He only had a primary school education and spent 200 yuan to start a rice store. After going through a lot of hardships, finally at the age of 66, the group's revenue exceeded 100 billion.
With its strong strength, the group has jumped into the top 500 in the world.
He is Wang Yongqing, who was once the largest rice merchant in Taiwan.
(Wang Yongqing)
On January 18, 1917, Wang Yongqing was born in a poor area in Xindian Town, Taipei County, Taiwan, called "Lover Valley".
In fact, the Wang family originally lived in Anxi, Fujian Province. In the early years, the place was so impoverished that farmers could not survive at all.
After the death of the old great-grandfather, the old great-grandmother Xu Xueniang raised her son alone and suffered a lot of rumors.
In the end, Xu Xueniang couldn't bear it anymore, so she had to leave her hometown with her son, come to Taiwan to make a living, and settle down in Lover's Valley.
Since the Wang family has been tea growers for generations, in order to survive, they had no choice but to go back to their roots and open up wasteland to grow tea in Zhitan.
Since then, generations of the Wang family have made a living by growing tea. Only his grandfather Wang Tianquan took the wrong approach and insisted on going to school.
With a belly full of ink, Wang Tianquan opened a private school in the local area to teach children to read and read.
He naively believed that knowledge can change destiny, and he would be able to rely on knowledge to lead the Wang family out of poverty and towards prosperity.
But after he got married and started a family, he realized that no matter how much he studied, it was not enough to fill his stomach.
At that time, people were generally poor. It was enough to support a family with the money on hand. How could there be spare money to send children to school?
Wang Tianquan’s income is so pitiful that it is difficult to support his family. His wife and children follow him, and they have neither enough food nor clothing to keep them warm.
He gradually came to his senses. Instead of studying hard for twelve years, he might as well plant tea.
From then on, he issued an ancestral precept that no one in the Wang family was allowed to go to school. They must grow tea honestly and remember the teachings of their ancestors.
Unexpectedly, with this operation, instead of becoming rich, the Wang family became even more depressed.
Wang Tianquan underestimated knowledge and overestimated the income from growing tea.
types of tea have seasonal restrictions, and there is a serious imbalance between input costs and output benefits. Tea growers earn very little.
After Wang Yongqing was born, he had an extra mouth to eat, and the Wang family became even more impoverished.
Therefore, during the off-season for tea, Wang Yongqing's father went to work as a hard worker in a wealthy family to support the family.
But there is not much of this kind of work. Sometimes when poor families want to find a hard labor job, they have to go through the back door through favors.
She was so poor that she couldn't open the pot, so Wang Yongqing's mother Zhan Xiang had no choice but to lose face, beg some rice from her neighbors, and make a big pot of gruel when she went home.
It sounds like porridge, but in fact it is so thin that there are almost no rice grains, and you can only taste a faint taste of porridge.
During the Chinese New Year and holidays, that is when Wang Yongqing is happiest. Only then can he eat a small piece of meat.
For the rest of the year, the Wang family had porridge for three meals a day.
But as the saying goes: If you are diligent and diligent, you can always fill your stomach if you are willing to work.
In order to improve the food and avoid having to eat gruel every day, my mother reclaimed a piece of wasteland and planted vegetables and radishes to make her own food.
Every day, in addition to doing housework, my mother has to work in the vegetable field for most of the day.
Wang Yongqing saw all his mother's hard work and took the initiative to share the housework with his mother.
Feeding pigs, growing vegetables, picking up coal, fetching water, cooking and washing clothes were all contracted by Wang Yongqing.
The shoes and socks of the family were all knitted by Wang Yongqing himself, and the firewood for cooking was all picked up by Wang Yongqing.
However, collecting firewood is not that simple. It not only depends on luck, but also on hand speed.
There is a double-track carriageway near Wang's house. Every day, carriages carry firewood and coal from Lion Rock to Zhitan Town.
Long before the trolley arrives at Zhitan Town, people will drag their families and wait beside the trolley track. As soon as the
trolley passes by, there will be bumps in the driving process and some firewood and coal will fall down.
At this time, people rushed forward to pick up the coal. They sold the coal in small pieces for money, and picked up the fragments of firewood for use.
Although Wang Yongqing is not tall, his hands and feet are flexible and he can come home with a full load every time.
At that time, there was no running water, so you had to carry a bucket to the well. Since Wang Yongqing was 6 years old, he has taken on the job of fetching water.
