Chapter 6 sorry 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 home to "outside the mouth" to make a living. What about the background of 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.Wrinkles on the face, heavy hoe, neat terraced fields on the barren hills, and rows of corn planted in the dark... The greatest hardship is connected with the lowest consumption, and the simple and honest Dazhai people have no complaints , They can't imagine any other way of living besides repeatedly tossing the soil under their feet, and what high requirements can they have for 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 everyone has participated in for decades was called for to change poverty. The revolutionary method to change poverty is to deprive wealth. 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 also 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 illustrates this problem interestingly. In 1822, the cultural thinker Gong Zizhen put forward a bold political proposal in the article "Western Regions Set up Provincial Councils". "People who don't work as scholars, don't farm, don't work, and don't do business, out of ten generals, five or six." Therefore, it is suggested that this kind of unemployed people be compared with those in areas with a lot of people and less land in Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi, Gansu, Jiangxi, Fujian and other provinces. The people moved westward on a large scale, turning the unemployed into property, and the unemployed into employed.He felt that there were only two places in the interior that could not be considered ("unnecessary"). One was the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, where the people were weak and weak and couldn't bear to travel long distances; the other was 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 refers to here is not only wealthy businessmen, but also the native Shanxi people. They are unwilling 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 now a large-scale "Chinese Opera Museum" in Suzhou. 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 IM Pei, but the original site of the entire museum is the "Sanjin Guild Hall", which is a gathering of Shanxi people when they come to Suzhou to do business. place.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, but what surprised the bride was , at the end of this arduous journey, she discovered the most luxurious life she had ever known.  … Because some important bankers lived in Taigu, it was often called "China's Wall Street." "When I first read this biography, I would definitely stop at these paragraphs for a while, but I didn't go further to ponder what it means to surprise a person 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 data 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 coming 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 former site of the famous "Rishengchang" on Pingyao West Street, China's first "ticket number" specializing in foreign exchange, deposit and loan business.This is the "country 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. In a general sense, whether the vitality of the latter is true How about bigger?The street is not wide, and there are two deep ruts on the granite threshold of every decent courtyard. One can imagine how busy the street was on that day.These chariots and horses come from all over the country, carrying money, risk, pride, the wind valley and dialect of Kyushu Island, 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, until finally we saw an explanatory board set up by the Pingyao County Cultural Relics Bureau. It was only then that the real site of Rishengchang was identified.