Chapter 6 Chapter 4: The Chinese "Manhattan" Rising on the Field Ridge

During my stay in Yiwu, there was a scene that made me very excited. That night I went to the City Association for Science and Technology Building to observe farmers learning foreign languages. This in itself was quite new.Once upon a time, Chinese farmers were still working hard to "repair the earth" all day long with their faces facing the loess and their backs facing the sky. Later, farmers in southern Jiangsu first embarked on a road of township enterprises, and then there were "little nannies" in Anhui And the story of the "shoemaker" in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province entering the city. In recent years, there have been farmers setting up businesses and setting up markets, trying to compete with the city people. Levels of learning a foreign language!In fact, it has been in Yiwu for two or three years, so it is nothing new. It is just that those of us who lack understanding of the current situation of Chinese farmers find it novel.

What excited me that night was that I found a Chinese "Manhattan" in central Zhejiang, far away from the capital!Because it also has wide streets criss-crossing like the coasts of the Western Hemisphere; there are also people and traffic crowded with high-rise buildings, the brightly lit never-night city among groups of mansions; …Actually, I knew at the time that this was because I was immersed in a feeling of being intoxicated with the new city of Yiwu.But in the second blue sky after dawn, I still feel like I am in "Manhattan"!That's right, the slight difference is that the Manhattan I saw on the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean two years ago was surrounded by tidal seas, but now the "Manhattan" in front of me is surrounded by commercial seas—the tide seas of merchants.

Manhattan is the business capital of the world. I am excited and proud of my discovery, because China's "Manhattan" has not only risen in front of us, but also has become the commercial capital of Asia. The area of ​​1,105 square kilometers is not a small place. It is several times larger than Manhattan in New York, and it is almost the size of two Singapore countries and one Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.In the West, who dares to underestimate the small island of Manhattan, which carries the economic giant of the United States of America?In the East, has anyone ever doubted that Singapore, a small and rich country that dominates one of the "Four Asian Tigers"?So, whoever despises China's Yiwu from now on is making a mistake that should not be made.

There are a few data, which may be most directly introduced to those who have not been to Yiwu, so that they can have a clear understanding: On the eve of reform and opening up, Yiwu's GDP was 128 million yuan, and its fiscal revenue was 1779 million yuan. Ten thousand yuan, the annual per capita income of farmers is 180 yuan. Twenty years later, in 1998, the city's GDP exceeded 12 billion yuan, fiscal revenue reached 500 million yuan, and the per capita net income of farmers was more than 4,500 yuan.In a flick of a finger, on the same piece of land, the three major indicators that measure the main social development of a region have changed by 94 times, 28 times and 25 times respectively.It may be rare for this kind of change to have such a high-speed growth in any country in the same period of time.But Yiwu people have achieved it, and facing such a high-speed growth number, they will tell you with a calm smile: there are many "ambushes" hidden in this number, and the actual situation will be far more than that!

In fact, I have already felt this.You only need to look at the "several major events" listed in the annual work report of the city leaders, and the city that is changing every day, and then walk into a shopping mall or an ordinary citizen's family, and ask someone's family You will be shocked when you hear how much you earned last year.I don’t think it’s strange anymore, because in Yiwu, a place where the market economy is socialized and the economy from individuals and private ownership has dominated, it is difficult to get correct data through simple statistics—” "It's a common phenomenon.There is a vivid figure that can let us understand the wealth of Yiwu people from the side: the net return of funds from banks in Zhejiang Province at the end of each year, Yiwu accounts for 10% of the total net return of funds in Zhejiang Province one third!Come on, there are currently 68 counties and cities in Zhejiang Province, and Little Yiwu turned out to be a heavyweight "pocket"!In today's world, a new axiom has long been understood: the strength of a country is no longer determined by the size of the territory, and the strength of people is not determined by the size of the body. Yiwu people are building an oriental "Manhattan" on their own fields...

Today (March 30, 1999), when I was watching "News Network" after dinner, suddenly a friendly name and brand appeared on the screen - Dachen Town in Yiwu, Zhejiang and "Neng Dali" It was "on the list" of CCTV.The former Dachen Town is one of the more than 20 villages and towns in Yiwu City, the "Hometown of Chinese Shirts", and the latter is a famous brand product of the "King of Chinese Shirts" created by a pair of brothers in this town.There may not be many people who know about the place name of Dachen Town, because there are hundreds of thousands of rural towns like this in China, and the towns with the same name may form a long list, but what we are talking about now is Yiwu City. Dachen Town has a unique miracle in any Chinese town with the same name or not, that is, the shirts produced here can be supplied to one-tenth of the 1.2 billion Chinese people every year.Nearly 500,000 pieces a day are continuously sent to the market, and 150 million pieces a year. If such a quantity is spread out, it is not possible to cover the entire Manhattan of New York on the west coast in soft warmth—— I have woven a beautiful dream for the Eastern "Manhattan".

Before the Spring Festival this year, I came to Yiwu for an interview again, and the first stop was Dachen Town.I am eager to feel the heroism and warmth of "the hometown of shirts".Before that, I heard a touching legend.More than ten years ago, there was a peasant woman from Dachen Town who went out of the mountains to work in other places. Because she went to work in the city for the first time, she deliberately tore a piece of "foreign cloth" and sewed a blouse overnight.On the first day after entering the gate, the mistress of the city happily pulled her smock, looked left and right, and said hello repeatedly.The next day the hostess also went to the street to pull a piece of more fashionable fabric and asked the old peasant woman to sew a smock for her. "Great, my colleagues all agreed, they each want to ask you to make one, how about 5 yuan a piece?" One day, the hostess in the city brought back a pile of fabrics.The peasant woman with a happy face said: "Okay, allow me a few days." The peasant woman in Dachen Town readily took it, and after a few days, she handed over several sewn smocks to the hostess. The hostess happily handed her 50 yuan. "This is salary, you must take it, it is given by others." She couldn't refuse.After a long time, this old peasant woman saw that the hostess came home wearing an embroidered shirt, and she thought it was beautiful anyway.Later, when she returned to Dachen, she tried to bring two embroidered shirts to her sister-in-law in the same village.This was so beautiful that her sister-in-law was spoiled!The girl in the village was so jealous that she secretly sewed an embroidered shirt for herself.This story was passed on from ten to one hundred, and all the girls in Dachen Town wore embroidered shirts.Later, some people brought this kind of embroidered shirts outside and into the city. It didn't matter in this area. After a while, countless handy peasant women joined the ranks of sewing embroidered shirts.The clothing business in Dachen Town was formed at that time.Later men also joined the ranks of the clothing business.The elders do things differently. This is like saying that Chinese women take care of the house and can cook, but it is mostly men who are good cooks. This is because dexterity and technology are two concepts.The technology that has entered the threshold should really be said by the big men-of course, it is not ruled out that there are also strong women who can conquer the world, and there are quite a few capable women in Dachen Town.However, after all, the elders account for the majority of the people who have become a big city, and Dachen Town is no exception in the process of becoming a "hometown of shirts".

