First, Shanxi people have no shortage of financial experts
If this question had been asked 100 years ago, there is no doubt that the answer would have been absolutely yes. At that time, there was a saying that the Shanxi people were Chinese Jews - Jin Shang aside, let's look at these people:
Jia Jiying, Shanxi Jinzhong Yuci people. In 1904, the Great Qinghubu Bank was organized, and in 1908, the Hubu Bank was changed to the Great Qing Bank, and continued to serve as the president until the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
Kong Xiangxi, a native of Taigu, Jinzhong, Shanxi. Since 1928, he has successively served as the minister of industry and commerce, industry and finance of the National Government, and the vice president and president of the Executive Yuan. "Kong was in charge of finance for 11 years and made certain contributions to the reform of the currency system, supporting the peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident, and supporting the finances of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression" (Baidu Encyclopedia).
Bo Yibo, Dingxiang people of Xinzhou, Shanxi. In 1949, he became the first minister of finance after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and also served as the deputy director of the Financial and Economic Committee of the Council of State.
Southern Han Chen, Shanxi Linfen Hongdong people. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he served as the director of the Finance Department of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government, and in 1948, the Chinese Min Bank was established, and Nan Hanchen was appointed as the first president of the Chinese Min Bank, and was "one of the founders of the financial undertakings of the Chinese people".
Rong Zihe, a native of Pinglu, Shuozhou, Shanxi. In 1948, he became the Minister of Finance of the North China People's Government, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he became the Vice Minister of Finance.
Ji Chaoding, a native of Fenyang, Lüliang, Shanxi. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as the vice chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the vice chairman of the Chinese Bank.
Look at these people and believe you already have your answers!
Second, a "smart daughter-in-law" who can only do "cooking without rice"?
In 1942, when Nan Hanchen was inaugurated as the director of the Finance Department of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, Mao Zedong said to him humorously: "We cannot jump off a cliff, we cannot disband, we must do it ourselves." The Central Committee has decided that you will be the director of the Finance Department of the Border Region, and I want you to be a clever daughter-in-law who can cook without rice. ”
When it comes to Shanxi people, the most evaluated are "real", "cutting the door", "calculating", these three evaluations have a real internal connection with financial management. "Cutting the door" is also "frugality", "frugality" must be "diligent", "diligent" is more "thrifty", "diligent" is open source, "frugal" is throttling, both are indispensable. In the county records cultivated by the counties in Shanxi, more than 70% of the county records have descriptions such as "people are more frugal and simple", "customary and frugal", "the people are diligent and thrifty", etc. In the ancient small-scale peasant society, Shanxi, the natural environment with less mountains and less rain, can only barely "feed" the people on this land - industriousness and thriftiness are forced out by the "environment".
Let's look back at the Shanxi people who held China's financial power at the beginning of this article, and the period they were in had one thing in common: Whether it was the Qing Dynasty's imminent collapse of the Qing Bank, or the arduous years of the War of Resistance Against Japan, or even the difficult stage when the founding of New China was stretched, it should be said that these were all unable to make ends meet, and when they needed to tighten their pants and belts to tighten their days, it was precisely at such a time that history without exception chose Shanxi people, was it inevitable fate, or was there another reason?
III. The "Reality" of Shanxi People
The "reality" of Shanxi people is not only manifested in "simple and generous", nor does it mean that Shanxi people are not smart, Shanxi people understand in their hearts, whether they are doing business or dealing with friends, they have a scale in their hearts, and he knows that when considering their own interests, they must also take into account the feelings and interests of relevant people - only in this way can they ultimately protect their own interests, which is really a kind of great wisdom.
This is the "righteousness" of JinShang, and also the "middle way" in traditional Chinese culture, shanxi people integrate it into their bones, raise their hands and throw themselves into the foot, do not abandon, do not be biased.
The "reality" of Shanxi people is also manifested in basing themselves on reality and "seeking truth from facts." In 1956, Bo Yibo proposed to set the main indicators of the plan more accurately and realistically, which was wrongly criticized.
Fourth, the Shanxi people who "can calculate"
"Calculating" can be said to be a praiseworthy and derogatory word, to put it well, that is, "plan thoroughly and consider the long term"; to put it badly, it is "everything is calculated, always calculated" - this is not only a pejorative meaning, but also a little scary!
When Yan Laoxi built the Tongpu Railway, he had a hard time thinking about it. The National Government demanded that the broad gauge be repaired, but Yan Laoxi resolutely disagreed: repairing the wide gauge is too expensive and must rely on the Nanjing government, one is whether it can get the support of the government, and the other is that if the government supports it, it will intervene, and it may lose its dominance.
Without the support of the Nanjing government, even if the narrow track is repaired, with the strength of Shanxi Province, it is still a bit inadequate!
To build a bridge to build a railway, although the time to build a wooden bridge is short, it is much cheaper than a stone bridge, so first build a wooden bridge, and when the wooden bridge is broken, there will be money, and then build a stone bridge!
Sleepers, wood or cement? Yan Laoxi secretly calculated, wood is not easy to find, cement is not easy to find, get, self-financing first set up a cement factory - Northwest Ocean Ash Factory, self-sufficiency, and finally the railway was repaired, and he also left a factory!
Supporting facilities can be saved - station waiting room, all brick and tile bungalows, large stations dozens of square meters, small stations several square meters, some stations directly rent houses!
What's more, fix a section and operate it immediately. For example, in May 1934, the Taiyuan to Jiexiu section was completed, and it began operation on July 1, transporting 760,000 passengers and 570,000 tons of goods by the end of the year - already a small profit!
Compared with the Jiangnan Railway, which cost the least to build in the same period, the cost per kilometer of the Tongpu Railway is less than half of it!
However, Yan Laoxi's "ruyi abacus" was defeated in the early days of the Shanxi War of Resistance. It's too fine, and the situation is changing rapidly – when it should be counted, when it should not be counted, it can no longer be counted!
Fifth, it is worth exploring the alternative or mutation of today's Shanxi merchants
"Conservative" is also a more common label attached to Shanxi people, but two Shanxi businessmen who have appeared in recent years have completely broken this concept: Jia Yueting and Sun Hongbin.
Successes and failures aside, Jia Yueting's obsession with adventurism and Sun Hongbin's debauchery are absolutely different among the centuries-old traditional Shanxi merchants.
Yes, the rapid progress of science and technology has reduced the influence of the environment on human beings a lot, electricity, communications, transportation across the mountains and mountains, the information field is more connected to the world, the impact of the environment on people has been greatly weakened, affected by these factors, perhaps the personality of Shanxi people is also changing rapidly?
Or is it that Jia Yueting and Sun Hongbin, who were also born in southern Shanxi, have some kind of attribute in this land?