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 system. The courtyard gulped.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. .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" and "a street in the Song Dynasty". Most of them are based on historical records and imagination. The restoration of the main street does not have to be like this, 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 traveled with us, said: "It was only here that I really understood 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 is not like Rongguo Mansion, relying on the shade of the ancestors and doing nothing to parasitize, but it is precisely relying on continuous entrepreneurship to achieve huge capital accumulation and wealth rolling every day.Therefore, this house does not give us a 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 list of "sanitation contract". Looking at it one by one, most of them were surnamed Qiao, and the younger generations were the faithful cleaners of the elders' house; Countless small shops and small vendors called "Qiao's House" lined up, 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 businesses?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 created the miracle of "the richest in China", and how did you enter and disappear from history?I have only seen a blurry photo in "Historical Materials of Shanxi Bank Bank". 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 Fu Zhi" 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 Taigu County "has a large number of people but few fields, and the valley in the harvest year is not enough for two months. Therefore, besides farming, it is not uncommon to make a living by trekking thousands of miles. Hence why". 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 to make ends meet, of course, you can also break into houses, plunder and rebel——according to the historical view we are familiar with, all poverty in the past All for political reasons, so that the only laudable path is for all peasants to engage in political revolt.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... All in all, as long as you dare to go out and search carefully and work hard, you can indeed create a piece of A vibrant living space.Since the early Qing Dynasty, the number of farmers in Shanxi "walking to the west entrance" has become larger and larger, so the folk song we mentioned at the beginning of this article has also 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 sentimental lyrics, one can understand that men who travel far away are not alone 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 difficult but warm life, but they still stepped out of the house ruthlessly, and their lovers could understand it, releasing the lingering 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 amorous women on the side of the road planted the initial seeds for Shanxi to eventually become "the richest in China". This is not a fantasy.You can see a poor young farmer from Qiaojiabao Village, Qi County, who was crowded into the team of Shanxi "going to Xikou" in the early years of Qianlong.