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Hong Yanwu’s father, Hong Lucheng, had outstanding temperament when he was young and was a standard handsome man. But now he has been bedridden for half a year, his hair has turned mostly gray, and he no longer looks so good. Especially the yellow and thin cheeks and the wrinkles at the corners of the eyes and cheeks all prove one thing – sick people age very easily. In addition, he was originally a tall man, but it was also because of a leg disease that he developed the habit of hunching over. Now, no matter who is acquainted with him, seeing him huddled together on the bed like shrimps with golden hooks, they will always feel that he has become much shorter out of thin air, as if he is twitching.
Speaking of Hong Lucheng’s disease, he contracted it entirely because during the “Ten Years Movement”, his work unit supervised his labor reform and placed him in a cold and damp air-raid shelter to manage the sundries warehouse for a long time. Since the end of last year, in just half a year, his legs from the knees down have gone from numbness and soreness to pain and erosion, so that now the two calves hidden under the quilt have turned black. , rotten into a **** mess.
It is well known that patients who have been ill in bed for a long time are prone to bed sores. Therefore, in order to suffer less pain, Hong Lucheng insisted on moving his body several times a day despite the pain. But just now, just as he was supporting his upper body with his elbows and struggling to move, he suddenly felt weak. As a result, the strength was out of control, and the sore on the calf was immediately affected, causing a burst of extremely heartbreaking pain.
However, even though Hong Lucheng fell on the bed and had big beads of sweat on his head, he still bit his lip, stubbornly clenched his fists, and refused to hum. His daughter Hong Yanru was boiling medicine in the main room, and he was afraid that her daughter would hear it.
After a while, the pain seemed to subside slightly. Hong Lucheng gasped for a few times, and then, holding on to the head of the bed, he sat up again. How do you describe this feeling? It was like thousands of tiny needles pricking his legs at once. He undoubtedly sweated more, but he still stood still. Just like that, he resisted until the heart-wrenching pain subsided a little, then he gritted his teeth again and moved a little bit. After a long, long time, while trembling, he finally completed the planned action and leaned against the bedside with cold sweat all over his body.
Hong Lucheng let out a long breath and closed his eyes. Legs often hurt the most after moving. In order to feel better, he often closed his eyes like this and thought about things. At this time, he would often review the stories about the Hong family’s ancestors and the path he had taken in his life, and as a result, he would always feel some indescribable sadness and confusion…
Hong Lucheng was born on January 27, 1917, which is the fifth day of the first lunar month in the sixth year of the Republic of China according to the lunar calendar. After all, in 1977, I was exactly sixty years old. He and his wife Wang Yunlin got married in 1937. They have always respected and loved each other and have three sons and one daughter together. Much of his life was ordinary, especially after the founding of the Republic. But if there is any special symbol found on him, it probably comes from his family background. Because he was not born into an ordinary family, but into the top wealthy family in the capital before liberation – the Hong family, known as one of the eight great families.
In our country, when talking about aristocratic families and rich people, there must be a classification, and they cannot be lumped together. Before 1949, the wealthy class in Beijing was very complex. There were new rulers who came to the political stage alternately, old people from the former Qing Dynasty and families of deposed officials from Beiyang, and even Russian princes and nobles who fled to Beijing. Even for wealthy businessmen, there are differences between “bureaucratic capital” and “private capital” due to different sources of funds or business content, and between “new industrialists” and “traditional businessmen.”
The Hong family has always been praised by the people of the capital for their prosperous business and good management. They are the most typical representatives of traditional merchants. Before liberation, there was a jingle about time-honored shops in the capital – “Ma Juyuan on the head, Neiliansheng on the feet, wearing Ruifuxiang, with four constants around the waist, drinking tea with Wu Yutai, sitting down with Long Shuncheng, making great waves. The term “Hongmen Banquet” refers to the establishment of restaurants and pastry shops in the capital, and the homophones of the word “banquet” – “Yan” and “Yan”. “Hongjia” is the name of the store.
The family history of the Hong family is recorded. The ancestor of the Hong family, Hong Xiangqi, came to Beijing from his hometown in Fushan, Shandong during the Yongzheng period. Counting down to the generation of Hong Lucheng’s father, Hong Xiaoru, the Hong family has been in the capital for nine generations. These two hundred years of business accumulation and personal connections provided the foundation for the Hong family to get involved in other more profitable industries. Therefore, when Hong Xiaoru took the helm, the Hong family’s business territory had become extremely large.
