Pingyao city was the undisputed financial center of the Qing dynasty government. Enterprising locals set up the nation’s earliest banks which were the first in China to use checks and made business peak in the 19th century. Ri Seng Chang Private Bank was one of the banks.
It was China’s forerunner for organizing Chinese early financial system and handling financial business including remittance, money exchange, deposit, loan, etc. The bank has 35 branches in China’s big and medium-sized cities, and its business covered America, South Asia and Europe. Its management system is strict and reasonable. The owner of the banking company employed a general manager to be in charge of the daily business and gave him some shares to encourage him work harder and earned more money. Regarding to the employee recruitment, there are two major measures. One is emphasis of good personality. For example, the manager always left several dollars in the yard to test the new employee; if he returned the money, he was loyal. The second is that the employee should be very proficient in abacus, the main tool to calculate then. New clerks had to stand in the yard to practice abacus for several weeks, even in winter.