Today, for the outside world, most of people's information sources come from the mainstream media and the Internet, for the unknown world, people are often full of curiosity, but it is difficult to fully understand.
Afghanistan, for ordinary Chinese people, is a place of right and wrong that is always mentioned, which means war and strife, backwardness and remoteness, and most people will not want to go to in their lifetime.
And such a place, in the eyes of some people, does not seem to be as terrible as everyone thinks. There is such a Chinese businessman living in Afghanistan, who still calmly continues his work and life in the war, showing a real Afghanistan on the Internet.
【Self-Pursuit】
Sun Fei was born in 1986 to a merchant family in Jiamusi, Heilongjiang. His parents were both in business, and they had worked in many different fields, and they had always made money, lost money, not rich, but enough to live.
In Sun Fei's memory, when he was a child, the family engaged in the most long-term business was a popsicle factory, and he had endless popsicles since he was a child.
The cream popsicle wrapped in chocolate crispy skin is a "luxury" snack that needs to be exchanged for parents with good performance in the eyes of other children, but for Sun Fei, it is as many things as he wants.
The popsicle factory has been operating for a total of about ten years, from the initial production of tens of thousands of sticks per day, to the gradual reduction of production to thousands, and the performance has declined all the way. A large cold drink factory was opened locally, and more than a dozen small manufacturers, including Sun Fei's family, were robbed of their business and slowly declined.
Because he always needs to worry about business, although Sun Fei is the only child in the family, he has hardly received much love from his parents, and the image of his parents has always been only a busy back in his eyes.
When the factory is in full swing, parents need to run the business, and after the popsicle factory is depressed, they have to rush around to deal with debts, and they don't even have time to cook for their children. In his childhood, Sun Fei often ate the last meal without eating, and even became accustomed to it.
Although he was born and raised in the northeast, Sun Fei was much shorter than his peers since he was a child, and was often bullied by bad children. Once on the way out of school, he was beaten by a small with a purple arm, and his father only briefly checked it and continued to be busy.
However, although his parents never paid attention to his education and was a victim of school violence, Sun Fei's academic performance was very good. There are more than 1,200 people in the whole grade, and Sun Fei, who is enrolled in the key class, has always been able to maintain about 30 in the whole grade, and has been a primary school bully who can read since he was a child.
It is a great pity that this good embryo of reading has not continued to carry forward this advantage. After finishing junior high school, Sun Fei insisted on dropping out of school, because of the family environment and campus violence, Sun Fei was resolutely unwilling to continue his studies.
At this moment, Sun Fei's parents finally felt sorry. They know more or less that Sun Fei is a gifted child, and it is a pity to give up his studies at this time. But it was too late, and the sons who had not been disciplined since childhood were no longer willing to listen to their persuasion.
After dropping out of school, Sun Fei spent six or seven years in a muddy state. Although he was reluctant to continue his studies, he did not think about his future at all. Doing odd jobs, bubble billiard halls, relying on the living expenses given by their parents every month, just so aimlessly mixed.
Until 2008, Sun Fei's life ushered in a turning point. This year, under the introduction of friends, the 22-year-old flew abroad for the first time to Jakarta, Indonesia, and became a teacher of Chinese as a foreign language in an international school.
Sun Fei's spoken English is very good, and he is bold, and he often runs to chat with foreigners who come to Jiamusi to do business.
It was his excellent speaking ability that gave him this opportunity to teach overseas, and his parents, who have always regretted that their son could not continue his studies, are also strongly supportive. Thinking that he could go abroad to see, and with the support of his family, Sun Fei went happily.
Although the school's accommodation conditions are rudimentary, Sun Fei likes the job very much. There are many wealthy Chinese in Indonesia, Sun Fei teaches their children to Chinese, the teaching task is very relaxed, the income is also very impressive, and the income can be about 10,000 yuan a month.
Earning more and eating more, Sun Fei suddenly found himself very suitable for this kind of international work. When his colleagues were homesick, he felt like a fish in the water, so uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, this good life did not last long, and half a year later, the wave of financial crisis swept the world and also affected Sun Fei. Due to the depreciation of the Indonesian rupiah, his income suddenly shrank by half, and he had no advantage to speak of.
Sun Fei calculated that the original monthly income was almost 10,000 yuan, and now it has shrunk to 5,000, and the monthly rent is more than 2,000, which really can't save any money, and it seems that staying in Indonesia has not lost its meaning.
For Sun Fei at this time, although he did not save any money, because he had many friends, a wide range of roads, and many opportunities, he did not have much pressure on life.
However, this is not the way to go, he still decided to choose to return to China first, and then look for other opportunities.
【Business in Afghanistan】
After Sun Fei returned to China, he did a little business, and the income was average. However, by chance, he met his wife, and they soon married and returned to Jiamusi's hometown together.
