Confucian learning spirit

If expressed in the simplest language, it is "benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith", which is the "five permanent members" of Confucianism. The essence of Confucian culture, for individuals, lies in how to make individual life develop continuously and effectively, and actively contribute to family, community, country and nation, so as to make individual life transcend time and space and become more realistic and eternal; As far as the group is concerned, it can not only make itself full of vitality and maintain the momentum of progress, but also be stable, orderly and immortal, so that every creature in it can stretch freely and live in harmony to the maximum extent. If expressed in the simplest language, it is "benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith", which is the "five permanent members" of Confucianism. "Constant" means common sense, constant way, unchangeable principle and eternal meaning. No matter which dynasty, no matter what society, groups and individuals want to be excellent, outstanding and immortal, they can't do without these five words. It is precisely because of these five words that the splendid Chinese civilization with a long history of 5,000 years has endured disasters with perseverance and experienced ups and downs. The reason why Shanxi merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties survived the turmoil of the times, the exploitation of bandits, the exploitation of corrupt officials, the suppression of feudalism, and the bullying of foreigners is precisely because the clever Shanxi merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties successfully transplanted and skillfully applied the essence of Confucian culture represented by these five words to the management road and corporate culture construction, and created a way for Shanxi merchants to be Confucian businessmen. Benevolence: the core and essence of Confucian merchants' way in Jin Dynasty. "Benevolence" is the core and essence of Confucian culture. It has created the fine character and style of Shanxi merchants and their leading figures in Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as self-reliance, harmony with the people, virtuous and virtuous. "Practicing benevolence and righteousness", Shanxi businessmen have made great efforts in the commercial field. With tenacious perseverance and unyielding spirit, they worked hard, started businesses diligently, managed their families diligently and accumulated commercial wealth. After several generations and more than ten generations' unremitting efforts, a number of Shanxi businessmen with strong financial resources have finally been achieved. Successful Shanxi businessmen are forbidden to be rich and heartless, and stick to the principle of "benevolence". For example, almost all the owners of the famous Qiao Family Courtyard are very charitable and care about public welfare. According to the Records of Qixian County in the Eighth Year of Guangxu, in the third year of Guangxu (1877), there was a drought in Shanxi, and thousands of miles of bare land made nothing grow, and millions of people starved to death. Qiao Zhiyong, the boss of jstars, is away from home. When his son Qiao Jingyan was in charge of the family business, he generously donated money to build water conservancy for his hometown, funded the establishment of Qixian Middle School and Taiyuan private Guanghua Women's College, and helped the poor with medicine, which won the praise of the people. Adhering to the principle of "benevolence", Shanxi merchants built a good public image of Shanxi enterprises in Ming and Qing Dynasties with their "benevolence" behavior, improved their visibility and reputation, and naturally won countless tangible assets and huge intangible wealth. Righteousness: The morality and values of Confucian merchants in the Jin Dynasty reflected the lofty moral standards and lofty value pursuits advocated by Confucianism. Shanxi businessmen and their leading figures are urged to properly handle the relationship between righteousness and benefit, and between morality and business, and insist on controlling benefits with righteousness rather than taking unjust benefits, so that Shanxi businessmen can take into account long-term interests, national interests and national interests while maintaining profits. Guan Yu was worshipped in the Shanxi Merchants Guild Hall, not only because Guan Yu was a fellow countryman in Shanxi, but more importantly because Guan Yu, as a martial saint respected by Confucianism, was a model of "righteousness" and had the reputation of "righteousness in heaven". Fan Lubin, a famous businessman in Jiexiu, Shanxi Province in the Qing Dynasty, was quite loyal. When Kangxi was in charge of copper and lead, Wang lost 832 thousand silver. When he died, Fan's family "increased the amount on schedule to make up for it". Fan's righteous act was not only praised by his peers, but also favored by the Qing government, thus gaining rich benefits. Shanxi jstars respect justice for profit, take money wisely, and don't make unscrupulous black money. Besides, when the country is in trouble, they give generously. During the Xianfeng period, the relief was as high as 36,000 taels of silver. After Eight-Nation Alliance captured Beijing, he not only helped the dignitaries who fled to Shanxi, but also insisted on the promise of exchanging tickets at the expense of business