Professor Chen Lixu, The Party School Of The Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, Said From The Traditional "Art Dealers" To "New Zhejiang Businessmen".

Reading newspaper: in your last year's monograph "cultural tradition from the tradition to the modern age, the interpretation of the Zhejiang model" (Chinese Social Science Press), a special chapter was set forth to explain the relationship between the regional industrial and commercial traditions and the economic development of contemporary Zhejiang. What kind of relationship is this?

Chen: I was born in the early 1960s, a native of Zhejiang. My hometown is in Tiantai county.

From a sensible beginning, we saw and heard the social scene and the economic phenomenon in the planned economy system before the reform and opening up in Zhejiang.

At that time, Zhejiang did not seem to be very different from other parts of the country. It was also a class struggle that stresses every month and month, and stresses the problem of food and clothing.

In 1979, I was admitted to a key university in North China. After that, I graduated from Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong and other other provinces for 8 years.

During this period, the South of Jiangsu model has become famous. Guangdong has become the most advanced area of reform and opening up, and Zhejiang has not attracted much attention.

But, as Nietzsche said, important events are always like Dove's footsteps. The real mutation is not seen by the naked eye.

In September 1979, I went to the North University to report. For the first time in my life, I took the car from the rooftop to the Hangzhou intermediate train.

At that time, rooftop to Hangzhou had only one bus per day, except for the Spring Festival, which was usually not full, and basically a passenger with a tolerance.

But when I returned home during the winter vacation in 1980, rooftop to Hangzhou cars had increased to 4 classes a day. Of course, some of the passengers were still returning home visiting relatives in state-owned enterprises and institutions in other parts of the country, but there were many artisans and small businessmen who had gone out to earn their living.

Since then, every winter and summer vacation, I have seen more and more Zhejiang artisans and small business people out there.

During this period, every time I went home, I heard that the business of doing business with native people could be said to be full of ears.

There is no doubt that under the sunshine of the reform and opening up policy, Zhejiang people's willingness to earn their own living and their entrepreneurial spirit have been released, and the business economic tide in Zhejiang has been gradually surging.

When I graduated from graduate school in 1987 and returned to work in Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang, many of the small craftsmen and small businessmen who went outside and worked on shoes, cotton, tailors, sofa, chicken feathers, gold and haircuts, have grown into big businessmen and entrepreneurs. Zhejiang's professional markets, family businesses, private enterprises and Zhejiang villages and Zhejiang streets all over the country have sprung up like mushrooms, and Zhejiang phenomenon has gradually become famous.

Reading newspaper: from your personal experience, there is indeed a clear link between the economic development of contemporary Zhejiang and the industrial and commercial traditions of Zhejiang.

Chen: as early as the middle of 1980s, Mr. Fei Xiaotong has pointed out in the "small commodities market" that the historical tradition of Wenzhou is "Eight Immortals crossing the sea". They are stone workers, bamboo plaits, shells, Hoopes, sewing, hairdressing, cooks and other hundred handicraftsmen, and businessmen who sell sugar and sell small quantities of goods.

He discovered that the industrial and commercial tradition of this region has been extended since reform and opening up.

"50 years ago, the market in the next 50 years can be described as a historical link."

In fact, not only in Wenzhou, but also in other parts of Zhejiang, the link between contemporary economic activities and regional industrial and commercial traditions can be found.

For example, the development of Yiwu has gone through the process from traditional "chicken feather to sugar" to "international commerce and trade"; Yongkang's "China Science and technology hardware city" also evolved from traditional "hardware"; the brilliance of today's garment industry in Ningbo has left the tradition of "Feng Bang" tailoring and can not be explained.

What is more intriguing is that the figures of the rich list of contemporary Zhejiang are 90% poor, known as "grass roots and Zhejiang businessmen". Quite a few of them were born in the early days of reform and opening up.

As far as the industrial and commercial tradition is concerned, there are also significant differences between Zhejiang merchants and Hui merchants and Shanxi Merchants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

It is worth noticing that since the end of the Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, although the great tradition of the merchants and Shanxi merchants (commercial spirit, business philosophy, organization and management, mental accomplishment, etc.) had been included in the classics and studied by scholars, the small tradition (folk commercial culture tradition and skills) as a specific geographical group has almost disappeared. People can hardly see the link between the contemporary Anhui, Shanxi economy and Huizhou merchants and the tradition of Shanxi merchants.

In contrast, Zhejiang's industrial and commercial tradition has also been severely affected by the 30 year plan's economic practice. However, there is a clear relationship between the economic development of contemporary Zhejiang and the traditional industrial and commercial traditions in history.

Reading newspaper: This is a question worth discussing.

Why did the tradition of Zhejiang merchants, which had little influence in the history, have been extended in the contemporary economic activities?

Chen: in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the commercial management contents of Zhejiang merchants and Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants were overlapped in many aspects, and there were similarities in the path of economic activities or the inheritance of occupation and skills.

For example, Ningbo merchants also run Silk, tobacco and food industries, and Longyou merchants also run salt, timber, tobacco, bamboo shoots, sugar cane, tea and so on.

However, in the content of Traditional Zhejiang businessmen's business, it can best reflect the regional characteristics, and has the same relationship with the Zhejiang economy since the reform and opening up. It is not the same as salt merchants, merchants, Shanxi merchants, such as salt, Canon, timber, tea and ticket numbers, but "Eight Immortals crossing the sea" type of stone carving, bamboo weaving, playing, hoop, sewing, hairdressing, chef and other hundred handicraft, and carrying out industrial and commercial activities such as selling sugar and selling small department stores.

People who engage in these business activities often engage in handicraft industry and commerce, and play the role of artisans and businessmen, so they can be called "art merchants".

