What is the culture of Shanxi merchants? Please, great gods

Shanxi businessmen's enterprising spirit is also reflected in their strong pioneering spirit. As the saying goes, "A gentleman is always striving for self-improvement." Many Shanxi businessmen have made great achievements from scratch by this spirit of self-improvement. For example, the famous Dashengkui firm, one of its founders, Wang Xiangqing, a native of Taigu, Shanxi Province, was poor in his childhood and forced by life. He used to be a domestic helper, serving as a cook and handyman in the Feiyang ancient department of the Qing army. Later, he traded with Jason and Shih University from Qixian County, Shanxi Province. First, he shouldered the burden and pulled camels. Later, he opened the "Jishengtang" firm in Uryasutai and Cobdo, and later renamed it "Jishengtang" Shanxi businessmen's enterprising spirit is also manifested in their courage to take risks. They pulled camels, walked thousands of miles in the desert, braved the snow, made obstacles, and went north to the Mongolian-Tibetan frontier; Cross waves and waves, cross the east to Japan, and reach Nanyang in the south. It fully shows their indomitable spirit. For example, in the Qing Dynasty, Shanxi merchants opened an international trade route with Shanxi and Hebei as the hubs, the Great Wall in the north, the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, Kulun, Chaktu, Siberia in Russia, and Petersburg and Moscow in the hinterland of Europe. This is another land-based international trade route that rose in the Qing Dynasty after the decline of the ancient Silk Road in China. Ili, Talbahatai and other places in northwest Xinjiang are also active places for Shanxi businessmen, and then "rest in peace far away" (now Iran). Shanxi merchants have been trading in Japan since the Ming Dynasty. Fan, a Shanxi merchant, was the largest ocean copper merchant trading in Japan during the Qianlong period in the Qing Dynasty. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Shanxi merchants opened banks in South Korea and Japan. The success of these undertakings is impossible without great boldness and courage. Doing business is like fighting a war, and it is common to be surrounded by dangers. They not only have to experience the risks of weather and environment, but also often encounter the risks of being robbed by thieves and even losing their lives. For example, Qin Bizhong, a native of Yuci, has been doing business since childhood, and his courage is abnormal. When Jiaqing of Qing Dynasty started to flourish, northerners went to the southern province to run tea, and the boat storm was regarded as a timid road. Qin Bizhong was calm and unquestionable, and he returned many years later, and all gained rich profits. Shanxi businessmen to do business in Baotou, killing the tiger's mouth is the only way. There is a folk song that says, "Kill the tiger's mouth, kill the tiger's mouth, and you will feel sad if you don't have money. You will either lose money or behead yourself with a knife, and your heart will shake after you pass the tiger's mouth." However, Shanxi merchants in Mongolia did not flinch, but there were more and more people. In order to adapt to the social unrest, there are also some Shanxi businessmen who practice martial arts by themselves. In Jiajing of Ming Dynasty, in order to prevent the invasion of Japanese pirates, 5 family members of Shanxi salt merchants who were good at shooting and brave once formed merchant soldiers to guard the city. Suzhou is an active port for Shanxi merchants, "there are twenty or thirty Shanxi merchants who are good at shooting". From the above, it can be seen that pioneering and enterprising, self-improvement, not afraid of hardships and daring to take risks are an important factor for the success of Shanxi businessmen in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Second, the professionalism of Shanxi merchants is also often praised. Respect, originally a basic category of Confucian philosophy, Confucius advocated that people should always be diligent and diligent in their lives and do their best for their careers. He said such words as "respect for deacons", "respect for things" and "respect for self-cultivation". Cheng Yi in the Northern Song Dynasty further said: "The so-called worshipper is one of the masters; The so-called one, uncomfortable (not extroverted) is called one. " It can be seen that respect refers to a single-minded and undivided mental state. Dedication is the traditional virtue of China people. In feudal society, the traditional concept is to value Confucianism over business, so among the four people, scholars are the first class and business is the last class. However, Shanxi businessmen in Ming and Qing Dynasties did not see it this way. They thought that merchants and scholars, peasants and workers were equally important undertakings, both of which were their own businesses and should be respected as well. Jin people abandoned old customs, praised merchants and praised Jia, and were proud of doing business. Chang, a wealthy businessman in Yuci, was always in the imperial examination in the Qing dynasty, but he never despised business, and he put the best children of his family into the business sea. There are many children of the Chang family who abandoned Confucianism and officials to do business. For example, Chang Weifeng, the 13th, studied as a teacher when he was a child, and his poems and chapters were beautiful and valued by those who knew them. When I grew up, I gave up the imperial examination and went to Zhangjiakou to do business. Weifeng is