losses caused by the war, which won the government's appreciation and wide social reputation. Therefore, under the unfavorable situation that other merchant banks closed down one after another because of the war in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, they operated until the early liberation. If it weren't for the civil war, Shanxi Qiaojia Group would continue to gallop in the shopping malls today and rank among the top 500 in the world. Li: The code of conduct of Confucian merchants in Jin Dynasty. The word "Li" represents the code of conduct and the awareness of rules. There is a saying in Shanxi merchants that "every family has its own hard-to-read classics, and every family has its own hard-to-read classics". In the course of hundreds of years of business development, Shanxi merchants have established strict store rules, store rules and number rules, and clearly standardized the business behaviors of shopkeepers, waiters and apprentices. At the same time, strict management systems have been established, such as apprenticeship system, individual shareholding system, treasurer responsibility system, equity financing system, joint-stock system, bill financing system, etc., which have achieved fine division of labor, clear rights and responsibilities, reasonable constraints and effective incentives, and achieved "one plus one is greater than two", which has enabled Shanxi businessmen to form a huge synergy of wealth accumulation and have institutional guarantee for maintaining long-term and steady development. Wisdom: the expression of innovative consciousness and business strategy of Confucian businessmen in Jin Dynasty. The word "wisdom" stands for cleverness, ability, academic spirit and innovative consciousness. Most of the leading figures in Shanxi merchants are not only good at reading poetry, arithmetic and management, but also willing to invest intellectually in their children and apprentices. As early as the Yuan Dynasty, there was a school for children of salt merchants in Yanchi, Yuncheng, Shanxi. In the Qing Dynasty, Shanxi merchants established many schools for children in Baotou. Dashengkui, a well-known firm at home and abroad, has its own training institution in Kobdo, Outer Mongolia. It recruited 15-and 16-year-old boys from Jinzhong, rode camels, naturalized them and sent them to Cobdo for training in foreign languages and business knowledge of Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Uygur. The shrewdness of Shanxi merchants is not only reflected in their excellent management strategy and technology, but also in their excellent management innovation and system innovation. For example, merchants in Jinzhong started the business of "buying treetops" similar to grain futures trading as early as 1798, which was half a century earlier than the agricultural futures trading in Chicago, USA. Merchants in Jinzhong initiated banks, accounting firms and other financial institutions, and created a large number of financial instruments, financial services and corresponding financial systems such as bill financing, financial auditing and risk control. The unremitting enterprising spirit of "keep forging ahead, keep forging ahead, keep forging ahead" advocated by Confucianism inspires Jin Confucian businessmen to keep forging ahead and innovate in business, finance and other fields, constantly create commercial wealth, and promote the enterprise's foundation to last forever. Letter: The connotation of the goodwill of Confucian merchants in Jin Dynasty and the word "letter", a magic weapon of Changxing, represents goodwill in the business world. A high degree of credibility means having huge intangible assets. Confucius said that "a man without faith doesn't know what he can do" and "a man without faith can't stand". Qiao Zhiyong, who has the reputation of "bright rich man", takes "honesty first, charity second and profit third" as the management criterion, and often warns his descendants that honesty is the first key to doing business, and businesses must attach importance to credibility and win customers with credibility; Secondly, you should give lectures, don't cheat, and don't cheat. You should get one point for every point, and you won't make any money. "In nave", with a prominent reputation, has made great progress during the period of taking charge of the family business, which is spread all over the country's major commercial ports and land and water terminals, and the Qiao family ranks among the top rich families in the country. The word "letter" has created the glory of Jinshang Bank, and "a piece of paper travels thousands of miles and two thousand gold is cashed" is a vivid portrayal. No wonder some people say that Pingyao, Qixian and Taigu in Shanxi, where banks gathered at that time, were equivalent to today's world financial center Wall Street. At that time, a manager of Shanghai Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation commented on the credibility of Jinshang Bank: "In the past twenty-five years, HSBC has done a lot of transactions with Jinshang, amounting to hundreds of millions of taels, but we have not met a deceitful China person". The word "trust" is not only the secret of the brilliant success of Shanxi merchants in "connecting the world", but also the magic weapon of Shanxi merchants' prosperity for a hundred years, because intangible wealth (goodwill) is easier to pass down across the times than tangible wealth.