Rebirth of Rural Literary Life

Chapter 648 An Interview Draft
Time Magazine March 1989, 3.

Title: "A Village Led by a Strongman"

Guide: At the beginning of 1989, an outstanding entrepreneur who firmly believed in the reform and opening-up concept of the Communist Party of China shocked the whole of China with the remote mountain village in Northeast China he led.In the past year, the collectively-owned enterprises in this small village of Hantun generated nearly 14 billion yuan in revenue and made a net profit of nearly 5 million yuan. The average wage of urban workers was only 1949 yuan (according to the The average salary and index of employees in various regions of China) and China, which is seriously troubled by inflation, caused an uproar |

Text: He is the chairman of Good Farm Group, a village collective enterprise in Hantun. He himself owns 35% of the shares in this group company, and he is only a minority shareholder of this group company.The village collective of Hantun, or all the villagers of Hantun are the major shareholders of Goodfarmer Group, and they hold 55% of the company's shares.

He is an urban educated youth. After the well-known movement, he chose to stay in the small village of Hantun, unlike many of his peers.With little experience in farming, he chose the road of farming in order to live a better life. His first pot of gold was obtained by borrowing 50 fertilized eggs from the captain.

Since then, He has led the villagers in Hantun to build chicken farms, pig farms, feed factories, fertilizer factories...

Step by step, they turned their small collective enterprise into a behemoth with dozens of chicken farms and factories, nearly 14 employees, and an annual revenue of nearly [-] billion yuan in China.

The interview lasted for two days. The reporter visited Hantun and the farms and factories of Goodfarmer Group under the leadership of He He and government officials.

He Ping: I am very happy to accept your interview.

Matthews: I had a very pleasant chat with you just now, and now we are officially entering the interview session.There may be some questions that make you uncomfortable, you can choose not to answer them, I will try to make them more interesting.

He Ping: Thank you.

Matthews: I'm curious, why did you choose to stay in Hantun?

He Ping: Where can I go if I don’t stay here? Isn’t this place very nice?
Matthews: Through these two days of visits, I admit it.So did you have smooth sailing when you established Goodfarmer Group, a collective joint-stock enterprise?What obstacles did you encounter?
He Ping: Of course there is resistance.You have to know that at that time, Comrade Deng Xiaoping had just proposed reform and opening up, and most people in China did not understand the meaning of this term.Don't look at the fact that joint-stock enterprises are being talked about in China now, but eight or nine years ago, this was still a closely guarded topic.I am very grateful to the head of our town at that time. Without his support, our collective joint-stock enterprise would not be possible.It was under his auspices that we determined 45%: 55% equity ratio with less individuals and more collectives.

Matthews: In the past two days, I also learned about the scale of the Goodfarmer Group. I am curious how you led such a small collective enterprise to the scale it is today?

He Ping: The development process of enterprises is always similar. I can only say that we have caught up with the good times.The domestic reform and opening up has liberated the rural labor force, which not only enhanced the labor desire and harvest of farmers, but also increased the income of urban residents, and greatly improved the material conditions of ordinary people in China.You also know that we started by raising chickens. For a long time, we didn't even need any publicity, and countless partners came to buy our goods.Eggs, chicken, pork, feed, chemical fertilizers, ham sausage, canned food... All commodities are used by people for daily use, which is the reason for our development.

Matthews: Sounds so smooth.So let's talk about your corporate profits and dividends?In China, this is definitely an astronomical figure, even compared to the middle class in America, such a figure is not far behind.

He Ping: Your question makes me uncomfortable. It seems that in your view, it would be inconceivable for the Chinese to catch up with or surpass America.But in fact, of the 500 years that counted forward, America was only ahead for 150 years.

Matthews: No offense intended.I just want to describe the achievements of the enterprises you lead in China.

He Ping: In terms of domestic productivity and GDP, the revenue and profits created by our Hantun or Goodfarmer Group are relatively leading, and these are based on our continuous huge investment.You should know that our annual profit for dividends is only 35% of the group's profit, and the remaining profit is invested in places where it is needed, such as technology research and development, factory expansion, advertising, talent recruitment, village infrastructure, residents' pension medical care, education subsidies, etc.

Matthews: Very visionary.Today, China is facing unprecedented inflation, what do you think of this matter?

He Ping: I'm not an economist, so I can't say too much about this matter, but I believe we can overcome it. Compared with the difficulties in the past, this is nothing.

Matthews: You have been commended by the Chinese government twice and won the title of National Excellent Entrepreneur. What do you think of the domestic political and economic situation?
He Ping: I don't understand politics.But from an economic point of view, since the reform and opening up, the domestic land and factories have been revitalized, showing a different vitality than before, and embarking on a good development path.Of course, there are still many difficulties at this stage, and I hope to go out under the leadership of the government in the future.I'm personally confident about it.

Matthews: I heard that you are also a well-known writer in China, and you have won the most famous novel award in China twice.

He Ping: Speaking of writing, it was just an accident.There was a time when, due to my lack of skills and experience in agricultural production, I was relatively poor in life, so I wanted to generate some income through writing.As it turns out, I'm a little gifted at this.Later, magazines continued to ask me to write articles, so I continued to write.

Matthews: It seems to you that everything is easy?
He Ping: Maybe, my life is on easy difficulty!

Matthews: Thank you for your interview.

He Ping: Thank you.

From the chats and interviews, I can feel that He is an entrepreneur with an extremely optimistic spirit. In his opinion, everything seems to be no problem.During the two-day interview and visit, he took me to the Hantun tourism planning area under construction. The future of Hewei Hantun planning is to become a regional tourist destination. He wants to retain the beautiful scenery of Hantun.We also went to the headquarters of Goodfarmer Group, and saw the sand table there. On it was a map of China, and the places with red flags on it were the locations of Goodfarmer Group factories.

He also told me that Goodfarmer Group now has hundreds of scientists and R&D personnel. The former Goodfarmer Group was only big but not strong. In the next few years, he will strengthen the technological empowerment of Goodfarmer Group. Oh, and It's a new word, and these things can always come out of his mouth.

Because he has a goal in his heart, which is to take Good Farm Group to go public in America.This is an ambitious goal, but it does not seem far away. After all, Goodfarmer has gone through the most difficult time under his leadership. Let us all look forward to seeing Goodfarmer in the American market.

(End of this chapter)