A friend once raised this question with me: Master Chi, though your articles are profound and wide-ranging, that very depth limits their reach — most ordinary people simply can’t follow them. Have you ever considered writing in a more accessible, down-to-earth style?
My answer: I’ve never once considered going in that direction, because the people I serve are, by nature, a select few — the elite, and those strivers willing to quiet their minds, absorb high-quality thinking, and reshape their own destinies.
So writing with precision and depth is nothing to worry about. My readers can follow it perfectly well.
Nor do I feel any particular need for my writing to be embraced by the general public — their spending capacity and lifestyle simply don’t align with my clientele.
It’s like Bentley and Rolls-Royce: they’ve never advertised on television, because the majority of people watching prime-time TV will never be buyers of those two top luxury brands.
Master Chi holds this position without the slightest wavering.
Because if you’ve read more than ten of my articles, you’ll understand — many of these ideas and perspectives simply cannot be explained to ordinary people. Their intuition, intelligence, thinking, and mental bandwidth are just not equipped to process this kind of material.
It’s like asking an average person: “Would you like to know the evolutionary logic behind a great family dynasty?”
They’d likely think you’d lost your mind — that you’re taking life far too seriously and too rigidly. Shouldn’t people just enjoy life while they can? The next generation will take care of itself, right?
You see — “playing music to a cow” (casting pearls before swine) describes exactly this situation.
So my writing is only for you and others like you — the elite. Only you can truly understand it.
Simple as that.
Now, there’s been a TV drama making waves lately called Between Us (人世间, “The World of People”) — a sweeping generational epic. Thousands of articles analyzing the show appeared online almost overnight. I read a few of the high-traffic ones, and found they were almost entirely focused on the emotional and tearful moments. Articles offering any real, systematic analysis of its substantive content were essentially nonexistent.
Since that’s the case, let me use today’s article to clear the fog — and have a proper conversation with you about what the “evolution logic of a family dynasty” actually means.
First, let’s align on what “family dynasty” actually means here.
When Master Chi says “family dynasty,” I don’t mean a bunch of people who only get together during holidays to eat, drink, and indulge in a little petty vanity-comparing.
I mean a bloodline circle with powerful centripetal force, an upright family culture, and the kind of strength that makes every member proud to belong.
Generally speaking, the evolution of such a family dynasty unfolds in stages:
First Generation: The Founders
The first generation — the founding couple — doesn’t need to achieve any spectacular career success. Even if they’re perfectly ordinary wage earners, that’s completely fine.
As the dynasty’s first generation, they are like the seed of a great tree. As long as the seed’s genetic makeup is sound, growing into a tall and mighty tree is an inevitable outcome.
Their critical role is to set a sufficiently high-quality, upright foundation for the family’s future development — and to instill this in every child they raise.
That alone is enough.
Take Zhou Zhigang and Li Suhua, the parents of the Zhou family in Between Us. Though they had nothing to do with worldly success by conventional standards, in raising their children, they were absolutely on point.
Their principles: study hard, respect knowledge and culture; work diligently, earn your rewards through clean effort; be honest, don’t step on others or make enemies; cherish stability, never squander your focus on accumulation.
These look simple, sound clichéd — but are genuinely hard to practice and even harder to teach. They are golden life principles.
Old-fashioned and a bit rigid? Perhaps. But they are the solid stepping stones that can lift children from humble origins into the middle class.
Don’t underestimate this. Plenty of parents from the lower rungs can’t even get this basic education right. Some can’t articulate these principles clearly themselves; others preach them constantly but can’t model them.
So a pair of ordinary yet good-natured parents — willing to become the bedrock of their children’s lives through hard work and broad, patient shoulders — are often the most successful and complete version of a first generation.
The old Zhou household in Between Us is exactly this: a family of ordinary workers who produced two high-achieving siblings and one sharp-minded, good-hearted youngest son. Entirely logical.
Second Generation: Striving but Battle-Scarred
A dynasty’s second generation is typically composed of capable but immature individuals — people who work hard but frequently run into walls.
This shows clearly in all three Zhou siblings. Though each eventually found their own footing in life, they paid in blood and tears to get there.
