How rich is Niu Zihou? You can learn a little from the following examples and data.
First of all, the huge Qing court had to borrow money from Niu Zihou.
The Qing court borrowed money from Niu Zihou and did not issue bonds. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Qing court was forced to sign the treaty of shimonoseki with Japan to compensate Japan for 200 million taels of silver. This is undoubtedly an astronomical figure for the stormy and riddled Qing court.
In desperation, Emperor Guangxu had to ask someone to borrow 702,000 silver from Niu Zihou. Although it was a drop in the bucket, it finally solved the urgent need. But the money was not borrowed for nothing. In order to borrow money as soon as possible, officials of the Qing court gave Niu Zihou one of the only two shining pearls in the palace without telling Cixi. However, after a while, Cixi suddenly wanted to see these two night pearls. This frightened the officials who borrowed money, and they quickly redeemed the glittering pearl with 100 thousand taels of silver.
Second, there are many industries in Niu Zihou, involving a wide range of industries.
"Bricks are laid on the ground and silver ingots are hung on the wall", which is a local proverb to describe the cattle family as rich as an enemy. Although this sentence is slightly exaggerated, it also reproduces the wealth of the Niu family from one side.
Niu Jia has a lot of business in Jilin, with a wide range of business. According to You Ji Bianlan, Niu Guangjia has nearly 20 enterprises in Jilin, operating grocery stores, money houses, pawn shops, grain stores, pharmacies, inns and wholesale stores.
In addition, the smart Niu Zihou also has a special luxury store, which deals in silk, delicacies, gold, silver, jade and mink products. Earn money from officials, gentry and rich families.
Niujia is not only in Jilin City, but also in all parts of Northeast China. There are stores in Harbin, Shenyang, Changchun and Dalian in Niu Zihou. He even went out of the northeast to do business in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and other places, with a total of more than 300 single businesses.
So, how did Niu Jia build such a huge commercial building?
Niu Zihou's ancestral home is Gansu. Because of his poor family, his life is unsustainable. His family fled to Shanxi with his family to find a way out, but he was still penniless.
In desperation, Niu's family broke a wok, bit each other so as to get to know each other in the future, and then ran away. After that, our ancestors followed Dudong people to Jilin, a land of abundant geomantic omen and unlimited business opportunities, and started the entrepreneurial journey of Niu Jia.
Niujia started from growing vegetables and digging ginseng, and later opened a cart shop to sell daily necessities. Business is booming day by day, and the first bucket of gold has been dug up. In 797, Yuan Shengqing, the first firm of Niujia, was born. There is a word "sheng" in the middle, which not only means that the business is rising steadily, but also means that the word "sheng" is a "cow" when it is reversed. It can be seen that the cow is ingenious.
The cattle industry passed on to the father generation of cattle, realizing the rapid accumulation of wealth. But at this critical moment, Niu Hualin, who was only 46 years old, died of illness. Niu Zihou, 15 years old, had to shoulder the burden of family ancestors. Niu Zihou is still young, can he support his family's industry?
Niu Zihou's unique vision and innate business talent have been passed down by the cattle family for several generations.
First, he returned most of the profits of Niu Company to employees. Among them, Niu Jia only accounts for one-third of the profits, and the other two-thirds are all returned to employees. At the same time, the Niujia office was turned into a joint-stock system, and all partners became the owners of the office, which greatly mobilized the enthusiasm of employees.
Secondly, Niu Zihou also implemented the manager responsibility system. He does not interfere in the specific operation, delegates the management power to the shopkeeper, only decides the opening and closing of the firm, and is responsible for appointing and removing the shopkeeper candidates of each firm.
Third, Niu Zihou has also expanded the business scope and investment of Niujia Commercial Bank.
In A.D. 1900, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, and Geng established an orphanage to take in homeless orphans. Several "porridge sheds" have also been established to increase the daily amount of porridge and provide relief for hungry refugees. His good deeds have been well received by all walks of life, and even Emperor Guangxu personally wrote a plaque for him, "Be kind to others".
Niu Zihou has also made great contributions to the development of Chinese Peking Opera.
Niu Zihou has a wide range of interests, especially Peking Opera. With his contribution and pioneering spirit, he founded the Peking Opera Training School "Xi Liancheng" with Peking Opera artist Ye Chunshan. Famous Peking Opera masters Mei Lanfang and Zhou were both born in Liancheng.
As the saying goes, prosperity will decline. After retiring in his later years, Niu Zihou handed over the management of the family business to his sons. Because the eldest son Niu failed to invest in the financial industry, many enterprises were mortgaged and sold, which led to the rapid decline of Niu family. After the "September 18th Incident", our three sons finally failed to recover their decline and had to go their separate ways, and the Niu family completely declined.
1943, Niu Zihou died at the age of 77.