extremely talented, capable, especially skilled in employing people and changing ways. Once everything is judged, he will make a decision immediately, which is beyond the reach of his colleagues. The 14th Chang Xuchun, a juror in the late Qing Dynasty, was a member of the Legal Department in the late Qing Dynasty, and was a famous calligrapher in Sanjin. He also did a good job in poetry. At that time, he was called "Li Beihai, a calligrapher, and Wang Yuyang, a poet". But his passion is business. Chang changed "learning to be an excellent official" to "learning to be an excellent businessman", and was able to concentrate outstanding talents on business for generations, thus forming a group of businessmen with considerable culture. Because they introduced the integrity, benevolence, loyalty and forgiveness of Confucian education into the business world, Chang's business flourished. It can be seen that treating business as a lifelong lofty cause is an important factor for Shanxi businessmen to succeed in business. Dedication: it is the source of career success, and the style of diligence, assiduousness and caution is the concrete embodiment of the idea of dedication in practice. Diligence: This is a good character of most Shanxi businessmen. For example, Xing Jiuru, Dingxiang, Shanxi Province, was "a little poor and lost his love at the age of fourteen ... After two years, his eldest father died, and his family was in trouble. The male and female brothers were young and had no money, so they had to give up their studies and go to business. They were just weak and served Jia in Chifeng County, JD.COM ... They worked hard for more than forty years, but their family was rich." Li Zhichun, a native of Yuci, said, "I was born in a poor family, my young parents died, my brother was a helper, and my brother was a martyr. So I studied business in a cloth shop in Shunde, Zhili. I worked hard for decades, and I was valued by the deacons. I accumulated more money. I married Wang in Xuanli ... My three sons were all established, and I grew up in Chicheng, followed by the second and third sons, and my family gradually rose." Zhao Jun, a native of Yongji, "is a rich family in the south of the Yangtze River, and he is diligent and knowledgeable". Hardworking: Not afraid of hardship and tiredness is also a good character of most Shanxi businessmen. Nalan Chang 'an, a Qing Dynasty man, said: "Businessmen are in the vicinity, and many people from Xuanhua, Datong and Shuoping are willing to work hard and bear the cold." Merchants in Taigu County are one of the three major gangs of Shanxi banks. They "travel thousands of miles, and the rate is normal" in doing business. Qianlong's "Records of Qixian County" has been published for 9 years, and Yan Chenglan of Qixian County "worked hard to prepare for the future". Caution: Shanxi businessmen are famous for their caution in doing business. This is not to say that they are afraid to run big business. On the contrary, they are very tight on big business. However, they don't take risks easily, and they don't fight unprepared battles. Instead, they have to make a decision on the basis of full investigation and understanding of the situation to avoid unnecessary losses. As far as lending is concerned, this is an important business of Shanxi draft bank, but it is also risky. They must make a detailed investigation on the assets of the other party, the purpose of using the money, the repayment ability and the financial situation before deciding whether to lend money. Some banks also clearly stipulate the overdraft amount of users: the upper-class households should not exceed 32,, the upper-class households should not exceed 5, to 12,, the middle-class households should not exceed 3,2, and the lower-class households should not associate with them. This provision is for the purpose of being cautious. Third, the group spirit Shanxi businessmen attach great importance to giving play to the group strength in their business activities. They unite with each other by the friendship of the village in the patriarchal society, enhance mutual understanding by maintaining the guild hall and worshipping the sacred spirit, coordinate the relationship between the firms through loyalty, harmony and help, eliminate interpersonal discord, and form large and small business groups. Shanxi businessmen's group spirit of business gangs first comes from filial piety and harmony between families. For example, Mingxing Li, a native of Quwo in the Ming Dynasty, often felt by young people: "My husband is a disciple and can't work hard. Will he sit and eat his father and brother?" Therefore, he became rich because he was "smart and calculating" in the shopping mall, and he was "expert in Zhou Shen and filial to his father and brother." Brother Zhong died, but he had no children, so his second son was the next. The family is very strict, and the clan A pays too much money to collect interest. If it is called, it will be blamed, and its voucher will be cracked by hand. " Qiao Chengtong, a native of Xiangling, Ming Dynasty, "His father Zhongyan died in Yangzhou, so he abandoned Confucianism and became Jia. Yang, an internal supervisor, supervised the Huai River and Huai River, and Cheng Tong's younger brother fled by offending Yang. Yang was in a hurry to arrest him, and Cheng Tong stepped forward and went to prison. He was punished with five poisons, but he did not say where his younger brother was, and he was released for bribing his daughter. When the younger brother comes home, he will give it half of his own wealth. " When Jiexiu's Mrs. Matthew presided over the