Chapter 7 Chapter 6 Sorry about Shanxi

one When I was traveling in Shanxi, I always felt ashamed. For a long time, I have regarded Shanxi as one of the most impoverished provinces in my country, and I have never doubted this view.Maybe it has something to do with the touching folk song "Zou Xikou", which is sung in both Shanxi and Shaanxi. It generally refers to leaving the hometown to make a living outside the mouth. What about leaving home?Perhaps also influenced by Zhao Shuli and other so-called yam and egg school writers, their descriptions of Shanxi people's resistance to poverty are unforgettable with a simple emotional power.Of course, the most decisive influence is the famous village called Dazhai in eastern Shanxi. It was once regarded as the epitome of rural China, which is too much, but in the minds of most Chinese, it is the epitome of Shanxi. Doubtful.Wrinkled faces, heavy prongs, neat terraced fields on the barren hills, and rows of corn were planted in the dark early in the morning. The greatest hardship is connected with the lowest consumption. The simple and honest Dazhai people have no complaints. I can't imagine any other way of living besides repeatedly tossing the soil under my feet, and what excessive demands can I have on these dry, gray-yellow soil?

To this day, we are not qualified to lightly laugh at the most honest and loyal farmers in the world.However, when this mountain village suddenly became the object of pilgrimage all over the country, and when the visiting and studying teams from thousands of miles away crowded the mountain roads, we had to look for some kind of deep connotation behind the excitement of formalism .In my opinion, Dazhai’s popularity is due to its ecological approach inadvertently colliding with a delicate scale in the minds of many people at that time.People don't like poverty, but they worry about being rich.The social revolution that you have participated in for decades was called to change poverty. The revolutionary method to change poverty is to deprive wealth. In order to explain the rationality of this deprivation, we must logically divide wealth and evil. The upper equal sign.As a result, we want to change poverty but dare not care about the opposite of poverty. We have to block all possibilities of getting rich, eliminate any differences in interests, and maintain a uniform and hard life with uniform hard work.Since there is no affluence, there is no feeling of poverty, and there is some consolation in comparison with the poorer days before.Therefore, poverty is eliminated psychologically; poverty is eliminated without being corroded by wealth, and a hazy vision is imagined without pursuing wealth. This is the scale that people find in this mountain village with promotion value.

Of course, a kind of psychological feeling in a closed environment, a kind of spiritual passion that has been greatly exaggerated, after all, cannot cover up the actual poverty.The visitors and learners from all over the country saw everything, their eyes were red, half moved and half sympathetic.At that time, Dazhai had a better reputation than Shanxi, and Shanxi was just a foil for Dazhai, and the foil came out with the same proposition: touching hardship and astonishing poverty.To this day, people can forget about Dazhai, but it is difficult to get rid of this proposition about Shanxi. However, this proposition is unfair.One day about eight or nine years ago, when I was looking through a pile of historical materials, I discovered some facts that surprised me, so I quickly put down my other work and concentrated on research.For a long time, I checked one book after another, read one manuscript after another, and finally accepted such a conclusion with suspicion: in the last century and even a long period before that, China’s most The rich provinces are not those areas we can imagine now, but Shanxi!Until the beginning of this century, Shanxi was still China's majestic financial and trade center.Most of the more decent financial institutions in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and other cities have their highest headquarters in a few ordinary streets in Pingyao County and Taigu County in Shanxi. These big cities are just a small test of wealth for Shanxi businessmen. Just the pier.

There are many astronomical figures that can be cited for the wealth of Shanxi merchants. This article does not make a special elaboration on economic history, so let’s omit it for the time being. Anyway, in the national commercial field in the Qing Dynasty, Shanxi people had the largest number of people, the thickest capital, and the widest spread; Most of the wealthiest families and individuals in the country are from Shanxi. Even among the various businesses that have declared closure in the capital and returned to their hometowns, Shanxi are the ones who carry the most money. According to our usual concept, wealth must be the result of the cruel exploitation of the majority by the few, but the fact is that the development of commercial trade in Shanxi and the luxurious consumption of the wealthy have greatly improved the employment rate and the overall living standard of the location, and those big businessmen They all made profits in the process of financial circulation for thousands of miles. At that time, the general living standards of urban people in Shanxi were not low.There is a material that interestingly illustrates this problem.In 1822, the cultural thinker Gong Zizhen put forward a bold political proposal in the article "Western Regions Set up Provincial Councils". There are ten out of ten people who do not do business, five or six, so it is suggested that such unemployed people and people from areas with a lot of people and less land in Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi, Gansu, Jiangxi, Fujian and other provinces be moved westward on a large scale, turning them from propertyless to There is property, and the unemployed becomes employed.He thinks that there are only two places in the interior that can be ignored (necessarily). One is the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, where the people are weak and weak, and they cannot bear to travel long distances; the other is Shanxi Province:

Shanxi is known as the richest country in the country, so it goes without saying that the natives are unwilling to move. (The Complete Works of Gong Zizhen, Shanghai People's Publishing House, page 106) What Gong Zizhen is referring to here is not only rich businessmen, but also the native Shanxi people. They will not want to migrate because they are the richest in the country. Gong Zizhen thinks it is only right and proper. In fact, in retrospect, even in my own limited experience, there have been many cases that can verify the wealth of Shanxi, but unfortunately I ignored them.For example, there is a large-scale Chinese opera museum in Suzhou now. I have accompanied foreign artists to visit it many times, and almost every time the guests are amazed.In particular, the exquisite stage and performance venue are regarded as a miracle even by international architects like I.M. Pei, but the original site of the entire museum is the Sanjin Guild Hall, a gathering place for Shanxi people to do business in Suzhou.Speaking of which, Suzhou is considered prosperous and prosperous. I didn't expect that Shanxi people would easily build a guild hall and take up the scenery.I was looking for the best stage for southern opera performances to be preserved as cultural relics forever, but I found it in a temporary club in Shanxi.I remember that I was also in a daze for a while, but I didn't think about it.

