Shandong Group 山東商幫

Compared with other merchant groups, Shandong Group was particularly noted for its frank, straightforward and honest characters. Shandong merchants made their fortunes mainly through long-distance and local trade. They valued credibility in their business practices. Most of the group's members started as big bureaucrats or feudal lords. Shandong merchants first built up their fortune through industry and commerce, and then put it into investment in property. Their business style is not generally regarded as remarkable, but their down-to-earth practices still made them very wealthy.