Rishengchang 日昇昌

The Rishengchang Exchange Shop (Chinese:日升昌票号; pinyin:Rì shēng chāng piào hào), located in Pingyao, Shanxi province, China, is considered the first draft bank in China's history. It was founded in Qing Dynasty(1823). In the nineteenth century, at its peak, it controlled almost half of the Chinese economy and its branches were widespread throughout China's big urbans and capital, Beijing. And in some western and southeastern countries, Rishengchang also owned its branches and offices. A famous Chinese writer named Yu Qiuyu has once stated that Rishengchang is the " rural grandfather " (Chinese:乡下祖父） of all the modern Chinese banks. The exchange shop is now a museum and in 2006 was included on the List of monuments of the People's ***************** (6-484).