Bai Gui

Bai Gui was a native of Luoyang in the Zhou domain during the Warring States period; his given name was Dan and his courtesy name was Gui. He once served as chancellor of the state of Wei and excelled in trade and commerce. He formulated the guiding principle of 'acquire what others discard; supply what others seek', stockpiling grain and selling silk and lacquer in years of abundance, while selling stored grain and purchasing raw silk and cotton cloth in times of famine. He closely observed celestial phenomena and agricultural cycles, seizing opportunities with the swiftness of a predatory beast or bird of prey. He likened his 'art of livelihood management' to the strategic wisdom of Yi Yin and Lü Shang, the military tactics of Sun Wu and Wu Qi, and the legal reforms of Shang Yang. Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian: Treatise on Wealth Creation praises him as the 'Patriarch of Livelihood Management', and later generations of merchants enshrined him as their founding master of commercial practice. His philosophy—marked by keen perception of changing conditions and balanced, measured acquisition and distribution—is regarded as the foundational source of traditional Chinese commercial wisdom.