The status difference between ancient businessmen and modern businessmen

In modern China, officials, gentry and businessmen were very active social groups. What is particularly prominent is that after the emergence of new groups of businessmen, whether in social status or social influence, or in many other aspects, businessmen have begun to step onto the historical stage with a new attitude that they did not have in the past, which has aroused widespread concern from all walks of life. But on the other hand, we should also see that when it comes to businessmen, it seems that they can't do without derogatory terms such as greedy for petty gain and mercenary. Especially in China's long feudal society, commerce was "relegated to the last service", and businessmen were once "humbled and despised in the street, and were not allowed to associate with literati". In fact, this is the traditional prejudice of feudal rulers to maintain the small-scale peasant economy on which they depend and implement the policy of "emphasizing the capital and restraining the end".

Due to various factors, it is difficult to change China's long-standing custom of belittling business. The orientation of "scholar, farmer, industry and business" has also become an unchangeable solidified model in China traditional society, and businessmen have always been in a very humble position. When it comes to business, in the eyes of ordinary people, this is just a dirty world full of deception and dishonesty. These one-sided views did not change gradually until the late Qing Dynasty, and unprecedented new changes appeared in all aspects, with the rise of mercantilism. But today, people's one-sided understanding of businessmen has not been completely eliminated. In fact, neither the thoughts and behaviors of businessmen nor the actual situation of the whole commercial society are what most people subjectively imagine. This book hopes to give readers a general picture of the development and changes of China businessmen in modern times from different aspects through a number of special studies, and strive to describe and evaluate them objectively without praise.

The emerging businessmen in modern China should be said to be a dynamic social group that followed the historical development and had a very important influence in many fields of social life. Different from the ancient merchants, the so-called merchants in modern times do not only refer to the narrow concept of merchants between buyers and sellers, but mainly refer to a broad term of merchants. In modern times, people engaged in commerce and finance are called merchants, warehouses, financiers and securities dealers, and people engaged in manufacturing and transportation are also called manufacturers, producers and transporters. In other words, anyone engaged in industrial activities is called a businessman almost in modern times. This is not only a custom in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, but also a broad definition of businessmen in law. For example, the General Rules for Merchants promulgated by Beijing Municipal Government 19 14 in March defines the scope of businessmen as: people engaged in buying and selling, leasing loans, manufacturing, processing, water and electricity, publishing and printing, finance, trust, labor contracting, hotels, stacks, insurance, transportation, consignment, dentists and intermediary agents. So judging from the actual situation at that time, the businessmen introduced in this book are also businessmen in a broad sense, not just buyers and sellers in a narrow sense; The so-called business community actually refers to the entire business community. Even today, the broad concept of businessman is still used to a great extent and scope. The so-called "doing business in the sea" means not only engaging in commercial transactions, but also engaging in industrial activities.

In addition to the broad sense and narrow sense, compared with ancient businessmen, modern businessmen are also significantly different in many other aspects. From the introduction and discussion of this book, we can see that the ideology of modern businessmen has obviously changed from the old to the new. Businessmen in the late Qing Dynasty have sprouted a sense of sociability and a sense of mission in the times that they did not have in the past. At the same time, they initially produced the nationalism patriotic thought with modern significance. Compared with ancient businessmen, their concept of honesty has also developed and evolved. In terms of organizational development, modern businessmen set up various new social groups such as chambers of commerce, business groups and local autonomous organizations, and their structures, functions and functions are obviously different from traditional merchant organizations. Businessmen's activities in modern times are also more diversified, especially in some major political movements, including the nationalist movement, the constitutional petition movement and the old democratic revolutionary movement, in which businessmen are a social force that cannot be ignored. Besides. Modern businessmen also carried out local autonomy activities and the "national self-determination" movement, and intervened in political disputes many times. Although the influence is different, it shows that modern businessmen are becoming more and more active in politics. In the way of management, although modern businessmen still retain some traditional backward remnants, they also have pioneering courage and competitive spirit that reflect the characteristics of the new era. They constantly learn from the management experience of advanced western countries, combined with the actual situation in China, dare to compete with powerful foreign capital, and achieved remarkable results. Many famous businessmen and their enterprises in modern times have left admirable career tracks and lessons for reference.