[2] This article is dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of the Administrative Procedure Law and its first major revision!

[3] In fact, there was no road on the ground; when many people walk on it, it becomes a road. Once there is a road, traffic rules will follow. But we cannot use later traffic rules to harshly judge the first person who took the step to open the road!

[4] — Words by Mr. Lu Xun and the author’s supplementary remark

　　1. 引子

[5] The French sculptor Auguste Rodin once said, “There is never a lack of beauty in life, but a lack of eyes to discover it.” All art, whether highbrow (refined art) or lowbrow (popular art), originates from life. What makes artists artists is their unique vision to discover beauty in life, and then use various forms of artistic works to present the beauty of life before us, turning it into spiritual wealth that every ordinary person can enjoy. By the same token, business opportunities abound everywhere in the world; what is lacking is the eye to spot them. Entrepreneurs, like artists, possess a unique vision to identify business opportunities, dare to take risks, mobilize and organize various resources to develop and exploit these opportunities, creating material wealth for society, so that every member of the public, whether as a producer or consumer, can benefit from it.

[6] Figure 1: One of Rodin’s representative sculptures, “The Thinker”

Guo Moumou, the creator of the "Sea Palace," was born in 1964 in Rizhao City, Shandong Province. He graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang in 1986 and immediately began teaching at the Art Teaching and Research Office of China Medical University, which was clearly a path toward becoming an artist or art educator. However, the young Guo Moumou was not happy, or rather, somewhat disappointed. On one hand, the pressure-free, unchallenging teaching work failed to ignite his passion; on the other hand, his youthful arrogance and unruliness did not win him the favor or recognition of his superiors. By chance, the school's staff cafeteria needed renovation, and the school leaders, seeing him as young and idle, assigned him to oversee the project. Seizing this rare opportunity to prove himself, Guo Moumou poured his heart into it, handling everything from design and planning to construction management, down to the smallest details. As a result, after his efforts, the once dilapidated and neglected cafeteria was magically transformed into an exquisite, tasteful, and upscale restaurant! The staff and faculty no longer merely satisfied their basic appetites but also enjoyed a visually stunning and pleasing feast. Moreover, the entire renovation cost was extremely low, achieving true value for money. This outcome not only exceeded everyone's expectations but also made Guo Moumou realize that applying his artistic talents to architectural decoration could create miracles. At that time, reform and opening up were gaining momentum, and the entrepreneurial wave was surging across society. Inspired and motivated, Guo Moumou began experimenting with collaborating with renovation teams to undertake architectural decoration projects in his spare time. To his surprise, a few small trial projects earned him as much as decades of salary as a university teacher! Of course, more important than money was that Guo Moumou discovered his true life's value for the first time.

In 1988, just two years after becoming a university teacher, Guo Moumou temporarily set aside his artist dreams, resolutely resigned, and founded Shenyang Fashion Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd., embarking on the path of a successful entrepreneur. However, Guo Moumou always maintained the unique perspective and emotional pursuit of an artist. Starting in 1994, he ventured into commercial real estate, and in 1998, he invested 450 million yuan to build the Fashion Underground Street on Taiyuan Street in Shenyang's commercial center, dedicated to exploring the infinite business opportunities of "underground" spaces. His unique artistic perspective first shone here. Speaking of Guo Moumou's deep connection with "underground" commercial spaces, it began with his earliest attempt to transform underground civil air defense projects (abbreviated as "civil air defense") into underground commercial cities. In the 1960s and 1970s, relations between China and the Soviet Union deteriorated from tension to hostility, reaching a point of confrontation, with the threat of nuclear war looming over China. In response to Chairman Mao's strategic deployment of "dig tunnels deep, store grain everywhere, and never seek hegemony," large numbers of underground civil air defense projects were built across China, especially in major cities. The scale and quantity of these projects are unimaginable to young people growing up in peacetime today. However, after reform and opening up, as China opened its doors and actively developed peaceful, friendly, and mutually beneficial diplomatic relations with countries around the world, these underground civil air defense projects gradually lost their wartime functions and were abandoned. Guo Moumou keenly saw the business opportunities in these abandoned underground civil air defense projects. He contracted them as a whole, renovated and decorated them, turning the entire underground civil air defense project into a beautiful underground shopping mall. He then rented out individual shops to self-employed individuals or businesses, creating a unique underground commercial street that became a consumer hotspot and commercial center in the local urban area. The economic benefits for Guo Moumou and his relatives were considerable. This was the origin of the underground commercial real estate model that Guo Moumou later replicated and promoted nationwide.

Figure 2: This is the entrance to the first nationally influential underground commercial real estate project developed and operated by Guo Moumou and his company—the Fashion Underground Street on Taiyuan Street in Shenyang. From the sculptures on both sides of the entrance, one can easily discern the entrepreneurial artistic temperament behind the project.

From "Underground Street" to "Sea Palace," it not only showcases the unique perspective of an entrepreneur trained as an artist in seeking and discovering business opportunities but also reveals the inherent artistic temperament and romantic sentiment of a successful entrepreneur!

Of course, dear readers, do not misunderstand. The path to entrepreneurial success is not as easy and romantic as described above, nor is it the superficial glamour that casual observers perceive. In Guo Moumou's own words, during his more than 20 years of business management, the first five years were spent in hellish struggle and torment. He even thought many times: If there is a next life, he would never be an entrepreneur again, because this path is too arduous. However, after five years of hard work, not only did the company get on track, but he also learned and understood the methods of business management. With the standardized operation of a professional manager system, he gradually freed himself, allowing him to fully utilize his unique artistic perspective to find and discover business opportunities, providing strategic direction for the company's development. At the same time, he could calmly reflect on life and indulge his romantic sentiments and artistic pursuits, which had been temporarily suppressed by worldly affairs.

　　(待续)