"Shirtland" is much more grand than I imagined.Xu Jiangqi, the young secretary of the township party committee, is not like some township cadres who take out the "annual statistical table" and pile up data like a mountain. Like cities, he said that you Beijingers have the most authority to judge this issue.I looked around, and I was a bit embarrassed, because according to the standard of "city", it seems that there is less noise and more quiet here. Although there are many cars and people passing by on the wide street, it is obviously well-organized and there are no such disturbing things. Annoying crowding.So I had no choice but to say: "The city is not necessarily enough, but compared with the medium-sized counties in the north, it is more than enough and much more modern." Xiao Xu laughed and said that this was enough, because he had fought with others After such a gamble, if someone can describe their Dachen Town as a city, then he will be regarded as a kind of "promotion" from the city to the small town to become a secretary.Now that he got the "high promotion" quote from me, he naturally enjoyed himself a bit.Secretary Xiao Xu used to be a genius in the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee, so he was very humorous. "However, I really feel the greatness of our Dachen Town." He said affectionately. In the past "Learning from Dazhai in Agriculture", the people of Dachen who "faced the loess and turned their backs to the sky" all the year round also showed up. It is an old model in the village, but apart from a few words of empty praise, the farmers still have nothing to do. When their children get married, they still have to rely on the little money earned by the old father who shakes the rattle drum to "exchange chicken feathers for sugar".The reform and opening up has brought real opportunities to the people of Dachen Town.When people like Niansanli people in this city started to form their own tangible market, especially when the Yiwu small commodity market boomed later, the farmers in Dachen Town started to build their own industrial advantages, that is, the shirt processing industry that has gradually become a climate.At first, it was a workshop-style processing factory in Dongjia and Xijia; later, it was a small-scale form in Dongyi Village and Xiyi Village, and then there were shirt processing households in patches; Flowering everywhere like mushrooms after rain.This process is very interesting, let’s talk about the sales and transportation. The earliest sales of the Dachen people were carried by a few women carrying bamboo baskets or a cloth bag on a tractor or something to sell in the free market in the city. ;Later, the men went out to contact customers with samples, and then notified the home to deliver the goods; and later, the whole car was pulled out; now all the merchants from all over the country and even from abroad came to Dachen Town to collect goods and wait for them. .The way farmers set up factories and do business has also changed.From the initial family workshop style, to the joint household mutual assistance style of several people, and then from the joint operation of several households to the independent combat situation of large households, it has developed to the current situation where the group and famous brand product enterprises take the lead and interact with thousands of small businesses in the town. .Group companies and brand-name products make up the magnificent hall of today's Dachen Town as the "Hometown of Shirts in China", and thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises are the cornerstones and surrounding green spaces and gardens that set off the magnificent hall of the "Hometown of Shirts in China"... Such an intertwined and orderly industrial structure has formed Dachen Town today, which is impregnable and worthy of the name "Hometown of Shirts in China".

Xiao Xu, pointing to the streets with almost all new buildings and the buildings on both sides, said: "Farmers can now understand what a market is. We now have more than 400 garment enterprises in the town. In order to improve their market competitiveness, they were scattered in the past. Almost all the family-owned factories in various villages have now moved to the town, and more than 60 of them are basically concentrated in the town. We used to be a farmer here, but now they are almost all of one brand or even a few dozen An enterprise with dozens of brands. Every time they move to the town, Dachen New Town is equivalent to an extension, a larger scale, and a modernization. This kind of gathering in line with market laws brings the town The urbanization of construction, the scale of enterprise management, the industrialization of local advantages, the speediness of supply, marketing and transportation, the competition of the survival of the fittest, and the good climate and conditions for the formation of the market in Dachen Town itself. The marketization formed by Dachen Town itself The benefits brought to us by the original advantages of the "Township of Shirts" are countless: the interoperability of information, the benign adjustment of prices, the convenience of mergers and acquisitions between enterprises and the joint construction of the "Township of Shirts" Image and influence. Just a few years ago, who knew our small town of Dachen, and even the name of Yiwu was not known in the whole country. But the situation is quite different now. The clothing industry, especially the shirts industry, if he doesn’t know or understand the market in our Dachen Town, he will definitely suffer a big loss. On the other hand, it is the market influence of the “Shirt Township” that makes businessmen in the shirt industry across the country and even in Southeast Asia All go here, Dachen Town itself has become the market center of the entire shirt industry and plays the role of the first market.”

"How do you adapt to this development?" This time Secretary Xiao Xu showed me a written document, which was a detailed plan of Dachen Town's "18 infrastructure investment and implementation plans in 1999, responsible persons", etc.According to my rough calculation, the total investment exceeds 100 million yuan. "In the past few years, our town government has invested so much money every year to improve and transform the town's infrastructure, so that the town can truly become a "shirt town" with industrial advantages, and more importantly, to establish a "shirt town" ’ market advantage,” he said.