In the first ten years of reform and opening up, the policy of the Communist Party of China is to regard the individual and private economy as a necessary and beneficial supplement to the public sector of the economy, and to locate the role of "picking up the deficiency" in the national economy.

Arts and business activities such as handicrafts and peddlers are exactly the same as this positioning, so they are all allowed and encouraged by national policies.

Therefore, although the national policy at the beginning of the reform and opening up is a shining light, in fact, it is particularly beneficial to stimulate the cultural memory or "Convention" of "art merchants".

Especially in the case of a serious shortage of daily necessities in the long term planned economy, the tradition of "art merchants" not only seems to have a natural affinity with national policies at the beginning of the reform and opening up, but also can meet the needs of people's living needs in the state economy because of the activities of hundreds of workers, selling small stores, and so on, and has a special advantage.

In contrast with this, salt, Canon, timber, tea and the management of ticket numbers belong to the cultural memory or "custom" of Huizhou people and Shanxi people, but they do not have natural affinity with the national policies at the beginning of reform and opening up.

The "vote number" of Shanxi Merchants is, in a sense, the "bank" of modern society.

In the early days of reform and opening up, the establishment of private banks is certainly not allowed by policy, and even today, it is also restricted by policies.

Therefore, the cultural memorizing or "routines" of Shanxi people's Invoicing numbers, even if they remain, will be difficult to be effectively stimulated by policy barriers.

However, the other business contents of Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants have declined in the contemporary society or their policy barriers have been encountered more or less at the beginning of reform and opening up.

Reading newspaper: it is concluded that "art merchants" have an affinity with policies since the reform and opening up, while the cultural memory and "Convention" of Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants do not have such affinity, so they are not activated by the policy environment.

Chen: different industrial and commercial traditions are not compatible with the policies since the reform and opening up.

The marginal position of planned economy and the natural environment of many people and less land make Zhejiang people face greater pressure to survive, and thus become more willing to earn their own living, the spirit of independent entrepreneurship and the impulse of independent innovation.

The Yangtze River Delta, one of the most economically dynamic regions in contemporary China, has also provided Zhejiang people with special geographical opportunities.

These are undoubtedly another stimulating factor of traditional industrial and commercial activities, cultural memory or practices that Zhejiang people engage in.

However, a more important secret leading to the cultural memory of Zhejiang merchants, Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants or the continuation or continuation of "Convention" lies in the fact that the traditional characteristics of "art merchants" are the combination of handicraft skills and small businesses, while Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants are purely commercial in nature, not only businessmen themselves are not artisans, but also their business activities are basically confined to the circulation of commodities.

It should be said that after hundreds of years of commercial activity history, Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants' "stay in circulation" tradition of "pure commerce" is quite mature.

However, from the perspective of modern Chinese history, compared with the cultural tradition of "worker" and "Shang", Zhejiang merchants and Hui Merchants' "pure commerce" tradition is a more easily interrupted tradition or a more easily lost cultural memory.

There is no doubt that in the 30 years of planned economy, after the socialist pformation of agriculture, handicraft industry and industry, and the movement of people's commune, especially after the "Cultural Revolution" movement, China's social environment conducive to industrial and commercial activities has virtually ceased to exist.

And a business culture tradition must be continued, so there must be a learning environment.

Since the tradition of Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants is a tradition of "staying in the circulation area", learning this tradition and continuing this tradition must be in the real commodity circulation field.

For example, only a business ticket number can learn to operate a ticket number. Only selling salt, selling tea and peddling timber can learn to sell salt, sell tea and sell wood.

Regrettably, in the era of planned economy, China's social environment conducive to the pure business activities of Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants has virtually ceased to exist.

Reading newspaper: in the age of planned economy, is there any possibility of continuity of art merchants?

Chen: the tradition of art and commerce combined with "work" and "business" can not only learn in the society, but also learn in the family.

From the point of view of "Shang", the activities of "art merchants" have the characteristics of individuals. They are much simpler in management than in notes, salt, Canon, wood, tea and so on, so they are easy to learn. From the aspect of "work", stone carvings, bamboo plaits, shells, Hoopes, sewing, hairdressing, chefs, hardware and shoes can be learned in family environment through father's son and son's son's words and deeds.

Therefore, even if the social environment conducive to business activities has ceased to exist, the tradition of combining "work" with "business" can continue through family.

Reading newspaper: in the planned economy period, hundreds of handicraftsmen and small traders peddled by "workers" and "businessmen" continued. How did some of these people grow into big businessmen after the reform and opening up?

Chen: only in the special social and economic environment of contemporary China can we fully understand it.

In the early days of reform and opening up, a man without handicraft was actually very difficult to live in a foreign land.

A special employment system is implemented in the planned economy. Only those who have local urban accounts can become employees of local enterprises and institutions.

For a foreigner without skills, the only way to make a living in a foreign land is to become a temporary worker in a business or institution.

At that time, becoming a temporary worker was not an easy task.

In the early days of reform and opening up, the number of temporary workers was small, and the threshold for temporary workers was high.

Therefore, although the national policy has promoted the development of individual economy as a necessary and beneficial supplement to the public sector economy, the institutional arrangement of long-term planned economy, including household registration system and employment system, in fact constitutes a kind of restriction and discrimination on the livelihood activities and economic activities of strangers.

However, the "handicraft" and "small business" peddler combined with "Shang" and "Shang" can make a unique way to break through the restriction of the planned economy. A craftsman can survive in a strange land by playing cotton, shoes, gold, tailoring and other handicraft industries.

Therefore, the survival pressure of many people and little land makes Zhejiang people drive away from their native land under the drive of self-determination to make a living, but with certain handicraft skills, they may survive after leaving their homeland.

If Zhejiang people always