Lu Shang sages have two representatives. One is Zi Gong, a disciple of Confucius, a native of Shandong, a typical Confucian. Although he is in business, he is "honest" and "trustworthy". After the death of Confucius, other disciples stayed awake for three years, and the only son was rehabilitated for another three years. The other is Fan Li, the counselor of Gou Jian, the King of Yue. He bravely retired from the torrent, quietly went to Qi State, remained anonymous, and started a business in Dingtao, Shandong Province today. Claiming to be "the princes" and "Tao Zhugong", they adhered to the natural law of "one is expensive, the other is cheap and extremely rebellious" and became rich businessmen.
Tao Zhugong, whose ancestral home is in Henan, made a fortune in Shandong. After becoming a rich man, he spread his wealth widely, made a fortune, carried out his virtues and was keen on "public welfare undertakings." The "Tao Zhu cause" later became another name for business.
In fact, Confucius and Mencius' theories of "valuing agriculture over business" and "valuing righteousness over profit" suppressed the formation of Lu merchants, especially after the Han Dynasty's "exclusive respect for Confucianism". At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the trade of Zhoucun in Zibo, Shandong Province and the rise of Weixian (now Weifang) industry made Shandong businessmen re-enter the commercial stage. At that time, Confucius and Mencius were being violently impacted by modern civilization. Meng Hongsheng, a business tycoon, was a typical businessman in Shandong at that time. He founded Ruifuxiang Silk Shop in Guangxu 19 (1893) and still stands in front of Beijing. He went to Zoucheng several times to recognize his ancestors, but was repeatedly rejected because he violated his ancestral teachings and abandoned school to do business.
It is not a Shandongese who combined Confucius and Mencius culture with commercial culture and rose to the theoretical level, but a Japanese Shibusawa Eiichi far away from Confucius and Mencius' hometown. The founder of this enterprise form, Japan Co., Ltd., is also an entrepreneur with the Analects of Confucius in his left hand and an abacus in his right hand. In his later years, he devoted himself to the study of The Analects of Confucius, and founded the theory of The Analects of Confucius abacus on 1923, which influenced several generations of Japanese entrepreneurs with the idea of "unity of righteousness and benefit". In Shandong, Gao, the chairman of Linuo Group, is an influential private entrepreneur, and his other identity is vice chairman of Jinan. Plateau is the director of Shandong Yinan Glass Factory, and then went to the School of Economics and Management of Shandong University to study for a master's degree. After graduation, he was assigned to Shandong Provincial Administration of Medicine. According to his own statement, starting a business is not out of the impulse to make money by doing business. He lived a full life in the drug administration and didn't want to go back. But one day, an old partner of Yinan Glass Factory found him and told him that the enterprise had closed down. Gao said that he couldn't stand the fact that his former employees didn't have jobs, and he was determined to find a way out for everyone. Only borrowed 500 thousand from the bank to start a business.
From a certain point of view, this is also a practice of Shandong businessmen's "unity of righteousness and benefit".
Shandong is said to be the land of Qilu. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Shandong was under the jurisdiction of Qi and Lu. Qi was strong and Lu was weak. Today's title is Qi in front and Lu in the back. Speaking of Shandong businessmen, why are they called "Shandong businessmen" instead of "Qi businessmen"?
Zhou Taiwei, a warlord who was enfeoffed in the chaos of the world, was given fief by Jiang Ziya, that is, Zibo, Weifang and the east, and Zhou Lingfei was given fief in Shandong, that is, Qufu Tai 'an. King Qi asked how to govern Lu, and King Lu said, "Respect your relatives"; King Lu asked the King of Qi how to govern the State of Qi, and the general plan of the King of Qi was "respecting the virtuous and rewarding the meritorious".
Business habits have a long history in Qi State. Qi Dao coins displayed in the Museum of the Old Capital of Qi State in Linzi witnessed the commercial civilization of Qi State 2000 years ago. Tao Zhugong and Zigong both come from Qi and the environment.
Today, Qilu still reveals different business cultures. Qingdao's "Tiqi" has more export-oriented economic characteristics of marine civilization, while Jinan, which opened a commercial port at 1904, is slightly conservative. The new Lu merchants won by the way of "sage inside and king outside". One of the core ideas of Confucian culture is "the sage inside and the king outside". This statement was not initiated by Confucianism, but first appeared in Zhuangzi Tianxiapian. The article says: "The birth of a saint and the success of a king are all based on one (Tao)", which is the way of "being a saint inside and being a king outside". This theory later evolved into the basic proposition of Confucianism, the so-called "inner sage", which is what Mencius called "sage, human relations first" ("Mencius? On Li Lou), that is, to complete the highest moral cultivation in personal life; The so-called "external king" requires sages not only to pursue the moral perfection of personal life, but also to externalize this "internal saint" into moral practice and "help the people through the country" and make contributions to the local, national and ethnic groups. This is the highest realm pursued by Confucianism, which is equivalent to "self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world" in "University".
Reflected in the business philosophy of new Lu merchants, it is the influence and enlightenment of Confucian spirit on the "view of justice and benefit" of new Lu merchants. Later generations often mistakenly think that Confucianism values righteousness over profit. In fact, although Confucius said a lot about "gentleman's righteousness, villain's benefit", he was not ashamed of saying benefit. He refused to be "unjust and rich" and opposed to "forgetting the righteousness". He also said, "I'm as rich as an enemy, even though I'm a whipper." What we call "righteousness" and "faith" is honesty, which is the most basic "righteousness", just like Confucius said, "People can't do anything without faith" and "People can't stand without faith". It should be said that the new Shandong merchants have won the essence. New Lu merchants believe in "giving to the masses" and "benefiting from the group". As an economic entity, it is naturally difficult for enterprises to get rid of the identity of "economic man". Sima Qian also said that "the world is bustling, all for profit; The world is bustling, all for profit. " Although entrepreneurs are the "helm" of enterprises, they should also seek their own economic interests. However, many new Lu businessmen have achieved "a gentleman loves money, takes it wisely and uses it properly", "being honest and clean, and achieving great achievements", and many new Lu businessmen have achieved "being poor and being immune to it, and being able to help the world".
Wang Tingjiang, the chairman of Linyi Huasheng Jiangquan Group, donated his private enterprise worth 6 million yuan to the village collective for free in 1990s. Liang Xisen, a farmer entrepreneur in Liangzui Village, Huangjia Town, Leling City, Dezhou, earned a lot of money after taking over a villa project in Beijing, and returned to his hometown to invest 42 million yuan to build townhouses for the whole village 136 villagers, practicing the new rural development road of "rural urbanization, farmers' citizenization and agricultural industrialization". New Shandong merchants advocate the spirit of self-improvement of "keeping pace with the times". Self-improvement is the driving force of pioneering and innovation, and it is a positive attitude towards life. Zhouyi said, "Heaven is healthy, and a gentleman strives for self-improvement". Book of Rites? Universities also say "new progress, new progress, new progress", which is actually calling for a spirit of pioneering, advancing with the times and innovation.
Innovation is an inexhaustible motive force for the sustained, high-speed and coordinated development of Shandong's economy, and innovation is also a cultural gene for the success of a number of new Shandong businessmen.