Every morning, before dawn, Wang Yongqing goes out in the dark, climbs a small hill, and climbs a steep slope to reach the well.
In this way, Wang Yongqing went back and forth five or six times. When the big water tank at home was finally filled, the sun just came up.
For Wang Yongqing, these tasks are not too difficult, and he can get through it with gritted teeth, but reading has become the most difficult thing.
When Wang Yongqing was 7 years old, he clamored to study. His grandfather had suffered the disadvantage of being uneducated, so he naturally agreed with him to go to school.
If Wang Yongqing goes to school, it means that the Wang family will not only lose a labor force, but also have to spend more tuition every year.
Mother has to raise an extra pig in order to barely pay for school fees.
Moreover, when she learned that her younger brother wanted to go to school, the eldest sister was so disturbed that she also clamored to go to school.
It’s already hard enough to pay for one child’s tuition. Wouldn’t it cost their family half their life to pay another tuition fee?
After careful consideration, Wang Yongqing is a boy after all and will be the future pillar of the family.
The parents could only bear the pain and send their sons to school while leaving their eldest daughter to work at home.
’s tuition was settled, but his family had no money to buy him shoes and stationery. On the first day of school for
, his father sent him to Xindian National Primary School and repeatedly told him, "Listen to the teacher and don't act nonsense."
Wang Yongqing was barefoot, carrying a schoolbag made of coarse cloth and wearing a hat made of bamboo leaves, but he was still happy from ear to ear.
Every day, Wang Yongqing walks 3 kilometers to the river, takes two boats to cross the river, gets off the boat, crosses a trail, and walks 10 kilometers to reach the school.
Although it was hard work, Wang Yongqing did not complain at all. If he could study, he should have had some fun a long time ago, so how could he dare to complain?
But this little happiness seems so vulnerable in the face of huge poverty.
When Wang Yongqing entered the third grade, his father fell ill and could no longer do heavy work. His grandparents were also old, and the burden of the whole family suddenly fell on his mother.
After his father died, Wang Yongqing became the mainstay of the family, and his mother found him a job as a cow-looker.
Wang Yongqing can only go to school and work to earn some extra money. Although it is only 50 cents a month, it is better than nothing.
Seeing his wife and children working so hard while he, a manly man, could not do anything, Wang Yongqing's father began to blame himself.
One night, when no one was paying attention, he picked up the thick rope in the corner, staggered to the tea field, and prepared to tie himself on the banyan tree.
Fortunately, in the end, Wang Yongqing arrived in time, rushed up to hug his father, and begged him to come down, which prevented the tragedy from happening.
That day, his father was rescued, but Wang Yongqing was trapped in a nightmare and could not get out.
From then on, Wang Yongqing no longer had the intention to study. He either couldn't sleep at night or was woken up by nightmares.
Wang Yongqing is clearly aware that for now, knowledge cannot save himself, and only the money in his pocket can determine the fate of his family.
In 1932, after graduating from elementary school, Wang Yongqing followed his uncle to seek a way out in Chiayi.
With low education and no skills, Wang Yongqing could only work as an apprentice in a rice shop.
Wang Yongqing was used to eating rice bran and living on an empty stomach, but now he could soak in rice. Wang Yongqing was very happy.
I can eat three meals a day and receive a salary of 4 yuan a month. This job is considered a good job.
Of course, solving the problem of food and clothing is not the purpose of his trip. He has a bigger "conspiracy".
While he was working, he was thinking about how the boss ran the rice store.
He often takes the initiative to do some extra things for his boss. On the surface, this person seems to be very capable, but in fact, Wang Yongqing takes advantage of various loopholes to learn.
A year later, Wang Yongqing mastered the skill and left immediately, starting his own business and opening a rice store.
Wang Yongqing borrowed 200 yuan after scraping together. He couldn't afford to rent a good location, so he had to buy a small shop in a remote narrow alley.
has no money and cannot afford to hire a clerk. Although he has become the boss, Wang Yongqing wears many hats, being both the boss and the clerk.
The most terrible thing is that as a place where rice is produced, Chiayi is full of rice shops.
And everyone only looks for time-honored brands, and they often look down on new stores like Wang Yongqing.
Wang Yongqing carried a rice bag and went door to door to sell his rice. As a result, the rice he carried out in the morning was still intact at night.
But how could Wang Yongqing, who was used to suffering, be easily defeated? From this bag of rice, he accidentally found a breakthrough.
At that time, rice harvesting and processing technology was backward, and it was easy for a lot of small stones to be mixed in.
