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Qu Benqiao was the 18th generation of descendants of Qu's family, he was gifted and intelligent, and was lauded as a child prodigy for his childhood. In 1892, Qu was a sucessful candidate in the highest imperial civil service examination and started his official career.

He was the first sucessful candidate in all the Shanxi merchant family in 100 years. In 1903, the government appointed Qu as China's chancellor in Yokohama in Japan. At that time, Japan's modern industry was developing rapidly through the Meiji restoration, Qu's on the hope of making people rich and prosperous, after he came back from Japan, Qu resigned from his post and began managing his family's banking business, he also began to invest a new industry .

In 1903, with 5000 tales of silver, Qu has bought Taiyuan match factory established in 1892 and on the edge of bankruptcy because of public's poor recognition. He then changed the name to the " Double Happiness" match company. Under Qu's management, the company soon turnned losses to gains. By the early 1900s, the company's assets has reached 200,000 tales of silver.