Why are Chaozhou people so powerful?

Why is Li Ka-shing successful? Because he is from Chaozhou.

People study Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants. They are a thing of the past, but Chaozhou merchants seem to be more and more active in the domestic and foreign economic arena. People are surprised by the uniqueness of Lingnan culture, and the people who speak Cantonese, Hakka, and Chaozhou are the most different from each other, and the three are the same. When representatives of the Chaozhou people at home and abroad gathered in their ancestral home for the first time, it was time to take a look at the Chaozhou people.

From November 8th to 20th this year, nearly 3,000 representatives of the trendy people gathered in their ancestral home for the first time. What is unusual is that there are more than 20 million of their fellow Chaoshan residents, and more than 10 million of them live scattered in the not-so-small "global village."

Due to economic strength and vitality, and maintaining the cultural traditions of their homeland, hipsters are becoming more and more eye-catching.

Hipsters are said to be easily identifiable from each other. An exaggerated statement is that two Chaoshan people can smell each other even if they are 20 miles apart. Now they are working on being easily identifiable to the world.

In fact, the International Teochew Association Annual Meeting has been held for nine times in the past 16 years, and the International Teochew Studies Seminar has been held for the second time in four years, which shows that the Teochew people are working hard to establish self-awareness and international image in order to Seek better survival and greater development.

Neither a certain race nor a certain nation, the tide people began to emerge from the world's population, just like Shantou emerged from the sea three hundred years ago due to the impact of the Han River.

This is rare. Because hipsters are unique.

Relationships and credibility: the four-word secret of success for "Oriental Jews"

For a long time, fashionable people have been known for being good at doing business. When generations of fashionistas went abroad, almost all of them were empty-handed and penniless. The most commonly used words in related memories are: taking a "red-headed boat", a piece of water cloth (a special item for fashion people, usually 0.5 meters wide and 2 meters long, with a wide range of uses, such as bathing, covering the body, wrapping, etc., now have disappeared), often still carry a handful of soil from their own fields and houses, and then get rich.

The worldwide influence of Chaozhou people mainly stems from their economic achievements: According to the 1995 sixth issue of Hong Kong's "Capitalist", the list of Chinese richest people with more than 100 million US dollars, Chaoshan people have the strongest economic strength based on their ancestral place. .

It is said that a king of Thailand first called the hipsters "the Jews of the East." Some scholars have pointed out that this term originally had a derogatory meaning, but it also reflects the fact that Chaozhou people are the leaders in Thailand's financial sector and invest in various fields. They play an important role in Thailand, and Chaozhou dialect is Thailand's second language.

Xue Shan, an 80-year-old scholar, attributes the success of the hipsters to a blessing in disguise. Trendy people go abroad and work as coolies for others. They are hard-working, smart, and honest and do not dare to grab the dock. Instead, the local people trust you and cooperate with you to take root and develop.

Relationship and credibility are the four-word secret to success for fashionistas summarized by French Orientalist Han Lin (Chinese name).

According to Han Lin’s observation, Chaozhou merchants are the most important among overseas Chinese in terms of relationships and credibility, so much so that they don’t even need a bank, and relationships and credit are sufficient guarantees.

Q: Why is Li Ka-shing successful? Because he is from Chaozhou.

Jao Tsung-i, a great master in the world of international sinology, only mentioned the word "credibility" and believed that business ethics were formed by applying the ancestral motto "people cannot stand without trust" to business. This is the biggest key to their success, and it is especially worth inheriting and spreading.

Chaoshan people are also known for being shrewd and calculating. Wang Lixin, a young observer of the Shantou Municipal Economic Commission, made a comparison: Shanghainese are also good at calculation, but their calculations get smaller and smaller, while Chaoshan people's calculations get bigger and bigger. The Hakka people are also good at calculations, but the Hakka people are good at politics and have many high-ranking officials. The Chaoshan people are good at business and have many industrial and business tycoons.

Some scholars have also noticed this difference. A professor from Shantou University analyzed that Chaoshan people have a typical maritime character. They fished, dried salt, took adventures at sea, and even piracy and opium trade. The professor discovered that if Chaoshan people were Yang Bailao in "The White-Haired Girl", they would not die but choose to escape. Because Huang Shiren is forcing you to pay debts, not to kill you.

Wang Lixin said directly that Chaoshan people have a bold character, and the ocean has opened their horizons.

Trendy people who survive in the angry sea can even create miracles immediately. The hipsters who fled Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam in the 1970s and settled in France, the United States, and Canada were so successful that their associations hosted the 6th and 7th Annual International Teochew Association. The then mayor of Paris and current French President Chillard Croat personally officiated; President Clinton sent a congratulatory message, and several presidential envoys have been sent to address the conference; Canadian Prime Minister Chretien also sent a congratulatory message at this year's annual meeting.

The main points of these world politicians praising hipsters are similar: their ability to integrate into the country of residence, their business achievements, and their contribution to the cultural diversity of the host country by maintaining their own traditions.

Teochew dialect·Teochew opera·Kungfu tea: the basin of traditional culture

Chaoshan people themselves admit that when they hear someone speaking Teochew dialect, they will think that the other person is one of their own.

Overseas hipsters often maintain their native language and other living customs. This is a mysterious umbilical cord that is constantly cut from the mother's body. As the mother body, the Chaoshan region also has a mysterious umbilical cord that is constantly cut with the ancient traditions of the Chinese nation.

Chaozhou dialect has been recognized by linguists as the living fossil of medieval Chinese, and was handed down by the ancient Central Plains people who migrated to Chaozhou.

