Understanding Feng Lun: Humility for Success | Generated by AI
Question: How to understand Feng Lun’s saying about the founder of Wantong: “the face touches the ground, one is able to eat meat into the mouth”?
Answer:
Feng Lun (冯仑), the founder and chairman of Wantong Group (万通集团, often abbreviated as Wantong), is a prominent Chinese real estate entrepreneur known for his witty and insightful quotes on business and life.
The saying you mentioned appears to be a slightly misremembered or translated version of a common Chinese entrepreneurial proverb that emphasizes humility and thick-skinned persistence: to succeed in business (especially in competitive fields like real estate), one must be willing to “put one’s face close to the ground” — meaning to lower one’s pride, bow deeply, endure rejection, beg for opportunities, or face humiliation — in order to “eat meat” (gain substantial rewards or profits).
A similar well-known expression in Chinese business circles is something like “脸皮要厚” (thick-skinned) or metaphors involving lowering oneself to seize opportunities on the ground. Feng Lun has frequently discussed the need for entrepreneurs to be humble, persistent, and willing to “endure hardship” without caring about face (面子) in his books, interviews, and talks (e.g., in Wild Growth or his public speeches).
The core meaning is:
- Success requires humility and resilience: You can’t stand tall and proud while expecting big rewards (“meat”) to fall into your mouth.
- In entrepreneurship, especially starting from nothing, you often have to “touch the ground with your face” — network aggressively, ask for favors, handle criticism, or do unglamorous work — to achieve real gains.
This aligns with Feng Lun’s own story: He and his partners (the famous “Wantong Six Gentlemen”) started with very little in the early 1990s, facing immense challenges in China’s emerging real estate market, and succeeded through persistence and pragmatism.
No exact quote matching “face touch to the ground… eat meat into mouth” was found attributed directly to Feng Lun or a “Wangtong founder” (likely a typo for Wantong/万通), but it captures the spirit of his philosophy on entrepreneurial grit.