Chapter 5 Figures in corporate history: "Fool" Nian Guangjiu

In 1979, an army of 7.6 million educated youths who had gone to the mountains and countryside flooded back to the cities, and the central government decided to lift the ban on rural industry and commerce.But no one thought that in 1980, a small businessman who claimed to be a "fool" would pose a huge problem to Chinese theorists. In Wuhu, Anhui, the fate of a small businessman is changing.He is illiterate and only knows his own name, and his business is fried melon seeds.Although Nian Guangjiu was illiterate, he was very shrewd.The melon seeds he fried were very delicious, and he gradually became famous in the neighborhood.Nian Guangjiu gave his melon seeds a special name - silly melon seeds.Soon, "Fool's Melon Seeds" became a well-known brand in Wuhu.Chen Guosheng, a reporter from Wuhu People's Broadcasting Station who was the first to report Nian Guangjiu, described their first meeting in this way. "Although it's summer, it's already dark, and there are no customers in the stall. It is reasonable for him to take over the stall, but he confiscated it and waited for me here. I remember him sitting on a long bench, bent over Waist, chin resting and waiting for me. My first impression was that he was like a big question mark.”

At that time, for Nian Guangjiu, how far the individual economy could go was a question mark; for Chen Guosheng, it was also a question mark whether the self-employed could be reported as a model and called on people to learn from it; Use question marks in the title of the article: "Can Deng Xiaoping Save China?" ". Tian Baiqiang, chief reporter of Anhui Workers' Daily who has followed and interviewed Nian Guangjiu for many years, described Nian Guangjiu at that time, "At that time, he followed his father as a small business hawker, selling apples and other things. But after three years of natural disasters, when life was particularly difficult, He couldn't continue his apple business, so he went to Jiangxi to sell chestnuts. Chestnuts belong to grain, and grain is not allowed to be produced. He was imprisoned for a year as a speculator. After being imprisoned for a year, he was released and he bought Some sunflower seeds are fried and then sold on the street. I sell some sunflower seeds to make some money to support my family.”

When Chen Guosheng's report "The Fool's Melon Seeds Well-Deservedly Famous" spread throughout the country, Nian Guangjiu and his melon seeds became more famous and their business became more prosperous. They could sell two to three thousand catties of melon seeds a day.Even outsiders have to buy two catties of foolish melon seeds when they arrive in Wuhu to take back.When Nian Guangjiu was interviewed by reporters, he also made no secret that he was rich. "The banknotes are moldy, so they are exposed to the sun on the shockproof shed. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are exposed to the sun. People from our municipal committee said, you are not timid. What kind of day is this? I said my banknotes are moldy."

It was a topic that people in Wuhu City were most willing to spread at that time.It was at this time that someone discovered that Nian Guangjiu had invited 12 workers because of the good business of melon seeds.Reminiscent of Marx's famous thesis in "Das Kapital": "When there are eight employees, it is not an ordinary individual economy, but a capitalist economy, which is exploitation." So, "There was a young man in Anhui, who hired 12 people to fry melon seeds. Is it considered exploitation?" It soon became a very sensitive debate, spreading all over the country.Although Nian Guangjiu was frying his melon seeds as usual, he could always hear some unfavorable rumors every day, and the past experiences were vivid in his memory, which made him uneasy.

"At that time he said to crack down, and the so-called crackdown was to crack down on speculation and turn over the office, how to persecute him, how to chase him, and confiscate his melon seeds. Through his conversation, I got the impression that he was afraid of policy changes, and returned to the office again. In the past years, I also hope to get the support of the society." Chen Guosheng said. But he never dreamed that he would soon get the support of a great figure, that is, Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of our reform and opening up.At that time, the Anhui Provincial Agricultural Committee conducted some research on the foolish melon seeds, and then wrote a report and submitted it to the central government. The report was finally sent to Deng Xiaoping. put" and "take a look".Deng Xiaoping's six words are equivalent to releasing a way out for Nian Guangjiu.At this time, at the third plenary meeting of the Central Advisory Committee, Deng Xiaoping proposed to adopt the policy of "seeing and seeing" private enterprises, and he cited Nian Guangjiu as an example.

After being named and protected by Deng Xiaoping, Nian Guangjiu's fate also changed dramatically. He was hailed as "China's No. 1 Merchant".However, there is always a crisis hidden behind the brilliance. "He is illiterate. For a while, Xinwu District of Wuhu City formed a joint venture with him and set up a melon company. He was the general manager in it. When he was the general manager, he The accounts were messed up, because he was illiterate, and the people below gave him a note for approval, and he would draw a circle and read it, so his accounts were very unclear, and there were many cases of squandering and wasting.” Chen Guosheng said.

These problems were covered up during the rapid development of Shaziguazi. Until the Spring Festival in 1986, the Shaziguazi subsidiary took the lead in launching prize-winning sales in the country, with a Shanghai brand car as the first prize, and crowds rushed to buy them. Fool melon seeds.But the good times didn't last long. The central government stopped all sales activities with prizes. Nian Guangjiu was in chaos, and the company's capital chain was suddenly broken. At the end of 1989, the private economy once again became a gray term, and Wuhu City opened a case for investigation of the long-standing economic problems.The trial dragged on for two years. After all, Nian Guangjiu's economic problems were not established, but he was sentenced to three years in prison with a three-year probation for committing hooliganism.Until 1992, Deng Xiaoping once again named fools in his speeches on the Southern Tour.He was acquitted a month later.Until this day, the question mark that had been pressing on Nian Guangjiu for 12 years finally turned into an exclamation point.

At the end of 2006, financial writer Wu Xiaobo made a trip to Wuhu, Anhui to interview Nian Guangjiu, who was once "China's No. 1 businessman".People there still remember him.His idiot melon seeds have been handed over to his son to take care of them, while he and his fourth wife are guarding a store of idiot melon seeds.The one who said the most in his speech was still grateful to Deng Xiaoping.