Scholars claim that it retains ancient vocabulary and tones, is simple and elegant, and sounds like a foreign language to outsiders, even Hakka and Cantonese people. However, it is still the first communicative language of today's trendy people.

A newspaper editor in Shantou once asserted that Chaozhou dialect is the best business language. Reporters dare not make unreasonable comments. It may indicate the adaptability and vitality of Chaozhou dialect.

Teochew opera with a history of about 500 years uses Teochew dialect. Teochew opera changed from Nanqu, which came from the north, and is currently one of the top ten opera types in China. Teochew opera has moved from squares to theaters, and some experts are worried about its future.

But Chaozhou Yingge is still a living square art. The actors are all non-professional, and are used for festive celebrations. There are no songs but group dances. The performance is only the attack on Damingfu in "Water Margin", but the changes are endless, and even many schools have been formed. Reporters in Chaoyang City watched the thrilling performance of Ying Ge, gongs and drums, Li Kui, Lu Zhishen, Wu Song in ancient costumes, and Liangshan heroes such as Sun Erniang and Gu Dasao who dressed as women and danced with rhythm and vigor.

According to a Yingge coach, Yingge was historically used to cover up folk martial arts practices in the fight against the Yuan and Qing Dynasties, and the accompaniment was taken from temple musicians who worshiped Confucius.

Chaoshan Kung Fu Tea embodies the highest state of tea ceremony in China, the "hometown of tea". What’s even more amazing is that Kung Fu tea is still a daily necessity of Chaozhou people, and even tea is called “tea rice” in Chaozhou dialect.

The way of life certainly contains the traditional spirit, and scholars have also seen that the legacy of Chaoshan, known as "Zoulu on the seaside", still exists.

The Chaozhou people attach great importance to the clan, rebuild the (family, clan) genealogy, build ancestral halls and worship ancestors when they return to their hometowns in rich clothes. People say they have a feudal consciousness, but scholars see that they follow Confucianism; Chaozhou people believe in Buddhism and worship mountains. , worship God when you see it. People say it is feudal and superstitious, but scholars point out that it belongs to religious consciousness.

Studies by scholars have shown that it is the same blood, geographical, and divine connections that connect fashionistas at home and abroad, allowing them to cooperate and survive without losing their roots.

There is also a narrowness: exclusive collective unconsciousness

The trendy people have become a basin of accumulation of traditional culture, which stems from their destiny: fleeing to foreign lands and foreign countries, encountering an exclusive humanistic environment, and must Only by helping each other can we gain a foothold and develop. The ancestral home of the Chaozhou people was once the "corner of the country at the end of the province". Chaoshan was isolated on three sides by mountains and one side faced the sea, which gave the Chaozhou people the opportunity to expand overseas. A high sense of identification with tradition and extraordinary cohesion are what hipsters need to survive.

The other side of the extraordinary cohesion of hipsters is their criticized exclusivity.

When the reporter talked with a Shantou taxi driver from Henan, he said that Shantou people are good at everything, but xenophobia is bad. Then he proved it with personal experience.

At this Chaozhou Studies Research Conference, scholar Chen Jingxi analyzed the legend that "Lin Jianchen destroyed Chaozhou Feng Shui" and concluded that Chaozhou people have an "exclusive" collective unconsciousness.

The outline of the legend is: Lin, a supervisor from Fujian who came to Chaozhou to serve as an official, destroyed Chaozhou's feng shui. A certain cultural hero in Chaozhou used Lin's hands to exact revenge on Lin's hometown.

Chen believes that this legend, which has been passed down from the Ming Dynasty to the present day, directly reflects the trendy people's sense of regional group, and reveals the trendy people's wariness and even hatred towards people outside the regional group.

The customs report of the Chaozhou Customs and Taxation Department quoted by Chen said: Chaoshan people "even use the smallest excuse to unite together in order to exclude an outsider", indicating that the exclusivity of Chaozhou people gave the British a hundred years ago. The tax officer was deeply impressed.

Chen Jingxi analyzed that the closed geographical area and unique social factors in Chaoshan area have limited the vision of Chaozhou people, and also formed the collective psychological characteristics of Chaozhou people who are narrow, conservative and exclusive.

Li Ka-shing: "I am a trendy person, but I am even more Chinese."

However, the outstanding figures of the trendy people have already surpassed them. Li Ka-shing is the representative.

When a reporter interviewed Li Ka-shing at Shantou University, he asked: Hipsters are proud of you, are you proud of being a hipster?

Li immediately replied: "I am more proud of myself. "Proud of being Chinese." He said: It's not that I don't have local concepts. I am a trendy person, but I am also Chinese.

Li Ka-shing invested more than 60 billion in mainland China and 4 billion in Shantou. When Li arrived in Shantou, he made a statement to the party and government officials: He was only here to build Shantou University and do not ask him for business matters. He doesn't want to make money from his hometown.

Later, unable to overcome the friendship with his hometown, they negotiated to build "Shantou No. 1 City" in the winter of 1992. Five minutes before signing the contract, Li thought about what to do because he had said that he would not come to his hometown to make money. He then said he would leave for 3 minutes. After returning, he revealed his immediate decision: he still had to sign, but all profits would be set up to set up a fund, all of which would be used for Shantou University.

Free support for the development of education in his hometown and even the mainland is what Li Ka-shing is passionate about "beyond the limits of life."

Li Ka-shing may be a typical example of the trendy people. He grew up in poverty as a young man and did not read much. His success depends entirely on hard work and intelligence. He can also speak "Mandarin" very well.