"Liu Bang ascended the throne" Wu Bingjian, the richest man in the Qing Dynasty, was the largest creditor of the East India Company.

Hunter, an American businessman who has lived in Guangzhou for more than 20 years, said in the book Ghost in Guangzhou: "How much money Wu has is a topic that people often argue about." In 1834, Guan Hao once estimated his property, such as various houses, houses, shops, bank numbers, goods shipped to Britain and the United States, etc. , about 26 million yuan. At this time, the assets of the American rich are only 7 million yuan. American scholars said: "At that time, Wu's assets were the largest commercial assets in the world." In the eyes of westerners, Wu's businessman was the richest business tycoon in the world at that time.

In 200 1 year, Wu Bingjian, together with Rockefeller, Bill Gates, Genghis Khan, yang shen, Song Ziwen and others, was named the top 50 richest people in the world by the American Wall Street Journal.

The Qing dynasty, which always emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce, became the richest man in the world. What kind of person is this rich Wu Nan?

/kloc-In the late 7th century, Guangzhou became a real "golden port". Relying on this golden port, Guangzhou 13th Bank, as a commercial group, has made great efforts and made rapid progress by virtue of the right to operate foreign trade granted by the government. Together with salt merchants in Huaibei, Shanxi and Shaanxi, they were called the three major business gangs in China in the Qing Dynasty.

Wu Bingjian is one of the thirteen "wealthy businessmen". 180 1 year, he inherited jardine matheson from his father and started his career as a foreign trade agent for more than 40 years. However, the identity of a businessman is only an opportunity to get rich, not a sufficient condition for development. The government designated 13 foreign trade organization for the first time. Since then, due to the ups and downs of the trade situation, there have been fluctuations, the most of which is 26 times, and the least is only 4 times, which shows that the risk of this trade is great. When Wu Bingjian stepped onto the stage of the Thirteen Lines, the leader of Hong Shang, that is, the "general manager of Hong Shang", was a literary colleague founded by Pan Zhencheng. Wu Bingjian's father worked as an accountant in Pan's family and founded Jardine Matheson. He had many contacts with the British East India Company and was supported by the company. Wu Bingjian not only made Jardine Matheson Group fall behind, replacing Pan Shi as the chief businessman among Hong Kong businessmen, but also made the assets of the Wu family reach the peak of thirteen banks, which was unique.

For Hong Qing businessmen engaged in foreign trade agency business, all trade opportunities are pinned on foreign businessmen, and the industry competition is fierce. The first thing Wu Bingjian did was to "conquer" foreign businessmen.

At that time, although there were a lot of transactions between Hong Kong businessmen and foreign businessmen, the trade activities of both sides were based on oral agreements and never used written contracts. 1805 A foreign company delivered a batch of cotton to Guangzhou according to the agreement. When I arrived in Hong Kong, I found it was second-hand, and the merchants refused to touch it. But Wu Bingjian bought this batch of cotton, so he lost more than 10 thousand yuan. Some people think that he is "naturally humble and obedient" and use his habitual thinking to predict that he is "timid and incompetent" in front of foreign businessmen. But in fact, Wu Bingjian has established good relations and personal friendship with many foreign businessmen by virtue of this practice. In trade without contract basis, mutual trust plays a particularly important role.

In the eyes of westerners, Wu Bingjian is "honest, kind, careful and generous". An American businessman in Boston owes Wu Bingjian 72,000 silver dollars. Due to poor management, he was unable to pay his debts. He has been away from home for many years, but he can't go home. Wu Bingjian tore up the iou and let him go home safely.

In fact, Wu Bingjian is calculating in doing business. According to records, the interest he calculated from the promissory notes of more than one million yuan deposited in British commercial banks was exactly the same as the amount paid by British enterprises, which surprised foreign businessmen at that time and was an important basis for mutual trust. Foreign businessmen regard Wu Bingjian as the most reliable trading partner. Jardine Matheson of the Wu family is willing to trade with him, although the asking price is very high.

In some foreign diaries and notes, Wu Bingjian is an unsmiling person, and foreigners who are familiar with him say that he has only told one joke in his life. It doesn't matter if you don't know humor. In the eyes of foreigners, Wu Bingjian is still full of personality charm, "honest and clean" and is regarded as a very trustworthy business partner. At that time, one of the important customers of trade with Guangzhou was the famous British East India Company. The company's big class ends its trade in Guangzhou every year, and when it stays in Macao, it always hands over the funds to Wu Bingjian for operation. Sometimes the company has cash flow problems and borrows money from the Wu family.

