Fan Zhongyan (范仲淹, 989-1052), a Suzhou native, was a great statesman, philosopher, writer, educator, military strategist of the Song Dynasty. His most memorable statements include: Be the first to bear the burden for the world and the last to enjoy the fruit of collective achievement. I’d rather speak up for the truth and die than keep silent and live. He did not […]
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The Founder of China’s Scholarly Culture Confucius lived in the era when Lao Tzu described how the universe works and Shakyamuni explained how to manager your universe. As China’s most respected teacher, in a pre-internet age 2,500 years ago, Confucius gained over 3,000 followers China wide. Ancient Chinese State-Run University This life-scale replica of the scene resembles a typical lecture […]
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A traditional Chinese wedding process all started with the man’s family sending a matchmaker to the girl’s household for a marriage proposal. Once the verbal agreement from the girl’s parents was obtained, the man’s family would present betrothal gifts along with a formal written marriage proposal to the girl’s family. On the wedding day, the man went to the girl’s residence […]
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For thousands of years, China had been a peasant society with commercial activities consciously suppressed, which shaped China’s business traditions. But it was not always the case. There was a time when China was a paradise for merchants, and the merchant paradise lasted for 600 years. It was Shang, a dynasty established in 1700BC by Chinese merchants. The Achievements of the Merchant […]
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In the Chinese business world, there is a word that used to be very popular and now starts to regain public attention. That is the word “rushing (儒商)”, meaning Confucius Merchants. Why It Is Confucius Merchant Not Confucius Entrepreneur? Some Chinese scholars prefer to translate “rushang” into English as “Confucius Entrepreneur”. This term may have a better echo to the contemporary […]
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Four Architects from Beijing It was in the mid 1980s, the day two weeks before Chinese New Year. On a dirt road of a remote mountainous area in the backward Anhui Province, four architects from Beijing were jam-packed in a small trailer box drawn by a motorbike. They got up before dawn and spent hours in a queue at the county’s bus […]
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