Parents become the pride of their children, and this is the greatest success of education.
01
A true story.
During the Republic of China period, there was also a Zhou laoye in Jiangxi, who did a lot of business, and there were millions of family properties in the family.
One day, this week the old man was angry.
What exactly happened?
It turned out that a manager of the Hunan company wrote to say that there was a famine in Hunan, and the government persuaded them to donate money, and the manager pledged five hundred silver dollars in place of the boss, Mr. Zhou.
And Mr. Zhou blamed this manager for being good at making claims and donating too much, so he was angry.
A mere five hundred silver dollars was a dime a dozen for this old man, but he was still reluctant to do so.
Someone asked Mr. Zhou, how did he accumulate such a large wealth?
Old Master Zhou replied: There is no other way, just accumulate and not use.
Later, he lived to be more than eighty years old before he died, and his inheritance was thirty million, and all ten houses of his children and grandchildren were divided.
However, within a dozen years, all his descendants were defeated.
You see, this week's old man is so rich and so stingy, just thinking about how he can save money and leave it to his children and grandchildren.
But what about the children?
It didn't take a few years to lose.
A person, even if he earns more money, he can't take it away when he dies, leaving it to his descendants, and if his descendants are incapable, they can be defeated in a few years.
This week reminds me of the story of the Yuan Shikai family.
When Yuan Shikai was alive, he only wanted to be emperor and refused to use his property to help the victims of the disaster, and later after his death, the family property was divided among his heirs.
After taking so much money, what happened to his children?
Most of them lived in utter misery and depravity.
The fourth son, Yuan Keduan, went crazy.
After the second son Yuan Kewen got the money, he ate, drank, gambled and sampled everything, and soon lost the family property.
The rest of the aunts, wives, third aunts, and daughters, after being assigned to the family, many of them became addicted to smoking (opium).
Yuan Shikai's family can be described as a famous family before, during the Xianfeng period, the Yuan family produced a total of 6 first-class members, 3 second-class, 1 four-pin, and 3 seven-pin.
However, after Yuan Shikai's generation, it almost completely declined.
The prominence and wealth of the Yuan Shikai family could be said to be unmatched for a while, but such wealth could not be passed on for a long time, and it completely collapsed after his death.
Many times I always wonder, parents just leave a huge wealth to our children, such wealth can be continued?
Can they guarantee their life of glory and wealth?
Obviously, it doesn't work at all, and the examples of Old Master Zhou and Yuan Shikai tell us that the huge amount of money left for them is nothing more than harming them.
02
So, what is the best way for parents to try to ensure that their children are rich and prosperous in their lives?
The story of the Zeng Guofan family gave the table an important revelation.
As we all know, Zeng Guofan was an incomparably powerful figure, once leading the Xiang army to defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that swept half of China, and later he founded the Lianghuai Salt Ticket.
There is a detail in this, which outsiders rarely know, but Zeng Guofan's grandson knows it in detail.
At that time, salt tickets were very precious, each ticket price was two hundred and twenty-two, and later sold to twenty thousand two, and the annual interest was three or four thousand two, at that time, as long as there was a salt ticket in the family, it could be called a rich man.
However, Zeng Guofan issued a death order, and the Zeng family was not allowed to receive it, and for many years after his death, the Zeng family did not receive a salt ticket.
If you think about it, with the rights of Zeng Guofan, it is extremely easy to make some brand names and flower names and let his family receive one or two hundred salt tickets, and it is not illegal to collect tickets according to the rules.
But Zeng Guofan was so dead-eyed.
Later, when Zeng Guofan died, he was extremely incorruptible, with only a small amount of silver, except for the old house in his hometown, he did not build a house in the provincial city, and did not leave much property for his children.
But how did the Zeng Guofan family live later?
It is no exaggeration to say that this family is the most successful family in China in the past two hundred years, and there is no one.
Some people have calculated that in the eight generations of the Zeng Guofan family, there is not a single loser, and after three generations, there are still talents.
For example, great-grandson Zeng Zhaoquan is a bachelor of technology from MIT and the head of the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of Hunan University; Zeng Yunong, president of Tunghai University in Taiwan; and Zeng Xiansen, a professor at Chinese Min University.
In addition, the daughter and granddaughter of this line, that talent is even more remarkable.
Nie Yuntai, the grandson of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce, opened China's first textile factory, and many of the founding fathers were associated with the Zeng Guofan family.
When the "Book of Zeng Guofan's Family" mentions this book, I believe many people know it, and it is the essence of Zeng Guofan's education of their family's children.
His life and experience are condensed into this book, and it is also the object of study by many professors and experts.