Eldest brother Zhou Bingyi — how much hardship and how many dead ends did he endure, combined with how many fortunate turns of fate, before finally reaching the position of deputy mayor?
Elder sister Zhou Rong — proud, haughty, and romance-obsessed; she fancied herself principled while being rather poor at navigating people, yet somehow reached the level of university professor.
Youngest brother Zhou Bingkun — though the drama ends with him returning to ordinary life, understand that a person with such rich lived experience would, in real life, eventually carve out a respectable position for himself.
But all three cannot escape one law of destiny — or perhaps a necessary path: they are fated to be the generation that suffers the most setbacks in the dynasty’s development.
Their circumstances determine this. They have decent foundational qualities, but in society they have absolutely no resources or connections to leverage for their rise. Every resource and relationship must be fought for and cultivated from scratch.
And in that process, there will inevitably be countless pitfalls waiting for them.
No way around it — their parents, honest and straightforward as they were, could give them nothing beyond “be a good person.” No guidance, no strategy. So it’s explore by flesh and bone, step on mines with your own feet.
Look at eldest brother Zhou Bingyi — he was the luckiest of the three. That pivotal marriage became the turning point of his life. His in-laws weren’t exactly noble benefactors (Gui Ren) in the fullest sense, but they did clear key obstacles for him — barriers that ordinary people might spend a lifetime unable to break through.
Elder sister Zhou Rong fared much worse. Proud, arrogant, self-centered, romance-obsessed — for the sake of a worthless sense of face, she repeatedly let real estate (a major life asset) slip through her fingers, and repeatedly wounded the feelings of family members and people who trusted her. Both Feng Huacheng and Cai Xiaoguang were hurt by her countless times.
Youngest brother Zhou Bingkun — I’ll just say this: if he’d had even one slightly clear-headed mentor to point the way, given his instincts and judgment, he truly could have achieved something significant in that chaotic, tumultuous era.
This is the destiny of the second generation — not necessarily as dramatic as a TV series, but I genuinely have never met a second generation in any dynasty that had it easy.
Many of my friends who are doctors, lawyers, and people in institutional systems — a good number of them are textbook second-generation members. Through their efforts, the dynasty’s third generation has gradually transformed into true elites. But for their own generation? They came through hardship, every step.
The most common consensus among this group: “Many things look simple only because you can’t see what’s inside. Once someone walks you through it, the elegant inner logic suddenly becomes clear.”
This is part of why Master Chi can serve as their destiny reading (命理) and life advisory resource — because many of these things I’ve personally experienced and come to understand, so I can articulate the logic and help people avoid five, even ten years of detours.
Those who know, know: someone going into any system entirely without guidance versus someone with step-by-step mentorship — the former might spend forty years still as a cog in the machine; the latter might spend four years and already enter the development pipeline.
Life trajectories: completely different.
Third Generation: Where Figures of Consequence Emerge
By the third generation of a dynasty, figures of real consequence begin to emerge.
What do I mean by “figure of consequence”?
Someone who, in a given field — not necessarily calling the shots entirely, but at minimum possessing real command of capital and real authority. A decision-maker, large or small.
Because the second generation passes down their hard-won, blood-and-sweat lessons and life wisdom to the third generation. This lets the third generation avoid countless rough roads, so they don’t go charging headlong into gunfire like raw recruits who know nothing.
Of course, “figures emerging in three generations” might be optimistic in some cases. But as long as the dynasty’s inheritance stays unbroken, by the fourth generation at the latest, a figure of consequence will emerge.
And by that point, you’ll find that this family’s culture — its family ethos — becomes very distinct and very refined.
In any case, among all the groups I’ve encountered who can genuinely call themselves dynasties, at least three core principles have stood the test of time and never faded.
1. Every dynasty must cultivate a leading figure — one whom all members support first, and who in turn gives back to everyone later.
Notice how those groups I mentioned earlier — people who only gather for holiday meals based on some distant blood connection — almost universally lack this shared-prosperity mindset?
They generally can’t stand to see a relative do well, and prefer extracting small moments of satisfaction from their own modest little achievements.
Snakes and rats — that’s what we call this kind.
