In 1951, Rong Yiren, a representative of the industrial and commercial circles, spoke
When Rong Zhijian was 8 years old, his father Rong Yiren and the entire family's career were at the same intersection of history and faced new choices like the newborn New China.
It was the turn of the spring and summer of 1950, and the 34-year-old Rong Yiren came to the blue waves of Zhongnanhai for the first time.
At the invitation of Chairman Mao, Rong Yiren attended a forum of some non-party personages at the invitation of Chairman Mao.
This day should be the most memorable day in his life for Rong Yiren.
Rong Yiren and his wife Yang Jianqing
Chairman Mao stood at the door and personally greeted them.
When Chairman Mao shook the hand of the young Rong Yiren, he said humorously: "Mr. Rong, you are a big capitalist. ”
Zhou Enlai, who was beside him, smiled and said, "He is a young and strong faction of the Chinese national capitalists. ”
The jokes of the two leaders made Rong Yiren even more respectful.
After all, the Rong family's property spread all over the country and the world, especially on the eve of the liberation of Shanghai, except for him and his father in his seventies, the rest of the family, along with a large amount of equipment and funds, had been transferred overseas.
And how the socialist new China would treat him, Rong Yiren did not know.
Rong Yiren in his youth
Therefore, for Chairman Mao's joke-style ridicule, Rong Yiren still had concerns in his heart.
However, Chairman Mao's next words made Rong Yiren take a reassuring pill.
Chairman Mao encouraged all of you present to do more good deeds for the people, and to do good deeds consistently, but only in this way will the more honors and rewards the people will give.
These words made Rong Yiren feel very relieved, and the previous worries and anxieties had gradually dissipated.
He knew he was right to choose to stay.
And a new era is about to begin, just like 34 years ago, when he was born in Wuxi, the entire family's career is also facing a turning point and start.
St. John's University, Shanghai
The Rong family was originally a commoner's home, but it coincided with the era when China's economy began to integrate with the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
By 1916, rong zongjing and rong desheng two brothers, the business has been from Wuxi, Jiangsu all the way to Shanghai, especially cotton yarn and flour business is the largest.
In the year of Rong Yiren's birth, the 41-year-old Rong Desheng can be said to have returned home with honor.
With the mentality of becoming rich and helping the society, he built bridges and paved roads and founded schools in his hometown, and his career was in full swing.
Chairman Mao and Rong Yiren
By that time, the First World War had been going on for two years, and the countries of Europe, which were originally great powers, were in dilapidated, and even the basic necessities of life were unsustainable.
The Rong brothers resolutely seized the business opportunity in this, as Rong Desheng wrote in his diary, "When the European war has begun... Yu thinks that you can let go of the yarn, powder, necessities also. ”
China's export business has increased significantly, especially flour and cotton yarn.
In just a few years, the Rong brothers added 9 more factories.
From Shanghai to Wuhan, the largest city in China at that time, there were Rongjia businesses, and the brothers soon became the famous "Flour King" and "Cotton Yarn King" in the country.
Therefore, since birth, Rong Yiren has grown up in a golden jade family.
However, from a young age, my father was strict with their juniors, forbidding them to put up rich people's shelves outside.
Rong Desheng, who started a commoner struggle, knows that it is difficult to start a business and keep money, especially the latter, because the descendants have been freed from the environment of suffering, and in the case of ungrounded gas, it is easy to lead to the decline of the family in succession.
The family business is getting bigger and bigger, and it is becoming more and more likely to attract right and wrong.
Not to mention the warlord melee, not to mention a city, even the entire country is changing hands in three days, and the living environment of entrepreneurs is very difficult.
Young Rong Yiren
When Rong Yiren was more than ten years old, the country achieved superficial unification, and it is said that the development of the country in the next step will be promoted by all the industrialists, but the National Government will promote the so-called "controlled economy".
That is, excessive emphasis is placed on state intervention in economic development, giving priority to the development of heavy industry and military industry.
In this way, the living space of entrepreneurs is even more cramped.