Therefore, with regard to the prosperity of a family, it is useless to leave money, and it is necessary to pass on a spirit, and this precious spiritual wealth of the predecessors is the most able to ensure the nobility and wealth of the future generations.
Lin Zexu once said a thought-provoking passage to the effect that:
"If the children and grandchildren are like me, what will they do with the money left for him?" Virtuous and rich, it will destroy his ambitions, and if the descendants are inferior to me, what will they do with the money? Being stupid and having a lot of wealth will increase his fault! ”
So, how did Lin Zexu do it himself?
Lin Zexu was poor all his life, his descendants did not inherit any of his family property, during which he seized a lot of opium, and some people told you that it was easy to use these opium to make a few million silver taels, but he was not moved.
Later, after Lin Zexu's death, the spirit of the family has been passed on.
His descendants have been reading for generations, and during the Qing Dynasty, the number of scholars and enumerators was unclear, until modern times, there were many excellent descendants, such as Lin Xiang, the president of the Supreme Court, whose moral quality was very lofty, quite like the style of Lin Zexu in those days.
As we all know, Fan Zhongyan once wrote the famous sentence of "the world is worried and worried, and the world is happy and happy", but the story of their family is more exciting.
Once, Fan Zhongyan bought a house in Suzhou's South Garden as his residence, and later heard the fortune teller say: "This house has excellent feng shui, and future generations will be public secretaries." ”
He thought that since this house has such good feng shui, it is better to make it a school, so that more poor people's children can benefit.
So he immediately donated the house.
Later, in the nearly one thousand years of this academy, there were nearly four hundred jinshi and more than eighty titles.
Fan Zhongyan's life is really poor and sour to make people cry.
He had been an official for decades, and all his money was used to help the poor, the family was extremely frugal, every morning he ate pickle porridge, his sons wore cloth clothes, and when he died, he did not even have enough funeral expenses.
What about Fan Zhongyan's descendants later?
Fan Zhongyan's family has been handed down for dozens of generations, until now, it has been eight hundred years, and there are still many descendants of the Fan family in suzhou, and there are often excellent descendants.
Therefore, the will and spirit of the ancestors are the wealth that truly penetrates and influences the children.
03
I know there is a question, what is it like to be born in a prominent family?
The answer about Yi Zhongtian is shocking.
Yi Zhongtian's second grandfather, Yi Jiahu, once followed Li Yuanhong to participate in the Xinhai Revolution, and he refused Yuan Shikai's solicitation and refused to serve the warlords, which was a clear stream in the chaotic world.
Yi Zhongtian's great uncle Yi Renxun compiled the history textbook for middle schools in Hunan under difficult conditions, making great contributions to education.
Yi Zhongtian's eighteenth ancestor Yi Xian, a minor official on the border, the Ming Emperor was already planning to abandon Vietnam, he vowed to resist to the death, and finally sacrificed his life for the country.
You might say that it's all ancestral matters, and it's a bit distant from him.
However, Yi Zhongtian's mother once built a nursery with Song Meiling and Deng Yingchao to take care of orphans during the war.
Yi Zhongtian's great-grandfather refused to accept ill-gotten gains...
His great-grandfather once wrote in the book: "Since I have volunteered in my life, the glory and wealth are all behind, but I hope that my children and grandchildren will pay attention to the right learning." When he became a Confucian, he really made Wu Jiuquan smile. ”
This means: My greatest wish in this life is not to seek glory and wealth, but to seek that my children and grandchildren have achieved something academically, and if I can produce a cultured celebrity, I can smile at the Nine Springs.
Looking at Yi Zhongtian's learning and status now, I think his great-grandfather should be pleased.
What is it like to be born into a prominent family?
Many people may think of money and power at first thought, but these are weak, and the truly prominent and noble family is what kind of characters have appeared in our family, what kind of great things they have done, and they have the spirit of their family.
Do not underestimate the transmission and influence of this family spirit on children, he will make people have a sense of mission and faith, and force themselves to become as good as them.
This belief, which is endless, is passed down from generation to generation, like a tree, constantly stretching outward and flourishing.
This is the true aristocratic family, spiritually superior to others.
Therefore, why do I always say that true education is the words and deeds of the ancestors, the ancestors first became an excellent person, and then the children learned from them, heard and saw, and naturally became excellent.
Therefore, the best thing that parents leave to their children is not to let him live in a villa, drive a luxury car, use endless money, and make the next person who can't be called, but pass on a spirit from his own body.
This spirit will naturally make them superior to others.
If you are really for the good of your child, let him learn to run in the rain without an umbrella under the influence of your spirit, and let him desperately pursue the "best self" all his life.