At that time, various properties under the Hong family’s name included: restaurants Yanqingtang, Yanxitang, restaurants Yanmeilou, Yanxingju, pastry shops Yanmeizhai, Jinlanzhai, Yanyingzhai, Yanxiangzhai, Yanfuzhai, Yanhuazhai, Yandezhai and Yanningzhai. These restaurants and pastry shops span Beijing and Tianjin, with a total of 18 joint numbers and semi-colons. Among them, Yanqing Hall and Yanxi Hall are both among the top ten halls in the capital. Yanmei Building is one of the eight buildings in the capital. Yanxing Ju is one of the eight major residences in the capital. Yanmei Zhai and Yongxing Zhai are both known as the North Building of Beijing. The leader of the oven bureau even surpassed Zhengmingzhai and Ruifangzhai. Let’s put it this way, the Hong family accounts for 20-30% of the catering industry in Beijing alone.
In addition, the Hong family also operates Tianbao Gold Store, Sanyang Gold Store, Wanqing Pawnshop, and antique shop Jubaozhai across multiple banks. They also jointly established the Shenrongzhuang Yanshou Tang with the Shoujia of Taiyuan Hospital. There are 16 branches in total in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi’an, Qingdao, Yantai, Luda, Shenyang and other places.
Everyone in Beijing knows the Hong family. But when it comes to what kind of life the Hong family lives, most ordinary people can only rely on their imaginations except for some superficial understanding. For example, when ordinary people talk about being rich, they must be “wearing gold and silver, and having fine clothes and food.” However, for a truly wealthy family, they only say “the music returns to the courtyard, and the lights come down to the balcony.” The difference can be judged in one word. Moreover, in addition to superior material conditions, the real life of business tycoons also contains a lot of unspeakable bitterness.
This is by no means an idle statement. The rulers in our country’s history have always believed that it is extremely immoral for businessmen to make profits by selling things produced by others. Moreover, they fundamentally believe that businessmen’s pursuit of profit is a hidden danger that disrupts society and is very unreliable. As a result, the “business” class has always been strictly guarded against and implemented a “repressive policy”, that is, “emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business.” Therefore, businessmen are rich, but their social status is always humble.
Take the Qing Dynasty as an example. Businessmen should wear blue cloth coats, so they have to wear blue cloth coats, even if they have money. Moreover, the sons of businessmen were not allowed to be officials. This is probably what is now called feudal oppression.
Speaking of this, Hong Lucheng’s father had great respect for Emperor Yongzheng throughout his life. The reason is that it’s somewhat of a different approach. According to Hong Xiaoru, in a feudal society based on agriculture, the rulers were most afraid of people leaving their household registration and becoming refugees, depriving them of the objects of exploitation, so they often tried every means to control personal freedom. However, in all dynasties, only the Yongzheng dynasty’s policy of “divide a small family into an entire family” was carried out correctly and provided real personal freedom for the Chinese people. This gave people the possibility to choose a career without living on the land. Otherwise, according to the old restraint system, the Hong family would have no chance to leave their hometown. And even after arriving in the capital, it was still impossible to recruit enough manpower and associates. What’s more, if the Qing royal family didn’t despise business to the point of disdain, and stipulated that bannermen would be deprived of their flag status if they did business, then Han merchants like the Hong family would not have any chance of success even if they were in the capital. . Hong Lucheng also deeply agrees with his father’s view.
Even if the basic conditions for doing business are in place, it is still very difficult for an ordinary businessman to expand his business or enter the field of national monopoly. Unless, you go to rely on the powerful and become the so-called “official businessman”.
In that special historical era, the Hong family was inevitable. However, the Hong family has also verified a truth through personal experience – being an “official businessman”, although the social status is more respectable and there will be a lot of convenience in doing business, the vice president’s problems are just as serious, and even some gains outweigh the losses.
The logic is not difficult to understand. Just because the patron is an “official”, the businessmen who seek refuge not only have to accept the unfair distribution of rights and interests, but also bear many sacrifices and risks because of the special needs brought about by the patron’s status. .
For example, the “government-business joint venture” in the late Qing Dynasty was a black hole that swallowed money. I don’t know how many “officials and businessmen” were trapped in the quagmire and became victims because their owners catered to the “top leaders”.
After that, the Qing emperors abdicated one after another, which was an unparalleled disaster that almost caused the entire shopping mall of the capital to be buried with the officialdom of the capital.
During the Qing Dynasty, the main consumers in the capital were Manchu and Mongolian bannermen and officials and dignitaries. Therefore, the Revolution of 1911 brought about the collapse of the Qing government. Not only did the consumer market shrink sharply, but many old debts were also difficult to recover, which led to the direct bankruptcy of a large number of small and medium-sized industrial and commercial enterprises. And the more “official and businessman” they are, the greater the losses will be in this case, because the biggest customer of these big merchants is the Forbidden City.
