Bai Gui
Bai Gui
Bai Gui was born in the Central Plains (Luoyang) during the Warring States period. His name was Dan and his name was GUI. It has the reputation of "Shang Zu". He was a minister under King Hui of Wei. He was good at building dams and water conservancy. In Hanshu
He is said to be the originator of the theory of managing trade and developing production.
He advocated reducing the land tax and collecting one twentieth of the product. Put forward the theory of getting rich through trade. It is advocated that the method of "abandoning others and taking others" should be carried out according to the specific situation of good harvest and bad harvest. When the grain is ripe, it is harvested; when the cocoon is produced, it is harvested and sold. Bai Gui also put forward the theory of agricultural economic cycle, which holds that a cycle of agriculture is 12 years. He also believes that business should be done according to the time, just like Sun Tzu Wu Qi's military strategy and Shang Yang's practice. First of all, Bai Gui, a water conservancy expert, and Bai Gui, a trade rich man, are two.
Personage introduction
Bai Gui, Mingdan, was a famous businessman in Luoyang during the Warring States period. His master is Guiguzi. It's said that Guiguzi got a "Golden Book". Guiguzi passed on the plan of getting rich ("if you want to get it, you have to deal with it first", "if there is no way to get it, you can hide it for a while") to baigui. Bai Gui once worked as an official in the state of Wei, and later came to Qi and Qin. He was also a famous economic strategist and financier. The book of Han called him the originator of the theory of managing trade and developing industry and commerce. Shopping malls are like battlefields. They can be invincible only when they are flexible and skillful. In today's fierce business war, the business circles still regard Sima Qian's historical records · biographies of cargo colonization as the classic, and regard Bai Gui as an expert.
With the development of agriculture and handicraft production and the expansion of social division of labor, we must exchange what we need through social exchange, and the emergence of industry and commerce is inevitable. As the political and economic center, the ancient capital Luoyang has a long history of industrial and commercial development. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, "Quanfu" was set up here as a financial management institution, and "empty headed cloth" was widely circulated as currency, indicating that the development of Commerce was quite prosperous. In the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, although Zhou Shi's national strength declined, Luoyi's commerce and trade flourished and personnel exchanges were frequent. According to the biography of merchants in historical records, Luoyang Street lived among Qi, Qin, Chu and Zhao dynasties. The poor learned to be rich families, and they had been in charge for a long time, but they didn't know how to get started It also said: "the world is bustling, all for profit; the world is bustling, all for profit." "Biographies of Zhang Yi" said: "those who strive for fame in the dynasty, those who strive for profits in the city. Today, Sanchuan and Zhoushi are the imperial cities in the world. " "Su Qin biography" said: "the custom of Zhou people, the rule of industry, industry and commerce, Zhushi two for business." It fully shows that Luoyi at that time was not only a political and cultural center, but also a national business center. Many foreign businessmen come to Luoyang to do business, so a large number of foreign people live here. The so-called "a country of ten thousand talents must have ten thousand merchants, and a country of ten thousand talents must have one thousand merchants". At that time, the famous rich merchants, such as Xiangao, baigui and lvbuwei, all came and went to Luoyang.
Business is like Sun Wu's army, judging the situation; Shang Yang's reform, adapting to the time. Bai Gui grasped the right time to do business and made profits by buying cheap and selling expensive. He bought grain and sold silk and lacquer when the grain was mature, and bought silk wadding and sold grain when the cocoon was harvested. He also put forward the famous business philosophy of "abandoning others and taking others". Bai Gui also believes that a real businessman should not only seek profits, but should have the four qualities of "wisdom, courage, benevolence and strength". Only with the wisdom and stratagem of Jiang Shang and Yi Yin can he achieve great success. This operating principle is still widely used and advocated by the business community today.
In addition to Bai Gui, there were also a number of successful and influential merchants in Zhou Dynasty. Zheng guoxiangao is one of them. As a businessman, Xiangao is well aware of the important role of the safety of the country in the development of his career, so he is very concerned about the survival of the country. The story that he went to Luoyi to do business, passed through the sliding state, rewarded the Qin division, and retired the Qin army intelligently has been spread to this day, so he has become a typical representative of patriotic businessmen in history.
Bai Gui (370-300 B.C.) or (463-365 B.C.) was born in the Warring States period in Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. He was the Prime Minister of the state of Wei in the reign of King Hui of Liang (Wei). During this period, he exerted his ability to control water and relieved the flood of the Yellow River in Daliang, the capital of Wei. Later, because of Wei's political corruption, he abandoned politics and went into business after traveling in Zhongshan and Qi. In the book of Han Dynasty, he is said to be the originator of the theory of trade development and production, a thinker of business management in the pre Qin period, and a famous economic strategist and financier.
