On February 5, I published an article in this column, suggesting that Liu Qiangdong learn from Li Changping and make charity of high quality. The comment area was very lively, and some netizens agreed with my opinion, but there were a lot of cynicism.
Among the netizens who ridiculed me, several concluded that I was not capable of donating money and materials to my hometown like Liu Qiangdong. Indeed it is. I belong to the working class, and my personal financial resources are very different from Liu Qiangdong's, and I am not able to do charity in the way of throwing money like him. But based on this, it is wrong to think that I am not qualified to make suggestions on Liu Qiangdong's charity in his hometown. This discrepancy can be seen from the following three perspectives.
The first is to ignore my qualifications as a brother of Liu Qiangdong, who donated money and materials to farmers, which is statistically manifested as an increase in the net income of farmers, which involves my professional field, and I am qualified to make irresponsible remarks about him, a junior who has become a public figure. Furthermore, what kind of mentality do people who think that because I have little money, I am not qualified to give advice to the rich, poor or rich?
The second is to ignore the huge space and potential for Liu Qiangdong to do charity in his hometown to improve the quality, and some people think that his charity in his hometown has been perfected, and he underestimates the desire and ability of Renmin University alumni to surpass themselves with the level of illiteracy.
Third, it has long become a social phenomenon for entrepreneurs of all sizes to give back to their hometowns or help rural development after their careers have been successful, but the vast majority of them are still at the level of benevolence and charity, and do not show the innovative realm that entrepreneurs should have.
Those netizens who mocked me were blindfolded by a few little money, which is really pitiful.
One should do good. Good people will be rewarded. But there is a good distinction between the big and the small. Based on the basic facts confirmed in the news report, I divided the good deeds that Liu Qiangdong has done into three levels, namely great goodness, middle goodness and small goodness.
First of all, Liu Qiangdong's great goodness refers to the fact that he founded JD.com, led China's e-commerce industry to flourish, and became an industry leader. JD.com has created a large number of jobs for urban and rural residents and a large amount of tax revenue for the country. This fact is well known and needs no detail.
Liu Qiangdong's kind of kindness, I can't do it in my life. But Li Changping has already done it. It is precisely on the basis of this understanding that I suggest that Liu Qiangdong's junior should do good deeds for the peasants in his hometown, and that he can instruct his subordinates to learn from Li Changping's experience, and I also hope that this suggestion will bring me closer to the great goodness and make up for the gap between me and Liu and Li, even a little bit. Regarding Li Changping's great kindness, I plan to write another article to analyze it, hoping to inspire Liu Qiangdong and other entrepreneurs to do charity in the countryside and raise the level to the level of serving the people.
Secondly, Liu Qiangdong's Zhongshan refers to the fact that he does not forget his hometown after making Jingdong bigger and stronger, and helps Suqian area attract investment, especially to provide jobs for all villagers in his hometown Guangming Village who are willing to work in Jingdong.
To say that this is a good thing means that there are still shortcomings in the ointment of this kind of kindness.
From the perspective of "beauty", Liu Qiangdong has driven Suqian, especially Guangming Village, to make full use of inefficient or even idle resources, which has promoted the economic development of Suqian and the increase of income of the villagers, forming an endogenous driving force for local economic development.
From the perspective of "insufficiency", Liu Qiangdong's actions did not increase the country's total economic output, nor did it promote the business growth of Jingdong Group, which is a one-way feedback to his hometown based on his personal ability. But this also objectively squeezes out the development space of other regions and the jobs of other people (mainly farmers in other rural areas) in JD.com. I speculate that the senior executives of Jingdong Group who are not involved in Su Qian will not agree from the bottom of their hearts, but they all agree and assist Liu Qiangdong to complete the good deed, which is not only obedience to the boss, but also has the implication that he can be accommodating on non-principled issues.
Again, Liu Qiangdong's kindness refers to sending money and gifts to the parents and villagers in his hometown Guangming Village during the Spring Festival.