Take the Hong family as an example. The “Yan” pastry shop has always replaced the pastry rooms inside and outside the palace in making and passing on offerings, and the Yanshou Hall of Ginseng Rongzhuang has long been specialized in selling ginseng and deer antler from the East and West imperial pharmacies. , a total of 160,000 taels of payment was wasted. Another example is the Yue family of Qirentang, who had the privilege of supplying other royal medicinal materials to the palace, but had to grit their teeth and endure a deficit of nearly two hundred thousand taels. Among all the merchants who had financial dealings with the Qing Palace, the one that suffered the most was probably Ma’s House, a Xinglong Wooden Factory built specifically for the royal family. It is said that the royal family has not paid a penny of the 220,000 taels owed for the construction of Guangxu’s Dongling Mausoleum and the more than 30,000 taels for the construction of Beihai, and the note of debt left to the Ma family that year also followed Beiyang. The government’s emergence has become a piece of paper that can never be redeemed.
During the Beiyang period, the government began to advocate “the spread of the west wind to the east” and “industry to save the country,” and the status of businessmen seemed to have improved somewhat. But in fact, the treatment of businessmen not only has not improved, but is far worse than that in the late Qing Dynasty. Not to mention that the warlord wars have caused a severe shortage of goods on the market, nor that the government secretly facilitates the economic plunder of foreign capital. The most important thing is that the excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes collected by the Beiyang government are much more severe than those of the Qing government. Moreover, during the warlord war, every general who led troops to Beijing treated the merchants as meat in a bowl and extorted them at will. Under such circumstances, one can imagine the “hemorrhaging” of merchants.
What’s more, those soldiers are not easy to deal with. As soon as these guys are released from the military camp, they all come to the market to take advantage of them. And the Hong family’s shop, because it has delicious food and drink, has naturally become the primary target of infringement. The most striking characteristic of soldiers is that they are “bastards” and do whatever they do. They scolded them as “mama bastards” and ate and drank for free. What’s more, they openly robbed people with the guns in their hands. If they resisted, they would definitely smash the store and hurt others.
Ever since he was a child, Hong Lucheng has been used to seeing his father having headaches and troubles caused by soldiers and gangsters. The days that made the Hong family both troubled and distressed would not come to an end until the Northeastern Rebellion in 1928.
However, the end of the feudal system still played a positive role in the change of social customs. One point worth mentioning in particular is that starting from 1919, due to the influence of the “May Fourth” ideological trend, a group of emerging business representatives began to emerge in society. This group of people is very young, including many high-level intellectuals and even “returnees”. They did not have the sophistication and restraint of the old businessmen, but showed abundant enthusiasm, took the task of enriching the country and strengthening the people, and took the route of saving the country through industry. Although they also have flaws of paranoia and idealism, they are the most vindictive and most country-loving businessmen in the history of our country. The various new factories and companies they established have quickly become the most dazzling focus in the business world with their strong ability to create wealth and new business models.
Every time he mentioned this past incident, Hong Lucheng couldn’t help but feel sincere admiration for his father. In this era of alternation between the old and the new, it was precisely because of his father’s shrewdness that the Hong family did not stick to the rules and be bound by the old traditions.
Although Hong Xiaoru did not have the vision and overseas experience of the industrialists, he knew how to take advantage of the situation and make profitable investments. Although he does not understand the business methods and industrial technologies of new industries, he understands the most basic principle of the market – any transaction is always based on money. Therefore, he decisively seized the opportunity and invested heavily in Yue Qianzhai’s Salt Bank and Huang Yizhu’s Zhongnan Bank, as well as the Juno Hotel founded by the German James, and soon shared the benefits of these foreign industries.
When Hong Lucheng became his father’s assistant, he lobbied his father to continue investing in the Danfeng Match Factory in Beijing, as well as the joint-stock Jinmen Northern Steamship Company and Jinmen Li, out of personal respect for these industrial elites. Medium acid plant. In this way, while sharing profits, the Hong family’s wealth also indirectly contributed to the country, achieving a win-win result.
In fact, from 1927 when “Bald Chiang” established Nanjing to 1937 when the Nanjing government came to power, it can be said to be a rare golden period of “ten years of construction” for my country’s industrial and commercial circles. Although foreign capital and government-owned capital were extremely strong during this period, the achievements made by the private industrial and commercial class in a short period of time were still impressive, and even the concepts of “saving the country through industry” and “saving the country through science” evolved into a trend of the times.
Unfortunately, these local bourgeois industrialists are really unlucky. The feathers had just grown, and before they were full, they were invaded by foreign enemies. But the superstructure that was supposed to represent their interests and protect their growth now revealed its true identity as both a coward and a bastard. After the outbreak of the war of aggression against China launched by Japan, the Nanjing government only knew how to find businessmen to donate wages and food, but the army could not fulfill its duty to defend the territory. As a result, most of the years of hard work of the industrialists were in vain, or they hid in the concession. Or be forced into exile thousands of miles away.
