Time-honored corporations represent excellent Chinese national brands and traditional commercial culture. Many have unique products, technologies and services passed down through generations. In addition to being affectionately regarded by the public, they demonstrate that the traditional commercial culture behind these brand corporations is a powerful attraction. So the significant role of old brands in preserving and carrying forward traditional Chinese culture cannot be neglected.

Culture is a nation’s bloodline and soul, and also an enterprise’s soul. It’s certain that a unique internal company culture is the key to every time-honored corporation that has a history of more than a century and still shows strong vitality. These companies strive to uphold the craftsman’s spirit of quality and perfection, and sustain their business ethics by supporting morality and sincerity.

For instance, the Beijing Tongrentang Group Corporation (which sells traditional Chinese herbal medicine), the Beijing Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant and Hangzhou Zhang Xiaoquan Corporation (which sells knives and scissors), have been responsible for a number of proverbs and fables that demonstrate good business sense. Hundreds of years ago, these companies’ operators ran their businesses with a craftsman’s spirit and established cultural concepts within their companies, which guaranteed continuous development and laid the foundation for growing into time-honored brands. Undoubtedly, these excellent enterprise cultures can exert an influence on other enterprises and consumers who are fans of old brands through subtle changes, and thus these enterprises can finally pass down the essence of traditional forms of culture.

Protecting old brands is to protect our spiritual heritage. We should set up protective measures to explore the traditional commercial cultures behind old brands and integrate their inspirational startup stories with the company’s future development. In this way, we can trigger fond memories among consumers and better carry forward the traditional culture represented by these companies.

In recent years, China’s rise has made the international influence of traditional Chinese culture increasingly strong. Chinese stories and voices have been spread all around the world. Many Chinese time-honored brands have become well known in worldwide and opened many overseas branches with good development. The stories about time-honored companies can not only promote traditional Chinese culture on the international stage, but also improve China’s overseas influence and image.