No. 831 · dated by century
Zhang Pukai
17th centuryMerchantAsia · c. 1650
Zhang Pukai was a Shanxi merchant who in the last years of the Ming dynasty opened a tobacco shop. The Zhonge Tobacco Shop (Zhonghe Yanpu) was not only Tianjin's earliest permanent store front; it also became its longest-running family enterprise, continuing on as a tobacco emporium well into the 20th century.