"A town-level unit spends 100 million yuan for infrastructure construction every year. Where does the money come from?" "Of course, we must first have strength!" Xiao Xu said proudly, "Last year, the industrial and agricultural output value of our town reached 2 billion yuan, the fiscal revenue was 19 million yuan, and the per capita income of farmers was 6,080 yuan. Judging from this figure, as a township The economic achievements are already remarkable. To develop township construction, relying on the power of the government alone is obviously insufficient, but our potential lies in the money in the hands of farmers! Our enterprises here are all individuals and private owners. Those who are not ordinary, they have tens of millions or hundreds of millions of assets. For example, among the 18 projects we will carry out this year, 50 million yuan will be funded by the town government, and the other 50 million yuan will depend on us. Those individual and private owners!" From the fact that the people in Niansanli voluntarily contributed to the road construction, I no longer doubt that the people of Dachen town also have a common virtue of Yiwu people: when individuals become rich, they never forget the collective and public welfare undertakings. Today, Dachen Township is already a very large and advanced town, and the government's 18 new investment projects this year are even more exciting.Look, they are going to build a picturesque "Riverside Green Corridor", a four-lane Dachen Avenue, and an overpass like in a metropolis within this year of the end of the century... I couldn't help but think of Manhattan again.So he said to Secretary Xiao Xu: "I hope your Dachen Town will become the 'Times Square' of 'Manhattan of China'!" "No problem. Next time you come, you can see our 'Dachen Plaza'." I took a closer look at the 18 projects in his hands. No, one of them is to build a collection of various transactions within this year. And the "Dachen Square" with market functions. Well, you people from Yiwu, it seems that everything you have done yesterday is to write notes for China's "Manhattan" tomorrow! When I came to Dachen Town, I had to go to "Neng Dali", one of the "kings of shirts" in China. This is a factory run by two brothers.At present, the "Neng Dali" products of their factory have become a series, and the National Garment Company believes that their sales volume and brand advantages in the Chinese shirt industry are among the top five or six. "Neng Dali" is of course the "shirt boss" in Yiwu. His elder brother is Chen Xijian, he is chubby, and looks like a big boss; his younger brother, Chen Xidong, is handsome and handsome.It has not been many years since the two brothers started the shirt industry and now they have become the leading enterprises in the national shirt industry. Before 1992, the two brothers were still "little shopkeepers" who traveled around the world carrying leather bags and sacks to sell goods.Speaking of which, the development of the Chen brothers is not complicated. Their parents are both authentic farmers, and they have 4 brothers and sisters in total.The eldest brother, Chen Xi, saw that when he graduated from high school, he really wanted to go to university, but he failed after several hard work, so he had to go home and become a farmer.This guy is a person with ideals and ambitions. When others have started a clothing business, although he still has a "college dream" in his heart, he is far away from the reality of life after all.At this time, the younger brother Chen Xidong also graduated from junior high school. The two brothers discussed it and said that we should also do business.At that time, it was not like setting up a factory in a serious manner like now. They first bought a sewing machine, and after returning home after farming in the dark, they tried to make a few pieces under the small kerosene lamp, and then went to the street to sell them.If you can sell it, make a few more.If you can't sell it, go to the field and plant a field and try again.As you do it, someone will come to pick up the goods, that is, sell the goods at a low price to middlemen, and these middlemen will be responsible for selling them for you.A piece of clothing can earn one or two yuan or even a few cents at most.But this is better than farming!The Chen brothers, who were struggling with their fate, decided to buy sewing machines with all their saved money, and then hired twenty or thirty small workers.In this way, they worked in the countryside for another two full years, and in the third year they rented a house in a small town and set up a somewhat decent factory. "The eight years from 1989 to 1996 were really like the 'Eight Years of the War of Resistance'. That period was the hardest year for both of us." In the magnificent living room, Chen Xidong, the younger brother of the general manager He said with emotion: "At that time, our annual output was about 200,000 to 300,000 pieces. This scale belongs to the stage where we can neither form our own independent products nor have the advantage of market price competition. The only thing we can compete with others is to rely on sales. flexibility. But it was not an easy task. At that time, my two brothers divided the labor, he went to Xi’an and I went to Shenyang. This is half of China from the west to the north. As long as you can name the place, I didn’t go without our brothers. Yes. Some local people don’t know very well. My brother and I have both been involved. Do you know how our business was done in those years? Hey, it’s really interesting to think about it now. It’s not really a business, it’s Recognize the door! Because we are a small factory, no one knows us, let alone our products, so every time we can only recognize the door of others. But in the past few years, we have recognized the door and recognized the way. I feel that in China There is so much potential for doing business, that is our vast Midwest and Northeast regions. The characteristics there represent the basic level of Chinese people, and the production and sales of products that are suitable for these places are exactly the right place for China. The doorway to the market. In 1996, after the "eight years of the Anti-Japanese War", our two brothers decided to set up a big shirt business in a decent way, so we invested more than 30 million yuan. More than 10 million, so some people speculated whether we were speculating in real estate. When our modern factory buildings were erected and a full set of equipment imported from Japan began to fly, the folks in Dachen Town were amazed, saying that this is like making a big business. Business!" While showing me around his modern ready-to-wear assembly line, Chen Xidong talked about the wise decision he and his elder brother made back then: "You have seen it, such a big business, at first many people said that this brother Both, the famous brands they smoked foreign cigarettes and wore were all borrowed money, and there were days when they cried. But in just three years, we relied on our own technological advantages and scale advantages to occupy the commanding heights of China's shirt industry. At the same time, due to The brand advantage of "Neng Dali" makes the company develop like a rocket. Now the annual output value has reached more than 100 million yuan, and the profit has exceeded 10 million yuan. The intangible assets of the "Neng Dali" brand alone are worth 160 million yuan. Yuan……" The Chen brothers are "billionaires" who told me how much money they have.According to the current market share and famous brand effect of "Neng Dali" in the Chinese shirt industry, the Chen brothers can't stop the bills rolling