Chapter 28 The third section focuses on faith and harmony

Faithfulness is the moral standard emphatically put forward by people in traditional Chinese culture. It is the behavioral basis for self-cultivation and conduct in the world, and business ethics is also based on it.Putting faith as the most important thing is the true nature of honest and honest Jia among businessmen. In the two characters of faith and righteousness, righteousness is the standard for judging right from wrong, good and evil. Believe in people or treat others with faith are all accompanied by righteousness and act according to righteousness, so the word righteousness is particularly fundamental.When it comes to "righteousness", when it comes to doing business, the word "benefit" cannot but be mentioned.The distinction between righteousness and benefit has existed since ancient times, and businessmen bear the brunt of it. Cheng Jia handles the issue of righteousness and benefit better.

The relationship between righteousness and benefit is the most talked about by Confucianism.What is righteousness? "Justice is appropriate."Appropriate means reasonable. People's behavior must be reasonable and conscious of righteousness.Confucius said: "A gentleman's righteousness is the highest" and "a gentleman's righteousness is his quality" ("The Analects of Confucius Yanghuo, Wei Linggong"); Mencius said: "Justice is the way of people" ("Mencius Gao Zishang"); Said: "The husband is righteous, so people are forbidden to be evil and treacherous" ("Xunzi·Strong Country").Righteousness, benevolence, propriety, and wisdom are regarded by Confucianism as the "four ends" (starting points) of human beings.How to deal with the contradiction between righteousness and benefit?The attitude of Confucianism is: "take the righteousness first", "see the benefit and think of the righteousness", "see the righteousness and think of the righteousness" ("The Analects of Confucius Xianwen, Zi Zhang"). "Righteousness and benefit have both" (Xunzi's words), and righteousness is the first and the foundation.If a businessman wants to make money and profit, the money and profit must be obtained reasonably, and he must follow the right path.Shanxi merchants said: "A gentleman loves money, and there is a way to make money"; "Love money and get it in a right way."Huizhou merchants said: "Wealth comes from the way, and profit is derived from righteousness"; "There is a way to make money, and righteousness is profit, and profit is not profit"; , "Don't use wisdom to cage people, don't use patents to get grievances."These simple words show that they (Cheng Jia) can still grasp the correct concept of righteousness and benefit, and oppose taking ill-gotten gains.In this, I have received good lessons from Confucianism.

These businessmen know very well that only by emphasizing business ethics can the business be long, stable, large, and active. Otherwise, no matter whether it is reasonable or not, they can make a lot of money by buying and selling with a mallet, but they will lose their credibility and do business. Dare to learn.Jin merchant Wang Wenxian admonished his son and said: "Good merchants are in the field of wealth and goods, and they practice brilliant deeds. Therefore, although they are beneficial, they are not polluting... Profit is governed by righteousness, and the name is Qingxiu. Everyone guards their careers... so Then the children and grandchildren will be prosperous, and the body will be safe and the family will be rich.” He said a truth: doing business with a sense of justice can make you rich and lasting, which is in the best and long-term interests of businessmen.

Doing business emphasizes righteousness. In traditional morality, the word righteousness is often connected with the word letter, and handouts must also emphasize letter. Letter can be said to be an external manifestation of righteousness controlling profit and following righteousness in business. "Faith is close to righteousness."Confucius said: "The people cannot be established without trust, and the people without trust do not know what to do." , for politics and learning").As far as business is concerned, although profit is the goal, "people cannot bear to be deceived by faith and trust", and everything is based on moral trust and trust, so that we can understand what is needed, and "near joy comes from far".It is a good tradition of many businessmen to pass on strict keeping of credit as business ethics.Xu Wencai, a merchant from Huizhou, because of "trading and relocation of goods, and the same price in the market", caused people to go shopping in the market.There is also Hu Renzhi, an Huizhou merchant, who deals in grain and is honest and honest. One year he suffered from hunger, he refused the request of his colleagues to adulterate the rice, saying that he would never make such ignorant money and damage his reputation. "Peace makes people easy to get close to each other, and faith makes people fair. If you build a foundation everywhere, you will always benefit." Doing business with trustworthiness does not hurt the businessman himself.

