Films, novels, and television concur in depicting pawnbrokers as hardhearted, calculating, and stingy. In fact, historical records show us that pawnshops actually started out in China as charitable institutions.
不只是在電視、電影裡，許多文學作品、鄉野戲台中所描繪、演出的當鋪主子，十之八九也是腰纏萬貫卻多行不義，一付尖酸苛刻的嘴臉。查諸古籍，當鋪在初出現時，竟是被當成慈善事業經營。