[Editor's note: This article is the original and exclusive first release of Toutiao, please do not plagiarize and reprint]
«——【Preamble】】 ——»
Greed is a common phenomenon in human nature, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the "bad nature" of human beings; it not only exists in the behavior of individuals, but also often causes harm in the social, political and other fields: it leads to the moral degradation of individuals and society, breeds decay in the country, and even brings about wars and disasters.
However, in history, there have always been some people whose greed cannot be satisfied, and few people can resist the temptation of "money" and "power"; if they can get both, it will make people even more anxious.
Maybe there is really a cycle of history and fate, and today we will reveal the common greed of Song Meiling, the wife of the Republic of China, and Xu Jiayin, a real estate speculator.
Mrs. of the Republic of China, Song Meiling's endless greed
When it comes to Song Meiling, as the 3,000 gold of the Song family, the first reaction in our minds may be "elegant manners and decent manners"; it is a pity that she is not as respectable as Ms. Song Qingling as a sister - as the wife of Mr. Sun Yat-sen, she is open-minded, puts the country first in everything, and has supported Mr. Sun Yat-sen's career all her life without regrets.
As Chiang Kai-shek's wife, history's evaluation of Soong Meiling is complicated; on the one hand, she was once considered a symbol of female power during the Republic of China period and was a figure with great political and social influence.
On the other hand, her extravagant lifestyle and corrupt behavior have gradually surfaced and been widely criticized.
During the Republic of China, the four major families, especially led by Jiang Song, joined forces to accumulate wealth and seize power step by step by using family relationships and network resources.
Many years later, people looked through the archives, and the amount of money in the names of the Jiang couple was staggering, which clearly showed the darkness and decay of power.
As a well-known chaebol during the Republic of China, the Song family had strong economic strength and covered the sky with one hand; the marriage between Soong Meiling and Chiang Kai-shek was actually formed under the mediation of Soong Ailing, the eldest sister of the Song family.
Not only did she facilitate the marriage, but she also played an important role in the political and economic activities that followed, and the two sisters had a complicated relationship, as well as a family brotherhood and a ruthless struggle for power and wealth.
This political marriage is not only a union of two families, but also a political, military and economic integration, and it is a mutually beneficial affair for both parties.
For Chiang Kai-shek, it was a strategy of "killing three birds with one stone": politically, it not only strengthened his position and prestige, but also strengthened his relations with the United States diplomatically, and most importantly, gave him the financial support of his family as a strong backing.
With the help of the national government, he frantically amassed wealth
In 1925, after the death of Mr. Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek used all kinds of means to secure the first position of the Kuomintang, became the head of the Nationalist Government, and reached the peak of power; the marriage with the Song family gave him a solid backer, so Chiang Kai-shek began to go against Mr. Sun Yat-sen's original intention of saving the country and make money in a high position.
Under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, in order to raise funds, the Nationalist Government issued "national bonds" in the Kuomintang area, and the value of the national bonds was completely determined by Chiang and So.
In addition, whenever the Nationalist government was short of finances, Chiang Kai-shek issued dollar bonds, which directly led to serious inflation, which was not counted, it was really no problem, they could even take money directly from the banknote printing factory.
Chiang Kai-shek also connived at the corruption and bribery in the Kuomintang, and he also instructed his subordinates to hoard American aid materials for China in case they could start a civil war in the future.
At that time, the Kuomintang had a good relationship with the United States, and the United States gave the Kuomintang as much as $800 million in aid, but only a few of this money was used for military spending, and most of it was basically moved, so that later US President Truman angrily scolded that "the Kuomintang is all thieves."
With this arrogant behavior, the Chiang Kai-shek government frantically harvested the national wealth, cloaked in the cloak of "democracy", and did all kinds of dictatorial things.
In that period of people's livelihood and gunsmoke, the Jiang couple lived a luxurious and extravagant life, Song Meiling's petty bourgeois mood and gorgeous clothes were even more praised by those confused people as "exquisite", and now, it is time for the historical truth to surface!
Regardless of the War of Resistance Against Japan, military funds were moved
In 1934, Song Meiling got the opportunity to participate in the construction of the Air Force of the Nationalist Government, and she was supposed to contribute to the country, but she took the opportunity to fill her pockets.
Soong Meiling relied on her own oratorical ability to distribute "airline coupons" in the name of "anti-Japanese aviation to save the country"; at that time, it was a period of national reunification and resistance against Japan, so the people of Li responded positively and worked as one, raising more than 50 million taels of gold at once.
I was supposed to use these public funds to go to the United States to buy 1,300 planes, but only 300 were bought back -- why? What people never imagined was that more than 40 million taels were secretly deposited into the Jiang family's American account!
