Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川

March 7, 2022 FLAI40 Leave a comment

Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川 was born in the year 1851 and he lived a fruitful life until September 7th 1939 - aged 88. He was the 68th generation descent of Mencius or Mengzi 孟子, the famous Chinese philosopher 372 - 289 AD (85 years). Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川 has been described and remembered as the ideal ethical businessman. In his business life, he had always seek the middle inclusive ground to solve conflicts and perhaps he was the first (in China, at least) to develop the WIN-WIN philosophy in business dealings.

孟洛川 生于1851年，过着有意义的生活，直到1939年9月7日——88岁。他是中国著名哲学家孟子(公元372-289年 - 85岁)的第68代后裔。孟洛川被描述为理想的道德商人。在他的商业生涯中，他总是寻求中间包容的立场来解决冲突，也许他是第一个（至少在中国）在商业成功中制定双赢公式的人。

Meng Luo chuan’s 孟洛川 business talent was revealed from an early age. Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川 had a naughty personality when he was a child, and did not like to study, although he did have a good memory and was able to understand the Classics of his other famous forebears. He was often seen playing with bricks and tiles, arranging them like chess pieces and have chess challenges within himself.

孟洛川的商业天赋从小就显露出来。孟洛川小时候性格顽皮，不爱读书，虽然记性不错，能读懂其他名家的经典。经常有人看到他玩砖头和瓦片，像棋子一样排列它们，并在自己的内部进行国际象棋挑战。

At the age of 18, due to a rare opportunity given to him by mother on the advice of his classics master, Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川 took charge of the family business with the blessings of his mother and his other more studious brothers who were studying for imperial appointments. By the year 1869, he was responsible for the management of Qingxiang, Ruishengxiang and other enterprises, with branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qing Yan and other large and medium cities. By the year 1934, twenty four firms had been established in other cities like Peiping, Jinan, Qingdao, Yantai, and other smaller places, with more than a thousand employees and more than three thousand property holdings.

18岁那年,孟洛川听从了经师的建议，得到了母亲难得的机会，在母亲和读书学习帝国任命的兄弟们的祝福下，接手了家业。至1869年，负责管理庆祥、瑞生祥等企业，在北京、上海、天津、庆延等大中城市设有分支机构。到1934年，已在北平、济南、青岛、烟台等小城市设立了二十四家公司，员工一千多人，财产三千多家。

Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川 founded the Ruifuxiang 瑞福祥 Silk and Satin Village. His cousin Gao Xianyang 高显扬 (his mother’s nephew) also gave up his studies to pursue business and followed a Japanese businessman Ichiro Taye and eventually became Meng Luo Chuan’s 孟洛川 opponent. Ruifuxiang was oppressed several times by local bureaucrats and compradors of foreign merchants. He had to seek backing, and reluctantly gave up his love, Miss Dongmei 冬梅, to Kuomintang’s President Yuan Shikai 袁世凯. He won the bluestone archway for business talent bestowed by the royal family “for good deeds and charity” because of his donation to stop the flooding of the Yellow River, but he was unable to buy a cemetery for his father and himself in Menglin 勐林, the holy land of his ancestors. Gao Xianyang 高显扬 wanted to crush Ruifuxiang 瑞福祥, The Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, and Ruifuxiang 瑞福祥 was reduced to ashes. Meng Luo chuan 孟洛川 sought help from a friend Sai Jinhua 赛金华 in desperation, and Beijing Ruifuxiang 瑞福祥 made a comeback. His mother, however, was kidnapped by bandits and he had to give up a good part of his fortune for her release.

