The poor are poor, the rich are rich

Chapter 20 2
Chapter 42 Righteousness and Benefits
"The distinction between justice and benefit" is an important proposition in Confucianism.

"The Analects?"Zihan" said: "(Confucius) Zihan said profit, fate and benevolence." "Mencius?Liang Huiwang Shang also said: "Why do kings talk about benefits, there is also benevolence and righteousness."But as a businessman, the ultimate goal of his business is nothing more than a word of "profit", which seems to have nothing to do with "righteousness".How to reconcile the contradiction here?Smart rich people play the banner of "taking righteousness for profit and taking advantage of righteousness", and regard it as an important content of their business ethics.They believe that "money" is like a "spring". If money is "used for righteousness", it will not only flow inexhaustibly, but also broaden the source of wealth and receive the effect of making big profits and making a fortune.In shopping malls, it is very common to use righteousness as profit, and the phenomenon of profiting from righteousness.

According to "Xiu Ning Sui Shi", there was a businessman Liu Huai in Xiu Ning County who used to buy grain in Jiaxing, Huzhou and other places. Earn a fortune.But Liu Huai said: "This way, how can it be compared to letting the people here survive the disaster and recover? This is a great profit!" He also ordered people to cook porridge and provide it to the hungry for free.Liu Huai sold grain at a reduced price. From a business perspective, although he gave up the opportunity for huge profits, it was still profitable. However, Liu Huai's gain of this benefit was also linked to his "benevolence".

This is a typical example of Huizhou merchants' "taking profit from righteousness" and "taking profit from righteousness".According to Guangxu's "Wuyuan County Chronicles" Volume 34 "Character?"Yi Xing" records that in Qingyuan Township, Wuyuan County, there was a businessman Zhan Yuanjia who "abandoned Confucianism and served Jia" because of his poor family. When he went out to do business, he made friends with the local prefect Chen Qisong.In the same year, there was a catastrophe in the local area, and there was a serious shortage of grain. The prefect Chen Qisong sent more than 20 taels of silver from the treasury and entrusted Zhan Yuanjia to purchase grain in other places.When he arrived, the owner of the inn told him: "When buying rice here, for example, there is interest (rebate), ranging from hundreds of taels to tens of millions of taels. As usual, there is no harm to integrity." Zhan Yuanjia was not moved, and said: "Today, I am hungry and waiting to be fed. If I take a penny, I will lose a spoonful of money. I can't bear to make people rich." In Zhan Yuanjia's view, The purpose of purchasing food is to relieve the hungry people, so "taking interest" is really ill-gotten gain. "Profit" is neither obtained from "righteousness", but it is contrary to business ethics.Therefore, even though he could get thousands of gold at his fingertips, Zhan Yuanjia finally "would rather lose than lose righteousness" and rejected the temptation of money.

The wealthy people who flatter the concept of justice and profit not only adhere to the principle of "seeking profit with righteousness and giving profit for righteousness" in their business operations, they also maintain equal competition among partners while maintaining mutual support and care.Especially for business partners, they will try their best to protect them, even if they know that doing business with the other party will not make money, they will not part ways or break up the relationship halfway.In case the other party goes bankrupt and their debts cannot be recovered, they will just let it go and just treat it as paying tuition fees.

In the early years of the Republic of China, Yang Laowu, the treasurer of Shuangsheng Gong, owed Fushengquan 6 taels of silver. Because he could not repay, Yang Laowu just kowtowed to Qiao Yingxia and let it go; The whole 1000 yuan is just an ax and a basket, so that the two are cleared.

There are countless similar examples, and this kind of broad-mindedness of "making profits for righteousness" is enough to make many modern businessmen feel ashamed.

Entrepreneurs must abide by the minimum business ethics, in line with the rules of the game of "a gentleman loves money, and get it in a proper way", so as to realize the growth of interests and the growth of the enterprise.And after being successful, you should also have the generosity, mind and sense of social responsibility of "taken from society and used in society".

As the saying goes: "Faithful business" and "righteousness recruits the world's interests" refer to the dialectical relationship between righteousness and profit. Doing business with benevolence, taking profits from righteousness, and treating partners with righteousness and sharing profits, there is no reason why business should not be prosperous .

(End of this chapter)