With all the nests in the house, how can there be any eggs? The national crisis hit, and the Hong family was not spared. After the fall of Beijing and Tianjin, under the Japanese “food restriction policy”, the Hong family’s shop could not make ends meet, but the Japanese did not allow it to go out of business, so they had to maintain it at a loss. In particular, Hong Xiaoru refused to use counterfeit coins and refused to do business with Japanese merchants. Therefore, the Hong family’s shop is being blackmailed by traitors and spies who come to the door every day. The most unfortunate thing is that as the war spread, the Hong family’s shops in other places were also destroyed by the war, and in the end, very few were lucky enough to survive.
Fortunately, Hong Xiaoru, as the head of the Hong family, remains wise. When the Marco Polo Bridge Incident just broke out, he secretly arranged for Hong Lucheng and his new wife Wang Yunlin to escape from the rebellion and take a boat from Tianjin to Shanghai. And before leaving, he also handed his son a deposit receipt. Only then did Hong Lucheng know that his father had always deposited 600,000 silver dollars in Citibank in the United States just in case.
After arriving in Shanghai, Hong Lucheng did not live up to his father’s expectations. He lived in the concession or worked mediocrely until the war subsided. Instead, he was always looking for ways to help the Hong family preserve their strength and reduce losses. .
When Hong Lucheng discovered that under the footsteps of the Japanese invasion of China, the Shanghai Concession was experiencing abnormal prosperity due to the increase in the refugee population, he immediately cooperated with the Jewish real estate developer Hartung, who was the director of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau at the time. With the money from Citibank, he built Western restaurants, cafes, dance halls and nightclubs in the concession, and quickly made a lot of money. Therefore, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, when he returned to the capital, Hong Lucheng had accumulated enough financial resources to save the Hong family’s ancestral business and reputation that were in danger and on the verge of bankruptcy. Finally, the critically ill father was able to let go of his worries and passed away peacefully, holding his hand with a smile. However, this period of prosperity of the Hong family cannot escape the shackles of history, and in the end it is just a flash in the pan.
In the next three years, due to the government’s extremely improper handling of the post-war economy, “grabbing agents” were everywhere, enriching their own pockets in the name of confiscating “enemy property.” Our country’s industrial and commercial class has always been in a state of “orphan”. At that time, if you wanted to maintain an industry, you could say that you had to operate cautiously and bleakly. Not only did you have to bear the losses caused by the invasion of the Japanese chieftains on your own, but you also had to face the bureaucrats of the “four major families” of Chiang, Song, Kong, and Chen. The squeeze of capital and the threat of annexation.
After the civil war began, prices in Chiang Kai-shek’s areas soared, and the authorities forced people to hand over silver dollars and gold, which were exchanged for worthless “gold yuan coupons.” As a result, the entire economy is on the verge of collapse, and even gods are powerless to save it. No wonder some people gritted their teeth and called the Chairman “Chiang deserves to die” and privately declared that “there is no natural reason for the KMT to survive.” Therefore, during the civil war, most of the business class in our country did not advance or retreat with the Kuomintang. They only waited and watched, hoping that the dust would settle soon.
In this context, even if Hong Lucheng had business talent, he could not do anything. It is really good to be able to barely maintain the operation of many industries and make a living for the old guys of the Hong family. Seeing that private capital had no idea of a way out, Hong Lucheng only felt miserable.
In 1949, the army swept across the country. As the KMT lost Taiwan, the world easily turned red.
In the early stage of establishing the country, since the private economy plays an important role in the national economy, and the newly-ruling Red Party faces some practical problems, it also needs the help of national capital. Therefore, as long as they are not bureaucratic capital or foreign banks and compradors, the business class is still defined as “the people” and the so-called enlightened “democrats”. It even has a star in the national flag.
At this time, the top leaders of the Red Party treated well-known merchants with great courtesy and gave them very generous treatment. For example, Yue Songsheng, the 13th generation descendant of Qirentang, is a representative figure in the business community who actively supports the Red Party. Not only was he promoted and reused, he even became the deputy mayor of the capital in the future.
Given the reputation of the Hong family in the business circles of the capital, Hong Lucheng is naturally also a key target of the united front. He has all the titles and positions assigned by the government. However, Hong Lucheng had always adhered to the ancestral precepts and was used to keeping a low profile. He instinctively did not want to be the one who stood out, so he eventually politely declined the positions of deputy to the Municipal People’s Congress and member of the CPPCC, and only wanted to be known as an “industry and business person”. head.