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" business name, which laid the commercial foundation of the entire Baotou City, so that there was such a widely circulated folk proverb: "First there is Fusheng. The Queen has 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 the period 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 Shanxi travelers 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 in Jiaocheng County went to the Kanto for business for more than 20 years and there was no news. Xu Xueyan traveled long distances to the Kanto to look for it, until he found a village in the northeast of Jilin Province, only to meet a villager who told him that his father was already dead. seven years; ... 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 Departure without hesitation may not necessarily reach the expected shore, 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 many materials, but I just vaguely feel that Shanxi merchants have at least the following aspects that are very eye-catching in terms of personality quality—— 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. 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 didn’t happen in Shanxi. Little Azi went to study business after studying for a few years, and everyone took 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 school fourth (see [Shi Zhu] commentary 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 friendly government and put an end to border wars, Shanxi merchants were the first to respond, and soon knew what they should do. A huge caravan was formed for Mongolia, Xinjiang, and even Siberia. The caravans in China had 100,000 camels tied to them. What a vision. The goods brought out by the caravans had to be purchased from North China, Central China, and South China, so they had 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 were given a little right to operate the salt industry. Over time, the Lianghuai salt industry was more and more controlled by Shanxi merchants. It can be seen that Shanxi merchants have always stared at the national commercial giant. No matter how far away these areas are, whether they have anything to do with you or not. People can praise them for "responsiveness", but the discovery of "machines" is due to the limited field of vision. Openness 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 for business one step ahead, so they sorted out the financial lifelines in the southeast and northwest, Put yourself firmly in the position of the master of the circulation of money among the people of the country. All these actions are large-scale, and they are completely different from opportunistic small troubles. I think that having such a spirit and strategy is probably the same as The profound reserves of the Sanjin civilization and the natural edification of the mountains and rivers inside and outside have something to do with it. 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 batch after batch of so-called "joint numbers".Either brothers, or father and son, or friends, or neighbors, combined to form a group of forces that share and cooperate, and exchange what is needed, 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.Other merchants borrowed huge sums of money but were finally unable to repay them, and 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 "big businessman mentality". 