implements traditional Confucian values such as benevolence, righteousness, propriety, moral knowledge, and sincerity in his work.