Another example is reading the various biographies of the three sisters of the Song family. I always read the description of Song Ailing going to the hometown of her husband Kong Xiangxi, so I know that Kong Xiangxi, the Minister of Finance of the Nationalist Government, also came from Taigu County, Shanxi.The biography written by American Robbie Eunsen said: Ai Ling sat in a sedan chair carried by sixteen peasants, and Kong Xiangxi rode a horse. However, to the surprise of the bride, At the end of this grueling journey, she discovered a life of the greatest luxury she had never heard of.Because some important bankers lived in Taigu, it is often called China's Wall Street.When I first read this biography, I would definitely stop at these passages for a while, but I didn't go further to ponder what it means to surprise a character like Song Ailing and be called China's Wall Street by American biographers.

It seems that the wealth of Shanxi must be common sense in the minds of our previous generation. My misunderstanding of Shanxi is entirely due to my ignorance of history.The only thing that can be forgiven is that in my generation, I am far from alone in having such misunderstandings.Misunderstandings are easy to eliminate, but the reasons are intriguing.I have always believed that this contains a major gap and bias in the social and economic concepts of me and my peers, which urgently need to be made up and corrected from the root.So for many years, I have been cautiously looking forward to a trip to Shanxi.I remember that when I gave lectures at Fudan University, Tongji University, East China Normal University and other schools, students always asked me what the next topic I wanted to investigate the most. I always mentioned Shanxi merchants in the Qing Dynasty.

two I finally came to Shanxi. In order to calm down my flustered mood, I discussed with my host, Mr. Lu Jiasheng, the director of Shanxi TV Station, and Mr. Li Baotong, the director of the station’s literature and art department. Actually approaching the big question mark buried in my heart. My question marks attracted many Shanxi friends, who accompanied me to search for relevant information in every corner of bookstores in Taiyuan.The "History of Shanxi Bank Accounts" written by Mr. Huang Jianhui was found by myself at the bottom of a bookshelf. Mr. Li Junwen, the driver who has been driving for me, dug it out from the warehouse of a bookstore. Even he, because he listened to me talking about this and that in the car every day, knew my needs.When the information was almost collected, I drove to Pingyao and Qi County, accompanied by friends from Shanxi, including Mr. Zhang Wentao, a TV director, and Ms. Shan Xiurong, a singer.In the most prosperous era of Shanxi, the center of wealth was not in Taiyuan, the provincial capital, but in Pingyao, Qixian and Taigu, among which Pingyao was the most.Mr. Zhang Wentao smiled and said to me in the car that although everyone in the car was from Shanxi except me, I should be the tour guide for this trip because I have read some historical materials.Even the guide is here for the first time, so this kind of travel naturally becomes a search.

I knew that the first thing I should look for was the old address of Rishengchang, the first bank in China specializing in foreign exchange, deposit and loan business, on Pingyao West Street.This is the rural grandfather of all kinds of banks in China today, and it is also a milestone in the history of China's financial development.After listening to me, everyone began to look carefully at every gate on West Street.It doesn't matter if you look at it, we are already overwhelmed by a momentum that we have never experienced before in just two or three.This is really a magical street, with elegant houses one after another, and tall walls closely echoing each other. After one or two hundred years of ups and downs, everything is old, but the old and strong character are still there, and there is not much. A sense of ruin and desperation.Many cultural mansions of the same age have already collapsed, but these commercial buildings are still alive and well. This reminds me of the difference between scribes and businessmen. Generally speaking, whether the vitality of the latter really needs to What about bigger?The street is not wide, and there are two deep ruts on the granite sill of every respectable courtyard. One can imagine how busy the street was on that day.These chariots and horses come from all over the country, carrying money, risks, pride, the customs and dialects of Kyushu, and a great flow of economic blood from south to north.We walked into every decent gate on West Street. At first glance, they all looked like Rishengchang, who was swallowing the sea, but after careful inquiry, they were not. It was not until finally we saw an explanatory board set up by the Pingyao County Cultural Relics Bureau. Identify the real old site of Rishengchang.An institution is occupied, but the structure of the house remains basically the same, and even the plaques and couplets of that year are still hanging quietly. I stand in this courtyard and think about it. China finally has a specialized and networked currency exchange mechanism. The North and South lands have finally unloaded the heavy burden of real bank transportation and realized lighter commercial circulation. The deposits and loans necessary for commercial circulation are provided by this courtyard. Huff and gulp.I know that every family that we suspected of being Rishengchang was doing something similar to Rishengchang at that time, whether it was a big bank or a big business.Such a dense financial and commercial structure will inevitably require a larger city service system to support it, including the hotel industry, catering industry and entertainment industry suitable for businesses from different regions of the country. We can already imagine how prosperous Pingyao City will be in those days. See.In all fairness, today’s Pingyao County is not considered depressed, but many of the solemn and quiet classical buildings are decorated with some colorful modern signboards, which seem a bit frivolous compared with the original owners of the classical buildings.I really want to ask some department in Shanxi Province for advice, and make a small determination to try my best to restore the original appearance of Pingyao West Street.Now many cities across the country are building a street in the Tang Dynasty, a street in the Song Dynasty, etc. Most of them are based on historical records and imagination. This is not necessary, because the basic buildings are still well preserved. As long as you want to wash away those modern smears, you will wash out an old street full of history and the pride of Shanxi people in the last century.