More importantly, the National Government's wanton disposal of the businesses and wealth of entrepreneurs has caused panic among the people.
When Rong Yiren was 11 years old, the family's property was completely seized by the Nationalist government, and the reason given by the government was that the family did not buy enough military bonds.
If it were not for the mediation of Wu Zhihui, a fellow villager and the elder of the National Government, the Rong family might have suffered an accident.
Rong Yiren's family
It is precisely because of the difficult situation that Rong Desheng is more attentive to the requirements and training of the younger generations.
After graduating from High School, Rong Yiren was admitted to the History Department of St. John's University in Shanghai.
Every year when he returned home during the winter and summer vacations, his father sent him to his own flour mill for an internship.
The father's good intentions are very helpful to Rong Yiren's next growth.
In 1937, after graduating from university, Rong Yiren served as the assistant manager of one of his factories.
Young and ambitious, he is ready to open dozens of flour mills in the future, and he wants to build the Rong family's flour business into a big business.
However, before his idea could be realized, the Japanese launched a full-scale aggression against China.
The country was plunged into greater turmoil, and the expansion of business was in vain.
Family photo in 1956
During the entire War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, although the family's business lost 35%, most of the ownership of the enterprise was still in their own hands.
Under the turmoil, Rong Yiren also received experience in the business field.
In his career, he gradually took over the family business, and in the family, his sons and daughters were also born.
Rong Yiren has four women and one man, namely Rong Zhihe, Rong Zhiping, Rong Zhiyuan, Rong Zhiwan and Rong Zhijian.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Rong Yiren originally thought that the opportunity for the family business to revitalize the national economy was increasing, but the economy of the nationalist government-ruled areas was soon on the verge of collapse.
Especially in 1946, Rong Yiren's father was kidnapped.
The turmoil of the country and the collapse of the economy have made many entrepreneurs choose to leave abroad.
Public-private partnership
Rong Yiren chose to stay, he didn't know what awaited him next.
But a detail that happened during the liberation of Shanghai made him deeply fond of the Communist Party.
That morning, he drove out in a car and saw plastered Platon soldiers sleeping on the streets of Shanghai, without disturbing the people, which made the young Rong Yiren full of infinite expectations for the future of New China.
Especially after participating in the forum in Beijing, during the Period of The War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Rong Yiren led his family to make generous donations.
Next, Chairman Mao even classified rongjia's enterprises as "completely law-abiding households."
Since then, Rong Yiren has had the title of "Red Capitalist".
Rong Yiren had a discussion with the Shanghai industrial and commercial circles
During the public-private partnership that followed, Rong Yiren showed the consciousness that a national capitalist should have.
It was 1955, and public-private partnerships were being vigorously promoted nationwide, and many entrepreneurs had concerns about joint ventures.
In October, Rong Yiren went to Beijing to attend the meeting of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.
At the meeting, Rong Yiren proposed that Chairman Mao take time to go to Shanghai to see our factory.
Then, at the meeting of the executive committee of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce in November, Chairman Mao told the entrepreneurs attending the meeting that as long as everyone links the future of the individual with the future of the country, the fate and future of that person are very promising.
The development of the future cause of socialism is broad, and everyone's hearts must settle down, and we should not have fifteen buckets of water to draw water seven times and eight times down.
Rong
Chairman Mao then borrowed the story of Xiao Guiying in "Fishing and Killing The Family" to cleverly convey a clear message to the "capitalists" in the industrial and commercial circles:
Since we want revolution, we must be willing to throw away the altar jars, and as long as the national bourgeoisie is well transformed, it can also be integrated into the ranks of the working class.
Chairman Mao's words inspired Rong Yiren, and after returning to Shanghai, he responded to the call of the state and began to promote public-private partnerships.
Moreover, he also said at the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress that the profits obtained from enterprise investment should be purchased into public bonds to support national construction.
Rong Yiren and Chen Yun
For Rong Yiren, if he wants to be a qualified comrade and citizen in New China, he must be separated from his past self, especially he must give up the exploitative nature of capitalists and strive to transform in order to adapt to the development trend of the times.
