Chapter 51 Section 5 The Rise of the "Minxin Bureau"

In the post office business of the Ming Dynasty, there is one new thing that must be written about, which is the rise of the "Min Xin Bureau".The so-called "minxin" of course refers to communication organizations operated spontaneously by the people. Experts believe that my country's non-government communication organizations emerged during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty.At that time, due to the development of the commodity economy, many large merchants needed a kind of business contact, and more importantly, the distribution of goods and the exchange of funds required a joint venture organization to undertake.This is the historical background in which the "Minxin Bureau" was born.

There are two opinions in the academic circles about where the Civil Credit Bureau came from.One view is that this kind of joint operation organization first emerged from Sichuan.During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, a group of immigrants from Macheng and Xiaogan in Hubei lived in Sichuan.They have been away for many years and missed their hometown, so they spontaneously organized a hometown association.Every year, fellow villagers are gathered and a rally is held. Representatives are elected at the meeting and they return to their hometown to visit once.At that time, immigrants often entrust the representative to bring letters of greeting to their hometown, and entrust him to bring home special products.Over time, a fixed organization was established, commonly known as "Macheng Yue".Macheng Yue mostly transported goods, and at the same time carried letters.This is the first private communication organization in my country.Another way of saying it is that China's civil letter bureaus first emerged from coastal areas such as Shaoxing and Ningbo in Zhejiang.In the Ming Dynasty, people from Shaoxing were mostly used as staff in officialdom, commonly known as "Masters of Shaoxing".They were scattered among the provincial governors and inspectors' yamen, and they had extensive contacts and became gangs.There is often correspondence between each other, and there are relatively many letters.Over time, the initial public trust institutions were formed.Ningbo is the sea port of Shaoxing and the hub of communication, so it became the base of the original private communication organization.Furthermore, there are many people doing business in Ningbo, and they also need an organization for frequent information exchange and goods distribution, so the people's trust organization came into being.

Later, this kind of organization spread in various places, not limited to the immigrants from Macheng, Hubei, in Sichuan, nor limited to Shaoxing and Ningbo, Zhejiang. During the Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, Ningbo and other places began to call this kind of organization "Minxin Bureau", and forwarding letters from the people became an important part of the business.After the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the Minxin Bureau developed greatly and reached its peak.It not only covers all major commercial ports in China, but also expands its business to areas inhabited by overseas Chinese such as Southeast Asia, Australia, and Honolulu.In Southeast Asia, the Minxin Bureau is also known as the "Overseas Chinese Approval Bureau". In Singapore alone, there were as many as 49 Overseas Chinese Approval Bureaus in the late Qing Dynasty.Some Overseas Chinese Approval Bureaus even continued to operate until the 1940s.