Pingyao West Street was the workplace of Shanxi businessmen back then, so what about their living places?After leaving Pingyao, we came to the Qiao family compound in Qixian County. As soon as we stepped into the gate, we immediately understood the reason why Ms. Song Ailing was surprised after a long journey.Ms. Shan Xiurong, a singer who accompanied us, said: Only here did I really understand what wealth is.In fact, Ms. Shan Xiurong has lived in Beijing for a long time and has seen many things in the world, so she is not ignorant.As far as I am concerned, I have seen a lot of big houses and deep courtyards all over the country, but as soon as I entered this house, many famous gardens in my memory immediately seemed too gentle and petty.A majestic corridor at the entrance divides the whole residence into several independent worlds, and each world is an astonishing first-class construction in Chinese classical architecture.Zhang Yimou shot the outstanding film "Raise the Red Lantern" here, and that's just some corners of it.In fact, the real owner of the Qiao Family Courtyard does not live the closed life in the movie. You only need to wander in this house for a while, and you can strongly appreciate the heroic spirit of being open-minded and daring to gallop the land of China.Galloping thousands of miles converges into a house, and the countless cornices of the house point to the boundless sky.The rich family of Zhongming Dingshi did not rely on the shade of their ancestors to parasitize without doing anything like Rongguo Mansion, but they achieved huge capital accumulation and wealth rolling by relying on continuous entrepreneurship every day.Therefore, this house does not convey to us the sense of escapism, decay or mystery like other Yuannian houses, but presents the life style of a generation of Chinese businessmen with a calm mind everywhere.

The Qiao Family Courtyard attracts many modern tourists. People come to visit the building, but also to appreciate this long-lost life style.The descendants of the Qiao family are scattered all over the world. Are they a bit unfamiliar with the demeanor of their predecessors?At least I feel that the descendants of the Qiao family around the Qiao family compound are far away from their predecessors.The compound was cleaned very cleanly, and every remote part of the compound was marked with a sanitation contract list. Looking at it one by one, most of them were surnamed Qiao. It is known as Qiao's small shops and small vendors lined up one after another, doing the smallest business at the feet of giant merchants. The Qiao family was just one of the many merchants in Shanxi back then.What happened to the descendants of other merchants?Can they guess at the appearance of their ancestors? In fact, this is a common historical topic that goes beyond the scope of the family.Over the years, even I, a native of Jiangnan, have often wondered: what kind of people are you who have created the most miraculous things in China, and how did you enter and disappear from history?I have only seen a blurry photo in "Historical Materials of Shanxi Stock Office". Outside the gate of Rishengchang Bank, for the sake of taking pictures, there are two elderly men in white clothes standing upright, calm and smiling. Fei Xiao, is this you? three It's hard for me to really grasp them amidst the pages of old billing statements.What can be judged with confidence is that Shanxi merchants became rich neither because of superior natural conditions, nor because of hereditary bequests from their ancestors.All of them have experienced a harsh struggle that transcends the environment and family background, and they have achieved success step by step. In the area of ​​Pingyao, Qixian, and Taigu in Shanxi, the natural conditions are not good, and there are not many products.Check the map and you will know that they are not far from our Dazhai.The torrent of business is rolled up from here, and the important reason is precisely that the objective environment in this area is not good. Volume 2 of Wanli's "Fenzhou Fuzhi" records: Pingyao County is barren and vigorous, with more people and less weaving and farming. Volume 3 of Qianlong's "Taigu County Chronicles" said that there are many people in Taigu County but few fields, and the valley in a good year is not enough for two months.Therefore, besides farming, he is good at making a living, and it is common to travel thousands of miles.The local custom is rich and rich, so it is true. After reading these sparse official accounts, I can't help but have a deep admiration for Shanxi merchants.My hometown is so poor and crowded, what should