Chapter 14 4. Adventurer's Paradise?

In the past thirty years, why hasn't Shanghai come out—even a nationally famous entrepreneur?This is an embarrassing topic for Shanghainese.Yu Zhengsheng, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, also lamented why there is no Jack Ma in Shanghai. "In the past, Shanghai was a paradise for adventurers. Now Shenzhen is a paradise for adventurers. Shanghai should become a paradise for adventurers." However, Shanghai does not. "Shanghai's urban spirit develops in two directions. One is the civic culture in Wang Anyi's novels, managing oneself well and not having the urge to do great things; the other is an adventurer's paradise, which existed in Xu Wenqiang's era and was developed in Pudong. The era existed, but it disappeared later, and Shanghai still needs an adventurous spirit if it wants to successfully transform itself.” Tu Qiyu, Secretary-General of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, analyzed.

"Shanghai needs a 'Renaissance'." Tu Qiyu gave an example. After Lee Hsien Loong became the Prime Minister of Singapore, he proposed that Singapore should not only be clean and beautiful, but also add X elements, that is, people will be inexplicably excited and have the urge to do things when they arrive there. , "This kind of feeling exists in Hainan, even in Beihai, Guangxi, but it has disappeared in Shanghai today." Why can't Shanghai produce entrepreneurs like Rong Zongjing or Jack Ma? Well-known financial writer Wu Xiaobo gave the answer: The reason for the "silence" is related to geo-economics.

First, as a state-owned enterprise—especially an important city of light textile and light industry industries, before the 1990s, Shanghai had been overwhelmed by the planning system, and talents, technology and markets were controlled by hundreds of thousands of surrounding Small businesses in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are fragmented and eroded.Since the restoration of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the development of Pudong, Shanghai has experienced a rapid revival. However, it is characterized by strong government leadership and private entrepreneurs still do little. Second, since Shanghai was opened as a port, it has become the center of shipping, finance, and manufacturing. Due to its astonishing size, it has formed a "business model" centered on me. Hundreds of merchants converge, and the city prospers. Inertial thinking.Therefore, Shanghai entrepreneurs have enough suction power but not enough exhaust power, and it is rare to see them sweating profusely running to the backcountry to hit the market.In the field of consumer goods, Shanghai products can only be short-lived in the primary market, lacking penetration and affinity. These are common problems of Shanghai enterprises.

Third, given Shanghai's location advantages, the industries that are easiest to expand and become stronger over the past century are shipping terminals, finance, real estate, culture, and heavy chemical industries. Most of the above-mentioned industries are still state-owned capital-intensive places, so Therefore, it is easy for Shanghai to produce large enterprises, but it is not possible to produce large entrepreneurs. Among them, the first and third points belong to historical objective reasons.The "sit in business" model mentioned in the second point reflects Shanghai's own problems.If you think of Shanghai as a businessman, then this person is used to sitting in the comfortable shop of his own house, waiting for customers to come to his door, but he will not think that there may be customers who think the shop is too far away and not convenient to visit, let alone spend money to go there. Open a branch near the customer's home.The businessman in Shanghai is not willing to do things that require him to spend money first and then get a return.Just like a miser, he takes the money in his hand too seriously.

In 2002, Zhang Yapei, then party secretary of the Shanghai Federation of Industry and Commerce, tried to answer this question.He summed up four reasons: first, there is a lack of cultural traditions for entrepreneurs to grow; second, there is a lack of a social environment that treats entrepreneurs well; third, a system that is conducive to the growth of famous entrepreneurs has not yet been formed; fourth, entrepreneurs in Shanghai lack the ability to become leaders. awareness and quality.It seems that these are four very harsh conclusions. Xu Deyin, an associate professor at the Business School of the University of Hong Kong, has a slightly different opinion. He believes that "Shanghai used to be a place where Jack Ma emerged one after another."In the 1930s, Shanghai was known as "Adventurer's Paradise" because of its "five places mixed with Huayang".A large number of international adventurers have left a deep imprint in Shanghai.For example, in 1937, the American journalist and successful businessman Carl Crow (Carl Crow) published the famous book "400 Million Consumers", which described various anecdotes and whimsical ideas during the 25 years since he opened an advertising company in Shanghai. , Influenced a whole generation of Americans' view of China.

Professor Xu Deyin said: "Shanghai's material prosperity in the past ten years has made us forget this history even more. Many Shanghainese are talking about these superficial achievements, but they don't know that we have unknowingly lost these achievements. The city’s most precious spiritual heritage. Because these achievements are too dependent on foreign capital and technology: established big companies—some of which went to the world from Shanghai—established their regional headquarters here.” “These big corporations, which have long been bureaucratized, have brought back some of the overhyped aspects of our Shanghai culture—staff culture, professionalism—but they haven’t brought what the past did, and The adventurers who are regarded as heroes and models by the old Shanghainese, and their entrepreneurial spirit - not because there are no adventurers in the world, but because decades of historical faults have limited our vision and made us forget what we really need What is so that today's Shanghai is ridiculed as a city that lacks the spirit of adventure."

Zheng Shao, a member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference, has a similar view on this issue. He said: "Shanghai people have historical weaknesses in their humanistic 'genes' of being 'respectful of orders' and unwilling to take risks. Shanghai has become a planned economy, especially an industrial and commercial center. In the 1980s, this kind of culture that was not good at pioneering but was good at managing by orders had a new space for full play. The positive effect of this negative state was to cultivate China's first-class modern management talents and management culture for Shanghai. Dare to be the first, take risks, develop hard, and strive for an innovative culture."

Whether it is "staff culture" or "observance of orders", they all talk about one thing: Shanghai is pragmatic.I will not give up the tangible present for the invisible future. In fact, to put it nicely, it’s pragmatic, but to put it bluntly, it’s to forget righteousness for profit. This “righteousness” is the spirit, the spirit of adventure.Now that foreign capital and big companies have already fed me well, why should I be so stupid as to not take care of these big capitals that come to my door, but instead pay attention to a skinny poor boy?You said you came to start a business, you said you have the ability.But what about now?Are you rich now?Now you have a lot of money to pay taxes to fill the appetite of Shanghai?

If you think of the relationship between Shanghai and the outsiders pouring into the city as the relationship between the landlord and the tenant.Then, Shanghai is a harsh landlord who is a complete miser. He wished that the rent would not be raised every day, and he always suspected that the tenants who moved in coveted his property.When a tenant offers to help paint the house for free, the landlord turns pale and shakes his head, thinking it will scare away the rest of his tenants and possibly even bankrupt him.God knows!The reason for his veto is simply that he can’t see the economic benefits of doing so. If the house is painted today, the tenants will squeeze in tomorrow, and he will let him raise the rent again and again, or use "gold paint" for the painting. ", then he must raise his hands in favor.

This is Shanghai.When you step into this city and you are surrounded by Shanghainese, the image of the city as a "miser" and "snobbish landlord" will become more concrete and distinct.