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 have seen, 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 if there was a breach 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. They can give foreigners far and near an extremely stable sense of reliability. It's an amazing thing.The combination of the morality between business peers and the morality of commercial behavior has made Shanxi merchants add a lot of brilliance in the sense of personality to Chinese commercial civilization, and they have also focused on the "righteousness and benefit debate" that has lasted thousands of years in the history of thought (for example, many people It is customary to believe that as long as you do business, you will inevitably forget your righteousness) to add 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. However, the thick Shanxi businessmen seldom indulge their habits as they like, 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 At most, it can be used for a while, and it cannot be established for a long time.I have read respectfully the "regulations" of many Shanxi merchants in the last century. They are not only rigorous, practical, but also full of wisdom. A group of real management experts have emerged, 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 large businesses 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 bears full responsibility for the operation and management. They can be removed and replaced, and they can't be bossed around casually; 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 are due, making the entire firm up and down We share weal and woe and love the same family in terms of interests; 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, family visit rules...all these have caused many Shanxi business houses The daily operation of the business is becoming more and more normal, and a generation of wealthy businessmen will be able to 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. Is it called a Shanxi businessman?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 always have a "purified" one-sidedness. In fact, as long as you look deeper, there is still a fragile side in the personality structure of Shanxi businessmen. They dare to act boldly, 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 behavior lacks the support of high-level rational forces, and their Achievements are not given eloquent historical reasons. Rigorous philosophical thinking, subtle academic minds seem to have eluded them. They have powerfully transformed Chinese society, but social reformers, preoccupied with politics, have ignored them After all, they can only rely on money to speak, but the pronunciation of money is so lacking in moral force, how much spiritual effect can it produce? Without external spiritual effect, they cannot establish an inner spiritual kingdom, even in商务上再成功也难于抵达人生的大安祥。是时代，是历史，是环境，使这些商业实务上的成功者没有能成为历史意志的觉悟者。一群缺少扳依的强人，一拨精神贫乏的富豪，一批在根本性的大问题上不大能掌握得住的掌柜。他们的出发点和终结点都在农村，他们那在前后左右找到的参照物只有旧式家庭的深宅大院，因此，他们的人生规范中不得不融化进大量中国式的封建色彩。当他们成功发迹而执掌一大门户时，封建家长制的权威是他们可追摹的唯一范本。于是他们的商业人格不能不自相矛盾乃至自相分裂，有时还会逐步走到自身优势的反面，做出与创业时判若两人的行为。在我看来，这一切，正是山西商人在风光百年后终于困顿、迷乱、内耗、败落的内在原因。 在这里，我想谈一谈几家票号历史上发生的一些不愉快的人事纠纷，可能会使我们对山西商人人格构成的另一面有较多的感性了解。 最大的纠纷发生在上文提到过的日升昌总经理雷履泰和第一副总经理毛鸿翙之间。毫无疑问，两位都是那个时候堪称全国一流的商业管理专家，一起创办了日升昌票号，因此也是中国金融史上一个新阶导的开创者，都应该名垂史册。雷履泰气度恢宏，能力超群，又有很大的交际魅力，几乎是天造地设的商界领袖；毛鸿翙虽然比雷履泰年轻十七岁，却也是纔华横溢、英气逼人。两位强人撞到了一起，开始是亲如手足、相得益彰，但在事业获得大成功之后却不可避免地遇到了一个中国式的大难题：究竟谁是第一功臣？ 一次，雷履泰生了病在票号中休养，日常事务不管，遇到大事还要由他拍板。 这使毛鸿翙觉得有点不大痛快，便对财东老板说：『 总经理在票号里养病不太安静，还是让他回家休息吧。”财东老板就去找了雷履泰，雷履泰说，我也早有这个意思，当天就回家了。过几天财东老板去雷家探视，发现雷履泰正忙着向全国各地的分号发信，便问他干什么，雷履泰说：“老板，日升昌票号是你的，但全国各地的分号却是我安设在那里的，我正在一一撤回来好交代给你。”老板一听大事不好，立即跪在雷履泰面前，求他千万别撤分号，雷履泰最后只得说：“起来吧，我也估计到让我回家不是你的主意。”老板求他重新回票号视事，雷履泰却再也不去上班。老板没有办法，只好每天派伙计送酒席一桌，银子五十两。毛鸿翙看到这个情景，知道不能再在日升昌呆下去了，便辞职去了蔚泰厚布庄。 这事件乍一听都会为雷履泰叫好，但转念一想又觉得不是味道。是的，雷履泰获得了全胜，毛鸿翙一败涂地，然而这里无所谓是非，只是权术。用权术击败的对手是一段辉煌历史的共创者，于是这段历史也立即破残。