I do?You can scramble and fight, you can be self-sufficient and starve, you can bury your life and talk for a living, of course, you can also break into houses, loot and rebel. According to the historical view we are familiar with, all the poverty in the past is For political reasons, the only laudable path thus involved a political revolt by all peasants.However, in these counties of Shanxi, so many farmers have made choices that are completely different from any of the above paths.They are unwilling to suffer, but have no political desires; they feel crowded, but they are unwilling to crowd out their fellow countrymen;They turned their bewildered eyes to the vast sky outside their hometown, trying to use the strength of a man to find another way out of poverty.Almost none of them have much culture, but they provide materials that cannot be ignored for ancient and modern Chinese philosophy of life and historical concepts. The first thing they chose was to take the west exit.Outside the mouth, a large number of garrison troops need food and fodder, and large tracts of land need to be cultivated; cultivators, soldiers and Mongolian nomadic tribes need a lot of daily necessities, and they are looking forward to a private trade team; The necessities of the home leave a lot of opportunities for traders; the frequent business trips call for the emergence of a large number of hotels, inns, and restaurants. life space.Since the early Qing Dynasty, the ranks of Shanxi farmers walking to the west entrance have become larger and larger, so the folk song we mentioned at the beginning of this article has been sung at many village entrances and roadsides: Brother, you go to the west exit, Little sister, it's hard for me to stay. Holding my brother's hand, Send brother to the gate. Brother, you go to the west exit, Little sister, I have something to say: You have to take the big intersection when you walk, Many people and horses come to relieve their worries. Holding my brother's hand tightly, Wang Wang burst into tears. I only hate my sister, I can't go with you, I only hope that my brother will go home early. I suspect that our previous understanding of this folk song was too superficial.I suspect that even today we may not have reason to look down on the sad parting of this pair of young couples with pity and sympathy.Listening to these passionate lyrics, one can understand that the men who travel far away are not lonely in their hometown. Whether they are married or not, they all have a strong love and a partner who can live and die. It was a very warm day in this life, but they still stepped out of the house ruthlessly, and their lovers could understand it, releasing the unbroken love from the hut and handing it over to Shuobei Desert.To cry is to cry, to sing is to sing, to go or to go.I believe that the tears shed by those passionate women on the side of the road planted the first seeds for Shanxi to eventually become the richest in China. This is not a fantasy.You can see that in the early years of Qianlong, a poor young farmer from Qiaojiabao Village, Qi County, was crowded in the team going to Xikou in Shanxi.It was this young farmer who created the initial family business of the Qiao Family Courtyard.The struggle of Qiao Guifa and his descendants not only developed a family, but also established the Fusheng Gong Company, which laid the commercial foundation for the entire Baotou City, so that there appeared such a widely circulated folk proverb: First there is Fusheng Gong, and then there is Baotou City.Who would have thought that those young peasants who wiped away their tears and hurried out of the mouth could become the founders of a huge city and a magnificent civilization!Therefore, when I saw the feature film "Walking to the West Exit" filmed by Shanxi TV Station perform this folk song with a majestic symphony, I couldn't help but burst into tears. Of course, Shanxi people did not just go to the west entrance to do business. Later, they went almost everywhere.From the west entrance to the whole of China, how many people in Shanxi have bumped on the long journey all their lives.At that time, the traffic was backward and the postal delivery was inconvenient, and the hard work and sorrow during it were really endless.There are countless losers hidden behind a successful person. Behind the huge accumulation of wealth, Shanxi people paid an extremely expensive price in life.Mr. Huang Jianhui once described the sad stories of some travelers from Shanxi during the Qianlong period based on historical data There is a man named Tian Shukai in Linfen County who has never seen his father since he