housekeeping, "hundreds of people who stayed in the neighborhood to raise a fire were sponsored by Mrs. Tai" and "they were very kind, so they were happy to do their best". When Qiao Yingxia of Qixian County was in charge of housekeeping, he gathered his brothers together and asked the nine brothers who practiced martial arts to break a pair of chopsticks first, and then let them break nine pairs of chopsticks at a time. As a result, they kept breaking, reflecting Xia's metaphor made all the brothers unite and help each other. In carrying forward the group spirit, Shanxi businessmen also pay attention to the use of quantity and do their best. In the Ming Dynasty, Xue Lun, a native of Datong, Shanxi Province, said, "His family is a farmer, and his brother is a farmer." Wang Mian, a native of Puzhou in the Ming Dynasty, "died early and left two orphans, and there was no servant who answered the door. Wang Mian's wife, Zhang, took care of the orphans and vowed to be faithful." When the second son grew up, he ordered the eldest son to serve Jia. Yue: Lonely and helpless, it is dependent on the portal; Giving the second son a career in Confucianism means that a lover is ambitious and fails, and his load is also there. Later, he grew up before Ketuo's birth, and the second son took Ming Jing as his life, and he died. " Secondly, group spirit is the need of business expansion and business competition in business activities. With the expansion of Shanxi businessmen's activity area and business scope, business competition is becoming more and more fierce, so Shanxi businessmen have gradually formed a group of "helping each other in the same boat" from family to village. For example, Wang, a native of Puzhou in the Ming Dynasty, said, "The children of Puzhou, who receive money, hold coupons, so that they can live in the county, shoulder to shoulder and toe to toe." It can be seen that there are many children who get funds from Wang. During Qin Long and Wanli period in Ming Dynasty, the Zhang Siwei family, Wang Chonggu family and Ma Ziqiang family in Puzhou were all big merchant families, and they were related by marriage. Zhang Siwei was the minister of rites and the engineer of soil counselor of Dongge University, Wang Chonggu was the governor of Xuanda and the minister of war, and Ma Ziqiang was the minister of rites. The marriage of the three companies has enhanced their commercial competitiveness. Wang Chonggu was engaged in salt business in Hedong, and Zhang Siwei's father was a big salt merchant in Changlu, which accumulated tens of millions of dollars. Zhang and Wang joined hands to form a salt merchant gang, which controlled the salt profits in Hedong and Changlu, and had a certain monopoly. On the basis of kinship groups, Shanxi merchants gradually developed into geographical organizations. At the end of Qianlong period of Qing dynasty, there was a so-called "Huizhou merchants are all in the south of the river" in the pawn industry. North of the river are Jin people, saying "Shanxi merchants". The appearance of the name "Shanxi merchants" shows that Shanxi merchants in Qing Dynasty have gradually formed a regional business gang. In the late Qing dynasty, Shanxi draft banks set up semicolons in more than 8 cities in China, thus forming a remittance network that connects the world, and it is also a group of Shanxi businessmen with villagers as the main body. There are three forms of business group spirit of Shanxi businessmen in business operation: one is from friends to partners. This is the original form of group cooperation. A joint venture between friends means that one party contributes, the other contributes, and whether there is mutual capital or not, work and rest will help. And the partnership is a person out of the book, many partners and * * * business, that is, the financier and the buddy cooperate to operate. The difference between it and the partnership is that a financier can have many buddies, so "estimate the producer, but count the size of the buddy, then tens of millions of products can be counted." Obviously, the buddy system is larger than the friend system, and the buddy system is developed on the basis of the friend system. This system is unprecedented in the commercial history of China in terms of its scale organization. However, whether it is friends or buddies, it is still a relatively loose group of businessmen. The second is to form business gangs by region. This form is a group composed of local villagers on the basis of mutual benefit and buddy system. The guild halls established by Shanxi businessmen in various places are an important symbol of the formation of business gangs in this place. For Shanxi businessmen, this kind of regional gang is unified as the Jin gang. However, in Shanxi, different business gangs were formed according to different regions in the province, such as Zelu Gang, Linxiang Gang, Taiyuan Gang and Fenzhou Gang. The rise of ticket banks in the Qing Dynasty formed three ticket merchants: Pingyao, Qixian and Taigu. The third is to form a group organization with joint number system and share division system. Joint-name system is that a large firm is in charge of some small firms, which is similar to the parent company in the west, thus playing a group role in business activities. Share-holding system is a distinctive form of labor organization founded by Shanxi businessmen in their business activities. The implementation of the joint-stock system can benefit both employers and employees, greatly arouse the enthusiasm of all employees and give full play to the group role in the operation of commercial enterprises.