Hu Xueyan

Also known as Ming Guangyong · Zi Xueyan

Hu Xueyan, whose given name was Guangyong, came from Jixi in Anhui and started as an apprentice in a Hangzhou money shop before opening his own bank, the Fukang. In the Tongzhi years he handled supplies for Zuo Zongtang, ran a purchasing office in Shanghai that bought arms, and helped set up the Fuzhou shipyard. When Zuo marched on Xinjiang, Hu arranged a series of loans from foreign banks running to well over ten million taels, and he was rewarded with the rank of provincial treasurer and the right to wear the yellow riding jacket. In 1874 he founded the Huqingyu pharmacy in Hangzhou. In 1883 a failed attempt to corner raw silk led to a run on the Fukang, which collapsed, and his property was sold off to meet his debts; he died in Hangzhou in 1885, and the old Huqingyu building is now a protected national monument.