There is an old Chinese saying: "The poor are not more than three generations, and the rich are only three generations." "However, there are exceptions to everything. There is a family that has been rich for more than 15 generations. And the secret of this family to be rich for 15 generations is only 30 words.
Hundreds of years ago, there was a famous and prestigious family in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, the Bei family. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, wars continued to occur everywhere, and the people were displaced. In order to escape the war, the Bei people in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, moved to Suzhou. The first person who moved to Wu was called Bei Lan Tang, who originally did herbal medicine business in Jinhua and served as a jianghu langzhong. After moving to Suzhou, he still made a living selling herbs. However, the business is not very good, the Bei family population is also small, and the people are thin.
After several generations of hard work by the Bei family, by the time of the sixth generation of descendants, Bei Qiangu generation, the family's business has improved. By the time of his son Bemuting's generation, the family's business was managed by Bemuting, and the Bei family grew by leaps and bounds, becoming one of the four richest people in Suzhou. Bei Qiangu and Bemutin worked hard and were not afraid of hardship, so they developed a small pharmacy into the most famous medicinal materials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. After their discovery, the two did not forget to do good, and every year they would take out a lot of money to give back to the people.
During the Qianlong period, Suzhou had the saying "Nanhao Four Riches", which means that the four richest people in the city all lived in Nanhao Street. The four richest people people say refer to the four major families of Bei, Bi, Mao and Ge. Since then, the status of the Pei family in Suzhou has increased day by day, and it has become a famous local nobleman. The thirteenth sun Bei Runsheng and Belitai were known as the "Paint King" and "Financial Tycoon" respectively. As the saying goes, starting a business is easier said than done. What did the Bei family rely on to continue the wealth all the way? The answer is, the Bei family's family training. The family motto of the Bei family is very simple, with only 30 words: "It is better to leave off descendants with virtue, it is better to leave descendants with unique property, it is better to leave descendants with public property."
In fact, the Bei family's family training is very reasonable. At any time, there is no shortage of rich people in the world, but many people fail to keep the family property left by their ancestors. Take Sheng Xuanhuai, the richest man in the early MinChu Dynasty, who worked hard to build his family business, but was defeated by his favorite son Sheng Enyi. Sheng Enyi has been pampered since he was a child, and after being contaminated with gambling and opium, it can be said that he eats, drinks, and gambles, and everything will happen. When he lost his family property, he eventually lived on the streets and died in poverty. Therefore, a person's virtue is very important. In some ways, virtue is more important than money. When the money is gone, it can be earned again, but virtue cannot be.
Each generation of the Bei family paid attention to virtue and obeyed the ancestral precepts, so that they could continue their wealth for hundreds of years. And the famous financial wizard Bei Zuyi in modern times is also the descendant of the Bei family. Hailed as the "last master of modern architecture" and a Chinese-American architect, I.M. Pei is also a member of the Pei family. Over the past few hundred years, the Bei family has produced many talents and shines in various industries.