in even if they are lying down.Chen Xidong, who only had a junior high school education, listened to me, and showed a simple and honest smile that only a farmer's son can have. He said: "How much money is not very important to my brothers now, you may not believe it, our father My mother still lives in the country, and we still farm some land. Although they can take inexhaustible money from their son, they still prefer to keep their own way of life. My brothers have another pursuit in life. We are more What I think about is how to further develop the market and occupy the market, so that Chinese men can wear our "Non Dali", and one day all foreigners will wear Chinese "Non Dali" instead of "Peel" Cardan'." I completely believe what Chen Xidong said, because it took more than ten years for Yiwu people to establish the largest small commodity market in Asia, and the time for "Neng Dali" to dominate the Chinese shirt industry is even shorter, only five or six years. "Pierre Cardin" is old, and the Chen brothers are only thirty or forty years old, who do you think will win?Of course it is our Yiwu people, our "Neng Dali"!When walking out of the factory area, Chen Xidong specially invited me to sit in the park in front of his factory.I looked around, and after admiring the clusters of flowers, the small bridges and flowing water, and the flying cranes on the green hills, I couldn't help but feel a little inferior: When can I see such a fairyland in front of my house in the capital, what kind of life should it be? "We spent 5 million yuan on the land here. But in order to let the folks in Dachen Town enjoy the happiness in the park like the city people, we are very happy to do this..." Chen Xidong's words, let me I felt a magma-like hotness in Dachen Farmer's chest! (I learned from the newspaper: The Chen brothers are even more powerful now. They not only have a listed company "China Fashion" in Singapore, but also recently invested 200 million yuan to participate in the establishment of "Qiantang Aerospace Co., Ltd.", becoming the owner of a private airline) I thought that without getting in touch with people like Sun Rongfu, it would be impossible to truly understand the origin and depth of changes in the Yiwu market, and of course it would be impossible to truly understand the spiritual world of Yiwu people. He put his home on a hill on the outskirts of Yiwu.Coming to Sun Rongfu's "territory" from the bustling urban area of ​​Yiwu, there is a feeling of returning to nature.The fence is still there, the vegetable field is still there, and the chickens, ducks, dogs, and cats are still moving forward and backward, left and right... Sun Rongfu's "territory" is the entire mountain plus all the way down. The extended hillside has a total area of ​​more than 100 mu.Here are his two home addresses, a new one and an old one.The old one is a typical Jiangsu-Zhejiang farmhouse, and the new one is the most luxurious and imposing Western-style building among personal residences I have seen—even some senior leaders or high-end villas in the capital are far inferior to the new residence of the Sun Mansion.Sun Rongfu let me appreciate what is called wealth, but this is not the main thing. Sun Rongfu let me appreciate more the lofty pursuit and quality of Yiwu people. How much money does Lao Sun have?I didn't ask him, it was a very rude question.But I know that the only Chouzhou Park in the urban area of ​​Yiwu is donated by him, Sun Rongfu.This happened 10 years ago, when Yiwu's market was still at a normal level, and Yiwu people were only in the process of getting rid of poverty and just moving towards a well-off society. Only one park was built. In 1988, the one-year-old park had an income of hundreds of thousands of yuan. Needless to say, from the perspective of investment return, many people said that Lao Sun was more accurate than others, and it was a real "unpopular business." .But at this moment, when people were preparing to watch Rongfu Sun hold the "golden baby" in the second year, his old grandson actually wrote a letter to the city government, saying that he would donate the park to the city for free.At that time, hundreds of thousands of Yiwu people were all shocked: Sun Rongfu is simply amazing! Sun Rongfu is really great, not because he is rich, but because he is a man who knows how to run a business and has a strong bone.In the eyes of ordinary people, Lao Sun is an unsmiling person, but only when you walk into his heart, you will understand why this tough guy rarely smiles.Perhaps each of the many "rich men" in Yiwu today has an extraordinary legend, but it seems that no one can compare with Sun Rongfu, because the bitterness and torture he once suffered has been immersed in his bones.I first got some information about Sun Rongfu from the old secretary Xie Gaohua. "Lao Sun served as the deputy secretary of the party branch of the brigade during the 'Cultural Revolution'. Later, he was expelled from the party because he led farmers out to work and was designated as a 'black contractor'." Xie Gaohua said, "I arrived in 1982. Soon, one day, Sun Rongfu wrote me a note, proposing to contract Fenghuang Mountain—it was a collectively owned fruit tree farm, which was losing money year after year. Fenghuang Mountain has a nice name, but it is actually just a barren hill with a total of 120 mu of land. Sun Rongfu proposed to contract There are three conditions: one is that the contract period is 5 years; the other is that 20,000 yuan is handed over to the brigade every year; People with party membership. But I think that Lao Sun contracted a collective enterprise that has been losing money for years, and can pay 10 people. This is beneficial to the country and the people. He approved the word 'agreed' on his note, and wrote: 'The contract period of 5 years is too short, and it can be contracted for 30 years.' I took risks to do this matter, and there were indeed a lot of rumors afterwards." There are five members of Sun Rongfu's family. Apart from Sun and his wife, there are two sons and one daughter.Now the eldest son is married, but as a family company, "Yiwu Yongqiang Breeding Co., Ltd.", only 5 members of the family have shares.Sun Rongfu's family lives very harmoniously. The old Sun is now the chairman of the billionaire company; the eldest son is the general manager; the second is the daughter, who works as an accountant;It's very interesting. The 5 people seem to have different positions, but in reality, no one has less power than the other. Don't believe me, isn't your grandson the chairman?Don't you have the biggest job?But if you make a wrong decision, Mrs. Sun, who cooks and cooks at home, has a cure for you-she won't pay you a penny, and it depends on where your chairman goes! "Our family implements democratic discussions, collective decision-making, clear division of labor, and each takes responsibility." Lao Sun made the first public disclosure of the "insider" of the family business.He said: "I wanted to invest in giant salamander farming the year before last, but the plan was not approved at the shareholders' meeting. Only I voted in favor of it and they voted against it. I didn't make a difference. Everyone thought that raising salamander fish was a big investment and risky. In particular, whether the Chinese market can make salamanders a climate remains to be seen. Although I personally think that the Chinese salamander market must have a promising future, since the shareholder meeting disagrees, I can only obey. Two years later, this year, When I brought up the development and breeding of salamanders again, after a period of investigation and argumentation by all parties, all hands were raised