People often have to wash rice several times before cooking, which is very troublesome.
Wang Yongqing takes the trouble to pick out the debris in the rice bit by bit and then sells it, saving consumers the trouble of washing rice.
Relying on this move, Wang Yongqing successfully opened up the market and business became prosperous.
Wang Yongqing strikes while the iron is hot and launches a "door-to-door delivery" service. His "door-to-door delivery" is also different from others.
He not only has to deliver the rice to the door, but also helps pour the rice into the rice vat.
If there is old rice in the rice vat, he will wash out the old rice, clean the rice vat, and then pour the new rice in. The old rice will be covered on top so that people can finish the old rice first.
In this way, Wang Yongqing’s rice store became an instant hit, even crushing its peers and directly forming a monopoly.
A year later, with money, Wang Yongqing has straightened his back a lot.
Wang Yongqing took advantage of the situation to spread the stall and moved the store to the most prosperous and lively street. The size of the store was several times larger than the original.
In 1946, he also built a rice milling factory near Chiayi Station. It is no exaggeration to say that the scale is the largest in the area.
However, just when he rolled up his sleeves and prepared to fight, Wang Yongqing personally sent himself into the game.
On that day, he sent someone to transport a truck of rice from Zhongpu Township to Chiayi. The truck had just stopped at the rice mill, and before it had time to unload, two staff members suddenly rushed out.
They were indiscriminate and directly slapped a high hat on Wang Yongqing, violating relevant regulations. Wang Yongqing lost his freedom for 29 days.
Wang Yongqing was filled with resentment and was about to seek justice from them, but he unexpectedly discovered that he was already very lucky.
Others are not as lucky as him.
And Wang Yongqing can be considered a lucky person, and he can still walk out of this iron wall intact.
He knew very well that he was lucky and escaped this time, but it was not him who had the final say whether it would be a blessing or a disaster next time.
Although the rice business made a lot of money, it was a hot potato after all. He really "cannot bear it", so he had to give up decisively and find another way out.
came sooner rather than later. At this time, White Engineering Company was planning to set up a resin processing plant in Taiwan, but was worried about finding a contractor.
The other party took a fancy to Wang Yongqing at first sight, and with 8 million in deposits in his pocket, he immediately called him for cooperation.
Wang Yongqing agreed immediately, "At that time, he was like a skinny goose that had been hungry for a long time when he saw the food and couldn't wait to swallow it."
As a result, I never thought that Wang Yongqing just jumped from one fire pit to another.
In March 1954, Fumao Plastic Industry Co., Ltd. was established.
As a result, all the PVC powder produced by Wang Yongqing in the first year could not be sold and was backlogged in the factory.
At that time, Taiwan’s plastic production output was low and the cost was high. The market did not recognize domestic PVC powder, so many chose to import it.
Since fixed costs will be evenly distributed to each product, the best way to reduce fixed costs is to increase production.
Therefore, Wang Yongqing proposed:
First, increase production to dilute costs;
Second, expand to the downstream secondary and tertiary processing industries to digest midstream raw materials.
But this move was met with collective opposition. The products could no longer be sold, and production had to be increased. Was he out of his mind?
Wang Yongqing defied public opinion and faced huge pressure to increase the daily output from 4 tons to 20 tons.
In order to absorb the increased production of 16 tons of PVC powder, Wang Yongqing prepared to establish a South Asia company.
Not long after, Nanya Company's turnover immediately exceeded 3 billion yuan, catching up with the major time-honored enterprises and becoming the largest private enterprise .
After establishing a foothold in the plastics market, Wang Yongqing entered the wood industry with a high profile.
At that time, most timber merchants only took the main body of the timber and threw all the remaining branches on the mountain.
If these branches are left unused, people have to go to a lot of trouble to import pulp.
These branches can be used to make pulp and be processed into man-made fiber , thereby solving the dilemma of natural cotton in short supply in Taiwan.
With this thought, Wang Yongqing discovered two business opportunities and took a two-pronged approach to establish a timber company and a chemical fiber company at the same time.
Based on this, Wang Yongqing continued to incubate other companies, expanding his territory and becoming stronger and stronger.
In 1983, the group's revenue exceeded 100 billion yuan and its employees were nearly 40,000, making it the largest enterprise group in Taiwan.
In 1984, the group became one of the top 500 companies in the world, and 67-year-old Wang Yongqing stole the show. After the foundation of
was stabilized, Wang Yongqing began to look abroad, trying to expand the brand abroad.