Faith must be built on the basis of sincerity. Without sincerity, there can be no faith. With sincerity, faith can be faithful. "Honesty is the way of heaven; thinking (pursuing) sincerity is the way of man." ("Mencius Li Loushang") To measure whether a businessman is faithful, the most obvious and direct expression is whether he is honest when doing business Don't bully, if you can do this, you are not far from the highest standard of Xinyi. "If you are not sincere, you can't eat from Jia" (from "Guanzi"). If Jia can be honest, he is a good businessman.Fan Xian, a Shaanxi businessman in the Ming Dynasty, did business as far as Jianghuai in the south and frontiers in the north. According to his self-summarized way of winning: "When trading, people use deception as a strategy, and non-deception as a strategy, so I will lose more and more every day; Sincerity is the way of heaven, how hard is it to believe?"

In business operations, handouts and honesty and sincerity are all out of love for people.Confucius said: "The benevolent loves others" and "loves everyone and is close to benevolence" ("The Analects of Confucius Yan Yuan, Xueer").This old master can be called the master of classical humanism.Benevolence is the core of traditional morality.The word "benevolence" is more prominent in Bai Gui's business in the four virtues of governing life-wisdom, courage, benevolence, and strength.He does not engage in price-cutting and rejection, does not engage in hoarding, and uses "knowledge to take and give" (people abandon me to take, others take me to take) as a "benevolent" technique, attaches great importance to supporting production, regulating supply and demand, and is indeed doing business with "benevolence" , his thought Ji Mian [mian Mian] is a lot of post-learning.Huizhou merchant Wu Yan is also doing business with a benevolent heart. He gave his son a twelve-character motto: "Keep good intentions, do good deeds, speak good words, and be kind to people." This is the secret of success in business.

In short, good businessmen of good faith, righteousness, sincerity, and benevolence have won a good reputation in the business world, and as a result, they have promoted the development of commerce.Seeking only profit, using profit for righteousness, will be despised by peers and cast aside by the world. There is also an important part of the businessman's spirit from traditional culture, which is called "harmony". "Harmony" is mainly explained by Confucianism.It contains: "You Zi said: The use of etiquette, harmony is the most precious, and the way of the kings is beautiful." ("Xueer") Confucius himself also said that "gentlemen are harmonious but different" ("Zilu").Mencius said: "The right weather is not as good as the right place, and the right place is not as good as the harmony of people." ("Mencius Gongsun Chou") Xunzi also said: "If you go up, you will not lose the right time, and if you go down, you will not lose the right place. If you win the middle, you will never lose everything." Xunzi·Wangba") also said: "Therefore, when righteousness is divided, there will be peace, and harmony will lead to unity, and one will have more strength, and more strength will make strength." ("Wangzhi") These words are all asking people to live in harmony ("harmony") , Unity ("Yi" means "Xie"); refers to the requirement of attention and cooperation in interpersonal relationships.

To achieve a harmonious relationship, while being "sincerity" to others, one must act in the middle and fit the middle, and not be extreme or go to extremes. This is the "golden mean" advocated by Confucianism.Confucius said: "The doctrine of the mean is virtue, and it is so perfect!" ("The Analects of Confucius Yong Ye"), the words "zhong" and "he" are closely connected.Xunzi emphasized: "The neutral person listens to the rope." (The rope is the criterion, "King System") Mastering the degree of neutralization can achieve harmony in the relationship with all aspects-human harmony. "Neutralization" means coordinating contradictions and resolving disputes; the word "harmony" is followed by the word "Xie", which means harmony leads to harmony; the word "harmony" expresses the purpose of "neutralization".The spirit of harmony should be the most mature part of the businessman's spirit.It is no accident that "peace is the most precious" has been hung as the motto of many old shops. "If you go too far, you will fall if you are full; if you are in the middle, you will be flat and stable. If you want to live in the world, you must be in harmony." Neutralization has become a more abstract and rational philosophy of life, recorded in "A List of Customers and Merchants Awakening" The book (written by Li Jinde, a Fujian merchant in the Ming Dynasty).Huizhou merchants are good at Confucianism, so it goes without saying that they know the way of neutrality; even Shanxi merchants, later on, more and more people read books (not for the purpose of applying for office), and "The Doctrine of the Mean" and "University" have become the guides for the righteousness and self-cultivation of many shop assistants. It is also reasonable to be influenced by the Confucian theory of neutrality.