at last, so we decided to invest 13 million yuan..." Sun Rongfu's family company has shown me a gratifying picture of the maturity of China's modern private economy. There are not a few successful families and private enterprises like Sun Rongfu in Yiwu.Coming down from Sun Rongfu's condescending Phoenix Mountain, I saw another amazing place in Yiwu City, that is, the large modern farms built by Yiwu farmers themselves. Yiwu is located in the central part of Zhejiang Province. It is an area with both plains and hills, and some mountainous areas. It has very typical natural conditions for agricultural counties and cities in China.After seeing Yiwu City, which already has an urban style, and towns such as Dachen Town and Niansanli, which have begun to take shape in a modern scale, I imagined a kind of worry about the future development of China's rural areas: in the future, all rural areas will become cities, and those natural How can farmers in mountainous or hilly areas with poor conditions be modernized?In other words, with the development of a city like Yiwu City beyond imagination, will there be serious differences between the rich and the poor?Suppose that in the coming 21st century, many farmers who used to be farmers have moved into cities because of business or business, or some of them have changed from farmers to citizens overnight entirely because of the development of our cities and towns.Who will plant the land at that time?Can farmers survive?How to make our land still have endless children? When I met the current leaders of Yiwu City, it was not the kind of superficial articles I wanted to get.However, when the question was given to these young city leaders, what I didn't expect was that they answered my doubts and worries with confidence.They told me that what they are currently concentrating on in their tenure is to better emancipate their minds, clarify their thinking, and adapt to local realities in the next five years, unswervingly implementing the development strategy of "prospering business and building the city". Relying on the professional market advantages that have been formed, Yiwu will be built into a medium-sized city with a fairly modern level.Specifically, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of the four satellite towns of Suxi, Niansanli, Fotang and Shangxi while further speeding up the urban construction process of Yiwu. "At that time, due to the intervention and merger of four satellite towns, our Yiwu urban area will be a modern medium-sized city in the true sense. The rural administrative areas of the city will gather towards the satellite towns, and between the satellite towns, the satellite towns The town and the central urban area are connected by light and fast roads. The entire Yiwu township and villages form a network structure that reflects and interacts with each other around the central urban area, thus forming a huge development trend of joint forces and interactions. In this way, what we traditionally call The worrying urban-rural gap will be truly eliminated, and there will be no distinction between farmers and citizens..." Secretary Zhao Jinyong said this to me, frankly speaking without thinking while waving a penny at the side of his office.After listening to it, I felt a strong vibration in my heart-this kind of vibration came from beyond my imagination.I don't think it's too hard to see a certain kind of prosperity in a place. The trouble is that we often don't hear the high-level thinking of local decision-makers. The high-level thinking of the Yiwu decision-makers, full of the color of the times and infinite passion, changed my original desire to enter the paradise-like farmer’s manor, and I had to turn around and enter the future world that Yiwu’s leaders showed me.And this can't help but remind me of that winter in 1997.In that winter, I spent nearly a month visiting several important cities in the eastern United States, where there are historical tracks that record the development of the most powerful country in the world today.Therefore, I went to Boston, where the Native Americans fought bloody battles with British tea merchants, and also to Philadelphia, where Washington signed the Declaration of Independence. Later, I walked into the Lincoln Memorial in Independence Square in front of the White House, and finally stayed in New York for a long time. .Facing the most powerful country in the world, I am trying to find an answer: What makes a nation with a history of only two or three hundred years develop so rapidly in a short period of time?Rely on many things, some external, more internal.But I have come to this conclusion: in every period of America's history of becoming a strong country, there is always a person called "Ming Jun" in Chinese terms.We are familiar with Washington, we are familiar with Lincoln, but unfortunately I have never been able to find out who created the island of Manhattan in New York.When I stood in the "Empire State Building" overlooking the forest-like buildings and the surging traffic and people between the buildings, the only thing I really wanted to know was who created the world's largest commercial capital?Of course I know that the power of commerce can promote the development of urban construction, and of course I also know that the market can create a prosperous atmosphere. However, I wanted to seek the leader and pioneer who created this world commercial city, but I failed.But this does not mean that I am blocked from further thinking: Isn't China's construction and historical process because of the prosperity of the "Mingjun" in one dynasty? Yiwu people should feel fortunate that they have obtained this possibility in every important historical stage.It has been 20 years since the reform and opening up, and 18 years since the Yiwu market. Counting from the time of Xie Gaohua, the leaders of Yiwu have changed several times. The people know that whichever period develops the fastest, there must be a good leader who is supported by the people.Today, Yiwu is in the important period of crossing the century, and it is just at the stage of marching from an unknown small town to a modern medium-sized city with a great reputation in China. Today's Yiwu people naturally turn their eyes to their today's leader. It is obvious that a region like Yiwu, where social strength and people's lives have developed to a considerable level, how to adapt to the times, grasp the initiative in work, and raise regional economic and social development to a new height is the task of the current team. the most important subject ahead.In the face of challenges, the team is always clear-headed. They hold high the banner of "starting a business again, developing again, and improving again", and they have never let go of their shoulders for a day. Zhao Jinyong, secretary of the municipal party committee, is very aware of this. He said to me: "As a 'county magistrate' who was born as a farmer, I know what the people think and want. The people are the main force in the development of a region, and they are "Chicken". Only when this main force is fully mobilized and the "hen" is fed, can it lay many eggs and promote the historical process of society. Now sometimes when we talk about work achievements, we always talk about it. It is actually wrong to say that it is "under the direct leadership" and "under the cordial care" of a certain leader and a certain department, and finally "under the efforts of the masses". The people create history and wealth. The first one. Isn’t this the reason why Yiwu has today? The role of leadership is of course very important, but the role of leadership can only exert its real power when it