The Ethical Endowment And Contemporary Construction Of Zheshang

As the quintessential business group rising up from Mainland China since the reform and opening up,Zheshang give rise to “Zhejiang Miracle”.Through correlation analysis of Chinese ethical culture and the emergence of Zheshang,the rise of Zheshang and the economic prosperity of Zhejiang are indebted to the regional ethical culture in Zhejiang Province.Whether the “Weber-thesis” is true or false,Weber had put forward a generalized proposition over economic development and ethical culture in his book: the development of any social economy is supported by a certain type of ethical culture,without which no form of social economic development could be rationalized.This sets us thinking about the ethical culture elements behind the booming Zhejiang economy as well as the source of mental power of Zheshang.Therefore,to discuss the ethical providence of Zheshang,and constructa modern structure for Zhejiang merchants' ethics under the background of social transformation are of great importance to the sustainable and sound development of Zheshang in this new era.The main content of this article is as follows:Firstly,it summarizes the kernel of Weber-thesis,concludes that the Protestant ethics are the major cause for the prosperity of capitalist economy in the west,and focuses the correlation analysis of ethical culture and economic development as stated in Weber-thesis on Zheshang.By flexibly employing Weber's logic approach in Protestant ethics,this article first analyzes the realistic conditions and basic circumstance for the existence and development of Zheshang,including geographic environment faced by Zheshang,development situation of Zhejiang industries and the evolution of Zheshang over the course of history,and the population characteristics of Zheshang,so as to lay a solid foundation for tracing the source of ethical culture of Zheshang development.Secondly,the local ethical basis of the rise of Zheshang---the ethics thought of East Zhejiang School is investigated in depth.In the comparison of East Zhejiang School and the ethical thoughts of Confucianist,the philosophic roots,the theory of human nature and the theory of practice are analyzed level by level,which reflects the unique local ethic and cultural characteristics of East Zhejiang School.The important thing is that the reasonable desire for wealth in human nature is morally recognized,which is exactly the same as Weber-thesis' s emphasis on the principles of Protestant ethics.It further reveals the spirit of Zheshang in the ethics and culture of East Zhejiang School and plays a major role in promoting the rise of Zheshang.The ethical thought of East Zhejiang School acts as the writing foundation throughout the paper.The specific idea is: first,date back to the philosophical foundation of the development of Zheshang.That “Tao based on experiences” is the philosophic roots of Zheshang utilitarian ideology.As “people”,Zheshang are also members of the whole world.Therefore,“the moderate temperate” is the humanity foundation of the development of Zheshang.Second,the practical thought of Zheshang is explored.With the philosophic roots,on the one hand,Zheshang uphold the ultimate aim of Tao of sages in the world of experience——improve their virtue and further achievements;on the other hand,they stick to the way of doing business——coexistence of righteousness and interest.Third,this paper summarizes the social atmosphere created by the thinkers of East Zhejiang School,effectively combine the educational concept of humanistic pragmatism and the political idea of “industry and commerce being of equal importance”,which further stimulates the vitality of Zheshang of doing business.Moreover,the paper analyzes the realistic situation of the ethics of Zheshang in the social transformation period and points out that effective approach needs to be taken to construct contemporary ethics of Zheshang and direct the development of Zheshang with the spirit of Zheshang contained in the ethics of Zheshang which fits the development of the new era.It also analyzes the ideas and practices of Japan's “ethical legal person committee” which is of reference significance of the construction of the contemporary ethics of Zheshang.And then based on the realistic situation of the ethics of Zheshang in the social transformation period,it proposes practical approaches for the construction of the contemporary ethics of Zheshang.Finally,we respond to the Weber-thesis.It can be seen through the investigation of the Zheshang ethics,which is the main factor leading to the rapid rise of Zhejiang's economy.The Confucian ethics mainly provided to the main Eastern Zhejiang School ethical and cultural support for the development of Zheshang.This is exactly the same as that of the ethical culture emphasized by Weber-thesis and the capitalist economic development.