was a child. When he was born, his father was doing business outside. When he grew up, his father did not come back.He vaguely heard that his father took the Northwest Road, so he made a big determination to search and inquire about it in Shaanxi and Gansu.After searching for three years, I finally met an old man from Shanxi on the streets of Jiuquan, who turned out to be his father whom he had never met; Zhang Ying, a businessman from Yangqu County, went out to do business and could not return home for 20 years.His eldest son Zhang Tingcai heard that he might be in Yifu, so he went to look for him, but Zhang Tingcai has been gone for many years and has not heard from him.The youngest son, Zhang Tingchao, grew up and went to find his father and elder brother. After searching for more than a year, he couldn't find anyone. However, he ran out of money and became a beggar.When I was begging, I met a farmer who seemed to have known him before. After a closer look, it turned out to be my brother. My brother told him that I had heard about my father and was selling vegetables in Zhangjiakou; Xu Xueyan’s father from Jiaocheng County went to the Kanto to do business for more than 20 years and there was no news. Xu Xueyan traveled long distances to the Kanto to search for it, until he found a village in the northeast of Jilin Province, only to meet a villager who told him that his father had been dead for seven years. Year; It is not difficult to imagine that this type of true story can be told endlessly, and all Shanxi businessmen who travel to the west and across the country have countless such stories buried in their hearts.Thus, the young lover's singing became even more mournful: Brother, you go to the west exit, Little sister, I am suffering in my heart, How long will it take to go, I hope you will turn your head white too! Overwhelmed by the stories of so many losers and dragged by the sad singing of their lovers, Shanxi businessmen are going further and further away. They want to tell a better story. The steps they take are both sad and quiet. Four Starting without hesitation may not necessarily lead to the desired destination, especially in the business field. The all-round success of Shanxi businessmen is related to their good overall quality.This quality is especially suitable for large-scale commercial activities, so it can also be called commercial personality.I don't have much contact with the material, but I just vaguely feel that Shanxi businessmen have at least the following aspects that are very eye-catching in terms of personality First, do business calmly.To be a businessman is to be a businessman, there is nothing to hide or be shy about.This kind of mentality has not been popularized in China for a long time.Scholars, farmers, industry, and merchants are the social positioning sequence in people's minds. Businessmen are at the bottom. Although they are not without money, they have a humble status and are almost insulated from official careers.For this reason, many people try their best to dress up as Confucian businessmen even if they become businessmen, and when they get rich, they rush to run schools so that their children can be serious scholars.The most interesting thing about this point is the Anhui merchants. Originally, the Anhui merchants were also a very powerful business force, and they could completely compete with the Shanxi merchants from the north to the south. provinces, I will have the opportunity to talk about Anhui in the future), but Huizhou folk customs attach great importance to imperial examinations, making a large number of very successful businessmen in a dilemma in terms of life orientation for themselves and their descendants.This kind of situation has not happened in Shanxi. Children go to study business after a few years of schooling, and everyone takes it for granted.In the end, even Emperor Yongzheng believed that Shanxi's social positioning sequence was different from other places, and it was actually: business first, farming second, military service third, and reading books fourth (see Zhu Zhu's comment on Liu Yuyi's memorial in the second year of Yongzheng).In this unique psychological environment, Shanxi businessmen do not have too much mental burden on their careers, and they make businessmen pure. Second, the vision is far-sighted.Shanxi merchants were originally long-distance travelers who left their hometowns, so they had little space to frame their business, and this is the essential difference between commercial civilization and agricultural civilization.The entire Chinese territory is within sight. Talking about the north and south is