孟洛川创办瑞福祥丝缎村。其堂弟高显扬（母亲的侄子）也放弃学业从事经商，追随日本商人大野一郎，最终成为孟洛川的对手。瑞福祥多次受到地方官僚和外商买办的压迫。他不得不寻求靠山，无奈的将自己的爱人冬梅小姐交给了袁世凯 国民党主席。他因捐资阻止黄河泛滥，获得了皇室“行善施舍”的商业人才青石牌坊，但未能在勐林为父亲和自己购买墓地。他祖先的圣地。高显扬想要粉碎瑞福祥。八国联军攻入北京，瑞福祥化为灰烬。孟洛川无奈之下向好友赛金华求助，北京瑞福祥卷土重来。然而，他的母亲被土匪绑架，他不得不放弃很大一部分财产来释放她。

In the first 20 years of Meng Luochuan’s 孟洛川involvement in the enterprise, the business has improved greatly. In 1893 (the nineteenth year of Emperor Guangxu’s 光绪帝 reign) and 1896, “Ruifuxiang” 瑞福祥 was established in Dashilan, Beijing and Yantai successively, dealing in silk and satin, foreign goods, leather goods and department stores. In 1900, when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, the Qianmen area was burned down, and Ruifuxiang 瑞福祥 became a piece of rubble. In 1903, the new business building of Ruifuxiang 瑞福祥 in Beijing was completed. Later, RuifuXiang hongji 瑞福祥宏基 silk and satin shop, Xihongji 西宏基 tea shop, Donghongji 东宏基 tea shop and Hongji 宏基 new clothing store were added in Beijing. In 1904 (the 30th year of Emperor Guangxu’s 光绪帝 reign), Ruifu Xiangdian Store 瑞福祥店 was established in Qingdao. In 1905, Ruifu Xianghongji 瑞福祥鸿基 Satin Store was added in Tianjin. In 1924, Jinan Ruifuxiang 瑞福祥 established a Hongji branch. The Ruifuxiang 瑞福祥, Quanxiang 全详 and other “Xiang” 祥 brand names were all over Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Ji, Qing, Yan and other large and medium-sized cities. In 1900, the total capital of the company was about 400,000 taels of silver, and by 1927, the annual profit reached 3 million taels of silver. In addition to investing in businesses, Meng Luochuan 孟洛川 also bought farms. There were more than 2,300 mu of fields in Zhangqiu, and Zhanhua, Lijin, Tai’an and Laiwu in Shandong. Zhangqiu’s hotel building was a six-entry courtyard, with nearly 100 rooms in the front hall, rear building, and left and right wing rooms. As a well-known national commercial capitalist in China at that time, newspapers in cities such as Beijing, Tianjin and Jinan called Meng Luochuan 孟洛川 a “financial giant”.

孟洛川在涉足企业的前20年，生意有了很大的提升。 1893年（光绪帝十九年）和1896年，“瑞福祥”先后在大栅栏、北京、烟台成立，经营丝绸缎、洋货、皮具、百货等。 1900年，八国联军攻入北京，前门一带被烧毁，瑞福祥化为一片废墟。 1903年，北京瑞福祥新营业楼落成。后在北京增设瑞福祥宏基丝缎店、西宏基茶店、东宏基茶店、宏基新服装店。1905年，天津增设瑞福祥鸿基缎店。 1924年，济南瑞福祥设立宏基分公司。瑞福祥、全详等“祥”祥品牌遍布北京、上海、天津、冀、清、燕等大中城市。 1900年，公司总资本约40万两白银，到1927年，年利润达到300万两白银。除了投资生意，孟洛川还买了农场。章丘、山东沾化、利津、泰安、莱芜等地有2300多亩田地。章丘的宾馆楼为六进四合院，前厅、后楼、左右厢房近百间。作为当时中国著名的民族商业资本家，北京、天津、济南等城市的报纸称孟洛川为“金融巨头”。

The business of Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川 at “Ruifuxiang” 瑞福祥 prospered during the reign of Kuomingtang 国民党 Republic of China. This is largely due to the fact that Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川 was able to master the cooperation of all silk traders to contribute funds for the national community projects such as the building of roads, schools, as well disaster management (floods and typhoons). Under Meng Luo Chuan’s management, his personnel at all levels worked selflessly and ethically under strict orders to keep up with the Confucius sayings treating customs with respect and with dignity.