中国许多方面的历史总是无法写得痛快淋漓、有声有色，很大一部分原因就在于这种有代表性的历史人物之间必然会产生的恶性冲突。商界的竞争较量不可避免，但一旦脱离业务的轨道，在人生的层面上把对手逼上绝路，总与健康的商业运作规范相去遥遥。毛鸿翙当然也要咬着牙齿进行报复，他到了蔚泰厚之后就把日升昌票号中两个特别精明能干的伙计挖走并委以重任，三个人配合默契，把蔚泰厚的商务快速地推上了台阶。雷履泰气愤难纾，竟然写信给自己的分号，揭露被毛鸿翙勾走的两名“小卒”出身低贱，只是汤官和皂隶之子罢了。事情做到这个份上，这位总经理已经很失身份，但他还不罢休，不管在什么地方，只要一有机会就拆蔚泰厚的台，例如由于雷履泰的谋划，蔚泰厚的苏州分店就无法做分文的生意。这就不是正常的商业竞争了。 最让我难过的是，雷、毛这两位智商极高的杰出人物在勾心斗角中采用的手法越来越庸俗，最后竟然都让自己的孙子起一个与对方一样的名字，以示污辱：雷履泰的孙子叫雷鸿翙，而毛鸿翙的孙子则叫毛履泰！这种污辱方法当然是纯粹中国化的，我不知道他们在憎恨敌手的同时是否还爱儿孙，我不知道他们用这种名字呼叫孙子的时候会用一种什么样的口气和声调。 可敬可佩的山西商人啊，难道这就是你们给后代的遗赠？你们创业之初的吞天豪气和动人信义都到哪里去了？怎么会让如此无聊的诅咒来长久地占据你们日渐苍老的心？ 也许，最终使他们感到温暖的还是早年跨出家门时听到的那首《走西口》，但是，庞大的家业也带来了家庭内情感关系的复杂化，《走西口》所吐露的那种单纯性已不复再现。据乔家后裔回忆，乔家大院内厨房偏院中曾有一位神秘的老妪在干粗活，玄衣愁容，旁若无人，但气质又绝非佣人。有人说这就是“大奶奶”，主人的首席夫人。主人与夫人产生了什么麻烦，谁也不清楚，但毫无疑问，当他们偶尔四目相对，《走西口》的旋律立即就会走音。 写到这里我已知道，我所碰撞到的问题虽然发生在山西却又远远超越了山西。由这里发出的叹息，应该属于我们父母邦的更广阔的天地。 Fives 当然，我们不能因此而把山西商人败落的原因，全然归之于他们自身。就一二家铺号的兴衰而言，自身的原因可能至关重要；然而一种牵涉到山西无数商家的世纪性繁华的整体败落，一定会有更深刻、更宏大的社会历史原因。 商业机制的时代性转换固然是一个原因。政府银行的组建、国际商业的渗透、沿海市场的膨胀，都可能使那些以山西腹地几个县城为总指挥部的家族式商业体制受到严重挑战，但这还不是它们整体败落的主要理由。因为政府银行不能代替民间金融事业，国际商业无法全然取代民族资本，市场重心的挪移更不会动摇已把自己的活动网络遍布全国各地的山西商行，更何况庞大的晋商队伍历来有随机应变的本事，它的领袖人物和决策者们长期驻足北京、上海、武汉，一心只想适应潮流，根本不存在冥顽不化地与新时代对抗的决心。说实话，中国在变又没有大变，积数百年经商经验的山西商人在中国的土地上继续活跃下去的余地是很大的，即便到了今天，我们仍然很难断言中国已经进入了一种全新的商业文明，换言之，如果没有其它原因使晋商败落，他们在今天也未必会显得多么悖时落伍。 那么，使山西商人整体破败的根本原因究竟在哪里呢？ 我认为，是上个世纪中叶以来连续不断的激进主义的暴力冲撞，一次次阻断了中国经济自然演进的路程，最终摧毁了山西商人。 一切可让史料作证。 先是太平天国运动。我相信许多历史家还会继续热烈地歌颂这次规模巨大的农民起义，但似乎也应该允许我们好好谈一谈它无法淹盖的消极面吧，至少在经济问题上？事实是，这次历时十数年的暴力行动，只要是所到的城镇，几乎所有的商业活动都遭到严重破坏，店铺关门，商人逃亡，金融死滞，城镇人民的生活无法正常进行。史料记载，太平军到武昌后，“汉地惊慌至极，大小居民、铺户四外乱逃”，票号、银号、当铺“一律歇闭”，“荡然无存”，多种商事，“兵燹以后无继起者”。太平军到苏州后，“商贾流离”、“江路不通”、“城内店铺亦歇，相继逃散”。太平军逼近天津时，账局停歇，街市十三行中所有自食其力的劳动者“皆已失业”，受其影响，北京也是“各行业闭歇，居民生活处于困境”。至于全国各地一般中小城镇，兵伍所及，“一路蹂躏”，“死伤遍野”，经济上更是“商贾裹足，厘源梗塞”。十余年间，有不少地方太平军和清军进行过多次拉锯，每次又把灾难重复一遍。到最后太平天国自己内讧，石达开率十万余人马离开天京在华东、华中、西南地区独立作战，重把沿途的经济大规模地洗刷了一遍，所谓“荡然无存”往往已不是夸张之言。面对这种情况，山西商号在全国各地的分号只得纷纷撤回。 我看到一份材料。１８６１年１月，日升昌票号总部接成都分号信，报告“贼匪扰乱不堪”，总部立即命令成都分号归入重庆分号“暂作躲避”，又命令广州分号随时观察重庆形势，但三个月后，已经必须命令广州分号也立即撤回了，命令说：“务以速归早回为是，万万不可再为延迟，早回一天，即算有功，至要至要！”一个大商号的慌乱神情溢于言表。面对着在中国大地上流荡不已的暴力洪流，山西商人只能慌乱地龟缩回家乡的小县城里去了，他们的事业遭受到何等的创伤，不言而喻。 令人惊叹的是，在太平天国之后，山西商家经过一段时间的休养生息，竟又重整旗鼓，东山再起。后来一再地经历英法联军入侵、八国联军进犯、庚子赔款摊派等七灾八难，居然都能艰难橕持、绝处逢生，甚至获得可观的发展。这证明，人民的生活本能、生存本能、经济本能是极其强大的，就像野火之后的劲草，岩石底下的深根，不屈不挠。在我看来，一切社会改革的举动，都以保护而不是破坏这种本能为好，否则社会改革的终极目的又是什么呢？可惜慷慨激昂的政治家们常常忘记了这一点，离开了世俗寻常的生态秩序，只追求法兰西革命式的激动人心。在激动人心的呼喊中，人民的经济生活形成和社会生存方式是否真正进步，却很少有人问津。 终于，又遇到了辛亥革命。这场革命最终推翻了清王朝的统治，自有其历史意义，但无可讳言的是，无穷无尽的社会动乱、军阀混战也从此开始，山西商家怎么也挺立不住了。 民军与清军的军事对抗所造成的对城市经济的破坏可以想象，各路盗贼趁乱抢劫、兵匪一家扫荡街市更是没完没了，致使各大城市工商企业破产关闭的情景比太平天国时期还要严重。工商企业关门了，原先票号贷给他们的巨额款项也收不回了，而存款的民众却在人心惶惶中争相挤兑，票号顷刻之间垮得气息奄奄。本来山西商家的业务遍及全国各地，辛亥革命后几个省份一独立，业务中断，欠款不知向谁索要，许多商家的经理、伙计害怕别人讨账竟然纷纷相率逃跑，一批批票号、商号倒闭清理，与它们有联系的民众怨声如沸又束手无策。走投无路的山西商人傻想，北洋政府总不会眼看着一系列实业的瘫痪而见死不救吧，便公推六位代表向政府请愿，希望政府能贷款帮助，或由政府担保向外商借贷。政府对请愿团的回答是：山西商号信用久孚，政府从保商恤商考虑，理应帮助维持，可惜国家财政万分困难，他日必竭力斡旋。 满纸空话，一无所获，唯一落实的决定十分出人意外：政府看上了请愿团的首席代表范元澍，发给月薪二百元，委派他到破落了的山西票号中物色能干的伙计到政府银行任职，这一决定如果不是有意讽刺，那也足以说明，这次请愿活动是真正的惨败了。国家财政万分困难是可信的，山西商家的最后一线希望彻底破灭。“走西口”的旅程，终于走到了终点。 于是，人们在１９１５年３月份的《大公报》上读到了一篇发自山西太原的文章，文中这样描写那些一一倒闭的商号： 彼巍巍灿烂之华屋，不无铁扉双锁，黯淡无色。门前双眼怒突之小狮，一似泪涔涔下，欲作河南之吼，代主人喝其不平。前月北京所宣传倒闭之日升昌，其本店耸立其间，门前尚悬日升昌招牌，闻其主人已宣告破产，由法院捕其来京矣。 这便是一代财雄们的下场。 如果这是社会革新的代价，那么革新了的社会有没有为民间商业提供更大的活力呢？有没有创建山西商人创建过的世纪性繁华呢？ 对此，我虽然代表不了什么，却要再一次向山西报愧，只为我也曾盲目地相信过某些经不住如此深问的糊涂观念。 six 我的山西之行结束了，心头却一直隐约着一群山西商人的面影，怎么也排遣不掉。细看表情，仍然像那张模糊的照片上的，似笑非笑。 离开太原前，当地作家华而实先生请我吃饭，一问之下他竟然也在关注前代山西商人。但他没有多说什么，只是递给我他写给今天山西企业家们看的一篇文章，题目叫做《海内最富》。我一眼就看到了这样一段。 埃内最富！海内最富！ 山西在全国经济结构中曾经占据过这样一个显赫的地位！ 很遥远了吗？晋商的鼎盛春秋长达数百年，它的衰落也不过是近几十年的事。 ——底下还有很多话，慢慢再读不迟，我抬起头来，看着华而实先生的脸，他竟然也是似笑非笑。 席间听说，今天，连大寨的农民也已经开始经商。