In the 1970s, the oil crisis broke out, and the global economy was in a mess.
But at this moment, Wang Yongqing did the opposite, traveled across the ocean to the United States, acquired companies on a large scale, and annexed them like crazy.
When the crisis dissipated, Wang Yongqing reorganized the company, just in time to catch the first train, and suddenly revived the company on the verge of bankruptcy.
I have to say that Wang Yongqing played this trick really well.
"When the economy is in a recession, it may be an appropriate time for companies to invest and carry out expansion plans."
During the economic downturn, the input costs of various industries are lower than during the peak season.
Changes in the economic situation often follow a certain cycle.
Entrepreneurs can take advantage of this period of stagnation to acquire bankrupt companies at low prices for improvement and rectification.
After the rectification is completed and the economy begins to pick up, they can just be one step ahead, seize the blank market, and further develop and grow.
Moreover, when doing business in the off-season, the number of customers decreases, so merchants must reduce costs and strive to get one dollar out of every penny spent.
If you can survive the winter, are you worried about having no business in the summer?
Relying on "opportunism", Wang Yongqing's career is flourishing, which makes people in the industry admire him.
No matter how powerful the father is, he can't compare to a son who can cause trouble.
As he gets older, Wang Yongqing also begins to worry about his successor.
At first, his favorite candidate was his eldest son Wang Wenyang. Wang Wenyang was young and promising, with outstanding talent.
At the age of 17, he was admitted to Imperial University in London with excellent results, and later received a British scholarship.
After graduating from university, he continued to study for postgraduate studies in the UK. In less than two years, he received a master's degree in optical physics.
There, he met fellow countryman Chen Jingwen, and the two fell in love and got married.
In 1993, Wang Wenyang was already a part-time professor at the Graduate School of Business of National Taiwan University. He had a good harvest in love and career, and he was very proud of himself.
As a result, Professor Wang’s charm was nowhere to be found. He failed to control himself for a while and stepped on the moral bottom line.
One day, Wang Wenyang went to visit his friend Professor Qiu Yi, and met Qiu Yi's student Lu Anni.
Lu Anni has a slim figure and a gentle personality, which immediately attracted Wang Wenyang.
After a few words of conversation, Lu Anni also bowed to Professor Wang's knowledge.
A man is interested in a woman, and they hit it off immediately and start secretly dating.
Wang Wenyang left all his tenderness to his young and beautiful girlfriend.
He often writes love letters to her, and with just a few lines of love, she becomes obsessed with her.
"I shouldn't love you, but there is something strong about you that attracts me.
Tell me, how should I bind this heart? Because it loves you so deeply, so intensely!"
At first, the two of them were embarrassed by their appearance. Later, perhaps Wang Wenyang's love was too strong and he could no longer control it. The two showed off their affection in a high-profile way.
In order to make the beauty smile, Wang Wenyang took Lu Anni to take wedding photos. In the photos, the two people were wearing suits and wedding dresses, hugging each other lovingly.
At this time, the original wife Chen Jingwen had long been forgotten by Wang Wenyang.
With the help of her boyfriend, Annie Lu entered National Taiwan University to pursue a master's degree, and Wang Wenyang naturally became her instructor.
Wang Wenyang originally thought that as long as his acting skills were perfect, it would not be a problem to be Chen Jingwen's husband in front of others and have a little girlfriend behind his back.
But he had calculated everything and considered everything, except that he forgot that his little girlfriend was not a good person.
In 1995, Lu Anni was preparing to obtain a doctorate. At that time, the written test score accounted for 75% and the oral test score accounted for 25%.
There were 18 candidates taking the exam, and Lu Anni easily took the first place in the written exam.
When she thought that the examiner in charge of the oral examination was her boyfriend's good brother Hong Mingzhou, Lu Anni breathed a sigh of relief and did not take the oral examination seriously.
As a result, the oral exam results came out. Lu Anni only scored 60 points, ranking last and missing out on getting a doctorate.
Lu Anni was unwilling to give in. She insisted that there was something fishy about her grades and insisted on asking Wang Wenyang to defend her.
If this matter were left between ordinary teachers and students, it would be perfectly normal for the teacher to seek justice for the student.
But their relationship was very "unusual", so Wang Wenyang naturally did not dare to act rashly and advised Lu Anni to forget it.
But his girlfriend just couldn’t swallow this. Wang Wenyang couldn’t resist her, so he had to intervene and beg Hong Mingzhou to “do something”.
