Shanxi merchants
There are many proposed reasons as to why the Shanxi merchants found success during the Qing dynasty while merchants from other provinces were generally less successful. One proposition is that the province of Shanxi benefitted from gold and silver that was stolen out of the imperial treasury of the declining Ming dynasty. In the year 2007 a coin board of 1.5 ton pre-Ming cash coins was discovered at a construction site in the province of Shanxi, which gave this proposed reason more credence.