Why did temples get lost in the commercial tide? Lao ba te zhi Xiao hamburger

Behind the "thunderstorm" of Famen Temple is the temple's loss in the commercial tide.

Fenghuang net real estate

2022-07-30 08:32 Official account of Beijing Phoenix Tian Bo Network Technology Co., Ltd., the founder of the financial field.

Source: Titanium Media

Recently, Shaanxi Famen Temple Culture Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Famen Temple Culture Development"), the main operator of Famen Temple in the domestic 5A scenic spot, was overdue due to a number of financial leasing products. According to statistics, its current and non-current liabilities total more than 4 billion yuan, while the monetary funds in the account are insufficient 1 100 million yuan.

According to the titanium media App, since June, 20021,the cultural development of Famen Temple has been involved in many lawsuits due to arrears in rent repayment. At present, the court has included it in the list of untrustworthy companies.

The temple was originally a clean place for Buddhism. Why did Famen Temple become a delinquent? What business thinking does it bring us?

"Play a good hand and smash it."

Famen Temple is located in Famen Town, north of Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province 10 km. Built for relics, the temple was originally named Asoka Temple.

198 1 August, the tower collapsed in a storm. After the pagoda collapsed, the Shaanxi government began to prepare for reconstruction. It was not until 1987 that archaeologists officially began to carry out rescue excavation of Famen Temple.

During this cleaning, the construction workers found the closed underground palace, which not only collected thousands of treasures of the Tang Dynasty, but also accidentally discovered the Buddha finger relic (a middle finger bone of Sakyamuni), which shocked the Buddhist community at home and abroad.

Such a unique treasure not only attracts Chinese and foreign believers, scholars and tourists, but also makes local governments start to develop their economy.

In 2003, the Baoji Municipal Government invested 30 million yuan to establish Baoji Famen Tourism Development and Construction Co., Ltd., and invited Taiwan Province designer Li Zuyuan to design Foguang Avenue and Heshibi Pagoda, with a total budget of about 600 million yuan.

However, at the beginning of the project, Famen Temple showed an uncooperative attitude. The reason is that although the Buddha relic was unearthed and belongs to Famen Temple, it has been kept in the treasury of Shaanxi Branch of China People's Bank and Shaanxi Provincial History Museum. The temple has always wanted to welcome the relics back to the temple to worship. If another stupa is built to worship the relics, their wishes will be even more slim.

On May 15, 2005, the foundation laying ceremony of Heshibi Pagoda was held, and the representatives of Famen Temple did not attend, which led to the escalation of the contradiction between Famen Temple and the scenic spot.

In addition, due to the huge investment of this project, it takes/kloc-0.2 billion years to recover the investment without interest, and it is unprofitable to rely solely on attracting investment, so donating money (incense money) has become a lifeline in the eyes of the project.

However, the temple has the right to donate incense money, and its uncooperative attitude makes the scenic spot project unable to operate normally after completion.

At this time, Xi 'an Qujiang New District Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Qujiang New District") stepped forward to take over this mess.

According to Titanium Media App, Qujiang New District became famous because of the construction of the Wild Goose Pagoda, Datang Furong Garden, Datang Ji 'en Temple Ruins Park and other scenic spots, relying on tourism products to bring popularity and business spirit, driving the surrounding land prices, and then selling land to achieve a business cycle. Relying on the impressive record, Qujiang New District has become the upstart of Xi 'an, and its "Qujiang Model" has also been highly praised by the industry.

In June 2006, 65438+1 October1,Shaanxi Famen Temple Cultural Scenic Area Construction Co., Ltd. was established, and the operation team was stationed in Qujiang New District to be fully responsible for the construction of Famen Temple Cultural Scenic Area.

The successful operation experience in the past has made Qujiang New District full of ambitions. The planned area of Famen Temple has also jumped from the initial 5 square kilometers to 12.5 square kilometers, and the investment has also risen. When the scenic spot is completed, the investment scale has reached 3.2 billion yuan.

Shortly before the opening of the scenic spot, the contradiction between Qujiang New District and the temple side escalated again.

On March 20, 2009, because the Famen Temple Scenic Area built a fence at the entrance of the temple, it angered the monks. They pushed down the 4-meter-high fence with wooden sticks. Subsequently, the temple posted a notice in official website, accusing Famen Temple of setting up walls without authorization and selling tickets at high prices, which seriously hurt the religious feelings of all Buddhists.

How outrageous were the fares at that time? 28 yuan, the original ticket for Famen Temple scenic spot, soared to 120 yuan, almost tenfold. Not only the monks are angry, but also the tourists complain.

