This essay examines the portrayal of both the spirit and behavior of Huizhou merchants in Wang Dao-kun’s literary work Tai-han ji. The biography Wang wrote on Fang Jing-zhen ( 方景真) portrayed Huizhou figures simultaneously as Confucians and knight-errants. In this reading, Huizhou merchants were motivated to educate themselves in part to improve business opportunities, but also sought to transform themselves through education from simple merchants into members of the educated elite.