Who is the most successful businessman in China? Everyone may have a different answer. But if you look at China's vast history, Jin merchants and Hui merchants are definitely on the list, and they are at the top. The merchants in both places were engaged in business and seeking wealth, but the god of wealth they worshipped was not one.

Jin merchants worship Guan Gong, and Hui merchants worship Zhu Xi.

Although the God of Wealth in my heart is not one, it is a path to seek wealth in the same way.

Jin merchants and Hui merchants emerged in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and there was sometimes the saying of "Northern Jin and Southern Hui". Jin merchants are based on geographical relations, and Hui merchants are based on blood clan relations; Jin merchants respected Guan Yu, and Hui merchants believed in Zhu Xi. So why are these two merchant gangs that emerged in the same period so different?

Dao Zhonghua: How did the Jin merchants and the Hui merchants, as two important merchant gangs in Chinese history, emerge? What are the areas of the autonomous battalions?

Wang Jinli: During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the national unified market was gradually formed, and Jin merchants rose during this period, mainly dealing in salt and iron, but also trading grain, cotton, silk, tea, velvet, pigments, coal, timber, tobacco and other commodities.

In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, Jin merchants showed their skills in the national commodity market, and ticket numbers also came into being. Lei Lutai, a native of Longyue Village, Pingyao County, Shanxi Province, founded China's first ticket number, Risheng Chang, in the third year of Daoguang (1823). Since then, more than 20 ticket numbers have appeared in Pingyao, which have more than 500 semicolons across the country, involving more than 70 cities and towns, from Baotou and Zhangjiakou in the north, Dihua (present-day Urumqi) and Liangzhou (present-day Wuwei, Gansu) in the west, and Hong Kong in the south, forming a huge financial network that "connects the world". For this reason, Liang Qichao praised Shanxi Ticket as "the bull's ear of China's financial industry".

Huizhou's grain production was insufficient, and there were no unique conditions for tea and timber production, so Huizhou people went out to do business and find a way out. By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Hui merchants formed four major industries, including salt, pawn (dang), tea and wood.

Salt was officially controlled in ancient times, and the people were not allowed to manufacture and sell table salt, and trafficking in illegal salt was a felony. Until Zhu Yuanzhang formulated the "Open China Law", allowing the people to exchange grain for official salt. Of course, there are also various inconveniences in opening China and France, merchants need to go to the northern frontier to collect grain first, and then go to the salt field to collect salt, running back and forth, the cost is higher.

In the fifth year of the reign of Ming Hongzhi (1492), Hube Shangshu Ye Qi carried out the salt administration reform, and proposed the practice of replacing the "Kaizhong method" with the "open middle folding color system", which is historically known as the "Ye Qi change method". At this point, merchants did not have to go to the northern frontier to exchange grain for salt tickets, but in the hinterland, they could go to the salt transport department to exchange silver taels for salt tickets. Hui merchants are far away from the northern frontier, and originally selling salt under the "Kaizhong Law" is not dominant, but due to the "Ye Qi Change Method", the original disadvantage no longer exists, and Hui merchants have developed rapidly.

However, in the late Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, wars continued for years, and Hui merchants suffered heavy losses.

In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the national market was relatively prosperous, and Hui merchants relied on the spirit of "Hui Camel" to go out for business tirelessly, and developed and grew again.

Dao Zhonghua: Jin merchants avoid relatives and townships, while Hui merchants are based on blood and clan relations; Jin merchants admire Guan Yu, while Hui merchants believe in Zhu Xi, why is there such a difference?

Wang Jinli: The business gang governance of Jinshang adopts the "East Partnership System", that is, the capable and experienced treasurer controls the management right and decision-making power, the shareholders are only responsible for capital investment, and the core of its employment is to avoid relatives and villages, so a large number of shrewd and capable and reliable fellow villagers are gathered to operate and manage.

