The Origin of Fujian Merchants

Traditional culture pays attention to relocation in different places, and "parents are not far away" has little influence in Bamin. They are mercenary, just like people in Taiwan Province Province, "leaving their ancestral graves, reuniting with clans, crossing the ocean, crossing risks, and being in a land where everything is dancing".

At least in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, men in Bamin regarded going abroad as the right way. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Fujian people immigrated overseas in an endless stream. According to the statistics of Fujian Province, there are 5.4 million overseas immigrants in Zhangquan, equivalent to 55% of the local population. In the county, its overseas immigrants account for 80% of the local population.

In order to survive and develop, Fujian overseas immigrants need to have the mentality and ability to actively adapt to different environments and cultivate the spirit of compatibility and openness. Overseas migration activities since the late Ming Dynasty have injected vitality into Minnan culture. Especially in modern times, Fujian people immigrated to Southeast Asia on a large scale. Most of these immigrants live in the colonies of western countries, directly participate in modern capitalist production and management, and some even enter the local mainstream society. There are many overseas immigrants in the coastal areas of central Fujian, the number of which exceeds that of local residents, and they maintain close ties with their hometown. Western culture entered Fujian earlier through overseas businessmen in Fujian.

Fujian businessmen are not only deeply influenced by overseas customs, but also subtly different from the Central Plains in terms of language, culture and values. As the older generation said, the words "Dongkai", "Magin" and "Sammuen" all come from western languages such as sticks, machines and soap. The influence of foreign words on Fujian is just like the influence of Guangdong and Hong Kong words on the whole country today. More importantly, the penetration of western market awareness into Fujian. The western proverb "There are no fathers and sons in business" is widely circulated in the hometown of overseas Chinese, which is a typical denial of the traditional Confucian theory, but it does not mean that Fujian people have abandoned the Confucian tradition. On the contrary, Fujian ethnic groups attach great importance to traditional culture. Modern management methods (such as joint-stock companies) have been popular in Fujian as early as the beginning of this century. The first batch of modern enterprises and the earliest municipal construction in Fujian came from overseas Chinese. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, a large number of factories moved to the mainland. After the civil war, the National Government was defeated and moved to Taiwan Province. Many factories in Fujian were taken over by the PLA and failed to move back to Fujian. Even the maritime school of Mawei Ship Administration moved to Shandong. However, Fujian has long been a front line for Taiwan, and due to its own geographical conditions, Fujian's fixed investment in infrastructure has always been the lowest in the country. After the situation in the Taiwan Strait improved, the State Council approved the official issuance of documents supporting Fujian's development, which gradually increased the intensity and promoted the efforts of Fujian businessmen to build their hometown.

Fujian's local cultural customs have strong western characteristics. Its business activities run through the western market economy principle that "economic relations are above all relations (including blood relations)". The diversity and openness of this culture are the embodiment of Fujian businessmen's pragmatic spirit and contempt for orthodoxy.