In addition, the economic policies at the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China were also very stable. In terms of economic control, in addition to cracking down on speculative businesses such as gold, silver and foreign exchange, the new regime’s forced confiscations only targeted bureaucratic capital and enemy and puppet property. As for the attitude towards the private and individual economy, in addition to restoring production and rectifying new labor-capital relations, the attitude is only to “use, restrict and transform”.
This harmonious economic state lasted until 1952. During this period, the entire world was almost completely transformed. Everything had to be started over, even the language had to be learned from scratch. Therefore, not only have the stubborn social ills before 1949 been wiped out, but society has also developed rapidly, as far away as a dream.
It was indeed a heroic era, but while Victory was marching, if you looked carefully, you would find some cracks, which were very incongruous with the light of the gold letters on the red background.
Since 1950, “mass movements” from all walks of life have been launched. Such as the “ideological reform movement” of intellectuals, “land reform”, “suppression of counterrevolutionaries”, “purging of reactionary guilds”, etc. The justice of this series of measures to clean up the remnants of the old regime and create new social norms could not be questioned at the time, and it also gave the Red Party a sense of salvation. However, because its method transcends the legal system and has no policy constraints, many excessive behaviors and violations of policies have occurred. In short, although these movements did not affect the industrial and commercial classes, they had the effect of killing chickens and frightening monkeys.
From this moment on, Hong Lucheng’s spirit was always suppressed and he began to worry about his own situation. He had no choice but to become careless. He neither wanted to get involved in politics nor dared to make more money. He just wanted to be an obedient citizen under the new regime and go about his business peacefully.
Not long after, the government organized Hong Lucheng to participate in a mass movement to “study national policies and actively educate himself”, and he began to realize that he had “original sin”. Feeling guilty, in order to “atone”, he first actively responded to the “Resist U.S. Aggression, Aid Korea, Defend Home and Country” movement, even selling off his property to raise funds, and donated several aircraft and several anti-aircraft guns. Then, they also took the initiative to hand over more than a dozen idle properties for rent to the government to solve the problem of resettling the growing population of Beijing residents. Sure enough, his efforts to perform well were recognized by the government, and the encouragement from the newspaper and the red certificate were like talismans, temporarily calming his uneasy heart.
If history is fair, then Hong Lucheng’s move can be described as a wise one, and he will be blessed throughout the world. However, if the wind and rain come according to the weather forecast, there will be no big storm. If difficulties can be prepared for you safely, there is no need to drive people crazy.
Hong Lucheng would have never imagined that, just two years later, an investigation sweeping across the entire industrial and commercial world would come out of nowhere. But when he presented his certificate of merit at the mass struggle meeting and mentioned everything he had done at that time, no one believed him at all. History is so sad. A sneer from others, “Can a capitalist still be patriotic?” wiped out all his hopes of proving his innocence.
Especially on February 16, 1952, as major newspapers published news that day, it was revealed that some unscrupulous businessmen, led by Wang Kangnian, the manager of Shanghai Dakang Pharmacy, had committed various crimes of stealing state property and harming the volunteers. The most primitive sense of justice in people’s hearts was touched. Thousands of simple people wrote to newspapers and newspapers one after another, calling the “five poisonous” capitalists “the most hateful people.”
To be honest, an honest businessman like Hong Lucheng actually hates scum who ruin the reputation of businessmen. But at that time, the overall image of the industrial and commercial class had plummeted. As long as they were businessmen, no matter whether they were poisonous or not, almost everyone wanted to be beaten. Everyone who is a capitalist or owner must pass through the sieve.
There is no need to mention the specific details of that time. In short, when he was isolated and examined, Hong Lucheng completely collapsed. He had to follow the “Tiger Fighting Team” to confess, and even took the initiative to increase the number. When this “tiger” was released, he had been beaten to pieces and was like a “dead cat”. He couldn’t even recognize his way home, so the tiger hunting team members found a car to send him back. of. Fortunately, because of his good attitude, a few days later, the workers’ meeting announced that he had “completely confessed” and as a subject of leniency, he was downgraded from the original first-level “complete illegal household” to the third-level ” A half-observant and half-illegal household.” (If you are a completely illegal household, you will at least be sentenced to jail)
In May of the same year, the “movement” was victorious and retreated. The businessmen who had experienced the disaster also returned to their factories and shops. But this inventory has made many people afraid to do business. Some people even shouted in private, “If you do business again, you will be a grandson!” But before they could decide whether they really wanted to close their doors, the huge penalties that followed forced these people to continue to be the “grandsons” they had just sworn to.
