Dreiser's The Financier And Zhu Xiuhai's The Qiao Compound: A Comparison Of The Business Ethics

Dreiser's The Financier is an unprecedented great business novel. And Qiao Compound is also a successful novel dealing with the theme of business, which has been attracting more and more attention with the boom of interest in the commercial activities of the Shanxi businessmen during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This thesis is intended to make a parallel comparative research of the two novels from the perspective of business ethics. Through comparison the author aims at shedding new light on the two novels. By analyzing their respective social cultural backgrounds, the environments in which the two writers created their works, the author points out that different social backgrounds, different creating environments, and different creating psychology of the authors decide the different business ethics of the two heroes in the novels. Therefore, we cannot measure and evaluate the ethical behavior of the hero of one novel with the ethical standards of another. It is unscientific and meaningless.The thesis firstly analyzes the social cultural backgrounds, the creating environments, and the creating psychology of the two writers which decide the business ethics of the two novels. Next, the thesis compares the similarities and differences of the two heroes' business ethics in four aspects. Finally, in the conclusion the author argues that to denounce Cowperwood's ethical behavior according to the Chinese moral standards is unreasonable, meaningless and unfair, and it is also unreasonable to say that Cowperwood is an unscrupulous realist and Qiao Zhiyong an exemplary businessman. We should put the figures in their specific environments in which they live to give them an objective analysis and evaluation. We should not judge the ethical behavior of the figure from one nation with another nation's moral standards.