As the incident continued to ferment, Famen Temple Scenic Area had to make concessions and reserved the driveway at the entrance of Famen Temple.

In addition, Qujiang New District also took the merit box in the ancient temple as the goal and wanted to collect it together, but it was abandoned because of strong opposition from monks.

In fact, the contradiction between temples and scenic spots is not only as simple as "getting in the way" and "grabbing merit boxes". Some media have calculated that before the development of scenic spots, the temple incense money was as high as nearly 20 million, but after the scenic spots were completed and operated, the income was only about 3 million.

On May 9, 2009, Famen Temple was completed and opened. This time, however, Qujiang model failed in Famen Temple. Famen Temple is located in a remote place, and its surrounding facilities are scarce. No one here buys a house, so naturally it can't drive the surrounding land price.

Qujiang New District faced with severe survival problems and began to try to make money.

According to the titanium media App report, on the opening day, Shaanxi Famen Temple Charity Foundation was announced. The core function of this foundation is fundraising. Every arhat, bodhisattva or Buddha in Famen Temple Scenic Area has a huge merit box. Dozens of dollars, hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars ... The incense money in the merit box keeps flowing into the pocket of Qujiang New District.

In order to ensure the income, the foundation also made a KPI for the donation of merit boxes in scenic spots, that is, 8 million yuan a year.

Except the incense money, every bodhisattva and Buddha statue in the scenic spot can be "supported", and the price ranges from10 million to 50 million.

20 1 1 year, Chen Zhuolin, the chairman of Agile Real Estate Group, donated RMB 1 1 10,000 to the Foundation, which was written into the "2022 Year-end Summary" of Famen Temple Charity Foundation and widely publicized.

In addition, the trees in the scenic spot are also used to support, in the name of "planting Futian as a sentient being", the amount is 4800 yuan per year.

There are all kinds of persuasion tactics. Some tourists encounter free copying of classics. After copying the scriptures, people dressed as monks will come to tell the fortune of tourists. Of course, there is a charge. It is understood that these fortune tellers are also "fake monks" hired by scenic spots to extract money from them. Some tourists were given a spell by the "monk" to purify themselves when they visited the stupa, and they lobbied for lanterns, which cost tens of thousands of yuan.

These unscrupulous fund-raising behaviors have caused complaints from tourists. Since its opening two years ago, the number of tourist complaints in this scenic spot has accounted for 95% of the whole city, and the fame of Famen Temple has plummeted for a time.

What's even more embarrassing is that the monks of Famen Temple can't bear the stigma brought by being tied to Famen Temple scenic spot, and they leave the temple one after another. Dozens of monks were born out of the original 260, and tickets for scenic spots rose to several hundred yuan, which not only blocked the footsteps of laymen, but also blocked the way to make money in Qujiang New District.

According to the prospectus of Qujiang Wentou 20 1 1, Famensi Group, which is controlled by Qujiang Wentou, has total assets of 3.42 billion yuan, total liabilities of 2.32 billion yuan and total profits of-10-9 months.

What's more, it is estimated that the second phase of the 4.5 billion yuan construction project will also start construction, and it is even more difficult to raise 4.5 billion yuan when the first phase of the project has not yet made a profit.

Under all kinds of difficulties, Qujiang New District had no choice but to quit, and Baoji Municipal Government took over the operation from June 2065438 to June 2003. Billions of debts were also transferred to Baoji municipal government, which is now Shaanxi Famen Temple Culture Development Co., Ltd.

In order to restore its reputation, Famen Temple Scenic Area hitchhiked on the policy of "Silk Road Economic Belt" and won the title of national 5A-level tourist scenic spot in 20 14. However, even with painstaking efforts, Famen Temple scenic spot is difficult to grow and can only be reduced to an ordinary scenic spot, and its income situation has not improved in recent years.

Famen Temple is worried about its operation, and it is heavily in debt and unable to repay it.

At present, the business data disclosure of Famen Temple cultural development mainly comes from the 20 18 interim notes tracking rating report of Shaanxi Famen Temple Cultural Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the rating report), from which we can get a glimpse of its business situation.

The report shows that the cultural development of Famen Temple is mainly engaged in the development, construction and operation management of Famen Temple Scenic Area, and provides tourist services such as car rides, commodity sales and cemetery sales in the scenic area through ticket income.

In 20 19, the company realized operating income of1.1700 million yuan, down 9.86% year-on-year. The income from the above tourism business is 130,000 yuan, accounting for 88 13% of the income.

