Village with a good knack for making money

One farmer's determination to be a success at business inspires several others to follow suit

When Yu Jianxiang was wandering the streets of Romania in 1994, with no money in his pocket, his chances of becoming a billionaire looked very remote.

Yu, 60, comes from Linxi village in Nantong, in East China's Jiangsu province. He was the first of his family to try his hand at selling goods overseas. Some of his brothers followed and eventually succeded.

This inspired other villages so that now Linxi has become a business center. About 500 of the village's 3,500 residents own more than 200 overseas companies, whose annual sales have reached $200 million yuan ($32 million; 23 million euros).

In 1994, Yu went to Romania with 20 bags of bedclothes to sell. However, he ended up penniless after a fraudulent deal cost him all his goods.

Yu, a former farmer, had mortgaged his watch and wedding ring to buy some wholesale items to sell by the roadside in Nantong. Yu could not speak any foreign languages and exchanged a pillowcase for a calculator so he would be able to communicate prices to the Romanians.

Several days later, he had managed to make enough money to buy a plane ticket. He had gained a general idea of the Romanian textile market from some Chinese businessmen.

"I was deceived many times when I was doing business," Yu says. "In 2000, I lost about 7 million yuan ($1.12 million; 820 million euros) in fraud. It was a large amount of money for me then. Some people said I would become depressed and wouldn't be able to do business again. But I proved them wrong. I kept learning and carried on.

"If you are sensitive to business opportunities, good at financing and have a good reputation, there is plenty of business in foreign countries."

The second time Yu went to Romania, he took some relatives to help him establish his own textile company.

His fourth brother, Yu Jianyuan, now owns more than 10 companies in Europe, Africa and North America.

Another brother, Yu Jianhua, earned more than 10 million yuan in his first year in the former Yugoslavia by selling textiles, and plastic and stainless steel products.

"It was hard when we had just arrived in a foreign country. I had to sleep on the road outside my small store for two weeks so I had enough room to store the goods," Yu Jianhua says. "But now things are improving. We have expanded from textiles to mining, energy and real estate.

"My son is doing business in Hungary while my daughter and son-in-law are in Poland. Many people from my family have become millionaires, even billionaires."

The Yu family's success has prompted many villagers in Linxi to explore opportunities in foreign countries.

Cai Yunsong, former chief of the village, still remembers how poor the villagers were.

"Before the 1980s, local residents could not even afford firewood for cooking," says the 58-year-old. "They had to cut dried reeds and pick up cotton shells from neighboring villages.

"My mum made pillowcases at home and embroidered flowers and animals on them. When she made 100 pairs of pillowcases, instead of selling them in Nantong, I would go to Shanghai to earn more money."

In 1997, after hearing about the Yu family, Cai went to Romania and made more than 400,000 yuan by selling a container of curtains.

"I also took people from the village to other countries," Cai says. "My purpose wasn't to make them work for me, but to broaden their horizons and provide a platform for them to develop."

Yu Fei, vice-president of Nantong World Trade Federation, says he takes people abroad whenever he opens a new company.

"Most of the people I take abroad come from poor families," says the man, who now owns 18 stores in Chile, 10 in Ecuador and six in Peru. "Now all of them have bought houses and cars and are living happily with their families. I feel happiest when I'm helping other people."

In 2010, when an 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit Concepcion, the second-largest city in Chile, Yu donated and delivered several truckloads of goods to people in need.

Also, to help the rest of the residents in Linxi village, the businessmen making fortunes abroad established a foundation in 2007, which has helped more than 100 poor students and elderly people.

"No students drop out of school because of poverty now," Yu says. "Many of our children get admitted to universities. They will become better businessmen than we are."

cangwei@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/23/2014 page16)