Part One: The "Tuhao" Guo and His "Sea Palace" — The Ultimate Revelation of the "Sea Palace" Case (Serial 2)
[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!
—Quotes from Mr. Lu Xun and the author's supplementary remarks in this article.
1. Introduction
The French sculptor Auguste Rodin once said, "The world is full of beauty, but it is the eye that fails to see it." All art, whether it is highbrow or lowbrow, originates from life. What makes artists artists is their unique vision—they can discover the beauty in life and then present it to us through various artistic forms, turning it into spiritual wealth that every ordinary person can enjoy. By the same token, business opportunities are everywhere in the world; what is lacking is the eye to spot them. And entrepreneurs, like artists, possess a keen eye for opportunities. They dare to take risks, mobilize and organize resources to develop and capitalize on these opportunities, creating material wealth for society. As a result, every member of the public, whether as a producer or a consumer, can benefit from their efforts.
Guo Moumou, the creator of the "Sea Palace," was born in 1964 in Rizhao City, Shandong Province. In 1986, he graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang and immediately began teaching at the Art Teaching and Research Office of China Medical University. This was clearly a career path toward becoming an artist or art educator. However, the young Guo Moumou was not happy—or rather, somewhat disappointed. On one hand, the teaching work, devoid of pressure and challenges, failed to ignite his passion; on the other hand, his youthful arrogance and unyielding nature meant he did not gain the favor or trust of his superiors. By chance, the staff cafeteria at the university needed renovation, and the school leaders, seeing him young and idle, assigned him to oversee the project. Seizing this rare opportunity to prove himself, Guo Moumou naturally poured his heart and soul into it, handling everything from design and planning to organizing construction, down to the smallest detail. After his efforts, the once dilapidated and neglected cafeteria was magically transformed into an exquisite, tasteful, and upscale restaurant! Staff and faculty members found themselves not merely satisfying their appetites but also enjoying a stunning and visually delightful feast, all at an extremely low renovation cost—truly achieving both quality and affordability. This outcome exceeded everyone's expectations and, more importantly, made Guo Moumou realize that applying his artistic talents to architecture and interior decoration could work wonders. At the time, reform and opening-up had gained momentum, and a wave of entrepreneurial wealth-seeking was surging through society. Inspired and motivated, Guo Moumou began collaborating with renovation teams in his spare time to take on construction and decoration projects. To his surprise, a few small trial projects earned him income equivalent to decades of a university teacher's salary! But more valuable than the money was that Guo Moumou, for the first time, discovered his true life's purpose.
In 1988, just two years after starting his career as a university lecturer, Guo某某 temporarily set aside his artistic dreams, resolutely resigned, and ventured into business by founding Shenyang Fashion Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd., embarking on the path of a successful entrepreneur. However, Guo某某 always maintained the unique perspective and emotional pursuits of an artist. Beginning in 1994, he entered the commercial real estate sector, and by 1998, he invested 450 million yuan to build the Fashion Underground Street on Taiyuan Street in Shenyang's commercial center, dedicated to exploring the boundless business opportunities of "underground" spaces—a testament to his artist's unique vision. Speaking of Guo某某's deep connection with "underground" commercial spaces, it all started with his earliest attempt to transform an underground civil air defense project (abbreviated as "renfang") into an underground commercial city. During the 1960s and 1970s, relations between China and the Soviet Union deteriorated from discord to hostility, reaching a point of tension and confrontation, with the shadow of nuclear threat looming over the entire nation. In response to Chairman Mao's strategic directive of "dig tunnels deep, store grain everywhere, and seek no hegemony," massive underground civil air defense projects were constructed across China, especially in major cities. The scale and number of these projects are beyond the imagination of today's young people growing up in an era of peace. However, after the 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 preparedness functions and were largely abandoned. Guo某某 keenly recognized the commercial potential of these abandoned underground civil air defense projects. He contracted them in their entirety, and after renovation and decoration, transformed the entire underground civil air defense facility into an exquisite underground shopping mall. He then leased out individual shops to self-employed vendors or enterprises, thereby creating a distinctive underground commercial street that became a consumer hotspot and commercial center in the local urban area. The economic returns for Guo某某 and his relatives and friends were considerable. This marked the origin of the underground commercial real estate model that Guo某某 would later replicate and promote across the country.
From the "underground street" to the "palace on the sea," what this reveals is not only the unique perspective of an entrepreneur trained as an artist in seeking and discovering business opportunities, but also the artistic temperament and romantic spirit ingrained in the very soul of a successful entrepreneur!
Of course, dear readers, please do not misunderstand. The path to success for an entrepreneur is by no means as relaxed and romantic as described above, nor is it the superficial glamour that an outside observer might perceive. In Guo's own words, during his more than 20 years of business management, the first five years were spent living each day in hellish struggle and torment. He even entertained the thought many times: if there were a next life, he would never be an entrepreneur again, because this path was too arduous. However, after five years of arduous entrepreneurship, not only did the company get on the right track, but he also learned and experienced the methods of business management. With the help of the standardized operation of the professional manager system, he gradually freed himself from daily operations, allowing him to fully leverage his unique perspective as an artist to seek out and discover business opportunities, providing strategic direction for the company's growth. At the same time, he could calmly contemplate life and give full expression to the romantic sentiments and artistic pursuits that had been temporarily suppressed by worldly affairs.
(To be continued)
