New Zhejiang Businessman's Wealth Legend

Author: Lin Yi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: People often say, "Don't ask about a hero's origins," but once a "grassroots" person becomes a hero, people are still curious about his background. In recent years, the Zhejiang private enterprise bosses active on the business stage have undoubtedly become heroes that people are focused on. However, a close study of their identities reveals a shocking fact: most of these heroes under the halo are of grassroots origin—most of their entrepreneurial experiences belong to the self-made type. Take Lu Guanqiu as an example. His identity evolution process is as follows: farmer—ironworker—head of the Ningwei People's Commune Agricultural Machinery Repair and Maintenance Factory (1969–1979)—took over the then-renamed Ningwei People's Commune Agricultural Machinery Repair and Maintenance Factory (Wangxiangjie Factory) (1980–1989)—Lu Group (1990). It took Lu Guanqiu over twenty years to become the boss of a large enterprise group from a farmer. Xu Wenrong was born a farmer and didn’t even graduate from primary school, yet later became a senior economist and senior political and ideological worker. Nan Cunhui was originally just a cobbler, selling his family home for 50,000 yuan to raise capital and co-found the Leqing County Jingzhao Switch Factory with Hu Chengzhong. Hu Chengzhong was a tailor by profession. Lou Zhongfu was once a construction worker. Li Rucheng was originally a true farmer. Zheng Jianjiang was a car mechanic. Wang Licheng started as a temporary worker in a silk factory. These individuals, who today stand at the pinnacle of Zhejiang's "pyramid" of wealth creators, had quite humble backgrounds before starting their businesses. A rough estimate suggests that about 90% of Zhejiang's private enterprise elites come from modest origins. In addition to later training and further education, their academic qualifications during the early stages of entrepreneurship were not high, mostly junior high or high school education. They had no backing, no financial support, and relied entirely on themselves to start from scratch. How did they create these legendary stories? In fact, a close study reveals that although the successful Zhejiang merchants are involved in a wide variety of industries and have different personalities, their paths to success through self-made entrepreneurship are very similar—enduring hardships and setbacks. In the 2005 Forbes China Top 100 Rich Entrepreneurs ranking, Li Shufu, the founder of Geely Group, ranked 49th. By the end of 1999, the Geely Group had nearly 10,000 employees, with total assets of over 2 billion yuan and annual sales revenue of over 3 billion yuan. Geely Group is China's private enterprise to produce passenger cars. Additionally, Geely invested over 800 million yuan to establish Beijing Geely University, the largest private university in the country. Li Shufu grew up in a poor and backward mountain village in Taizhou, Zhejiang, graduated from high school, and entered the business world in 1982. Initially, his father gave him 120 yuan to buy a portable camera, and he set up a photography studio. In reality, it wasn’t even a proper photography studio at the beginning—it was just buying a small camera and riding an old bicycle around town taking photos of people. At that time, Li Shufu often wandered around parks with his camera, no matter the weather, because he had to go to parks to seek business. He would pull people who were visiting parks to take photos: "Come, come, comrades, let's take a picture." In Taizhou, people who did this kind of job were called "wild photographers." Of course, when doing business, Li Shufu couldn’t avoid being looked down upon by others. Li Shufu’s photography business was quite successful, and after half a year, he earned 1,000 yuan, officially opening his photography studio. A year later, Li Shufu took his first step in entrepreneurship. Li Shufu said: "Fear not hardship, fear not poverty, and of course, I love getting rich!" He dared to take risks and fight hard. The Zhejiang merchants who achieved wealth often did not receive higher education, but they all graduated from the same university in life—"University of Setbacks." This university is intangible, with no buildings or assets. It has no exams or registration; when they started pursuing their dreams, they had already become lifetime students of the "University of Setbacks." The classrooms of this university are the entire world around them, filled with the constant sound of "oofs." The textbooks of the University of Setbacks are walls they bump into. Every time they hit a wall, they learn a lesson, which prevents them from bumping into the same wall again. This book of walls, without words, they would never read in vain, because they have practiced and honed their skills through collisions and are prepared for the next one. This university has no tuition fees, but they often have to pay an extremely high price. But even so, for them, it is all worth it, because experience and lessons are the most valuable teachers in the world.