A genuine dynasty, by contrast, would love nothing more than to pool the whole family’s strength to push the most promising children to the highest positions possible. Because when it works, it’s a great windfall that blesses the entire family.
Take one of my closest friends, now in his fifties — his entire second generation works across various medical institutions, and together they pooled the family’s full network and influence to elevate him to the number-two position at one of China’s top-ten hospitals nationally.
Those who know the field understand exactly what kind of level and what kind of future that represents.
After that, the rest goes without saying. From now on, this dynasty — in the medical system at least — has real weight and unquestionable prospects. That’s beyond doubt.
This is the most striking power of a dynasty, and one of its greatest meanings.
2. Never allow impulsive, downward-marrying choices by any member to dilute hard-won family resources.
I remember a young woman from last year who claimed she was dating a man from a family worth hundreds of billions, and wanted me to read her romantic fortune. But she kept hesitating and hinting — could I offer my services for free? Her logic was peculiar: since she was dating a man from a multi-billion-dollar dynasty, that somehow made her elite too.
Well, setting aside this woman’s questionable thinking and financial standing — let me state one cold, clear truth: the more genuine the dynasty, the less it will allow a low-caliber marriage to dilute its family resources. This applies equally to men and women.
Unless the outside party brings exceptional capability in some specific area that can bridge the gap in status.
Otherwise? Play the role of a long-term budget companion for seven or eight years — and when someone truly suitable comes along, it’s a wave goodbye. Four words in the face: “You’re not worthy.”
This rule applies to you as well. Master Chi doesn’t care whether you’re the first, second, or third generation — always remember: romance and marriage are two completely different things.
I’ve seen countless people get swept up by romantic chemistry, rush into marriage on impulse, and then spend years wanting to slap themselves.
I’ve also seen countless people who felt nothing at first, yet because they shared the same direction and values, feelings eventually developed — and they were grateful they honored the principle of compatibility.
What does compatibility (门当户对, “matched doors and aligned households”) actually mean? It’s not purely about matching numbers.
“Matched doors” means you’re both aiming at a shared destination. Are you building a hundred-million-yuan fortune together? Or growing side by side into a leadership-caliber partnership?
“Aligned households” means that after marriage, your united-interest partnership actually functions — supporting each other, building each other up — not one party becoming a parasite draining the other.
3. The core value of a dynasty is “accumulation,” not “dissipation.”
A dynasty’s accumulation is multi-dimensional — not just wealth. In fact, wealth in some respects is one of the cheapest resources.
The hidden dynasties that have been quietly rising in recent years are built primarily on prestige, reputation, name, and the capital and power that form their foundation.
This kind of dynasty is deeply averse to the consumerist values of extravagance and excess — let alone outright dissipation. Spending like that is grounds for being cut off from the family.
Of course, I don’t know whether you, reading this today, have the opportunity to learn from this caliber of hidden dynasty. But if you want your own family to grow stronger over time, please engrave this section’s core word into your memory.
It’s not hard to understand. Think about it: every family today that owns multiple premium properties in a top-tier city — which of them wasn’t built on the sustained effort of an entire generation, or even several generations?
Grandparents accumulate one or two properties — unremarkable at the time, but now prime real estate worth gold.
Parents, through exchanges and appreciation in value, add one or two more well-located properties.
Children, through the snowball method, use prudent leverage to add another one or two.
Capital comes from having capital. This is capital.
Consistency over time produces lasting assets. These are assets.
So I’ve never understood why some people envy or resent those who own good real estate and live comfortable lives. Did those people get all of this out of thin air?
If that question is hard to answer, perhaps it’s worth reflecting — on what your own parents were doing at the time, while other parents were grinding and building.
These three principles, I believe, run through the entire development of a dynasty and serve as the core guiding framework for an individual’s self-driven striving.
If you can read this and truly understand it, you’ll grasp the logic of how a dynasty develops — and the role you yourself need to play and carry.
From there, you’ll also understand how you should actually strive and work hard in this lifetime, and what goals you should broadly be aiming for.
Articles are best kept from going on too long — past the point of staying with it. Let’s stop here for today.
Next time, I’ll focus on: Why Does Wealth Flow Toward You? Stay tuned.