During the subsequent public-private partnership, the Rong family's enterprises and businesses were gradually nationalized.
In January 1956, Rong Yiren received a call from Chen Pixian, the secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, saying that he wanted him to hurry home and discuss important matters.
Rong Yiren hurried home from the Shenxin Spinning Factory and found that Chen Pixian was already waiting for him.
It turned out that Chairman Mao had already come to Shanghai and was going to visit the Shenxin Spinning Factory today.
Rong Yiren did not expect that Chairman Mao had remembered what he said at the meeting in Beijing last year.
Rong Yiren and Margaret Thatcher
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Chairman Mao, accompanied by Chen Yi, Luo Ruiqing, and Wang Dongxing, came to the Shenxin Spinning Factory.
When Chairman Mao saw Rong Yiren, the first thing he asked was what was the production situation in the factory after the public-private partnership.
Rong Yiren told Chairman Mao that the efficiency of production was higher than before.
Next, Chairman Mao did not rest, but went directly to the workshop accompanied by Rong Yiren.
There were a total of 17 workshops, and Chairman Mao looked at 7 in succession, and Chairman Mao looked at them very carefully from the workers' work conditions to their lives.
In 1993, Rong Yiren was in the countryside of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province
For the chairman's concern, Rong Yiren has it in mind.
At the end of the same year, during the second member congress of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, Chairman Mao specifically mentioned that the transformation of capitalists should solve the two problems of material and ideology.
Especially in terms of thinking, let them learn and innovate new work experience.
Chairman Mao also deliberately gave the example of Rong Yiren, saying that he is still very young, not only can he learn more new experiences, but he can also make great achievements in the future.
Hearing Chairman Mao encourage himself so much, Rong Yiren's heart was also excited.
The following year, in 1957, Rong Yiren was officially appointed vice mayor of Shanghai and vice chairman of the Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce.
This is the first time that the Rong family has held a government office since its inception.
Especially for Rong Yiren, his life has undergone a new transformation.
In 1959, Chairman Mao asked Deng Xiaoping to recommend several non-party figures to be added to the departments of the State Council.
And in the candidate recommended by Deng Xiaoping, there was Rong Yiren.
As a result, Rong Yiren left Shanghai, where he had lived for a long time, and officially went to Beijing to serve as the vice minister of the Textile Industry Department.
At that time, Zhou Enlai was afraid that Rong Yiren had just arrived in Beijing and was not accustomed to living in the courtyard in the hutong, so he took special care of him, and he could live in Beijing for half a year and return to Shanghai for half a year.
Rong Yiren Shanghai Former Residence
Rong Yiren was enthusiastic about the premier's care, saying that he had come to Beijing to work as a workman and would get used to it in the future.
It was also in this year that Rong Yiren's son, Rong Zhijian, graduated from Nanyang Model High School in Shanghai, and was subsequently admitted to the Department of Electronic Engineering at Tianjin University.
Compared with the two eldest sisters and two younger sisters, although Rong Zhijian was the only son of Rong Yiren, in the 1950s and 1960s, because the family property had been nationalized, the father hoped that his son could learn all the skills and be able to support himself.
In the following ten years, the Rong family, like its time, also experienced ups and downs and fluctuations.
Rong Yiren's eldest daughters, Rong Zhihe and Rong Zhiping, have both started a family and have lived in Shanghai for a long time, and Rong Yiren is not very worried about them.
Rong Yiren Wuxi Former Residence
What made him uneasy was the third daughter Rong Zhiyuan.
Due to the misdiagnosis of encephalitis in middle school, it fell into the sequelae of dementia.
When the youngest daughter, Rong Zhiwan, reached the age of starting a family, and part of Rong Yiren's thoughts were worried about the marriage of the younger daughter.
It was the early 1970s, and with the help of friends, Rong Zhiwan was introduced to Ma Youheng, the son of Ma Manqi.
