Compared with wealthy entrepreneurs such as Li Ka-shing who are rich and wealthy, Wu Qingyou's name seems much low-key and unfamiliar, but the name of Eslite Bookstore has long been well known to Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Compared with wealthy entrepreneurs such as Li Ka-shing who are rich and wealthy, Wu Qingyou's name seems much low-key and unfamiliar, but the name of Eslite Bookstore has long been well known to Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

, a bookstore, founded in 1989, is based on the original intention of humanities, art, creativity and life. With the "chain but not copying" business model, it respects the cultural characteristics of various places, and through the interactive accumulation of "people, space, and activities", it has created a cultural atmosphere of different corners and different connotations in the city. Today, Eslite is no longer just a bookstore, but a Taiwanese cultural business card full of unique charm.

When he was young, Wu Qingyou graduated from Tainan High-tech Mechanical Science and Technology and worked as a vocational teacher for a time. After he found out that he was interested in business operations, he joined Chengjian Company, which operates catering and kitchen equipment, and was engaged in the sales of hotel and hospital equipment.

1981, because the company boss at that time was considering settling in Hong Kong, 31-year-old Wu Qingyou took over all the equity of Chengjian Company and gradually led Chengjian Company to grow and grow. During its peak development, Chengjian Company once occupied 80% of the tableware and equipment market for large tourist hotels in Taiwan.

1985, Wu Qingyou, who had earned his first pot of gold in his life, bought a piece of land and built a house in the luxury residential area of Yangmingshan. It was during this period that Chengjian's business entered a relatively stable development stage with the saturation of the market. The success of

also made Wu Qingyou enter the "middle-life crisis" early. "I'm lucky that when I was in my 30s, I accumulated a lot of wealth. But I think these wealth is not proportional to my own efforts, and I don't have the right to have these wealth."

Just when Wu Qingyou fell into the "confusion" brought by wealth, in 1988, he had a heart attack and experienced a heart surgery on his chest and passed by death.

"What I don't want, God gave it to me - I have congenital cardiovascular disease, I dare not want, God gave it to me - doing real estate has made me earn a lot of money, but it also made me feel very uneasy inside." Wu Qingyou said that it was this anxiety that made him realize, "Money is not the most important thing in my life."

So, what is the most important thing in a person's life? In Wu Qingyou's view, everything will eventually return to the ultimate question at the philosophical level: Who are you, where you come from, and where you go? Applying this philosophical question to business becomes "what is money, where does money come from, and where does money go?"

Entrepreneurs all over the world must pursue profit in the process of business, and from a philosophical perspective, this profit is "altruism", that is, it must be able to produce benefits. If an entrepreneur's career cannot produce benefits and wants his company to obtain profit, then this is not a legitimate existence for society.

Everyone knows that Wu Qingyou has lost 15 years to run Eslite Bookstore. But Wu Qingyou firmly believed that "the 15 years of losing money in Eslite Bookstore was God's biggest test for me - this allowed me to gain the most precious spiritual feeling in my life. Because this made me see myself for the second time."

Wu Qingyou said that the first time he saw himself was when he had more money than he needed in life, he felt that money was not that important. After 15 years of losing money in Eslite, at least he saw his sincerity in his attitude towards life, even if he was stubborn and ignorant of adaptability.

Wu Qingyou admitted that today everyone knows that bookstores are a "declined industry". The original intention of Eslite Bookstore was because he firmly believed that reading is an activity that cannot be lost in life. The ultimate of culture is that everyone must test their initial thoughts.

Many friends in the mainland often ask Wu Qingyou: How does Eslite Bookstore achieve a balance between commercial interests and social influence? Wu Qingyou said that in fact, Eslite Bookstore today can only be called still alive, because from the perspective of business, they have not even achieved "flatness".

"But I want to tell everyone: Without business, Eslite cannot live. But without culture, Eslite does not want to live." Wu Qingyou said. This is the answer he gave.

If you want to listen to Wu Qingyou’s story with your own ears, from April 20-22, 2015, please go to the “Life Dojo” of the 8th China Green Company Annual Conference and explore, learn and understand life with Wu Qingyou.