In recent years,ranking lists like″The World's Oldest Family Companies″have attracted the attention of Chinese entrepreneurs and academics although not a single Chinese family firm is included in the lists .In contrast to the″Primogeniture″tradition in Japan and some European countries,the″Coparcenary″tradition in China has been considered as an important reason for the short life of Chinese family businesses (like a Chinese proverb goes,″from rags to riches and back to rags in three generations″) .However,the fact is that there was a considerable number of long-surviving family businesses in Chinese history,but for reasons of war and political movements,they lost control over their businesses .For example,the Hukaiwen family's ink business,which was founded by Hu Tianzhu from Huizhou in the period of Qianlong Emperor,was one of the four most renowned family-run ink businesses during the Qing Dynasty . Even today,Hukaiwen is a famous ink brand and can be seen in cities all over China .The Hu family business successfully achieved family inheritance for six generations,becoming the most influential ink brand in the late Qing Dynasty .Therefore,the main characteristics and elements of the successful inheritance of long-surviving family businesses like Hukaiwen Ink are worth studying today . We obtained the primary sources,such as the Hushi Jiushu (Book of the Division of Property of the Hu Family) and Hu Genealogy in our field study .Based on an in-depth analysis of the materials,combined with a case study and the analytical paradigm of institutional economics,the present research concludes that the most important factor in the successful inheritance of the Hu family business across six generations can be summarized as″dividing the property without dividing the business .″To be more specific,the land,real estate,retail shops and other family property were converted to eight shares according to their current prices,after which the eight sons of Hu Tianzhu inherited the property equally in the form of capital .A partnership system was thus formed within the family business,which also conformed to the ″Coparcenary″tradition .Meanwhile,Hushi Jiushu,according to which only the second and seventh sons inherited the two ink factories,also regulated the operation of the family business . This practice continued the″Primogeniture″in the management and operation of the two factories .Besides the shares they held,the two sons received a salary for managing and operating the business .This arrangement led to further institutional changes in the management of the family firm .In order to keep control over the business,these two heirs hired family or non-family agents to manage the business while the ownership remained with the core family members .In practice,to some extent,this arrangement realized the separation of ownership and management in terms of property rights .This institutional arrangement and the changes in the management structure are good examples of the modernity of Chinese family businesses . There is growing concern about the succession issue in Chinese family-run businesses today,as the second generation of entrepreneurs is maturing and becoming ready to take charge .The present organizational and management systems in Western family businesses are closely related to their institutional and non-institutional factors such as history and culture .Likewise,Chinese family businesses are also faced with issues like route dependence in the Chinese history and culture .More research into the successful inheritance of family businesses in the Chinese history,together with lessons from Western enterprise systems,will have implications for the succession of contemporary family businesses in China .The successful inheritance of the Hu family business is not an isolated case;instead,it was a common phenomenon in Chinese history .The historical materials of this research are limited in number,and there remains great scope for further research into this topic .