conforms to the will of the people. What is the will of the people? For a region, the fundamental is development The economy, making people’s lives richer and the society moving forward, is the foundation of reflecting the will of the people. To achieve this, decision makers and leaders must put their focus and mind on the things that the people are most concerned about. , determined to innovate, and good at uniting people's hearts, creating a situation where thoughts are concentric, goals are in the same direction, and work is synchronized. Therefore, I ask myself and the comrades in the municipal leadership team to pay attention to caring for and solving common people's affairs. Work at the first place. Take us in Yiwu as an example, our market is getting more and more prosperous, everyone has more and more money in their pockets, and with more money, they can live with quality and fun. This is us Why does the current city-level team focus all their energy on building Yiwu into a modern medium-sized city? Because for Chinese farmers, being able to become urbanites in terms of identity and lifestyle is the highest ideal Therefore, we continue to strengthen and accelerate the construction of cities and market towns, in order to satisfy the common people's pursuit. At the same time, the city develops, and we cannot give up agricultural production. So how to deal with this contradiction is our responsibility as a leader. What do you mean by being a cadre? To be a cadre is to do what the common people think in their hearts, or what they want in their hearts but can't get it. I often say to the people below, I just want you to work hard, why? The most important thing is not to delay the affairs of the people..." (The leaders of Yiwu City have changed several times since Secretary Zhao Jinyong, and the current secretary of the Municipal Party Committee is Lou Guohua. Secretary Lou has worked in Yiwu for several years, and his ruling philosophy is even more admirable, so Yiwu has also been founded in recent years. more rapid leapfrog development.) People in Yiwu told me that although their market has been famous throughout the country for several years, Yiwu has only become a decent city in recent years. This is due to the current team's strong sense of the times and work. generous.Once upon a time, this small town with only tens of thousands of people suddenly became a city with two to three hundred thousand permanent residents and hundreds of thousands of floating population every day.However, although many people's household registration has completed the "conversion from agricultural to non-agricultural" procedures, they are still out-and-out farmers in terms of ideology, awareness and behavior.And when this kind of non-urbanization awareness and behavior is concentrated in a public area, the image of the city it gives us is absolutely ugly.Yiwu City was not seen by outsiders in a period of time. It can be said that "the water is not clear, the roads are uneven, and the lights are not clear", the sewage is overflowing, the garbage is everywhere, and the traffic is blocked... "Come on, we must build up the image of the city and improve the quality of the citizens!" The municipal party committee and the municipal government have made several major projects to strengthen urban construction, and have invested a lot of money in the following years funds.At that time, a considerable number of people did not understand this, and believed that the policy makers "used the people's money to show off for themselves". "Actually, we have good intentions! Most of our city-level leaders are farmers. When we receive guests from outside and walk on the streets of Yiwu, guess what they say to us, they say to us : Yiwu people have made money from the small commodity market, and made a lot of money, but look at the dirty and chaotic streets of Yiwu. The market is not like a market, and the city is not like a city. They are farmers who can't make it! After hearing these words, we blush! Could it be that we Yiwu people only make money and run the market, instead of treating ourselves like standard urbanites?" A leader of the city government was emotional on the side of his office. Walking around passionately, he said to me, "If we don't believe that we farmers can only become country people who are looked down upon forever, we don't even believe that Yiwu people will not build their own cities except to make money. So we vowed to build Yiwu's city To do a good job, on the one hand, the hardware needs to be improved, such as widening roads, planning new districts, etc., and more importantly, improving the quality of citizens. However, farmers do have some habits and traditions that are not good, and you may not be affected if you help them get rid of them. Welcome. At this time, you must be resolute and decisive to implement the correct decision, and even dare to take the risk of infamy..." The leading comrade himself didn't tell me how they caught these things and what things they encountered that might cause them to be stigmatized, but the people in Yiwu did tell me.The year before last, in response to the outstanding problems in Yiwu's urban construction, the city government took the "three prohibitions" on the streets: banning loudspeakers, banning smoking guns, and banning poultry. People still remember that battle.Let me talk about banning speakers first.Since the establishment of the Yiwu Small Commodity Market, Yiwu people have always been proud of the "busy traffic and the sound of horns" on the street, and some leaders once classified this phenomenon as a symbol of the prosperity of the Yiwu market at a conference.Now the city wants to ban the sound of horns. This is an unprecedented "imprisonment movement" for the drivers who have been honking their horns for more than ten years. In a word, they are not used to it anywhere. "If you are not used to it, you have to change it!" The city leaders are determined to do this. "The city's traffic control department should set up a special box for illegal driver's licenses. This box needs to be locked with three locks, one for the traffic police department, one for the urban management department, and one for the city government. I have something to say first: no one should think about it. Open the back door to those who violate the rules, and no one can even think about it. Whoever talks about love and who opens the back door will be dismissed!" In those days, the leaders of the municipal party committee and the city government personally brought the government officials, traffic police officers, and urban management personnel who could leave the office. Walked up the street in a mighty way.When they see someone who honks their horn, they will confiscate a driver's driver's license.When the people described the situation at that time, they said vividly: "During that time, everyone honking their horns at violators was like seeing street rats. That energy...hahaha!" This trick is so amazing that even the Yiwu people themselves don't believe that they can cure such "old problems" as honking.With self-confidence, subsequent bans on smoking guns and poultry were also a great success. Once the "Three Prohibitions" were ruled out, the Yiwu market seemed to have changed all of a sudden. When the people looked back, it was unexpected from the bottom of their hearts. It turns out that we can also become civilized urbanites! Originally!Policy makers laughed. The people are convinced. However, this is only the "initial stage". In the minds of the leaders of Yiwu City, the modernized Yiwu City they outlined should be a new Chinese-style city where "agricultural, industrial and commercial