国民党民国年间，孟洛川在“瑞福祥”的生意兴隆。这在很大程度上是因为孟洛川能够掌握所有丝商的合作，为国家社区项目如道路建设、学校建设以及灾害管理（洪水和台风）等提供资金。在孟洛川的管理下，他的各级人员在严格的命令下无私、有道德地工作，以跟上孔子的言行礼尚往来。

Meng Luochuan 孟洛川 was a patriot. When the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, Meng Luochuan 孟洛川 set fire to all the foreign fabrics in his store at the Dashilar Gate in Beijing, and announced that the 18 branches in the country at that time only sold national fabrics, causing a stir in the country. He once encountered competition from his own family. For a long time in Jinan, one was Ruifu Xianghongji from Meng Luochuan 孟洛川, and the other was Longxiang Xiji from the same Meng family, Meng Qingxuan 孟庆轩. Many small shops in the same industry could not stand such competition. After the “July 7 Incident”, in order to deal with foreign merchants, the two auspicious brands shook hands, stopped vicious competition, and entered into a price alliance to abide by them.

孟洛川是个爱国者。八国联军攻入北京时，孟洛川将其在北京大栅栏门店内的洋布全部放火烧毁，并宣布当时全国18家分店只卖国布，引起轰动。在国内。他曾经遇到过来自自己家人的竞争。久而久之济南，一个是孟洛川的瑞福向洪吉，另一个是孟家的龙翔希冀孟庆轩。很多同行业的小店都经不起这样的竞争。 “7月7日事变”后，为应对外商，两大吉祥品牌握手言和，停止恶性竞争，结成价格联盟，遵守同样的价格。

From 1891 (the 17th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign) to 1894, when Furun was the governor of Shandong, Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川 was appointed to the Board of the Bureau of the Jiangsu Province. Because of his charitable activities, he was also elected as the head of the Jinan Chamber of Commerce. In 1908 (the thirty-fourth year of Emperor Guangxu reign), after the establishment of Shandong Quanye Road, he was appointed as the director of the Jinan Chamber of Commerce. Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川 was good at making friends with both the business community as well as with those in political power. One of the most powerful of his friends is Yuan Shikai, the President of China during the brief period of the People’s Republic. After Yuan’s father’s death, he made a ceremonial tribute table and went to the road to offer sacrifices in person. Yuan’s mother went to the funeral, and he served as the chief funeral director. Yuan Shikai appointed Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川 to the Senate on July 18, 1914.

1891年（光绪十七年）至1894年，福润任山东巡抚， 孟洛川任江苏省局局长。由于他的慈善活动，他还被推选为济南商会会长。 1908年（光绪三十四年）山东劝业路设立后，任济南商会会长。孟洛川善于与商界和政界交朋友。他最有权势的朋友之一是中华人民共和国短暂时期的中国国家主席袁世凯。袁的父亲死后，他做了一个祭祀台，亲自上路祭祀。袁的母亲参加了葬礼，他担任了首席殡葬师。 1914年7月18日，袁世凯任命孟洛川为元老院议员。

“A Generation of Big Businessmen headed by Meng Luochuan” is a 36-episode commercial TV drama series based on the life of Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川, the founder of the time-honored Chinese brand “Ruifuxiang”. The drama tells the story of the protagonist, Meng Luo Chuan 孟洛川, who inherited the ancestral business “Ruifuxiang” at the age of 18, and developed it into a national brand with his own courage, showing the demeanor of a generation of great Confucian businessmen. It also shows his emotional entanglement with three very eye-catching women in his life.

《以孟洛川为首的一代大商》是一部36集的商业电视剧，根据中国老字号“瑞福祥”创始人孟洛川的生平改编。该剧讲述了主人公孟洛川18岁继承祖业“瑞福祥”，并以一己之力将其发展成为民族品牌的故事，展现了一代大儒商的风采。 .也展现了他与生命中三个非常抢眼的女人的情感纠葛。

ENGSUB《一代大商孟洛川》第01集 | 一部剧刻画一家中华豪杰人生传奇. https://youtu.be/ddLc_lTb_Yc. A generation of big businessmen captained by Meng Luochuan “Episode 01 | A certain drama depicts the life legend of a Chinese hero.