In Southern Fujian, Seeing the Power of the Clan

The Xiamen docks in early autumn, under a blazing sun,

the air thick with salt and sweat.

This is a place close to the sea,

and "The Waves of Gulangyu" is its romantic tune.

On the other side of the old docks,

Guanyin Mountain faces Little Kinmen,

where a solid, fierce wind blows.

What this wind carries is not idle leisure,

but a fierce drive to get things done.

Most of the listed companies and family offices from southern Fujian have their headquarters here; the HQ towers of Anta, Xtep, Septwolves, ERKE and others stand side by side... The windy spot is where Quanzhou people believe wealth gathers.

Over the Mid-Autumn Festival, I came here with the Arcus team and close friends

to visit local listed companies and family offices.

More than their market value, strategy or business success...

what struck me most was the family and succession culture behind them.

After a few days of visits, we came away with a new understanding of the word "family."

Understanding Minnan Culture

To outsiders, southern Fujian families look complicated in structure and heavy on personal ties;

but to them, this is exactly the most stable kind of order —

the rules are not written on paper, but written into relationships.

Unity: the clan is the strongest trust network

Southern Fujian families may not use a word like "governance,"

but the clan is their most natural governance system.

Here, family members both compete and cooperate with one another.

The headquarters of the most famous listed footwear and apparel companies sit right next to each other;

they compete on the same track, yet also co-invest in projects together.

This sense of being "a community of shared destiny" may well be the true underlying character of southern Fujian families.

Their unity doesn't rest on slogans, but on long experience of working together and winning together.

Tempering: the founders are still learning, and the second generation takes over on its own terms

They are not shy about a "horse-race mechanism" —

let the second generation run on their own, and whoever comes out ahead naturally takes over.

The elders don't deliberately hold on to control; instead they are willing to let go,

and let the young ones go out, venture forth and make mistakes.

One entrepreneur said with a smile:

Family members can't all be equally smart, but you have to trust that time will weed people out, and sort them too.

On the question of second-generation succession, they are also more decisive than outsiders imagine.

Many of the younger generation join the group early on to rotate through roles,

and some even set up their own investment funds and make decisions independently.

The founders have not "retreated behind the scenes";

instead, they stand alongside as "learners," observing and guiding.

This state of "learning together"

lets the family's knowledge and power be passed down while staying in motion.

Mechanisms: the evolutionary logic of southern Fujian family offices

Southern Fujian always has someone willing to be the first to try the crab,

and they are willing to spend the time

to take those methods apart, absorb them and put them back together.

On this trip to Xiamen,

the development path of southern Fujian family offices was also striking;

every one of them bears the deep imprint of the business and the entrepreneur behind it.

Standing on the shoulders of cognitive giants, they copy more cleverly.

The keyword is — iteration

What I admire most about southern Fujian founders

is not their hard work, but their willingness to keep learning.

Southern Fujian families rarely tear down an old system;

instead, they use time to iterate on it.

They believe

good governance is not a charter written on paper,

but a tacit understanding hidden within relationships.

Southern Fujian family offices are quietly upgrading too

As the companies iterate, so do the family offices,

from the initial stage of "pooling personal investments"

all the way to today's professional systems:

Stage 1.0: consolidating the founder's scattered personal investments;

Stage 2.0: setting up dedicated investment companies and hiring outside teams;

Stage 3.0: professionalising, with focused resources and a focused direction.

Gradually they build their own decision-making systems —

the boss, the investment committee, the team, outside advisers —

constantly iterating and learning.

This way of thinking is the key to how they ride through cycles.

They don't seek "perfect decisions," only "effective consensus."

This is the flexible wisdom of southern Fujian families: neither stubborn nor blindly following.

Trust is another unique asset of southern Fujian family offices.

Many family office teams are made up of veteran group employees who have moved over,

having worked alongside the founder for more than a decade.

They understand both the boss and finance,

striking a rare balance between trust and professionalism.

By contrast, this is exactly the biggest challenge for many family offices elsewhere —

either too much trust and not enough expertise,

or too much expertise and trust collapses.

Philosophy: whatever exists has its reasons

Every family's situation is different, but whatever exists has its reasons.

This line came up again and again in every conversation.

What we saw clearly was not fatalism, but a kind of maturity:

they know

every family develops at its own pace,

and there is no need to copy someone else's.

From Reason to Love

I often wonder: why have southern Fujian families been able to rise, wave after wave, over several decades?

Perhaps the answer isn't on the balance sheet, but in their collective temperament.

It is a patience with time, a trust in family, a love of learning.

They don't talk about "generational anxiety," nor are they in a hurry for an "international transformation."

What they care about more is —

"whether the next generation has grown into people who can be trusted."

This trip to southern Fujian helped me understand the meaning of "succession" anew:

succession is not the handover of power, but the continuation of the ability to learn.

Here,

I saw a Chinese civilisation that is deeply rational yet full of warmth: the "company" is an extension of the family, and the "family" is the real company.