Neutrality is virtue, and unity and happiness are a prominent form of expression in the merchant spirit of the Shanxi Merchants Group. The mantra "peace is the most precious" has become the norm for Shanxi businessmen to conduct themselves.They advocate "do not engage in unreasonable business, do not be greedy for unreasonable money", "do not reveal wealth", and "do not misuse money".The degree of mastery and neutrality in its business operations is achieved within a firm by relying on the mechanism of unity and harmony. This mechanism is reflected in a series of rules such as the firm's rules and regulations and employment administration.Within a relatively large range of business gangs, "they unite with each other with the friendship of the village, use the way of worshiping Emperor Guan, use the social organization of the guild hall, and use the legislative form of the chamber of commerce to enhance mutual understanding, talk about relief, talk about Loyalty, friendship, and support are used to coordinate the large and small contradictions between enterprises and eliminate interpersonal discord."The spirit of harmony and harmony is fully emphasized, and "human harmony" is regarded as a vital matter.

The Shanxi firm has a unique way of employing people, which is the main source of the spirit of harmony and harmony.Shanxi merchants have adopted a complete set of rules and regulations in the firm, especially in the ticket office, to properly handle the relationship between the wealth owner and the partner.The manager (treasurer) of the firm is cautious before being appointed. After being recommended and inspected, he is sure that he can be used, and then he is recruited with courtesy, signs a contract, and tops up a share.The financial owner entrusts the manager with full power of funds, and does not interfere with the usual business policies, measures and personnel scheduling, and waits for the report when the final settlement is made.If there is a lot of compensation and it is not caused by human beings, the financial owner does not blame him, but instead comforts him, and immediately replenishes the funds, so that he can regroup and see the effect.This "careful use of trust" method of employment has realized the separation of property rights and management rights.Since the manager is trusted and entrusted by the financial owner, and benefits are attached to him, he is diligent and diligent in everything, and repays his acquaintance with loyalty; Xian can still enter the number.For personnel below the manager, the principle of appointing people on their merits is adhered to, and exceptional promotion is written in the regulations.The early joint-stock system has already appeared in Shanxi firms: each financial owner has "silver shares", managers have "body shares", and employees also have different amounts of "body shares" depending on their qualifications and achievements. Shares and silver shares of wealth owners participate in profit distribution (also known as "share salary system").The buddy is also willing to serve the firm diligently in order to cover his body.The prudent use of heavy trust and the addition of personal top shares have enabled the company to work together from top to bottom to occupy a "human harmony", strengthen the centripetal force, and form a harmonious labor-capital relationship in Donghuo.

The spirit of peace and harmony of Shanxi merchants is also reflected in the coordination and mutual aid between the firm and the ticket office.The dispatch and operation of commercial capital depends on the remittance and transfer of financial institutions, loans and credit witnesses.The mixed growth of commodity operating capital and currency operating capital in Shanxi penetrates into each other, promotes each other, complements each other, and cooperates closely.Without the cooperation of the two, the Shanxi Merchant Gang could not have grown so rapidly. "Harmony", the cohesive spirit of harmony and coordination among businessmen, seems to be a great resource in commercial culture that is worth vigorously exploring.