Taozhugong Legend
01 · Historical Records
The Tao Zhu Gong legend is chiefly the folk legend of Tao Zhu Gong's management and dispersal of wealth during the nineteen years he lived at Tao, reflecting the commercial activity and ideas of wealth of the ancient Central Plains. It is told that after the Wu-Yue war Fan Li, having achieved his end, withdrew, drifted on the five lakes and later settled at Tao and founded his enterprise, whence the name Dingtao. The legend has a history of more than two thousand five hundred years.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Tao Zhu Gong's original name was Fan Li, a statesman and military strategist of the late Spring and Autumn period. It is told that after the Wu-Yue war Fan Li gave up office and left Yue, travelled west through the state of Qi to Tao, present-day Dingtao in Shandong, and finding it the centre of the world with the feudal lords reaching it on all sides, settled there and founded a great enterprise, whence the name Dingtao. In the nineteen years he traded at Tao, making full use of the geographical advantage of the centre of the world, he three times amassed a thousand pieces of gold and accumulated wealth in the tens of thousands, becoming a merchant rich beyond anyone in the world. Rich, he could also be benevolent, making light of wealth and fond of giving, and was revered for this and later worshipped as the god of wealth. The story of Fan Li giving up office for trade, three times amassing a thousand pieces of gold and yet making light of wealth and fond of giving shapes the image of a merchant both wise and benevolent, revered by later ages as the god of wealth, with a far-reaching influence on traditional business ethics. Recorded in the Shiji, Biographies of the Money-Makers, and corroborated by folk tradition, the legend has the double colour of historical hearsay and folk imagination.
Amassing a Thousand Pieces of Gold Three Times
The core legendary episode of Tao Zhu Gong growing rich through trade at Tao.
Making Light of Wealth and Fond of Giving
The legend of Tao Zhu Gong, rich yet benevolent, dispersing his wealth to aid others.
The Dingtao Place-Name Legend
The place-name legend connected with Fan Li settling at Tao and founding his enterprise.
The Tao Zhu Gong Temple-Fair Activities
The temple fairs and sacrifices connected with Fan Li in the Dingtao area.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Tao Zhu Gong legend circulates with Dingtao in Shandong as its centre and is closely bound up with the local place names, trade routes and market customs; Dingtao lies in the Central Plains with convenient water and land communications, and it is told that Fan Li, taking his stand on this centre of the world, traded and became immensely rich, the legends of his management and dispersal of wealth handed down there from generation to generation. Today the Dingtao area still has relics, place names and temple-fair activities connected with Fan Li, and the people spread the story of Tao Zhu Gong through storytelling and drama.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Tao Zhu Gong legend is rich in local features and special content and has reference value for studying traditional Chinese economic culture. Under the impact of modern means of transmission it is on the verge of being lost and urgently needs protection and transmission. The Tao Zhu Gong legend is handed down from generation to generation with Dingtao as its centre and has a rich local character of south-western Shandong.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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