Cui Shi
In the early Eastern Han, Emperor Ming passed laws which prohibited those involved in agriculture from simultaneously engaging in mercantile trade. These laws were largely ineffective, since wealthy landowners and landlords made significant profits from the trading of goods produced on their estates. Cui Shi (催寔) (d. 170 AD), a local commandery administrator who later served as an official in the central government's secretariat, started a winery business in his home to pay for his father's funeral. His fellow gentry criticized him, claiming the practice was immoral, but not illegal.