By observing the market situation and the changes of the year's harvest, Bai Gui pursued the business method of "abandoning others and taking others, and taking others with others". During the harvest, he bought grain and sold silk and lacquer. When cocoons are formed, silk flocs are bought and grain is sold. With the experience of observing astronomical phenomena, we can predict the amount of rain in the next year and the situation of abundance and shortage. If there is a good harvest in that year and a severe drought in the coming year, we will buy a lot of grain and hoard goods. If you want to increase the price of grain, you can buy inferior grain; if you want to improve the quality, you can buy superior grain. In order to grasp the market situation and the law of change, we often go deep into the market, understand the situation, and know the valley prices in urban and rural areas like the palm of our hand. Although Bai Gui was a rich businessman, he lived a simple life, abandoned his lust, saved his clothes and shared the joys and sorrows with his servants.
Bai Gui made a quick decision in business. He summed up the theory of doing business in four words: wisdom, courage, benevolence and strength. He said that to get rich in business, we should plan strategies like Yi Yin and LV Shang, fight wars like Sun Tzu and Wu Qi, and be decisive like Shang Yang in carrying out decrees. If wisdom is not flexible, courage is not enough to make decisions, benevolence is not good at making choices, and strength is not enough to keep business, we are not qualified to talk about business skills.
These business theories of Bai Gui can be used for reference by later businessmen. In the fourth year of Jingde in Song Dynasty, Zhenzong named him "Shang Sheng". Bai Gui's financial thoughts of "abandoning others" and "knowing how to enter and keep" are also of guiding significance to modern people's financial management. Even in modern times, "baigui" is still synonymous with wealth.
He was an official in his early years
During the Warring States period, great changes took place in society, the reform of social and economic system was further deepened, and the new feudal landlord system was successively established in various countries. With the rapid increase of productivity, the quantity of commodities on the market has increased dramatically, and the people's purchasing power has also increased rapidly. The long-term annexation war has changed the past situation of small countries, traffic congestion and market segmentation. Under the impetus of all these factors, the development of Commerce has made a leap forward. The world of industry and Commerce has been occupied by the free merchants emerging at the end of the spring and Autumn period. During this period, there were a large number of tycoons, and Bai Gui, who was respected as the ancestor of a hundred generations of merchants by later generations, is one of the most famous.
It is said that he once served as the Prime Minister of the state of Wei in the early days of King Hui of Wei. At that time, Daliang, the capital of the state of Wei, was close to the Yellow River and often suffered from floods. Bai Gui exerted his outstanding ability in water control and relieved the flood of Daliang. Bai Gui claimed that he was superior to Dayu in water control. He said that the long levee often collapsed because of the small ant nest. So when he was controlling the water, he sent people to check along the levee and blocked all the ant nests. As a result, the levee was solid and the flood was eliminated. Later, the politics of Wei became more and more corrupt. Seeing this situation, Bai Gui resolutely left Wei and went to Zhongshan and Qi. The monarchs of the two countries wanted to leave baigui and help them govern the country, but baigui politely refused. When someone asked him why, Bai Gui replied, "if these two countries have nothing to do, then credit has come to an end; if they don't pay attention to reputation, then reputation has come to an end; if they don't pay attention to benevolence, then family affection has come to an end; if they travel without food, they have no food at home, and their financial resources have been exhausted; if they can't employ people, they can't work hard, and their achievements have been exhausted It's over. If these five phenomena appear in a country, it will surely perish. "
After leaving the state of Qi, Bai Gui once went to Qin, a powerful country in the West. At that time, when Shang Yang was reforming, Bai Gui was very opposed to Shang Yang's policy of emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce, so he did not become an official in Qin. After a long journey, Bai Gui had a more thorough understanding of the political situation of the vassal states and a deep aversion to politics, so he gave up politics and turned to business.
Abandon politics and go into business
Luoyang, the birthplace of Bai Gui, has developed a lot of Commerce since ancient times. Luoyang people are good merchants and are committed to commerce and handicraft industry. It is the tradition of Luoyang people to pursue profits. Born here, Bai Gui had a high commercial talent and soon became the leading businessman in the Warring States period. During the Warring States period, commerce developed rapidly, and the ranks of merchants were very large, so they were mixed up with each other. Some of them were fair trading and legitimate management. However, there were also many merchants hoarding and monopolizing the market, and many big merchants also made exorbitant profits by lending money at the same time. Therefore, at that time, businessmen were divided into two categories, one was called "honest merchants", "honest merchants" and "good merchants", the other was called "traitor merchants", "greedy merchants" and "sycophant merchants", and Bai Gui was a typical representative of good merchants in the Warring States period. Most of the merchants in the Warring States period liked to deal in jewelry business. Lu Buwei's father once said that he could make a hundred times profit from dealing in pearls and jade. But Bai Gui did not choose the most profitable industry at that time. Instead, he opened up a new industry of agricultural and sideline products trade. Bai Gui had outstanding intelligence and unique insight. Seeing the rapid development of agricultural production at that time, he was sensitive to the fact that the management of agricultural and sideline products would become a lucrative industry, and put forward the business strategy of "to grow money, to take the valley". Bai Gui believes that although the profit of "XiaGu" and other necessities of life is low, but the consumption elasticity is small and the turnover is large. If he wins with more, he can also get big profits. So he resolutely chooses the choice of agricultural products, rural handicraft raw materials and products
Chinese PinYin : Bai Gui
Bai Gui