The notice the Hong family received was no exception. It clearly stated that the total amount of back taxes and fines was 500 million yuan. (Before the currency system was changed, 500 million yuan equaled 50,000 yuan)
For a period of time in the future, tax collectors came to Hong’s house every day to collect money, and took away any money they had. In order to pay the huge refund, Hong Lucheng had to collect valuable things at home and sell them to raise funds. At first it was some cultural relics, calligraphy and paintings, and then it was my wife’s turn to wear clothes and jewelry.
After liberation, the pawnshop has completely disappeared. Cultural relics, calligraphy and paintings have to be sent to Liulichang. Spring silk cotton robes and mink coats can be consigned to a trust house, but gold rings and jewelry can only be taken to banks due to government regulations. Hong Lucheng’s wife Wang Yunlin only went to the bank once and refused to go back, saying she couldn’t bear to part with old things. After packing some things, let Hong Lu take them over. Hong Lucheng didn’t understand his wife’s mood until he saw the bank staff twisting the fine jewelry into a mess while testing the quality of the gold. This lasted for two years, and more than half of the Hong family’s belongings were lost before the huge debt was paid off one after another.
1954 was another critical year for the business community. As Qirentang, under the leadership of Yue Songsheng, took the lead in announcing the implementation of public-private partnership, various industries in the capital had a strong response to this. Soon after, the silk shop Ruifuxiang, Hui Feng Tang, Cui Hua House and Senlong Restaurant in the catering industry also announced the implementation. Faced with this situation, Hong Lucheng couldn’t help but feel anxious.
It is the tenth generation since the Hong family passed down to Hong Lucheng. When it comes to his true intentions, he really doesn’t want to be the last sinner who “broke his family”. Not to mention that he himself had a strong interest in business, not to mention that at the last moment of his death, his father still solemnly asked him to pass on the Hong family’s legacy. If he just gave up his ancestral business, would he not only be sorry to himself, but also to his father who had high hopes for him? But if we look at the actual situation, it is extremely difficult to maintain it.
First of all, the social situation does not allow it. In fact, individual public-private partnerships in the catering industry began as early as 1950. I think Tongheju took the first step back then, and in 1952, Fengzeyuan and Judequan followed suit. Hong Lucheng has long seen that this path may be the general trend, and the country’s determination will not be reversed. In addition, he has deeply understood that kind of power and knows that resisting it is simply nonsense.
Secondly, let’s talk about the operational difficulties. As a result of the investigation of the industrial and commercial classes, the social atmosphere has become more advocating frugality, leading to the continuous shrinking of the high-end consumer market. The final result is that the catering industry has been reduced to a social welfare industry due to long-term low-price supply, and is completely unprofitable. In addition, in recent years, the state has begun to implement a unified supply and marketing system for agricultural products, requiring vouchers for everything purchased, making it particularly difficult for private enterprises to purchase raw materials.
The current actual situation of the Hong family is that most of the restaurants have closed due to low business, and only one Yanmei Restaurant is still struggling to survive. The menu has also been discontinued. It can only be determined according to the situation every day, and some home-cooked dishes that are not in season are provided. In addition, even the pastry shop’s situation is not much better. Due to the lack of a large amount of sugar, oil, preserved fruits, eggs and cream, it can only bake some crude oven-cooked food, and it is almost turning into a sesame cake shop. If this continues, there will naturally be fewer and fewer customers coming to the door, and the store’s losses are certain. Even if they don’t cooperate, it’s probably not far from their own closure.
To sum up, the answer is obvious as to how to choose. However, Hong Lucheng could not let go of his inner knot, so he was unable to take this step. At the critical moment, an unexpected event helped him make a decision.
After New Year’s Day in 1955, the Hong family’s old house in Sanjin Courtyard was spotted by the street office at that time, and wanted to expropriate it and turn it into a nursing home. Naturally, the two old shops on the street, Yanmei Building and Yanmei Zhai, were included. . To this end, the street director specially invited the district cadres in charge of public-private joint ventures in the catering industry to come to the door to talk about the project. Coincidentally, this person was the “tiger fighting team leader” during the “inspection”.
When we met again, the captain of the year had become the full-time director of the department, although this time he had changed into a “comrade” with a pleasant face and a quiet mouth. But Hong Lucheng could not forget the old pain and was still frightened. How could he dare to say “no”? As a result, after the Spring Festival in 1955, the two old shops that the Hong family had operated on Meishi Street for nearly two hundred years closed down, and the door of the Hong family’s old house was also hung with the sign of a nursing home.
However, these houses are not completely irrelevant to the Hong family. Because the street funds are limited, the properties have not been transferred and are only regarded as temporary rentals with an initial term of fifteen years. In order to express their gratitude, the street also helped contact the new residence, which is Furuli No. 2 Courtyard.