In addition, the Jin merchants formulated strict "trumpet rules", such as the guys in the number must not fight and fight, must not play right and wrong, and must obey commands; Gangs are prohibited; Treasurers and other high-ranking personnel are not allowed to bring their families, and associates are not allowed to marry in camps, and abstain from prostitution and drug addiction; Do not give gifts to the treasurer or the treasurer; Do not sit in the shopkeeper or the house of the wealth owner; You can go home to visit your relatives once every three years, etc. Jinshang also has many punishment mechanisms for employees who are dismissed in violation of the law, that is, after being dismissed by one company, other Jinshang are no longer hired, so that the members of the business gang dare not easily do illegal things.

Influenced by Zhu Zili, Hui Di has a strong sense of clan, and the clan system has become the daily behavior norm of Huizhou people. Hui merchants go out to do business, and clan ethics is their main means of restraint.

Since the Tang and Song dynasties, Guan Yu's "loyalty" has been more and more respected, and more and more nicknames have been added. Emperor Huizong of Song alone successively added Guan Gong as "Zhonghui Gong", "Chongning Zhenjun", "Wu'an King", "Righteous Brave Wu'an King", etc., and Guan Gong's status reached the extreme, and the people called him Guan Di, Guan Diye, Guan Fuzi, Guan Sheng Dijun, Xietian Emperor, etc.

Jin merchants who were in the same township as Guan Gong worshipped Guan Gong as a protective deity and spiritual idol, and shaped the most basic core of his business ethics, that is, to seek profit with righteousness, win with sincerity, and pursue "profit" on the premise of "righteousness" and not do anything contrary to righteousness. Therefore, "righteousness" has also become synonymous with Jin merchants.

Huizhou was the hometown of Zhu Xi, a scholar of the Song dynasty, and Zhu Zi, who called himself "Xin'an Zhuxi", returned to his hometown several times to visit relatives and give lectures here, and the "theory" and "etiquette" advocated by him had a great impact on the business order and personal cultivation of Hui merchants. Zhu Xi's theoretical thought is a practical theoretical spirit, which subverts the concept of light commerce in traditional culture and provides theoretical support for the combination of Confucianism and business.

Zhu Xi believes that "righteousness is self-beneficial, and clear ways are meritorious and contributional." Hui merchants abide by Zhu Xi's teachings, do not take utilitarianism as a hurry, but take benevolence and righteousness as the sky, "wealth comes from the Tao, profit and righteousness", while pursuing economic interests, they do not lose the "benevolent style", showing the elegance of businessmen.

Zhu Xi's etiquette learning, Hui people rushed to learn, Hui merchants needless to say. Hui merchants enshrined the statue of Zhu Zi and worshipped the great Ru Zhu Xi as a god, and in addition to doing business, the Book of Zhu Zi did not leave the left and right.

▲Zhu Xi sculpture of Wuyi Mountain, Fujian. (Image source: China News Network)

Dao Zhonghua: Whether it is Jin merchants or Hui merchants, many people return to their hometowns after making profits and become rich, providing relief to their neighbors, building roads and bridges, and setting up volunteer schools. What kind of common business culture is behind Jin merchants and Hui merchants?

Wang Jinli: The degree of brilliance of Jin merchants and Hui merchants is comparable in the same period, which is not accidental, but inevitable. The most important point is that in the face of righteousness, it must be "seeing righteousness", which is closely related to the traditional Confucian "concept of righteousness".

The trade-off between profit and righteousness in business ethics mainly refers to the relationship between material interests and moral principles. Confucianism emphasizes righteousness over profit, not only focusing on righteousness and ignoring profit, but emphasizing the importance and necessity of righteousness when righteousness and profit are in a state of opposition, that is, in the process of pursuing interests, righteousness should be the criterion and not harm the interests of others and society.

Jin merchants pay attention to "making profits with righteousness", that is, in the face of "righteousness" conflicts, they more thoroughly and clearly emphasize "righteousness"; Huishang pays attention to "seeking profit with righteousness", that is, pursuing profit without forgetting righteousness. Although there are differences in the way Hui merchants and Jin merchants operate and manage, fundamentally speaking, the Confucian "concept of righteousness and benefit" is the common value orientation of the two, and this is also the unique wisdom of China Merchant.

(Interviewee: Wang Jinli is an associate professor at the School of Marxism, North University of China.) )

(Dao Zhonghua WeChat public account Ban Zhibin)