cities" develop together.To achieve this grand goal, it is necessary to build a good city, but also build a beautiful home for farmers and continuously expand the economic extension of the "China Small Commodity Market".This is what I will describe below, the most exciting beauty of Yiwu, both inside and outside, which are ever-changing and fission--let me go back to the "Futian Manor" one kilometer away from the urban area. Are there really farms in China?What is a Chinese farm like?Like the landlords back then (people under the age of 50 today have never seen what a landlord's family business looks like)?Or is it like the manors owned by foreign rich people seen in movies?In short, the familiar term manor is vague in my concept.During my trip to North America the year before last, I did go to the private estates of Canadians.Those manors are basically farm-style, and the owner owns a lot of land, stretching as far as the eye can see.Then build a not too big house in a suitable place.The house is not like the Chinese people with strict walls around it, or a building, or rows of processing factories.Because farm owners generally have to process the grain or fruit they produce into semi-finished and finished products.But I asked the local farm owners if there are any real elegant manors owned by rich people seen in Western movies, and they told me that there are very few, not many in Canada.The reason is that with the development of modern industry, the rich and the rich have all moved to the metropolis, and the pastoral life in the countryside has lost its allure to the new generation of the rich.Manors in the West no longer make people linger.So what is our Chinese manor like? After stepping into the "Futian Manor" in Yiwu, I realized that the Chinese manors are like this!You must not imagine that this is the manor of our Chinese farmers.There is a boundless and rippling water surface; there is the most modern water park erected by the artificial lake and a swimming pool with crystal clear waves; Breeding gardens... But what I love the most are the dozen or so chic, elegant and well-arranged log cabins, the lush green forests around the log cabins, and the winding paths that can't find the same shape.Oh, this is our Chinese manor, a Chinese farmer's manor! The owner, Lou Yingcai, asked me what this man from the capital thought of his manor.I couldn't answer for a while. "Really, this place is so beautiful and majestic!" I seemed to realize the limitations of my vision and the poverty of my imagination.Objectively speaking, in Yiwu, I have been shocked by the huge market that is difficult to enter, and I have also lamented the rapid rise of the small town, but I insist that the countless farms like "Futian Manor" built by farmers in Yiwu, It is the place where my blood boils the most! Lou Yingcai's Futian Manor was built in 1996, with a total area of ​​35.5 hectares, including 21.2 hectares of land and 14.3 hectares of water.The total investment is more than 130 million yuan.Its greatest development potential lies in the three major areas of sightseeing, leisure, tourism, commercial agriculture with extremely high added value, and water surface industry.The overall design of the manor is full of modern colors and rural features. The owner invited the most powerful design institutions in contemporary China, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing University, Zhejiang University, Ministry of Aerospace, China Shipbuilding Corporation and other scientific research institutions and institutions of higher learning. done together.Lou Yingcai said that the investment in the entire manor is all his family's shares, and it is expected to recover all the investment in about 8 years. "Are you sure?" "There should be." Lou Yingcai answered my question very affirmatively.He said that in 1995, when the government called for breaking the barren mountains, he was one of the first batch of people who withdrew from the small commodity market to engage in agricultural development and build farms.When I asked why he dared to risk more than 100 million yuan to invest in agricultural development, Lou Yingcai's chatterbox was opened. "I'm a farmer. If we don't plant good land, who else will build the countryside?" Lou Yingcai was moved, "I was born in a bad family, and I went home to farm after graduating from junior high school. At that time, people with connections jumped out. I don’t even want to farm when I’m a farmer, but it’s different for me. It’s a kind of happiness not to be discriminated against by others, and it’s a kind of happiness to do hard and tiring farm work for a lifetime. But what can I get from farming at that time? Working for 10 days a day One work point, 3 cents! How do you live? There are 8 people in my family, the old and the young, all supported by me and the child’s mother. At that time, our production team had less land and more people. They are all hills, most of which are wasteland. In order to feed my family, I wanted to open a plot of land on the barren hills to plant some crops several times. But when others see you, they will criticize you, step on you, and treat you as a "tail of capitalism". It was batching and fighting. In desperation, I also went out to be a rattle drummer, and went to other places to "exchange chicken feathers for sugar". I was a peddler for 8 years, and went as far as Hunan. Toilet paper and colorful buttons were sold in Jiangxi and Hunan mountainous areas. At that time, I went to a store in Shanghai to buy 10 small mirrors for women. The waiter in the store stared wide-eyed and refused to sell you. I had to ask the old lady who bought vegetables to help I went to buy it, and gave the old lady a few cents as a reward. In 1980, I was rated as a "million-dollar household". In the era when I was not sure about anything. When I became a "million-dollar household", once I went to Ningbo to buy a batch of plastic balloons and went to the Yiwu Road Market for wholesale sales. In the end, I ran into a "crack down on speculation and turn over the office" The staff, they came to check on me with staring eyes. Since then, I have not dared to do business again. I want to farm land but have no land. We have a lot of people in Yiwu, and this is especially true in the village where I live. Eat it? So I had to do handicrafts again. It was not until 1984, when the policy became clear, that I started to do business again, and then set up factories, engaged in processing animal hair products, etc., and the business grew bigger and bigger. I have 3 One son and one daughter. When the children were older, they started doing business with me. Our two sons were smart, and they dared to do something. Taking advantage of the advantages of Guangzhou and Yiwu, the business became more and more active and bigger. , Of course, I also made a lot of money. What do I do after making a lot of money? I told my son that our ancestors were farmers, and they couldn’t even afford food in the past. No matter how much you earn outside, if you don’t build your hometown well, you will be sorry for the land that raised us. My son is very sensible. After hearing what I said, the eldest son who earned the most money said, Dad, I understand what you mean, son We must make the land in our hometown a place where money can flow. Just at this time, the government called on us to develop the advantages of agricultural resources, so our family discussed and decided to buy this land of more than 30 hectares that has now been built into a farm..." Lou Ying Cai raised his leg and stomped on the fertile soil under his feet, saying, "It used to be a barren hill with only grass but no grain! But we have