The Hong family moved to a new location. The place is much smaller, and there is no screen wall, no hanging flower door, no fish tank, no ceiling and no pomegranate tree. Hong Lu was depressed in his new home in the east courtyard of Guanyin Yuan without leaving the house. He only held two wooden plaques from his old shop and was depressed for many days.
He was really sad, but he couldn’t say anything. The requisition was approved by him. He showed enthusiasm and progress in front of others, but he sighed when he turned his back on others. What kind of thing was this?
It was his wife who understood Hong Lucheng best. She knew that the two old shops he was most reluctant to part with were the two old shops, but she took a different approach and said, “Just move away. Although this place is not big, it is not as big as it used to be. The servants are Now that we are gone, there are only a few people in the house, which is enough to live in. If you think about it on the bright side, the old house will not be able to accommodate the huge yard. The house will get older and older, and we will not have the energy to clean it up in the future. It will be a waste sooner or later if we leave it in our hands. ”
Wang Yunlin was right, the Hong family’s house and courtyard had indeed shown a decayed appearance. Hong Lucheng was moved and found that his wife understood the causal logic of the world better. Nothing is eternal, everything is imaginary. Seeing it through, that’s what happened.
Hong Lucheng’s depression gradually eased. Once I changed my mind, the matter of public-private partnership became a matter of course. Originally, since the old shop and the old house were gone, there was nothing left that I couldn’t bear to part with.
Soon, Hong Lucheng went to the captain to discuss the specific matters of the public-private partnership. The captain didn’t expect to be able to kill two birds with one stone. He was so happy that he praised and encouraged him. The conditions given were also very favorable. Except for some policies that were stipulated by the country, everything else was negotiable. Especially regarding the issue of Hong Lucheng’s personal job placement, the scope and treatment set out are relatively loose and can be left to his choice. However, after Hong Lucheng pondered for a while, the conditions he proposed were just to settle the guys and nothing else. The captain was even more happy and readily agreed.
This request is really not difficult to handle, because all the restaurants under the Hong family’s name no longer exist. Except for the old Yanmeilou restaurant that just closed, most of the restaurant employees have long been paid for by the Hong family and have returned to their hometowns. Returning to his hometown, he changed his career. The focus of resettlement is actually only on the pastry shops.
After several discussions, an agreement was quickly reached. The chefs in Yanmei Building were relocated to other state-owned restaurants by the Municipal Sanshang Bureau Catering Company, and more than a hundred employees from the eight pastry shops became workers in the state-owned pastry factory. As for those pastry shops, because their business methods still maintained the manual production model of front stores and back factories, they were directly eliminated. Several stores were eventually placed under the Municipal Second Commercial Bureau and became non-staple food stores that had sales contracts with state-owned pastry factories. Hong Lucheng himself became an accountant working at the Beijing Sugar and Pastry Corporation.
Perhaps it is because of past extraordinary situations that we have learned from the past. This time, the country is relatively gentle and the conditions offered are quite generous. During the inventory and verification, self-assessment, self-reporting, and worker supervision were used, and the private equity capital was finally set at 68,000 yuan. According to the “redemption policy”, there was a fixed interest of 280 yuan, and the Hong family did not suffer any loss. .
As for work arrangements, the captain also allowed Hong Lucheng to choose a work location closer to home and gave him special preferential treatment. Hong Lucheng enjoys the director-level treatment of administrative level 15, and his salary is accordingly set at 108 yuan. In the food industry, the highest-level technicians at that time only earned more than seventy yuan, which was probably among the top salaries in the entire company. From this point of view, Hong Lucheng’s income is enough to ensure that the Hong family has enough food and clothing, and that every generation can live a “high-quality life.”
However, when Hong Lucheng received a letter from the People’s Bank of China in a kraft paper envelope stamped “Postage Paid” for the first time, he was still in a depressed mood. He knew very well that in the future, except for the fixed interest sent by this cold letter, all the results of the Hong family’s ancestors’ efforts for generations would probably be buried by time.
Hong Lucheng felt really depressed after going to work.
In the factory, all kinds of pastries flowed forward along the conveyor belt of the machine. The workers wore white aprons and white sleeves, clean and neat, like foreign doctors. At first glance, you might think you were in a foreign country. In comparison, Hong’s pastry shop’s production method, which relies on masters and apprentices, not only looks outdated and outdated, but the output is also ridiculously low.
This scene of a state-owned pastry factory using machines to produce pastries made Hong Lucheng’s eyes darken and he felt bitterness in his heart.
Why are machines used everywhere these days? Also, this way it can be used once and for all, fewer people will use it, and there will be no need for smoke and fire. But if everything improves like this, then all the craftsmen in the future will be in vain.