Later, when the Japanese fighters swarmed in and circled over the land of China, the Nationalist Government could only send 300 old planes, so how could they be the opponents of the Japanese army?
For her own selfish interests and huge casualties to the Chinese military and civilians, Song Meiling's title as the wife of the Republic of China is afraid that it is not worthy of the name, not only that, but she still does not have any remorse, so that when attending important occasions, she also likes to put an Air Force flight medal on the cheongsam to show her "contribution" to the construction of the Air Force, which is really ironic.
Putting personal interests above the interests of the country and the nation, losing the support of the people because of corruption, and separating themselves from the masses were the fundamental reasons for the failure of the Chiang and Song families.
Later generations commented on the three sisters of the Song family: "Song Ailing loves money, Song Qingling loves the country, and Song Meiling loves power", it seems that what people say is not a lie.
Real estate fever, Xu Jiayin's bottomless greed
On September 28, 2023, Xu Jiayin was suspected of violating the law and committing crimes, and Evergrande Group was also exposed for a debt of 2.4 trillion yuan.
At present, Xu has been convicted of many crimes, such as embezzlement, intentional fraud, economic crimes, and so on; the man of the moment who responded to every call more than 10 years ago now owes countless debts; it is really a vision of the sky, and although justice is late, it will definitely come.
Looking back at this case, the debt is 2.4 trillion yuan! One can't help but wonder: how crazy this used to be, and it produced such an astronomical amount!
This has to start with real estate investment after the 90s, and at the same time, we have to admire Boss Xu's "fast, accurate, ruthless" investment vision, when the mainland's economy was slowly recovering, and everyone was thinking about how to solve the problem of food and clothing.
However, Xu Jiayin found a huge business opportunity: that is, real estate, at that time, various industries in the mainland were still in the initial stage of blank, and real estate was even more so; so Xu Jiayin saw the real estate industry, and the results showed that he was really not wrong.
Let's roughly sort out Evergrande's real estate industry, the whole "process" is divided into three steps: first, spend a lot of money, or borrow from the bank to buy land and real estate, second, find a builder to build a house, and third, sell the house to the people to get money.
Since 2010, housing prices have continued to soar, and Evergrande has enjoyed a large wave of dividends by virtue of the strength and credibility accumulated in the early stage. In this way, with this "three steps", Xu Jiayin's business empire also began to rise.
After 2016, Evergrande expanded even more aggressively: buying land with bank loans, opening and selling properties within a few months, and then recovering funds, continuing to buy land, borrowing more money from banks, and opening more real estate.
At that time, everyone was very optimistic about the property market, believing that it would continue to rise, so Evergrande continued to copy this model, expanding the entire industry to third- and fourth-tier cities.
The first and second steps will generate debts, and when the property market is good, some builders and material suppliers will advance their own funds to build houses for Evergrande.
But then the national policy changed, the future of the property market was no longer so good, and Evergrande did not pay salaries, so the builder was unwilling to be the unjust leader, and the unfinished building appeared.
However, the huge debts and interest owed have to be repaid, and in the end, the problems faced by Evergrande have become a dead end.
When Evergrande real estate was thriving and prosperous, Xu Jiayin stole tens of billions of assets and distributed them to his family in the form of dividends.
Xu Jiayin did this in order to have the opportunity to escape overseas before he was caught; the so-called "three holes of the cunning rabbit", he has always hoped that he will continue to live his chic life after arriving abroad, so that the small family is saved, but it makes everyone complain.
However, how could the people and the government tolerate such operations, so they thoroughly investigated all their assets, and finally passed the means of law to give the people justice.
«——【·Conclusion·】——»
If Song Meiling makes good use of her advantages and makes use of her excellent oratorical ability, fluency in foreign languages, and the resources and connections of the Song family and the Jiang family to seek the well-being of the country and the people, then her life legend and fame will definitely go down in history.
It's a pity that she was short-sighted and only for her own preferences and pleasures, so she ruined the family career and was spurned by future generations.
If Xu Jiayin does business well and gives full play to his business talents, then his entrepreneurial story is likely to be talked about and become a role model for many entrepreneurs.
His business territory is also likely to expand to other fields, but it is a pity that he trampled on the interests of the people and the authority of the state for the sake of temporary interests, which is absolutely intolerable to us!
In the process of chasing desires, driven by greed, people often abandon moral principles and do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, and this kind of selfish behavior is actually a double-edged sword, which not only harms the interests of others, but also hurts themselves, and ends up with countless infamy in later generations.
Reference Sources:
Wang Zhongxin: Song Meiling, the thief of the country-Red Culture Network
Daily Economic News, Announcements of Listed Companies, Finance Associated Press, Dawan News, 21st Century Business Herald