changed it in just two years." I saw Lou Yingcai squatting down affectionately, gently stroking the tender green seedlings, with crystals rolling in her eye sockets. "I often wonder in my dreams, does this vast expanse of land in front of me belong to my family, Lou Yingcailou? Sometimes when I'm alone in the office, I secretly take out the land use certificate issued by the government, look left and right, and I can't get enough of it." .Do you know why? Because I didn't expect the party's policy to be so good. It made a "land fan" who had pursued for decades to have a piece of land to support his family finally realized his dream, and it was beyond imagination. Do you think there is anything happier than this for us as farmers?" Lou Yingcai's words strongly infected me, which made me feel from another aspect that the decision-makers in Yiwu City are leading their When the people are building socialism with Chinese characteristics, the reason why they can move forward several times faster than others is that every decision they make is based on the ultimate interests of the people. "I heard that your son went to America to study?" "Yes. Because he invested in this manor, he is the boss, and I work for him!" Lao Lou spoke humorously.Later I found out that he was really working for the eldest son of the chairman of "Futian Manor". interesting.I asked, "How much does your son give your father a month?" "1500 yuan." "Is there a bonus?" "It depends on the annual benefit." "What are you willing to do for your son? Why don't you continue to do business?" "When I get older, there will be no young people who are aggressive enough. Besides, the son's big business needs someone to keep an eye on him, right?" "What did your son study in America?" "Study agricultural comprehensive development." "I heard that the optical fee is 4,000 US dollars a month?" "yes." "Is it worth paying such a high price?" "Of course. We build manors to practice the comprehensive development of China's agricultural modernization, which requires the application of advanced technology and management systems. You see, I am still learning to operate computer simulations at such an old age. The Chinese farmer's manor in the new era is not It's the 'landlord Laocai' thing in the past!" Lou Yingcai laughed out loud. In that hearty laughter, I strongly felt the pride of a farmer who owns the land for his choice and future.According to the comrades from the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee who accompanied me, there are already dozens of large farms like Lou Ying Caijia in Yiwu. development of water surface resources, or contract the entire barren hills and bald ridges for the commercial cultivation and development of flower forests and fruit trees... and it is a large number of people like the Lou family who dare to spend a lot of money and plan and design according to the local reality and in accordance with the trend of the modern market economy. The large-scale blueprints of Yiwu have made the market concept in the traditional sense a broader and broader battlefield for fighting and competition in Yiwu, a land of commodity economy that is already in full swing.This is one of the two strategic measures that Zhao Jinyong, Zhou Qishui and others are determined to bring a stronger and comprehensively expanded Yiwu into the new century. Where are you from? (Where are you from?) I'm from Yiwu, China. (I am from Yiwu, China.) I'm a business man. (I am a businessman.) I'm a business woman. (I am a business woman.) When we returned to the city from "Futian Manor" that day, it was already a night full of stars and neon lights.In front of a sales office that has closed down, two female businessmen are talking in English.After asking, I found out that they were planning to go to South Africa to do business with the group. "Were you farmers in the past?" "Yes. Eight years ago, I was farming at home!" One of the dexterous girls said to me. "The business in the Yiwu market is so booming, why go outside or even go abroad to do it?" "Why not? The market has no boundaries. We Yiwu people do a good job in business, but we never limit ourselves to a fixed area. As long as there is money to be made and business to do, that's where we Yiwu people go. .” This is another characteristic awareness of Yiwu people! I have long heard that among Chinese businessmen, Zhejiang people are the most hardworking and able to take root and bear fruit.After the reform and opening up, the early workers who went out to work to make money were the babysitters in Anhui and the shoe repairers in Zhejiang, and later the wage earners in Sichuan.Among the three groups of people, Zhejiang people are the most elite. They not only earn money by selling their labor, but also earn money by their skills and talents.Among Zhejiang people, Wenzhou people are famous for making their own products, while Yiwu people are famous for making commodity transactions in every corner.Comparing Wenzhou people with Yiwu people, the former relies more on their own land and expands their own strength by producing excellent and diverse products. Of course, the Yiwu people of the latter also have many independently produced products and dominate the market. But they rely more on the market to directly enter the circulation process of commodity transactions, and this process is actually the most active, fastest and most profitable link in the entire commodity market. This is why Yiwu people live in a geographical location like Wenzhou Under the condition of not having any advantages, it can dominate the origin of Zhejiang and even Greater China. At the beginning of the 1980s, that is, when the Yiwu market was just beginning to take shape, some people in Yiwu used plastic bags and carried them on their shoulders, traveled far and wide, and rushed to Lhasa, Tibet to do business regardless of the danger of their lives.A few years later, the first small commodity market was established on the roof of the world, and this "miracle of the fusion of modern civilization and primitive geography" that was praised by Western economists really made people outside China wide-eyed and amazed for a long time .In fact, this incident was only caused by a farmer in Yiwu, and such a thing that surprised "foreigners" and even the Chinese themselves is very common in the eyes of Yiwu people.The owner of Yiwu told me that wherever there are crowds and a market may form, we Yiwu people will definitely go there. Why? very simple.In business, what we pursue is whether there is a market.When the predecessors of Yiwu people lacked means of transportation, their "chicken feathers for sugar" could go out of the inter-provincial regions hundreds of miles away, but today we have transportation extending in all directions and a variety of means of transportation. Put your feet in every corner of the possible market.Having said that, I have to talk about Yu Hanping. Who is Yu Hanping?Yu Hanping is an ordinary Yiwu farmer, but Yu Hanping is now the most influential businessman in western China.It is said that he is an ordinary farmer in Yiwu because the 43-year-old Yu Hanping has many people in Yiwu, even if he became a "billionaire" at his age and his successful experience is also roughly similar to the wealthy businessmen in Yiwu .He is said to be the most influential businessman in the west because China has not yet bravely and effectively opened up a "new silk road" that will continuously send modern small commodities from the east to the northwest of China like him, and He successfully founded a huge "Lanzhou Yiwu Trade City". October 28, 1997, this day has no special commemorative significance for Lanzhou people, bu