Perhaps, there is nothing in the world that lasts forever. Just like his old house, the demise of the Hong family’s time-honored brand is irreversible, right?
Perhaps Hong’s shop is indeed old.
Maybe he is also old…
In 1956, the transformation of private capital reached its climax. On January 15, as Yue Songsheng, on behalf of the Beijing Federation of Industry and Commerce, presented the good news of the capital to the great leader at Tiananmen Square, the industry and commerce in the capital had taken the lead in realizing the “public-private partnership” in the entire industry. Subsequently, all parts of the country quickly followed suit. Since then, traders across the country have peacefully disappeared and blended into the general population.
Logically speaking, the coffin has been sealed. Then there will no longer be a “movement” directed at the business class, and everyone can breathe a sigh of relief and start a new life with peace of mind. But this is not the case. The curse is still there and it is impossible to completely wipe away the “original sin”.
Since 1963, a large number of pamphlets have been published that recall the bitterness and sweetness, re-accusing the sins of the evil landlords in the old society. What followed was the popular and long-lasting “Remember the Bitter and Think of the Sweet” movement. At that time, although there was no longer a “lost dog” policy requiring capital investment, the old businessmen were brought out one by one due to the impact of the vilification of the industrial and commercial class, and they became a group of sidelines.
To be honest, Hong Lucheng’s experience was somewhat unfair. The Hong family has always paid great attention to the income and life of grassroots employees. In the ancestral motto of the Hong family, in addition to the requirement to take care of the birth, old age, sickness and death of the store clerks, and to try to replace the middle-level cadres with ordinary employees, it also specifically stipulates that “people are not allowed to be dismissed without reason (people are fired), no specialization is allowed, and they must eat with the store clerks” , condensed with the concept of sharing weal and woe” and many other matters. How can one be like the wealthy local man “Zhou Papi” who used “chicken crows in the middle of the night” to squeeze his subordinates?
But facing reality, Hong Lucheng had no choice but to use the old method, trying his best to keep his head down and be a good person, and keep a low profile to protect himself and his family.
In addition, he would never dare to show any grudges about the lost wealth. If you think about it, you will understand that in society as a whole, “being rich” has become a shame, and no one will miss the wealthy life of living and drinking. Although thrift is essentially a painful thing, something that cannot be done due to poverty, but once it is established as the mainstream trend of the whole society, it is something to be proud of.
In that era, not only Hong Lucheng, but also the last emperor was transformed into a pure person. Puyi once wrote a very sincere letter of determination in 1958, saying that he would “strive to be a red flag bearer” and so on. Therefore, Hong Lucheng also worked very hard and learned simplicity. How the people live is how they live. Try your best to integrate in order to become a part of the “people” as soon as possible.
Even if Hong Lucheng still retains a little bit of his past particularity in life and refuses to be careless about food, he can only enjoy it secretly behind closed doors. Even if he couldn’t stand the behavior of some workers and peasants like eating without washing their hands, spitting, swearing, and behaving barbarically, it can be seen that when he saw these “five red categories”, he had to nod and bow, and pretend to say hello affectionately.
This cannot be blamed on his hypocrisy, it is all due to the environment. The changes of the year are not something that an individual can resist. His arm cannot twist his thigh, and he is simply looking for trouble by complaining about the change of the year. Otherwise, if we still maintain the sadness that “the carved railings and jade bricks should still be there”, then needless to say, we will lose even more.
Gray people like Hong Lucheng and their relatives have always lived like this. But what is unexpected is that even though it has reached this point, there is still a disaster that cannot be avoided that involves the people of the whole country.
In August 1966, the social situation changed suddenly again. The Red Guards held high the banner and set off a craze with overwhelming red. And this time the movement is a hundred times more intense than the previous ones. It doesn’t make people feel relieved at all. Once it changes, it seems that it will change to the end.
No, this isn’t movement at all, it’s a tornado. It was this unprecedented storm that shattered the remaining property, self-esteem, and personality of the Hong family…
Thinking of this, Hong Lucheng opened his misty eyes, and his chest was filled with the emotion of having once overcome all difficulties.
In our country, the so-called wealthy families really have nothing to boast about.
Thinking back to those days, I don’t know how many people envied his family background, and imagined how luxurious and refreshing his life was with a gold cup, a jade cup, a BMW and a fancy car. But who can understand the century-old pain he suffered in the changing times such as being involuntarily, growing old overnight, and causing trouble to his descendants?
His whole life, he seemed to be walking down a steep downhill road carrying the heavy word “capitalist” on his back, and he simply couldn’t hold his ground. The more I look forward to peaceful days, the more my body sinks.
If you talk about the feeling in detail, it is just a “cannot bear many sorrows”.