Beijing, 7 Nov (ZXS) -- Question: How does Confucian merchant culture go global?
Author Chen Xiaoxia Director of the Mencius Institute of the Nishan World Confucian Center
As the core of traditional culture, Confucian culture has been successfully used in the commercial field in history, forming a unique Confucian business culture. With the development of economy and trade and the increase of international exchanges and cooperation, Confucian business culture has gradually gone abroad and taken root and blossomed in many parts of the world, playing a unique and important role in promoting international economic cooperation and development.
The connotation and value of Confucian culture
During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Confucian merchant class initially formed, and its typical representative figure was the "ancestor of Confucian merchants" Zigong. According to the Annals, as a famous disciple of Confucius, "Zigong knotted and rode together, tied the coin to hire the princes, and the monarch was all able to compete with it", "and the time was transferred to the goods... Families are rich in money."
As a businessman with virtue and cultural literacy, Confucian merchants have created a Confucian business culture with the core concepts of "people-oriented, righteousness and profit, harmony among the noble, honesty and trustworthiness, courage to innovate, and morality for government". "There is a way to make money... The benevolent make a fortune, and the unkind make a fortune. (Li Ji University)
Confucian merchant culture believes in people-oriented, honest and trustworthy principles. For example, in the Analects for Politics, it is mentioned that "people have no faith, and they do not know what they can do"; The Analects of Learning also contains basic principles of business conduct such as "courtesy and preciousness".
In Hefei City, Anhui Province, two students demonstrated calligraphy works of "True to Word" and "Honest and Trustworthy". Photo by An Jun
Harmony in interpersonal relations, cooperative management, and harmony in anger are the moral principles of Confucian business competition. "Righteous, Yiye. Honorable is great. "(Li Ji Zhongyong) Righteousness and profit are the moral concept of Confucian merchant culture." New every day, new every day, new every day. ("Li Ji University") tends to move with the times, keep pace with the times, "change with the times", "change with changes", "change in the middle of the time", "change in expediency", this is the business strategy of Confucian business culture.
Confucian merchant culture has a distinct "peaceful" and "altruistic" nature, advocating "cherishing peace", "generating wealth with anger", "fighting for harmony" and "benefiting people with peace", and advocating regulating the world economic order and making the global economy complementary and prosperous. The Confucian culture of "gentlemen's battle" advocates fair competition, win-win cooperation, and achieves benefit sharing and balanced development. The Confucian business culture of "people-oriented", "benevolence and love for others", "unity of nature and man" and "benevolence and love for things" advocates respect for life and nature, requires harmonious, friendly, coordinated and unified integrated development between man and nature, coordinated economic development and natural environmental protection, conserves resources, protects the environment, and respects the rights of future generations to survive and develop. The Confucian business culture of "changing with the times" is in line with modern science and technology and the spirit of the times.
Fan Li, the world's first god of literature and wealth in the Baoshan Chan Temple in Suzhou. Wen Caishen is the originator of Chinese Confucian merchants, Fan Li, who combines morality, elegance, and wealth and wisdom, and is known by the world as "loyal to the country; Wisdom to protect yourself; Merchants to get rich; Fame. Photo by Li Junfeng
The influence of Confucian culture on the world
Throughout the ages, the commodity trade between China and the West has imbued Confucian merchant culture and influenced the world. The Silk Road opened by the Han Dynasty transmitted Chinese silk fabrics and iron tools to West Asia, Europe and other regions, and the Eastern and Western cultures were initially exchanged.
During the Tang and Song dynasties, gunpowder, the compass, papermaking and printing technology spread to the West, and cultural exchanges between the East and the West gradually deepened, and in the Yuan Dynasty, a more open policy attracted Roman and Germanic travelers and merchants. The Italian merchant Marco Polo came to China around 1275 and wrote his personal experience as "Marco Polo's Travels", which expanded the horizons of Europeans, opened the prelude to Westerners' understanding of the East, and laid the foundation for the subsequent spread of Confucian merchant culture.
In the 16th century, the Jesuits represented by Matteo Ricci entered China, introduced Western science and technology culture to China, and also transmitted Confucian economic thought and Confucian merchant culture to European society, opening up an era of "learning from the east and learning from the west" and "learning from the west".
In the 17th century, economics had not yet become an independent discipline, and the germination of Western economics and the translation of Confucian classics became the prelude to the overseas spread of Confucian economic thought and Confucian business culture. From the 30s of the 17th century to the 60s of the 18th century, the development of Western social needs and economics boosted Confucian economic thought and Confucian business culture to go global.
