Quote: “The most-visited attraction in modern Pingyao [山西省晋中市 平遥县] is the Rishengchang Draft Bank 日升昌票号 [whose wooden plaque says 日昇昌記], which in 1823 became the first in China to issue cheques. The city lay on the path of a lucrative trade route. The bank’s manager spied a business opportunity when he saw silver shipments passing each other in opposite direction. He replaced pricey security, wagons and pack animals with a clearing house.
Note:
(a) “it was not the staff that did for the banks.”
do for sb/sth: "UK OLD-FASHIONED INFORMAL phrasal verb to seriously damage something, or to seriously hurt or kill someone <Driving on those rough roads has really done for my car>”
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/british/do-for-sb-sth
(b) “A small, spruced-up central area [in Pingyao] thrums with visitors enjoying the curved rooftops, traditional façades, red lanterns and, strangely, Mao memorabilia.”