Lin Shon Wan

Lin Shon Wan (1779~1885)

Lin Shon Wan was the most famous rags to riches businessman in Korea. It was in the Ching Dynasty of China. He made a massive fortune by trading between Korea and China. The King of Korea wanted Lin to be in charge in the poorest county – Thaichan – as a magistrate. The soil of Thaichan was very poor, and there were a lot of hillsides. In addition, the weather was cold, and even if the farmers worked day and night, they couldn’t feed themselves. When Lin arrived in Thaichan he tried to persuade the farmers to abandon cultivation. The farmers and landowners were angry. Because of the poor harvest, the Thaichan people had to make grass mats to earn extra income. Lin set up lacquer factories and manufactured high quality lacquers. He thought it was a trading age; people don’t have to make everything they need, but create what they master. Then people can earn what they want by trading. Lin taught the landowners to run the business by trading lines to China and Japan. It is now the age of the Internet. We know the poor need daily necessities, and it’s not efficient and fair for the poor to raise the crops on such poor ground. But the people can create the intelligent properties by computers. The computers are like the factories, and the Internet replaces the trading net.

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The homonyms - Tahitian and name Lin Shun Wan, I transliterated myself; if you really want to quote this you will have to consult some Koreans. —Kevin Fu