Fan Li was a famous statesman, militarist, economist and merchant. He relocated three times in his life, and accumulated a large amount of wealth. Fan Li is referred to as Tao Zhu Gong, and is widely known as the Civil God of Wealth or the Sage of Commerce.
Background
Fan Li was born into a poor family. However, he was intelligent and knowledgeable. As the state of Chu was in chaos due to tyrannical aristocrats, Fan Li was unable to put his talents and skills into good use. It was only after he left Chu that he was able to realise his potential.
He and his wife, Xishi, lived in a house near the sea, engaging in agriculture for a living. Under his brilliant management, they soon became a wealthy family in the neighbourhood. He helped the poor and needy generously.
Fan Li accumulated bounful wealth three times in 19 years. Therefore, he called himself 'Tao Zhu Gong", and became well-known for his wealth.
Career
Fan Li first helped Goujian to conquer Wu by formulating the strategy of 'taking 10 years to produce and accumulate, and another 10 years to nurture'. Nonetheless, Fan Li understood the principle that 'a worthy person will be discharged once he has served his purposes'. As such, he decisively resigned from his official post to protect himself and his family. He relocated his family to Qi and changed his name.
As his reputation grew, the King of Qi invited him to serve as his chancellor. Fan Li served as chancellor for about three years, then commented that 'to be able to accumulate several thousand pieces of gold working at home, and to take on an official position as important as this one, is indeed the limit for a commoner. If I hold on any longer to this post, I'm afraid disaster will happen'.
Then they moved to Taodi (today's Dingtao in Shandong). Taodi was strategically located, connecting Qi, Lu, Qin, Zheng, Jin, Yan, Chu and Yue. It was an ideal place for trading. Fan Li imported and exported commodities according to the season, climate, customs and cultures. He 'acquired what others did not want, and sold what others desired'. He let nature take its course and acted at the right times. As he was good at trading, he soon became a wealthy man again.
Fan Li was a talented entrepreneur. When he was in the State of Qi, he noticed that the State of Wu needed good horses which were abundantly avialable in Qi. To sell horses in Wu was not a problem. The difficulty lay in transporting the horses from Qi to Wu, which was a long expensive journey. Moreover, there were many bandits during that turbulent warring period. Fan Li heard of a merchant called Jiang Zidun, who transported linen from Qi to sell in Wu safely as he had made a pact with the bandits. Thus, Fan Li came up with a brilliant idea to export horses to Wu. He put up a notice saying that he wuold help transport commodities free of charge to Wu. Sure enough, Jiang Zidun approached him to take up the offer, and asked Fan Li to transport his linen. Fan Li then travelled with Jiang Zidun to Wu safely with his horses. Once in the State of Wu, Fan Li made a fortune from selling his horses.