Judging from the income structure of core business, the most important source of income for the company is the scenic spot ticket income, which accounted for nearly 80% of the core business income in 20 19, accounting for 82 million yuan, down 5.9 1% year-on-year, mainly due to the comprehensive influence of factors such as the decline in passenger flow and the price reduction of tickets in peak season. Under this influence, the gross profit margin of the business decreased by 3.47 percentage points year-on-year.

In addition, in 20 19, the public transport service income of scenic spots was 0.1200 million yuan, down by 19.40% year-on-year, and the proportion of the core business income decreased slightly to1.19%; Tour guide service, catering and accommodation, labor service, business rental, parking lot management and other tourism services account for a relatively small proportion. In 20 19, mainly due to the year-on-year decrease of labor service income by about 70% to RMB 03 million, other tourism service income accounted for 9.46% of core business income.

It is worth noting that commodity sales and cemetery sales have supplemented the company's income scale. In 20 19, the company realized the above two sales revenues of RMB 05 million and RMB 06 million respectively, accounting for about 9% of the total revenue. Among them, 175 cemetery was sold in 20 19, and the price ranged from10.5 million yuan to 72,000 yuan.

As an important tourist attraction in Shaanxi Province, Famen Temple can get financial support from the local government for its cultural development. In 20 19, the company received a government subsidy of160,000 yuan and enjoyed a series of preferential tax policies. With the support of various policies, the company's net profit in 20 19 was only 73190,000 yuan, and its profitability was worrying.

The epidemic situation that gradually raged in 2020 had a great impact on the management of Famen Temple scenic spot.

In the first quarter of 2020, the scenic spot was basically closed, with only 27,400 tourists, and the income decreased by 88.73% year-on-year to RMB 30 million, of which the ticket income of the scenic spot dropped to RMB 20 million, which had a great impact on its operation.

In 2020, Famen Temple achieved a revenue of 44.3345 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 62.08% and a loss of 59.08 million yuan.

In 202 1 year, the company's annual revenue was 48 million yuan and the loss was 47.07 million yuan;

In 2022, affected by Xi and Baoji epidemics, the company's revenue in the first half of the year was only over 5 million yuan;

……

The rating report shows that the company has accumulated a large amount of debts due to the pre-construction of Famen Temple Scenic Area, the upgrading and reconstruction after operation, and the interest accrual of shareholders' loans, and the total liabilities have remained relatively large, reaching 4.022 billion yuan at the end of 20 19 and 4.65438+005 billion yuan at the end of March 2020. At the end of the same period, the asset-liability ratio was 72.64% and 73.22%, respectively, which was in a state of high debt management.

At the same time, in order to alleviate the debt pressure, Famen Temple Cultural Development initiated a number of financial leasing of scenic assets. According to Deng Zhong. Com, 20 17 By 2020, the cultural development of Famen Temple will lease scenic trails, parking lots, security systems, night lighting systems, etc. , and registered as many as seven financial leases, involving an estimated value of more than 700 million yuan.

By the end of the third quarter of 2020, Famen Temple's cultural development had total assets of 5.5/kloc-0.50 billion yuan, total liabilities of 4.028 billion yuan, net assets of/kloc-0.487 billion yuan, and the asset-liability ratio reached 73.03%.

Since June, 20021,Famen Temple cultural development has been sued by Luo Yin Financial Leasing Co., Ltd., Far East International Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. and Changjiang United Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. for breach of contract and withdrawal of lease, and a large number of bank accounts, equity and other properties have been sealed up.

In addition, Famen Temple Culture still owes Qujiang New District a loan of 65.438+0.529 billion yuan, including principal of 65.438+0./kloc-0.70 billion yuan and interest of 46.5438+0.2 billion yuan.

According to informed sources, at present, the income from cultural development and operation of Famen Temple can barely maintain its basic operation, and it is unable to repay the principal and interest of due debts.

Famen Temple, with the Buddhist finger relics envied by the Buddhist community and the expectation of "the Buddhist capital of the world", could have played a good hand, but it was heavily in debt because of bottomless investment, and it ended in such a bleak ending that people could not help sighing.

The Paradox of Temple Management, Piety and Desire

According to the statistics of the Buddhist Association of China, by the end of 2020, there were 32,600 temples in China, of which the commercialization degree exceeded 20%, mainly distributed in Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Henan, Sichuan and other places.

Buddhism is profound and profound, and the temple economy contained in it is also quite doorways.