Visitors visit the exhibition "Marco Polo for a Day: Discovering the Wisdom of the Silk Road" at the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing, where they experience ancient science and technology and material culture spread along the land and maritime Silk Roads. Photo by Hou Yu
In the 10s of the 20th century, the first book to comprehensively and systematically display Confucian economic thought to the West, "Confucius Financial Management", was published and distributed, and Chen Huanzhang systematically and elaborated and showed to Western readers the economic ethical ideas of consumption, production and fairness in Confucian business culture such as people-oriented, righteousness and profit, harmony, honesty and trustworthiness, courage to innovate, and morality for government. Max Weber, a well-known German religious sociologist, and Joseph Alois Schumpeter, a world-renowned economist, spoke highly of the Confucian economic thought and Confucian business culture in "Confucius Financial Management" when discussing ancient Chinese economic policies in their classic works "Confucianism and Taoism" and "History of Economic Analysis".
Adam Smith, the originator of Western economics, advocated "altruism for oneself" in The Theory of Moral Sentiments and the Study of the Nature and Causes of National Wealth (The Wealth of Nations), which was deeply influenced by the Confucian Shang culture's idea of "establishing oneself and establishing oneself as oneself as oneself and attaining oneself as oneself" (Analects of Yongye).
The British economist Arthur Young pointed out in The Way of the Market: Sima Qian and the Invisible Hand that Sima Qian had proposed the concept of market mechanisms and the metaphor of "the invisible hand" in the "History of Goods" before Adam Smith advocated economic liberalism. This theory is in line with the Chinese Confucian concept of "doing something" and "managing".
The 2013 New Year Folk Festival "Shi Sheng" ceremony was held in Hancheng, Sima Qian's hometown in Shaanxi. Photo by Tian Jin
The "People's Yearbook Handbook" published in the United States lists the world's top ten thinkers, and Confucius ranks first, evaluating Confucius and his economic ethics as cultural celebrities in ancient China and representatives of traditional Chinese economic thought, which are increasingly understood and respected by more Americans.
In the late 3rd century, Confucianism spread to Japan through the Korean Peninsula and penetrated into all areas of Japanese life, and the influence of Confucian merchant culture in Japan was extensive and influenced for more than 1,700 years. Shibusawa Eiichi proposed the "Analects and Abacus" business model, which was hailed as the "business bible" by later generations, and he revered the teachings of Confucius throughout his life, and regarded the Analects as the most holy truth for the world. Toshio Toshimitsu is known as the "god of management", he adheres to the Confucian business culture of courage and innovation, and takes the famous saying of "University" "New every day, new every day, and new every day" as his life motto. Toyoda Sakichi practices the Confucian business culture of "Shangzhong Noble Harmony", takes "the time is not as good as the place, the place is not as good as the people" ("Mencius, Gongsun Ugly") as the business purpose, and takes "Tiandi people" as the core spirit of the enterprise, and his son Kiichiro Toyoda chose the words of "The Middle Mean" "studious is almost knowledgeable, and practice is almost benevolent", and after adding it to his father's motto, it became "Heaven and Earth People Know Ren".
People from all walks of life in Shanxi Province, descendants of Confucius and Confucian researchers commemorated the 2573rd anniversary of Confucius' birth in front of the Dacheng Hall of the Taiyuan Temple of Literature. Photo by Wei Liang
As the foundation of prosperity and the magic weapon of entrepreneurs' management, Confucian merchant culture shines with dazzling historical and cultural brilliance and makes indelible contributions to cultural exchanges between China and the West. Peace and development are still the theme of today's world, and I believe that through cultural exchanges and mutual learning in the new era, Confucian business culture will further enhance the influence of China's excellent traditional culture, and make new contributions to creating world economic and social harmony and prosperity together with the excellent economic ideas and cultures of all countries in the world. (End)
About the author:
Chen Xiaoxia, director of the Mencius Institute of the Nishan World Confucian Center.
He is currently the Party Secretary, Dean and Researcher of the Mencius Institute of the Nishan World Confucian Center, and a distinguished professor of many universities. He has long been committed to the research of history and culture, the development history of Confucianism, the development of cultural industries, and youth education, especially in the innovative development of traditional culture such as Confucian culture. He has presided over nearly 20 national, provincial and municipal social science planning projects, published 8 personal monographs such as "Research on the Innovative Development of Traditional Culture in the New Era", "Research on Social Morality and Customs-From the Perspective of Rural Revitalization Strategy" and "Three Holes of Study Tour", and published more than 100 academic papers and literary works in "Guangming Daily", "People's Political Consultative Conference Daily", "Confucius Studies", "Theoretical Journal", etc., and many achievements have won national, provincial and municipal awards.