like talking about neighbors. This advantage in geographical space enables Shanxi businessmen to discover the strengths and weaknesses, potentials and obstacles in trade in various regions, and then like Go through it one by one like the next game of Go.You see, when Emperor Kangxi began to implement the Manchurian-Mongolian friendship policy and quelled the border wars, Shanxi merchants were the first to respond and soon knew what they should do. Huge caravans were formed for Mongolia, Xinjiang and even Siberia. Everbright Shengkui’s caravan There are 100,000 camels tethered, what a vision.The goods brought out by the caravan must be purchased from North China, Central China, and South China, so they have the product characteristics and transportation network of the whole of China in their hands.For another example, the salt industry made the most money among the southern businesses in the Qing Dynasty, but the salt industry was monopolized by the government, and the licenses were all in the hands of salt merchants in Lianghuai. When salt merchants were short of funds, they gave generous loans on the condition that they gave them a little bit of salt management rights.Over time, the Lianghuai salt industry was increasingly controlled by Shanxi merchants.It can be seen that Shanxi merchants have always been staring at the overall business pattern of the country, and they do not allow themselves to have gaps in any important area, no matter how far these areas are located, whether they have anything to do with them in the first place.People can praise them for adapting to circumstances, but the discovery of machines is due to the wide field of vision and keen eyesight.Of course, nothing can show the eyes of Shanxi businessmen more than the establishment of a series of bank accounts. They saw the importance of finance to business one step ahead, so they sorted out the financial lifelines of the southeast and northwest, and put themselves firmly In the position of master of private money circulation in the whole country.These kinds of actions are all generous, and they are completely different from opportunistic small troubles.I think that having such a spirit and strategy is probably related to the deep reserves of the Sanjin civilization and the natural edification of the mountains and rivers inside and outside. We can only look up. Third, pay attention to faith.Shanxi businessmen can quickly open up the big situation, often due to group behavior in groups, rather than sneaky personal adventures.As long as you dabble in Shanxi's commercial historical materials, you will immediately see batches of so-called joint numbers.Or brothers, or father and son, or friends, or neighbors, combined into a group of forces that share and cooperate, and exchange what is needed, and spread out in a grand manner, not only overwhelming, but also flexible in response and both ways, forming a kind of business climate.In fact, Shanxi merchants will try their best to help merchants outside the affiliate system.When other merchants borrowed huge sums of money and were finally unable to repay them, the merchants who lent them generously wrote off the loan. It is not surprising that there are many such things among merchants in Shanxi.Just like I often read such historical materials: a firm owed another firm 60,000 taels of silver, but in the end it couldn’t be paid, so the boss of the borrower kowtowed to the boss of the lender to explain the predicament. The boss of the lender waved his hand, forgetting about it; one store owed the other one thousand yuan in cash and still didn't pay it back, and the lending store let it pay back a symbolic amount in order to take care of the borrower's self-esteem. An axe, a radish basket, and a laugh is all it takes.Shanxi people are quick-witted but not narrow-minded, thick but not exclusive, and unwilling to break their promises for the sake of small profits in front of them. This can be called the mentality of a big businessman. Although it is also present in Western businessmen, it is not as solid as Shanxi.Not only that, but they also pay special attention to credibility in specific business activities. Otherwise, how can those Shanxi bank accounts that specialize in bank remittance and deposit of funds have gained the trust of people all over the country for more than a hundred years?As we all know, there were not many social notarization mechanisms and supervision mechanisms in my country's financial trust industry at that time, and there was almost no punishment mechanism even for breaches of trust, so everything relied on reputation and morality.The competition in the