At a seminar on the management of Buddhist temples, Master Xingyun outlined 16 items of the temple economy, including the collection of temple property rent, Buddhist scriptures, soul-bone pagoda, incense of Buddhist ceremonies, offering for believers, vegetarian feast, Taoist food fund-raising, agricultural products, loan application, sightseeing pilgrimage, social undertakings, membership fees, professional services, cultural and educational guidance, industry management, and the promotion of Buddhism.

For most temples, tickets, donations from believers, incense money, merit boxes and peripheral consumer goods are the main sources of income for temples.

Titanium Media App noticed that in the "Fu Hui Bai Temple" applet made by Jing 'an Temple, the price of memorial tablets in different temples is different. In the past, the price of memorial tablets in Shanghai Jing 'an Temple was 2000 yuan/year, Taiping Temple 1000 yuan/year, and Jingning Huiming Temple 500 yuan/year.

In the column of "merit", the merit of building a temple includes five major merits: building a temple, building a tower, making a statue, attaching gold, and being charitable. Among them, a statue has the highest price. For example, the price of donating a statue to Long Ping Temple in China is 9,000 yuan, and the number of donations is not capped.

In addition, the temple also provides Buddhism, Buddhism, utensils, fragrant tea and other services, and the list of fees is clear.

According to the titanium media App, except for a few believers who donate merits, most pilgrims express their piety by buying tickets, offering incense and offering tablets. It is worth noting that with the popularity of online worship, some temples even worship as long as they give money, and there is no moral bottom line for anyone who worships.

Among all the temples, the commercialization of Shaolin Temple is the most radical, which has also attracted questions from people from all walks of life.

1In August, 999, 34-year-old Shi Yongxin became the 33rd abbot of Shaolin Temple. Since then, Shaolin Temple has started a series of commercialization attempts.

In 2000, Shi Yongxin founded the website of Shaolin Temple to promote Shaolin culture.

In 2002, Shi Yongxin founded a publishing company called Shaolin Bookstore, which further promoted Shaolin culture by publishing books such as Shaolin Kung Fu and Shaolin Kung Fu Collection.

In 2003, Shaolin Pharmacy was established, and medicines such as Huoluo ointment and Lingzhi tea produced by Shaolin were introduced one after another.

In 2006, Shi Yongxin purchased a piece of land of about 1248 hectares in southern Australia for the construction and operation of overseas cultural centers.

In 2007, Shaolin Happy Land Co., Ltd. was established to deal in sporting goods, cultural goods and tourist souvenirs.

In May, 2008, "Shaolin Elysium" Taobao Store opened, dealing in buddhist supplies and martial arts supplies. In the same year, Henan Shaolin Intangible Assets Management Co., Ltd. was established. In the following ten years, the platform invested in 16 companies, covering tea, cultural tourism, performing arts and other fields;

In 20 15, Shi Yongxin spent 20.4 million RMB to develop real estate projects in Shaolin Village and also invested in a four-star hotel.

……

According to the incomplete statistics of titanium media App, up to now, Shaolin Temple has been involved in publishing, e-commerce, entertainment, cultural creation, cultural tourism, performing arts, trademarks, short videos and other industries.

In terms of income, according to the British "Guardian" report, the annual income of Shaolin Temple is as high as 6.5438+million pounds, a large part of which comes from overseas. Domestic gold absorption is also quite strong. It is reported that in 2007, the total amount of incense money for Shaolin Temple tickets was no less than 50 million yuan, which can be described as earning a lot of money.

In April this year, Zhengzhou Public Resources Trading Center recently published a "Good News", which showed that Henan Song Tie Digital Technology Co., Ltd. won the Zheng Zhengdong [2022] No.2 plot at a price of 452 million yuan.

According to the industrial implementation plan of Zhengdong New District Management Committee on this land, the project is positioned as a cultural industry project, and its business scope covers performing arts, cultural exhibitions, cultural and creative industry offices, hotels, service apartments, etc., with the goal of achieving accumulated revenue of more than 800 million yuan within five years after completion.

Behind Song Tie Science and Technology is Shaolin Temple. The explanation given by Shaolin Temple for this big move is a normal commercial investment behavior, but it undoubtedly shows the re-expansion of its commercial territory.

However, excessive commercialization has not only brought the Shaolin Temple into disrepute, but also caused a big impact on Buddhist culture. Buddhism is a land of pure land and six clean places, but when temples become enterprises and monks become professions, Buddhism will become stale, and ultimately the temples themselves will be affected.

It is worth noting that in the face of external doubts about Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin once said: "Shaolin Temple has gained international influence from a dilapidated temple, and at the same time it has to bear as much as it has gained from society.