Touring dreamland Tengchong and the legendary Xidong Village

Xidong Grand Compound

In the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China period, the border city Tengchong became a place lined up with stores and teemed with merchants. There emerged four famous merchants to dominate the business community, namely, "the Dongs in the East, the Dongs in the West (Xidong), the Lius in the South, and the Dengs in the North". Among them, the firm Maoheng of Xidong became the first multinational company in the history of Tengchong, with numerous subsidiaries established in China and Southeast Asia, covering thirty-two countries across the five continents. As recorded in Yunan Zhengqi Ge (Song of Righteousness of Yunnan), a chronicle that came out in 1937, “Tengyue people (Note: Tengyue is part of Tengchong) are adept in business and the wealthiest families are the Dongs in the East and the Dongs in the West (Xidong), with the latter being more influential.”