The most outstanding businessman in ancient China.

Fan Li (536-448 BC), Shao Bo, was a famous politician, strategist and businessman in the late Spring and Autumn Period. He is a member of Chu Wan (now Nanyang City, Henan Province). He was born in poverty, but he read widely. When I was young, I was dissatisfied with the political darkness of Chu, and non-nobles were not allowed to enter the official. Instead, he went to Yue Wanling with Chu. He assisted Gou Jian, the King of Yue, and made great efforts to destroy Wu Xingyue and establish immortal feats.

Fan Li has made great achievements in philosophy, politics, military affairs, economy and diplomacy. After helping the King of Yue Gou Jian destroy Wu, he retired and resigned from his post. He is famous for his business. 19 years, he was very rich, and he was called Tao Zhugong.

Fan Li believes that the price change is due to the surplus and shortage of supply and demand, and advocates that food should be bought by the government when it is cheap and sold at a low price when it is expensive. His remarks can be found in Mandarin * Vietnamese and Historical Records * Biography of Huo Zhi.

Fan Li is recognized as the founder of business in China and even the world, the pioneer of pottery and salt industry and the inventor of weighing scale. He founded business operations research, price theory and circulation theory, which had great influence in the following 2000.

Fan Li's ancestral home is Nanyang. As a generation of Shang saints, he is called "Four Saints" together with Zhuge Liang, medical sage Zhang Zhongjing and scientific sage Zhang Zaiheng.

Fan Li also put forward a principle of "waiting for famine", that is, "water is the source of cars and drought is the source of ships". That is to say, in the flood year, we do business on the bus, and in the drought year, we do business on the boat. This kind of rough listening seems to be contrary to common sense, but it is actually very reasonable, because everyone is doing boat business when the flood occurs, and the profit will certainly not be high. At this time, the automobile business must be ignored. If we take this opportunity to hoard a large number of cars, once the flood has passed, cars will become commodities with special needs, and prices will inevitably rise. At this time, throwing out the cars accumulated in the flood years can quickly make huge profits.