A netizen who criticized me said that this is Liu Qiangdong's private matter and should not be fingered. That's not true. If Liu Qiangdong only gives gifts to people who actually funded him before going to college that year, it is a gift exchange between relatives and friends, which is a private matter, and others will not know about it, and media people will not get news report materials, so it cannot be called charity. On the contrary, if a household does not give gifts to the whole village, it is not a private matter, but an official matter of the whole village, which is doing charity. Liu Qiangdong did this, which certainly reflects that he still retains the simplicity of the "big strong son" Zhi'en Tu Bao back then, which is worthy of praise. But to this day, he only relies on his simplicity to do charity in the whole village, and he does not reflect the thoughtful wisdom that a world-renowned entrepreneur should have.
Chinese people with a secondary school education have probably studied the ancient text "The Controversy of Cao Di", which contains a sentence that all Chinese leaders should keep in mind when doing good deeds: "The small benefits are not everywhere, and the people are obedient." It should be appropriate to quote this sentence to remind Liu Qiangdong.
Based on the experience of rural life, the author analyzes the following based on professional common sense:
(1) When Liu Qiangdong was in college, some neighbors in the neighborhood sponsored him, for example, someone brought him eggs to bring to Beijing, if these neighbors received the same money and goods as the villagers who did not subsidize him, then the neighbors' efforts back then would be desecrated, and it was inevitable that there would be a sense of injustice; if Liu Qiangdong alone gave more money and goods to the neighbors who had funded him, not only would it be difficult to remember it thoroughly, but most of the neighbors who had not provided him with any financial assistance would also gossip.
(2) Liu Qiangdong has a premise for giving money and gifts to the villagers, that is, he thinks that the villagers are still very poor and need his gifts. But in fact, the per capita disposable income of farmers in Suqian exceeds the national average, and they are generally not poor. Before the Spring Festival in 2024, his main gift to the villagers was a down jacket. It can be asserted that most people in Guangming Village do not lack down jackets, and the villagers get down jackets with the mentality of not wanting to be in vain, and there will be no gratitude in their hearts, and the phenomenon of gossiping and saying something that does not go into the ears will inevitably occur. If the villagers of Guangming Village are generally so poor that they can't afford to buy down jackets, then Suqian's poverty alleviation work is suspected of being fake, and this kind of thing definitely doesn't exist.
(3) Liu Qiangdong gave gifts to the whole village, and the village cadres should cooperate to do the work. But the village cadres knew that these gifts could not solve any practical problems of the villagers, and they helped Liu Qiangdong distribute gifts to give face to the "big strong son".
To sum up, it is inevitable that Liu Qiangdong spent money, but he was not pleasing among some villagers. This is not the author's arbitrariness, but the emotional ordeal that many senior entrepreneurs who are older than Liu Qiangdong have long understood. The netizens who ridiculed me seemed to be maintaining Liu Qiangdong's image, but they actually didn't understand Liu Qiangdong's hardships. If you don't believe this judgment, it's best to invite teachers and students majoring in journalism at Chinese University to Guangming Village and its surroundings for interviews.
This article ends with a new suggestion: Liu Qiangdong's junior brother, with great goodness as the foundation, it is already possible to do the role of Zhongshan in his hometown; sending money and goods from door to door in the whole village is a tiring hard work, and he should not do it again in the future. If you complain among some villagers because you accept this advice, put the blame on me, Xu Xianglin, and say that there is an old graduate of Chinese Renmin University who will not let you do this. Of course, if you are happy to see the neighbors of Guangming Village get some money and goods because of your good deeds, then I will repeat the previous suggestion: let your subordinates refer to the experience of the Rural Construction Institute led by Li Changping, assist the party and government departments at all levels in Suqian City, and lead the farmers to run a comprehensive cooperative with the function of credit cooperation (mutual fund assistance), and you do not need to spend more than 1 million yuan a year, and a one-time contribution of less than 1 million yuan is enough. If this experience can be promoted among entrepreneurs, it is a great good.