financial trust industry is, in the final analysis, a competition of reputation and morality. In this competition, Shanxi businessmen have been in the leading position for a long time, and they can give foreigners far and near a sense of reliability. It's a big deal.The combination of the morality between business peers and the morality of commercial behavior makes Shanxi merchants add a lot of brilliance in the sense of personality to Chinese commercial civilization, and also focuses on the debate between justice and benefit that has lasted thousands of years in the history of thought (for example, many people are accustomed to Believe that as long as you do business, you will inevitably forget your righteousness) Added a new direction of thinking. Fourth, strict management.In the era when Shanxi merchants flourished most, the imperial government’s management of the commercial and financial industries was basically in an anarchic state. Free and solid Shanxi businessmen seldom indulge their habits as they please, but step up the formulation of industry norms and business codes, and seek order in disorder through strict self-discipline, because they understand that all disorderly behaviors can at most It is effective for a while, but it cannot be established for a long time.I have read respectfully the rules and regulations of many Shanxi merchants in the last century. They are not only rigorous, practical, but also full of wisdom. Even if viewed from the perspective of modern management science, they are also very valuable. A group of real management experts have been formed, and among them, people like Lei Lutai, the general manager of Rishengchang Bank, can be called business management masters and look forward to the generation.From a historical point of view, many of the rules they formulated and enforced are the secret of their business standing for a hundred years.For example, many big merchants in Shanxi have changed the general employment relationship in the internal mechanism, and brought the relationship between the financial owner and the general manager into the norm. The general manager is fully responsible for the operation and management. Behaviors can be changed, and you can’t boss around casually at ordinary times; employees must sign employment contracts and draw clear grades, with huge income disparities, and regular inspections for promotion; a large number of senior employees share shares with wealth owners and pay dividends when they expire, making the entire firm go up. The top and bottom share weal and woe and love the same family; the general number is easy to lose control of the semicolons all over the country, so further formulate the semicolon reimbursement rules, the semicolon employees' letters, remittances, and relatives. The daily operations of Shanxi firms are becoming more and more normal, and a generation of wealthy businessmen can spare their energy to open up new fields instead of exhausting the existing industries. I wonder if the above aspects roughly outline the commercial personality of Shanxi businessmen?In any case, with these aspects, the young men who went to the West Gate back then seem to have done a big business, dusted off their bodies, and entered the ranks of a generation of Chinese rich and dignified. What is a Shanxi merchant?My answer is: the brother who went to the west exit is back, and he is back at a very strong personality level. However, all logical generalizations are always one-sided after purification. In fact, as long as you look deeper, there is still a fragile side in the personality structure of Shanxi merchants. No matter how many of them there are, they are still a rare group in the whole of China; They dare to act bravely, but they often encounter the boundaries of self-confidence.They have struggled for so many years, but they have never met a thinker who can speak for them.Their actions lack the support of high-level rational forces, and their achievements are not given eloquent historical reasons.Rigorous philosophical thinking and subtle academic minds seem to elude them all the time.They have powerfully changed Chinese society, but the social reformers have focused on politics and ignored them.After all, they can only rely on money to speak, but money's speech is so lacking in moral force, how much spiritual effect can it produce?Without external spiritual effects, they will not be able to establish an inner spiritual kingdom. Even if they are successful in business, it will be difficult to achieve great peace in life.It is the times, the history, and the environment that make these successful people in commercial practice unable to become those who are conscious of the will of history.A group of strongmen who lack conversion, a group of spiritually impoverished rich, and a group of shopkeepers who are not able to grasp the fundamental issues.