By the beginning of last century, an invasion of foreign financial capital and establishment of the Grand Qing Dynasty's Bank, dealt a heavy blow to the pillar exchange shops of Shanxi merchants. As well, there followed a series of reshuffling of the government and, coupled with the warlords' tangled warfare, there came about the collapse of Chinese economy, dire poverty and extinction of Shanxi merchants' splendor. Then, during the years beginning with the Japanese aggression to the founding of New China Shanxi merchants' existence kept deteriorating until their descendants fled and scattered, mansions changed hosts and were gradually forgotten by people.
>>>>>back to Mansions<<<<<