After having enough financial resources, Wu Bingjian attached great importance to mastering and wooing other dealers. 18 1 1 year, Wu Bingjian acted as the sales agent of a British company. He distributed the profits to all the businessmen in proportion. Later, an old businessman named Liu Dezhang lost his business because he offended an English company. Wu Bingjian stepped in and returned his shares to the company. Business trip again, mismanagement, bankruptcy. According to the regulations of the court at that time, he was exiled to Yili, and the Wu raised money to donate him to exile. From 18 1 1 to 18 19, Wu Bingjian lent bankrupt businessmen more than 2 million silver dollars, which made most vulnerable businessmen have to rely on him. This is how Wu Bingjian uses kindness and power in foreign companies, and his influence is very important. Before the decline of the 13th platoon, he was the chief businessman of the 13th platoon.

In 200 1 year, Wu Bingjian, the richest man in the world, published an album entitled "One Thousand Years" in the Wall Street Journal, taking stock of the top 50 richest people in the world in the past few centuries. Among them, four players from China were selected. They are Xiao Shenyang, Liu Jin, Song Ziwen and Wu Bingjian. Of these four people, only Wu Bingjian seems to be a pure businessman, so Wu Bingjian is also the focus of attention.

Who is Wu Bingjian? [/s2/]

Wu Bingjian, also known as Pinghu, was born in Fujian. His ancestors settled in Guangdong in the early years of Kangxi and began to do business. When Wu Bingjian's father Wu Guoying arrived, the Wu family began to participate in foreign trade. 1783, Wu Guoying took an important step, established Jardine Matheson, and gave himself a business name "Guan Hao". This business name was followed by later generations and became a resounding name in the international business community at the beginning of19th century.

180 1 year, 32-year-old Wu Bingjian took over Jardine Matheson's business, and the Wu family's business began to rise rapidly. Wu Bing was established as the leader of Guangdong businessmen and the chief businessman in Guangdong. In terms of management, Wu Bingjian has established close ties with important customers in Europe and America, and has risen rapidly in foreign trade with advanced management concepts. Wu Bingjian not only owns real estate, real estate, tea gardens and shops. In China, we also boldly handed over railway investment, securities trading and insurance business to the United States on the other side of the ocean. At the same time, he is also the largest creditor of the British East India Company, which sometimes has poor cash flow and often borrows money from the Wu family. Because of this, Wu Bingjian enjoyed a high reputation in the western business circles at that time and became the richest man in the world in the eyes of foreigners. He was once called "the richest man in the world" by some western scholars.

1June 840, the Opium War broke out. Although Wu Bingjian donated a large sum of money to the court for a top hat, it didn't save his career at all. In order to seek a short-term peace, he had to donate huge wealth to the Qing government again and again. 1843, Wu Bingjian died in Guangzhou at the age of 74 during the turmoil in China. The wealth accumulated by the Wu family is amazing. According to the Wu family's own estimation, in 1834, their property had reached 26 million silver dollars, equivalent to 5 billion yuan of the international silver price today. In addition, it is said that Wu's mansion "Dream of Red Mansions" near the Pearl River can rival the Grand View Garden.

As a wealthy businessman during the decline of the feudal dynasty, Wu Bingjian's accumulated wealth is destined to exist forever. When his multinational consortium reached its peak, an undercurrent was quietly surging. 1June 840, the Opium War broke out. Although Wu Bingjian donated a large sum of money to the court for a top hat, it didn't save his career at all. Because Wu Bingjian sheltered foreign businessmen from smuggling opium, he was repeatedly reprimanded and punished by Lin Zexu, and had to give the Qing government huge wealth again and again in order to achieve a short-term peace. After signing the contract, 1843, the Qing government ordered China Merchants to repay the foreign debt of 3 million silver dollars, and Wu Bingjian took 1 10,000 silver dollars alone. It was in this year that Wu Bingjian died in Guangzhou.

After Wu Bingjian's death, the thirteen lines in Guangdong began to decline gradually. Many hong merchants went bankrupt under the pressure of the Qing government. What's more, with the implementation of five-port trade, Guangdong lost its advantage in foreign trade, and the privileges enjoyed by thirteen banks in Guangdong also ended. After the outbreak of the Second Opium War, another sudden fire swept through 13 Street, eventually turning these commercial halls with a history of 100 years into ashes.

A desolate night scene

According to Wu Bingjian's own estimation, the Wu family lost more than 2 million taels of silver in that war. But this figure will not hurt the bones of the world's richest man, who claims to have 26 million pounds. In addition, Wu Bingjian, a visionary, has expanded his business overseas, and doing business is no longer the only lifeline for the Wu family. At this point, however, Wu Bingjian has been disheartened.

1842, 1842 On February 23rd, he wrote a letter to JP Cushing, an American friend in Massachusetts, in which he said that if he was not too old to bear the pain of crossing the ocean, he really wanted to immigrate to the United States. 1843 In September, Wu Bingjian, the richest man in the world, died at the age of 74.