他們的出發點和終結點都在農村，他們那在前後左右找到的參照物衹有舊式家庭的深宅大院，因此，他們的人生規範中不得不融化進大量中國式的封建色彩。當他們成功發跡而執掌一大門戶時，封建家長制的權威是他們可追摹的唯一範本。於是他們的商業人格不能不自相矛盾乃至自相分裂，有時還會逐步走到自身優勢的反面，做出與創業時判若兩人的行為。在我看來，這一切，正是山西商人在風光百年後終於困頓、迷亂、內耗、敗落的內在原因。 在這裏，我想談一談幾家票號歷史上發生的一些不愉快的人事糾紛，可能會使我們對山西商人人格構成的另一面有較多的感性瞭解。 最大的糾紛發生在上文提到過的日昇昌總經理雷履泰和第一副總經理毛鴻翽之間。毫無疑問，兩位都是那個時候堪稱全國一流的商業管理專家，一起創辦了日昇昌票號，因此也是中國金融史上一個新階導的開創者，都應該名垂史冊。雷履泰氣度恢宏，能力超群，又有很大的交際魅力，幾乎是天造地設的商界領袖：毛鴻翽雖然比雷履泰年輕十七歲，卻也是才華橫溢、英氣逼人。兩位強人撞到了一起，開始是親如手足、相得益彰，但在事業獲得大成功之後卻不可避免地遇到了一個中國式的大難題：究竟誰是第一功臣？ 一次，雷履泰生了病在票號中休養，日常事務不管，遇到大事還要由他拍板。這使毛鴻翽覺得有點不大痛快，便對財東老闆說：總經理在票號裏養病不太安靜，還是讓他回家休息吧。財東老闆就去找了雷履泰，雷履泰說，我也早有這個意思，當天就回家了。過幾天財東老闆去雷家探視，發現雷履泰正忙著向全國各地的分號發信，便問他幹什麼，雷履泰說：老闆，日昇昌票號是你的，但全國各地的分號卻是我安設在那裏的，我正在一一撤回來好交代給你。老闆一聽大事不好，立即跪在雷履泰面前，求他千萬別撤分號，雷履泰最後衹得說：起來吧，我也估計到讓我回家不是你的主意。老闆求他重新回票號視事，雷履泰卻再也不去上班。老闆沒有辦法，衹好每天派夥計送酒席一桌，銀子五十兩。毛鴻翽看到這個情景，知道不能再在日昇昌待下去了，便辭職去了蔚泰厚布莊。 這事件乍一聽都會為雷履泰叫好，但轉念一想又覺得不是味道。是的，雷履泰獲得了全勝，毛鴻翽一敗塗地，然而這裏無所謂是非，衹是權術。用權術擊敗的對手是一段輝煌歷史的共創者，於是這段歷史也立即破殘。中國許多方面的歷史總是無法寫得痛快淋漓、有聲有色，很大一部分原因就在於這種有代表性的歷史人物之間必然會產生的惡性衝突。商界的競爭較量不可避免，但一旦脫離業務的軌道，在人生的層面上把對手逼上絕路，總與健康的商業運作規範相去遙遙。毛鴻翽當然也要咬著牙齒進行報復，他到了蔚泰厚之後就把日昇昌票號中兩個特別精明能幹的夥計挖走並委以重任，三個人配合默契，把蔚泰厚的商務快速地推上了台階。雷履泰氣恨難紓，竟然寫信給自己的分號，揭露被毛鴻翽勾走的兩名小卒出身低賤，衹是湯官和皂隸之子罷了。事情做到這個份上，這位總經理已經很失身分，但他還不罷休，不管在什麼地方，衹要一有機會就拆蔚泰厚的台，例如由於雷履泰的謀劃，蔚泰厚的蘇州分店就無法做分文的生意。這就不是正常的商業競爭了。 最讓我難過的是，雷、毛這兩位智商極高的傑出人物在勾心鬥角中採用的手法越來越庸俗，最後竟然都讓自己的孫子起一個與對方一樣的名字，以示污辱：雷履泰的孫子叫雷鴻翽，而毛鴻翽的孫子則叫毛履泰！這種污辱方法當然是純粹中國化的，我不知道他們在憎恨敵手的同時是否還愛兒孫，我不知道他們用這種名字呼叫孫子的時候會用一種什麼樣的口氣和聲調。 可敬可佩的山西商人啊，難道這就是你們給後代的遺贈？你們創業之初的吞天豪氣和動人信義都到哪裡去了？怎麼會讓如此無聊的詛咒來長久地佔據你們日漸蒼老的心？ 也許，最終使他們感到溫暖的還是早年跨出家門時聽到的那首《走西口》，但是，龐大的家業也帶來了家庭內情感關係的複雜化，《走西口》所吐露的那種單純性已不復再現。據喬家後裔回憶，喬家大院內廚房偏院中曾有一位神祕的老嫗在幹粗活，玄衣愁容，旁若無人，但氣質又絕非傭人。有人說這就是大奶奶，主人的首席夫人。主人與夫人產生了什麼麻煩，誰也不清楚，但毫無疑問，當他們偶爾四目相對，《走西口》的旋律立即就會走音。寫到這裏我已知道，我所碰撞到的問題雖然發生在山西卻又遠遠超越了山西。由這裏發出的嘆息，應該屬於我們父母邦的更廣闊的天地。 five 當然，我們不能因此而把山西商人敗落的原因，全然歸之於他們自身。就一二家舖號的興衰而言，自身的原因可能至關重要；然而一種牽涉到山西無數商家的世紀性繁華的整體敗落，一定會有更深刻、更宏大的社會歷史原因。 商業機制的時代性轉換固然是一個原因。政府銀行的組建、國際商業的滲透、沿海市場的膨脹，都可能使那些以山西腹地幾個縣城為總指揮部的家族式商業體制受到嚴重挑戰，但這還不是它們整體敗落的主要理由。因為政府銀行不能代替民間金融事業，國際商業無法全然取代民族資本，市場重心的挪移更不會動搖已把自己的活動網絡遍佈全國各地的山西商行，更何況龐大的晉商隊伍歷來有隨機應變的本事，它的領袖人物和決策者們長期駐足北京、上海、武漢，一心衹想適應潮流，根本不存在冥頑不化地與新時代對抗的決心。說實話，中國在變又沒有大變，積數百年經商經驗的山西商人在中國的土地上繼續活躍下去的餘地是很大的，即便到了今天，我們仍然很難斷言中國已經進入了一種全新的商業文明，換言之，如果沒有其他原因使晉商敗落，他們在今天也未必會顯得多麼悖時落伍。 那麼，使山西商人整體破敗的根本原因究竟在哪裡呢？ 我認為，是上個世紀中葉以來連續不斷的激進主義的暴力衝撞，一次次阻斷了中國經濟自然演進的路程，最終摧毀了山西商人。 一切可讓史料作證。 先是太平天國運動。我相信許多歷史家還會繼續熱烈地歌頌這次規模巨大的農民起義，但似乎也應該允許我們好好談一談它無法淹蓋的消極面吧，至少在經濟問題上？事實是，這次歷時十數年的暴力行動，衹要是所到的城鎮，幾乎所有的商業活動都遭到嚴重破壞，店舖關門，商人逃亡，金融死滯，城鎮人民的生活無法正常進行。史料記載，太平軍到武昌後，漢地驚慌至極，大小居民、舖戶四外亂逃，票號、銀號、當舖一律歇閉，蕩然無存，多種商事，兵燹以後無繼起者。太平軍到蘇州後，商賈流離、江路不通、城內店舖亦歇，相繼逃散。太平軍逼近天津時，賬局停歇，街市十三行中所有自食其力的勞動者皆已失業，受其影響，北京也是各行業閉歇，居民生活處於困境。至於全國各地一般中小城鎮，兵伍所及，一路蹂躪，死傷遍野，經濟上更是商賈裹足，釐源梗塞。十餘年間，有不少地方太平軍和清軍進行過多次拉鋸，每次又把災難重複一遍。到最後太平天國自己內訌，石達開率十萬餘人馬離開天京在華東、華中、西南地區獨立作戰，重把沿途的經濟大規模地洗刷了一遍，所謂蕩然無存往往已不是誇張之言。面對這種情況，山西商號在全國各地的分號衹得紛紛撤回。我看到一份材料。一八六一年一月，日昇昌票號總部接成都分號信，報告賊匪擾亂不堪，總部立即命令成都分號歸入重慶分號暫作躲避，又命令廣州分號隨時觀察重慶形勢，但三個月後，已經必須命令廣州分號也立即撤回了，命令說：務以速歸早回為是，萬萬不可再為延遲，早回一天，即算有功，至要至要！一個大商號的慌亂神情溢於言表。面對著在中國大地上流蕩不已的暴力洪流，山西商人衹能慌亂地龜縮回家鄉的小縣城裏去了，他們的事業遭受到何等的創傷，不言而喻。 令人驚嘆的是，在太平天國之後，山西商家經過一段時間的休養生息，竟又重整旗鼓，東山再起。後來一再地經歷英法聯軍入侵、八國聯軍進犯、庚子賠款攤派等七災八難，居然都能艱難撐持、絕處逢生，甚至獲得可觀的發展。這證明，人民的生活本能、生存本能、經濟本能是極其強大的，就像野火之後的勁草，岩石底下的深根，不屈不撓。在我看來，一切社會改革的舉動，都以保護而不是破壞這種本能為好，否則社會改革的終極目的又是什麼呢？可惜慷慨激昂的政治家們常常忘記了這一點，離開了世俗尋常的生態秩序，衹追求法蘭西革命式的激動人心。在激動人心的呼喊中，人民的經濟生活形成和社會生存方式是否真正進步，卻很少有人問津。 終於，又遇到了辛亥革命。這場革命最終推翻了清王朝的統治，自有其歷史意義，但無可諱言的是，無窮無盡的社會動亂、軍閥混戰也從此開始，山西商家怎麼也挺立不住了。 民軍與清軍的軍事對抗所造成的對城市經濟的破壞可以想像，各路盜賊趁亂搶劫、兵匪一家掃蕩街市更是沒完沒了，致使各大城市工商企業破產關閉的情景比太平天國時期還要嚴重。工商企業關門了，原先票號貸給他們的巨額款項也收不回了，而存款的民眾卻在人心惶惶中爭相擠兌，票號頃刻之間垮得氣息奄奄。本來山西商家的業務遍及全國各地，辛亥革命後幾個省份一獨立，業務中斷，欠款不知向誰索要，許多商家的經理、夥計害怕別人討賬竟然紛紛相率逃跑，一批批票號、商號倒閉清理，與它們有聯繫的民眾怨聲如沸又束手無策。走投無路的山西商人傻想，北洋政府總不會眼看著一系列實業的癱瘓而見死不救吧，便公推六位代表向政府請願，希望政府能貸款幫助，或由政府擔保向外商借貸。政府對請願團的回答是：山西商號信用久孚，政府從保商恤商考慮，理應幫助維持，可惜國家財政萬分困難，他日必竭力斡旋。 滿紙空話，一無所獲，唯一落實的決定十分出人意外：政府看上了請願團的首席代表范元澍，發給月薪二百元，委派他到破落了的山西票號中物色能幹的夥計到政府銀行任職，這一決定如果不是有意諷刺，那也足以說明，這次請願活動是真正的慘敗了。國家財政萬分困難是可信的，山西商家的最後一線希望徹底破滅。走西口的旅程，終於走到了終點。 於是，人們在一九一五年三月份的《大公報》上讀到了一篇發自山西太原的文章，文中這樣描寫那些一一倒閉的商號： 彼巍巍燦爛之華屋，不無鐵扉雙鎖，黯淡無色。門前雙眼怒突之小獅，一似淚涔涔下，欲作河南之吼，代主人喝其不平。前月北京所宣傳倒閉之日昇昌，其本店聳立其間，門前尚懸日昇昌招牌，聞其主人已宣告破產，由法院捕其來京矣。 這便是一代財雄們的下場。 如果這是社會革新的代價，那麼革新了的社會有沒有為民間商業提供更大的活力呢？有沒有創建山西商人創建過的世紀性繁華呢？ 對此，我雖然代表不了什麼，卻要再一次向山西報愧，衹為我也曾盲目地相信過某些經不住如此深問的糊塗觀念。 six 我的山西之行結束了，心頭卻一直隱約著一群山西商人的面影，怎麼也排遣不掉。細看表情，仍然像那張模糊的照片上的，似笑非笑。 離開太原前，當地作家華而實先生請我吃飯，一問之下他竟然也在關注前代山西商人。但他沒有多說什麼，衹是遞給我他寫給今天山西企業家們看的一篇文章，題目叫做《海內最富》。我一眼就看到了這樣一段。 海內最富！海內最富！ 山西在全國經濟結構中曾經佔據過這樣一個顯赫的地位！ 很遙遠了嗎？晉商的鼎盛春秋長達數百年，它的衰落也不過是近幾十年的事。 底下還有很多話，慢慢再讀不遲，我抬起頭來，看著華而實先生的臉，他竟然也是似笑非笑。 席間聽說，今天，連大寨的農民也已經開始經商。