On June 2, 2007, an elderly man died in Hong Kong.
At that time, the whole of Hong Kong will fall into grief.
A number of national leaders sent condolences;
Not only former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa supports him, but Also Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest man;
The Chinese government held a "state funeral" for him, and the coffin was covered with a five-star red flag;
On the day of the memorial service, many ordinary Hong Kong citizens spontaneously came and filled the entire venue to send the old man on his last journey.
What the hell is going on with this old man?
In Hong Kong, the only two people who have enjoyed the highest level of funerals are Fok Ying Tung and the other is the old man.
His name is Zhuang Shiping.
The world knows that the richest people such as Cao Dewang and Chen Jiageng know him, and very few people know him.
His story should not be buried in the dust, and what he did should not be forgotten by the world.
In 1911, a family of scholars in Puning County, Guangdong Province, gave birth to a baby.
His family named him Zhuang Shiping.
When he was a teenager, with his family roots and his willingness to work hard, he was a good seedling to read.
At the age of 12, he left his hometown to study at Shantou Yingshi Middle School, and later studied at Shanghai Pudong Middle School.
At the age of 18, he went to the ancient capital of Beiping to study in the department of economics at the Chinese University founded by Sun Yat-sen.
He studied under Professor Chen Baoyin, who was the first scholar to translate Capital into China.
Learning is the most progressive thought, the best group of people in contact, and it is difficult for Zhuang Shiping to be unaffected by it.
At that time, it was the time of Japan's invasion of the three northeastern provinces, and the northeast soon fell.
As a young man worried about his homeland, Zhuang Shiping could not turn a blind eye.
He said: "I have experienced an unprecedented pain of national shame!" I will never forget it! ”
He organizes fundraising speeches for students during the day, collecting money and clothing;
He personally supported the patriotic soldiers to go out of the customs to resist japan, and took the lead in sending the soldiers off at the railway station.
Writing at night, Zhuang Shiping wrote beautiful articles, and the speech always infected everyone present.
After graduating from university, Zhuang Shiping, because of the long-term organization of the student movement, could not accommodate himself in China, and at the invitation of patriotic friends, he went to Thailand to teach at Soongsil Middle School.
Although in Thailand, Zhuang Shiping has not forgotten the shattered motherland for a moment.
He taught during the day and propagated the patriotic thought movement at night, mobilizing patriotic young people to return to China to participate in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and at the same time, he also published a large number of articles as the main writer of The Central Plains Daily in Thailand.
Zhuang Shiping's behavior not only attracted the attention of the Thai side, but also attracted the secret wanted of Japanese puppet elements.
In order to escape the pursuit, he began to shift from ideological propaganda to practical movement.
At that time, the aid to China in Southeast Asia could only rely on a Burma Road to transport.
In order to ensure the smooth transportation of materials to China, he not only personally inspected the Burma Highway, but also wrote a "Report on the Inspection of the Burma Highway" of more than 20,000 words.
At the same time, it also made great efforts to transport materials on the Burma Road.
Lacking a transport driver, he ran in many directions, risked his life to go to Malaysia to ask for help from Chen Jiageng, and mobilized overseas Chinese drivers to help this material team.
With the help of local patriotic overseas Chinese leaders, Zhuang Shiping also single-handedly founded chambers of commerce such as "Hesheng Commercial Company" and "Anda Company".
Zhou Enlai once said: "Chaoshan has contributed two economic talents to the Chinese revolution, one is Xu Dixin in theory, and the other is Zhuang Shiping in practice. ”
On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, China's economy was withering and people's livelihood was difficult, especially in Hong Kong, and the financial system has always been monopolized by britain.
In order to prevent foreign currencies from continuing to plunder the wealth of the southern region, Fang Siqiong, then secretary of the Hong Kong branch in China, said:
"If you want to change that, you have to build your own bank."
Such an important task fell on Zhuang Shiping's shoulders.
Opening a bank is much more difficult than starting a company, what if there is no start-up capital?
Zhuang Shiping took the ten thousand DOLLARs borrowed from the organization, and promised that he could only make money, not lose money, and set off for Hong Kong.
"Nanyang Commercial Bank" was thus founded.
In Hong Kong at that time, British banks monopolized the local financial system and strictly controlled the transfer of funds from overseas Chinese to the mainland.
Zhuang Shiping thought, since other banks do not do this business, then I will do it, he put forward the business of "facilitating overseas Chinese remittances and serving overseas Chinese compatriots", which cut to the needs of overseas Chinese to send money to their hometowns.
Nanyang Commercial Bank's funds have therefore continued to pour in, and in just half a month, Nanyang Bank has gone from US$10,000 to HK$5.23 million.
On December 15, 1949, nanyang commercial bank, which had been operating for two years, was officially established.
On the day of its establishment, Zhuang Shiping braved tremendous pressure and raised the first five-star red flag in Hong Kong on the roof of the bank.
This was not an easy task, knowing that it was 48 years before Hong Kong's return to the motherland, nearly half a century.
At that time, Hong Kong was still a British colony, and the whole of Hong Kong was under the rule of the Rice Flag, and there was a British atmosphere everywhere.
The difficulties faced and the significance of being able to raise a five-star red flag here are self-evident for every Chinese.
Soon, Zhuang Shiping opened the bank to Macau, and the Macau Nantong Bank was founded.