Although the two young people have a good feeling for each other, the elders are still very worried in their hearts.
Rong Yiren in his old age
Ma Man Kei, like Rong Yiren's background, also belongs to the industrial and commercial industry.
It is said that the two families are right, but in that relatively sensitive era, the combination of the two families may cause some unnecessary trouble.
To this end, the matchmaker Ke Xiaolin reported this situation to Ye Jianying and Liao Chengzhi, an adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ye Jianying said that since the two young people were in agreement, I agreed with this marriage.
Subsequently, he asked Liao Chengzhi to report the situation to Zhou Enlai.
After receiving Liao Chengzhi's report, Zhou Enlai said that it was a good thing for Rong Yiren and Ma Manqi to marry, and of course he supported it.
So in 1973, the two young people were officially engaged in Beijing.
Rong Yiren and his wife in old age
At this time, Rong Zhijian had just finished eight years of labor in the Liangshan area of Sichuan and was transferred to Beijing's power system for research.
Although the living conditions at the grassroots level are very difficult, it is also an excellent exercise for Rong Zhijian.
The descendants of the Rong family have all grown up, and for Rong Yiren, who has passed the year of knowing the destiny, there seems to be no major event in his life.
However, at this time, he did not know that soon he would "return to his old business" and exert his fists in the commercial field.
It was January 1979, and Deng Xiaoping specially invited rong yiren, Hu Weiwen, Hu Ziang, Gu Gengyu, and Zhou Shuhan, five representatives of the industrial and commercial circles, to discuss the next matters related to invigorating the economy.
Rong Zhijian, son of Rong Yiren
During the forum, Deng Xiaoping personally pointed out Rong Yiren's "general" and hoped that he would be able to give full play to his strengths in the economic and industrial fields.
This trust of the central authorities has added infinite strength to Rong Yiren, who is already in the year of huajia.
Next, Rong Yiren began to organize the China International Trust and Investment Corporation, which is mainly engaged in financing overseas funds, mainly to introduce foreign capital and set up enterprises.
At several subsequent meetings, Deng Xiaoping specifically told Rong Yiren, "Eliminate interference, let it go, and you are solely responsible." ”
In October of the same year, CITIC Company, which is directly under the leadership of the State Council, was formally established, and Rong Yiren served as the chairman and general manager.
Perhaps even he himself did not expect that after his old age, he would be able to get involved in business and economic construction again.
In the 1980s, CITIC created several national firsts.
Rong Zhijian's eldest son, Rong Mingjie
At that time, with the help of the wave of reform and the business of the Rong family overseas, Rong Yiren's son Rong Zhijian also went to Hong Kong to start a business.
In 1986, he also joined CITIC and served as vice chairman and general manager of the company.
In 1993, Rong Yiren left the business world again to become vice president of the country.
This is also the first time since the founding of new China in 1949 that a person from the business community has served as the vice president of the country.
Five years later, Rong Yiren officially retired, and his son Rong Zhijian continued to work in the business world, and in the 1990s brought out a listed company, CITIC Pacific.
Rong Mingfang, daughter of Rong Zhijian
After retirement, Rong Yiren was far from the public eye and lived an almost reclusive life.
In 2005, Rong Yiren passed away at the age of 89.
Four years later, his son Rong Zhijian resigned as chairman of the board of directors of CITIC Pacific on April 8, 2009 because of the huge deficit caused by the investment.
Rong Zhijian's second son, Rong Mingdi
Some people say that the death of Rong Yiren represents the official end of a family business for a hundred years.
And The silver-haired Rong Zhijian, when he left the CITIC Building in Admiralty, Hong Kong in 2009, represented the ups and downs of the commercial sea, in fact, in the blink of an eye.
The Tomb of Rong Yiren
Today, the descendants of the Rong family have spread all over the world.
Once upon a time, relying on flour and cotton yarn, they went from Wuxi to the world step by step, witnessing the rise and fall and twists and turns of China over the past hundred years.
Now, they spread the light of the Rong family to all over the world and benefit more people.