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| Rishengchang Bank |
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Rishengchang Exchange Shop was the original bank in China. It was
on this same site in Pingyao, that the head office complex was established
circa.1823 in the reign of the sixth Qing Emperor. Covering an area
of 1,400 square meters (15,069 square feet), it has twenty-one buildings
around three courtyards on a north-south central axis.The counters
are arranged on either side of the front yard. The three rooms in
the middle courtyard house the exchange center, where primary operations
were carried out. Guest rooms are to be found in the wings beside
the main hall. In the rear court there are five main halls.
As an important financial institution, Rishengchang devised many
initiatives for its banking system. For example, just opposite the
door hangs a tablet inscribed with a few lines of poetry. In actual
fact they are some of the earliest cryptograph characters that,
like Morse code, represent a series of corresponding numbers. The
cipher was constantly changed so as to restrict its interpretation
to just a privileged few. Moreover, other security techniques, such
as seals, watermarks, and handwriting of certain styles, were applied
to the drafts issued by the bank. For almost more than a century,
Rishengchang exerted a monopolistic influence in the country. |
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