With the successful experience of Nanshang Bank, Nantong Bank quickly solved the problem of remittance difficulties for local expatriates, and like Nanshang Bank, it quickly developed and grew.
It is hard to imagine that a bank with only 10,000 US dollars in start-up capital and only 18 employees has become a large banking enterprise with 50 branches, more than 2,000 employees and total assets of up to 200 billion yuan under the operation of Zhuang Shiping.
On July 1, 1997, Hong Kong was returned to the motherland;
On December 20, 1999, Macao returned to the motherland;
The 86-year-old man who has struggled for half his life on the two islands has finally arrived.
Watching the colonists' flags slowly fall and the five-star red flag rising high, Elder Zhuang said with tears in his eyes that his long-cherished wish had been fulfilled.
He said:
In my life, I am not for fame or profit, but I have been too angry with foreigners, and I want to fight for breath and let Chinese sit on the international stage strong, have status and dignity.
This purpose was achieved, and I died without regrets.
From starting from scratch to having a wealth of 100 billion, in the eyes of ordinary people, Zhuang Shiping could have lived a luxurious life.
But this is not the case.
He has been working in Hong Kong for many years, has not bought a house, and has always rented a staff apartment in a bank.
There is no driver when you go out, and no matter where you go, you take the bus and subway like ordinary people.
Always wearing a white shirt with a worn neckline, it gives the impression of an ordinary old man, the only watch he wears, which has been carried for decades, and it is only a hundred dollars.
Clothes are patched when they are torn, and furniture has been an old style for decades.
Zhuang Shiping's family style in life is from Jane, not only leading by example, but also strict requirements for children.
Elder Zhuang's 6 sons and daughters never resorted to their father's shadow to seek their own welfare.
Not only was he not in politics, but he wasn't even in small business.
Instead, they all lived the lives of ordinary people, with the eldest son, always working as a bus driver.
After the death of their father, they did not inherit any form of inheritance.
Zhuang Shiping is very harsh on himself and strict with his family, but he is extremely generous in the construction of the motherland.
He had a historic conversation with Li Ka-shing.
Li Ka-shing: "Brother Shiping, you say, what is the most meaningful thing in life?" ”
Zhuang Shiping: "It is the most meaningful to study and cultivate talents. Like Mr. Chen Jiageng, whose name is associated with the Xiamen University and Jimei School he founded, such a life is the most meaningful. ”
Under the leadership of Zhuang Shiping, Li Ka-shing and overseas Chinese businessmen invested heavily in the establishment of Shantou University.
In 1986, when the 75-year-old Zhuang Shiping decided to retire, he made a decision that shocked the world, and he waved a big hand and handed over the 200 billion yuan worth of banks he founded to the state free of charge.
Born in Si, raised in Si, and also in Si.
He used his life to prove that a naked son has a deep love for this land.
A reporter once asked the eldest son whether he would blame his father for not having an inheritance.
He said:
"Fathers always teach us to be self-sufficient and unwilling to use our influence to do things for our children. When I arrived in Hong Kong, he never asked me about it. ”
"We don't have any complaints, because this is a country and a nation, and there is always a group of people who do this."
Looking back at most of Elder Zhuang's life, he was very strict with himself, and even did not care at all, but he was unusually gentle and easy to treat the people around him.
Liu Mengxiong, a well-known figure in Hong Kong's financial circles, once commented on him:
"No matter how big or small things are, Zhuang Shiping does not refuse, he is the 'Wong Tai Sin' of Hong Kong."
When the writer Xia Ping wrote "The Biography of Li Ka-shing", she once asked Elder Zhuang for advice,
"He's always helping people in a meticulous way, just to tell you everything he knows."
Later, with the help of Zhuang Shiping, Xia Ping founded The Leader magazine.
Another time, there was a painting of Wang Xizhi's seventeen authentic ink treasures scattered elsewhere, and the relevant departments found him and hoped that he would assist in the purchase of them, and later under the operation of Elder Zhuang, it was successfully obtained.
In his later years, his wife Lin Yingping suffered from Alzheimer's disease, and Zhuang Shiping, who was already an elderly man at the time, personally took care of his wife's diet and living.
I have to dress my wife every morning and carefully wipe my wife's feet in the evening.
No matter how busy he was outside, he had to rush home to cook food for his wife.
Later, because of the high cost of hospitalization in Hong Kong, in order to save money and not add trouble to the country, he secretly transferred his wife to Shenzhen for hospitalization.
Although he was dressed in ordinary clothes and destitute, and once attended an international conference, everyone knew that he was a great legend.
After the meeting, on the exit aisle, everyone lined up in a row to watch Elder Zhuang leave first, paying tribute to his great personality and contributions.
Ye Jianying's daughter Ye Xiangzhen commented on him: "Elder Zhuang is a great hero behind the scenes. ”
For the development of the country, he was willing to play the role behind it, but his character, his contribution, and his legendary experience should not be buried by time and forgotten.
Everyone who still enjoys its blessings should remember;
Everyone who was moved by his legendary life experiences and by his noble character should remember.
This is the star we should chase the most, even if the time passes for a long time, his personality charm will not fade.
The Guoxue master Jao Zongyi once wrote to him:
"An old meritorious state is heavy, and ten thousand people look up to Hui Zeshen."
Click "watching", pay tribute to Elder Zhuang, and the glory will last forever.
Author | Su Shanshu will not be reasonable, but will only tell stories.
Image | Network (if there is infringement, please contact to delete)