Hong Mingzhou was an upright person and refused, but Lu Anni refused to give up and complained directly to Hong Mingzhou and others.
In order to increase the chance of winning, Lu Anni took the initiative and accused Hong Mingzhou of having abnormal behavior towards her.
After being hyped by the media, the matter became a big deal, and the scandal between Lu Anni and Wang Wenyang was also exposed.
As a result, she really missed the mark. Later, two female classmates also came forward to accuse Hong Mingzhou, and Hong Mingzhou was removed from his status as an examiner.
Of course, no one cares about the truth of the matter. What everyone is more concerned about is the scandal of the young owner of Taiwan's number one company.
Under pressure from the media, Lu Anni stood up and admitted the matter, but Wang Wenyang remained silent.
Wang Wenyang succeeded in "seeking justice" for his girlfriend, but his father Wang Yongqing was in bad luck.
The stocks of three listed companies fell sharply, and shareholders came to their door one after another. Wang Yongqing calmed the emotions of shareholders while digesting the negative impact of the scandal.
Regarding his son's behavior, Wang Yongqing hated iron and steel, and immediately demanded that Wang Wenyang be immediately removed from all positions in the group and kicked out.
Wang Wenyang refused to accept it. He was just in love and did not violate any rules and regulations of the group. His father had no reason to remove him from his post.
The father and son were in a stalemate, and neither would give in to the other.
His younger brother Wang Yongzai understood how much effort Wang Yongqing put into cultivating his successor.
He mediates the relationship between the two, and in the end the father and son each take a step back.
Wang Wenyang published an apology in the newspaper and reflected on himself. Wang Yongqing suspended his son from work for one year and the storm was over.
His son was unreliable, so Wang Yongqing had no choice but to find another way. He established a new decision-making body within the group - the Administrative Center. All major decisions of the
group require collective discussion and decision-making by six members, and then are left to the Wang Yongqing brothers to make a decision.
In 2006, 89-year-old Wang Yongqing announced his retirement together with his younger brother. Wang Wenyuan was elected president of the group and Wang Ruihua was elected vice president.
Wang Wenyuan is the eldest son of his younger brother Wang Yongzai , and Wang Ruihua is the daughter of Wang Yongqing. With such personnel arrangements as
, it is obvious who is the new helmsman of the group.
In June 2008, Wang Yongqing ranked as the second richest man in Taiwan with a net worth of 6.8 billion yuan.
Never thought that not long after he became a rich man, Wang Yongqing died of a sudden illness four months later at the age of 91.
Wang Yongqing’s journey was full of ups and downs, but he survived them all.
Some people say that Wang Yongqing has such achievements because he stands in the center of the storm. This is undeniable.
But in my opinion, the most important thing is that he can always see business opportunities behind every crisis.
I heard a saying: "Don't waste a crisis, it is the best moment for your growth."
When the oil crisis broke out, all his colleagues stopped and did not dare to act rashly, but Wang Yongqing seized the opportunity and took the opportunity to annex other companies.
During that time, other people were busy blaming others and cleaning up the mess, while Wang Yongqing was quietly rectifying the company and striving to enter the market when the economic situation improved.
When people are in a trough, they need to work harder. If you just dwell on past failures, you will soon reach the next trough and fall into a vicious cycle.
I have always believed in a wise saying: "God gives you a knife because he hid a piece of cake."
When a crisis comes, don't rush to find a safe haven, but stand longer in the storm.
Think about what the crisis can teach you, and what preparations you can make in advance before the next opportunity comes.
Peter Drucker said: "When there is unrest, the biggest danger is not the unrest itself, but that people act according to the logic of the past."
When encountering a crisis, what you are most afraid of is that you are stubborn and continue to use yesterday's brain to think about the way out tomorrow.
The purpose of crisis is to give you a chance to make corrections, to slow down and review yourself, so as to find the direction for your next departure.
There is no so-called trough period, and there is no so-called crisis. All difficulties are just the uphill road that must be passed to reach the top.
If you stop here, it is the bottom. If you work hard and continue to work hard to improve yourself, it is the uphill road.
I like Mark Twain 's words very much:
"In life, everything will never go as you wish. What disappointments you encounter? You don’t have to be discouraged.
You should make up your mind and find a way to get your breath back.
So, don’t give up, even if you don’t fight for the steamed buns, you have to fight for the breath! Even if I can't win it back, I still have to tell others that I tried hard!
Author: Zhu Xiaochang & Luo Xiaojie
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