Zhu Xiaohuang, former president of China CITIC Bank: To read a lot, we must also read books "alive" | World Book Day

In the eyes of many, financial executives are rational and self-sustaining, and it is difficult to draw an "equal sign" with romantic literary and art lovers, but this is not the case.

On April 23rd, coinciding with the "World Book Day", the reporter of The International Finance News had the honor to interview Mr. Zhu Xiaohuang, the former president of China CITIC Bank, to listen to some of his views and insights on reading, as well as some reading suggestions for young people.

The "indissoluble relationship" with reading

When it comes to why he has a special love for literary books, Zhu Xiaohuang describes it as "accidental and inevitable".

Zhu Xiaohuang believes that for everyone, reading has no particularity, and it plays an indispensable element in the growth process of everyone, accumulating their own life experience and reading feelings, which is an inevitable side. On the other hand, "for our generation, when we were young, there was a great lack of reading opportunities, and later on, it is inevitable that there will be a sense of hunger and thirst for reading, such as the treasure, which is an accidental side."

He recalls that during the Cultural Revolution, reading was a very precious thing for most young people, "At that time, if we heard about someone who had some books, we would try every means to borrow them and quietly read them, and we longed for reading."

He also shared a past event: "At that time, the county library was smashed, a group of teenage children ran to 'pick up leaks', some people would rummage through the microscope, magnifying glasses and other fun things, I ran to the house, in the miscellaneous garbage heap to find out if there were books I was interested in, and finally turned out two books, even now I can clearly remember the titles, one is the Soviet novel "The Young Drummer", the other is a book written by Soviet scientists about Michurin's biological grafting technology." Now, I'm interested not only in literary works, but also in books of the biological genre. ”

He said that after resuming the college entrance examination, there were relatively more opportunities to read after being admitted to college, and it was even more perennial "bubble" in the reading hall, "At that time, I read a lot of world famous books, literature and philosophy books, of course, including some professional books, and then after officially entering the work, whenever I had spare time, I especially liked to visit some bookstores in Beijing at that time to meet the thirst for reading."

To read books "live"

In reading, Zhu Xiaohuang often has a different understanding and deep thinking about books. In his eyes, many books are not just about the story and recorder of words, but are given a new "life" and artistic beauty.

He believes that as far as literary works are concerned, they should not be limited to the depiction of characters and stories, but should be able to reflect the historical context of social development at that time, and the relationship between people and nature and society at that time. "The writings of great men have their special charm. Just like the Communist Manifesto, its layered analysis of commodities, exchanges, production, labor and surplus value is like a cocoon, and this logical beauty and logical power are really amazing and shocking, and young people should really read it carefully."

In his eyes, the meaning of reading is to renew oneself and keep pace with the times. Not only to read a lot, but also to constantly think in the process of reading, to read the book "live". At the same time, he also shared a small "magic trick" about reading.

"In my personal experience, thinking and writing is an important carrier of reading, if you can read with questions, think with problems in the process of reading, read various materials for writing records, so that the effect of reading will be more effective with half the effort." Zhu Xiaohuang said.

At the same time, he also shared his views on the current popular video knowledge form on the Internet. He said that he is not opposed to this form, but they belong to the fragmented knowledge form, and for many young people now, it is still necessary to acquire knowledge more "systematically" through the relatively traditional way of reading books, and build their own knowledge system architecture.

"Most young people are busy today, but if you develop the habit of reading and taking notes from a young age, you will be able to benefit for a lifetime." Zhu Xiaohuang said that young people are now affected by the environment, compared with the past may be somewhat impetuous, but also easy to be attracted by other things, "self-discipline and the abandonment of interference is an important topic in growth, reading is a good way to solve such problems." ”

Recommended books for "financial whites": "Risk Society" and "Away from icebergs"

Recommended reason: For financial practitioners, engaging in finance is not only to deal with all aspects of enterprises, but also to encounter a variety of problems and concepts, to be familiar with the principles of finance is actually two points: first of all, monetary banking, followed by the principle of financial risk management.

Money and Banking is a book to read. Although there are many books on risk management, both Risk Society and Away from the Iceberg are worth reading. Because an important principle of financial markets is to take risks, decisions that do not take risks can easily be wrong.

In particular, in the bibliographic introduction of "Far from the Iceberg", it is written: "Commercial bank strategy, risk management, financial management, and market planning must take into account the fate of tomorrow." Due to the weakness of human nature, this is often superficially valued and actually ignored in actual economic life, because for every specific business transaction, it is short-sighted, blind and impossible to look far. Only when every specific transaction behavior can comply with the rules and value orientation set for tomorrow can we ensure the stability of commercial banks as a whole tomorrow, maintain sustainable development, and truly avoid the dangerous icebergs that may exist on the road in the future. ”

Reporter Ma Jiaxin

Edited by Yao Hui

Editor-in-Charge Sun Xiao