Sun Fei's parents opened a training school after the popsicle factory closed, and the business was still good, far better than in previous years. It just so happened that the son married his daughter-in-law and returned to his hometown, and also joined the family business, and soon added a big fat boy.
Seeing that life was getting better and better, Sun Fei vaguely found that this did not seem to be the life he wanted. The thinking of the older generation of his parents is very different from his, and there are always contradictions between the two sides in work and life, and no one can convince anyone.
Sun Fei, who has not received much love from his parents since he was a child, once again has the idea of leaving home and going out on his own.
His excellent English background and experience working well in Indonesia quickly set his sights on international trade. Through Jiamusi's network of international students, he soon matched hotels in Russia and began to work on tv systems for them.
In the years of doing business in Russia, Sun Fei's efficiency is not bad, only need to stay in Russia for two to three months a year, you can get 150,000 or 60,000 profits, other times you can stay at home with your wife and son, and the family is happy.
But fate seemed to have made the same joke again. In 2014, russia attacked Crimea and caused the ruble to plummet, depreciating by nearly half, coupled with economic turmoil and a sharp decline in business, Sun Fei once again became a victim of the tide of the times.
However, this time unemployment hit Sun Fei far more than ever before, because at this time he was no longer a stunned young man who was not afraid of heaven, but the head of the family who needed to support his wife and children.
Sun Fei felt unprecedented pressure, the quality of life at home has shrunk significantly, and the money saved in russia for several years to do projects will soon be left, and if it continues like this, it will only sit on the mountain and eat the sky.
Having experienced two overseas careers, although both were finally stopped by external force majeure, Sun Fei had accumulated sufficient experience and decided to reinvigorate and start over in another place.
This time, he boldly set his sights on Afghanistan, the "land of right and wrong" that most People in China could not think of.
He contacted an Afghan student, a medical doctor from Jiamusi University, who had known each other for many years, and Sun Fei hoped to open up the Afghan market through cooperation with the two.
For Sun Fei, there are only two issues to consider at the moment: First, confirm whether the Afghan market is good or not. Second, the well-known security problem. As long as these two issues were confirmed, he thought he was sure of success.
After many times of going abroad and doing business experience, Sun Fei is both expectant and cautious about the development of this career.
At the beginning of 2019, Sun Fei went to Afghanistan for a field trip. He traveled to four major cities in total, mainly to investigate the LED light business, in the local area, this is still a new field that no one is engaged in, and there is a lot of room for development.
After a month of research, he selected kandahar, a port city in Afghanistan. Sun Fei believes that Kandahar's geographical area is large enough, and there are enough human resources to support it, which is the best choice for launching new businesses.
Although there are also some Chinese in Afghanistan, most of them are sent by companies, and Sun Fei has become the first local Chinese to start a business in 40 years.
However, from the very beginning of registering the company, Sun Fei first planted a big heel.
The Afghan student who was working together to do business gave Sun Fei a set with his family. Originally, the two discussed well, Sun Fei contacted the domestic supplier to purchase goods, and the international students and their relatives in business together to do sales in the local area.
As soon as Sun Fei landed, the other party's relatives immediately proposed that he register the company. The other party said that he could handle it on his behalf, so he asked For more than 10,000 yuan in registration fees from Sun Fei. Afterwards, it was learned that it only cost 220 yuan to register a company in Afghanistan.
"Not only that, I entrusted a hundred boxes of goods worth about 70,000 yuan to his relatives and took them to Kabul to sell, who knew that the money was empty, and the other party directly ran away." As soon as he mentioned this matter, Sun Feiqi did not fight.
Sun Fei was extremely angry and immediately sued the other party in the local area and started a lawsuit.
Litigation has never been easy, let alone in a relatively backward country like Afghanistan. During the months of prosecution, many departments did nothing, kicked each other's balls, and things dragged on without progress.
This time dragged on, from 2019 to the beginning of 2020, the outbreak of the domestic epidemic, Sun Fei was disrupted in the plan to return to China, trapped in Afghanistan.
Since you can't go back for a while, then do business with peace of mind. Originally, in order to fight a lawsuit single-mindedly, Sun Fei had spent several months of hard work, and during the period, he also pushed away several business orders because he had no intention of handling it, which made him regret it in retrospect.
The lawsuit did not progress, and also delayed his own serious business, Sun Fei was painfully determined, decided to give up the appeal against the case, and no longer wasted time for past mistakes.
After gradually establishing his own customer relationship network, Sun Fei's business became smoother and smoother. His Afghan customers place all sorts of bizarre orders, in addition to LED lights, truck hubs, cables, screws, kettles, and more.
The hub has two containers per month, that is, two large containers, and one container per month and a half for cables. Although the number of orders is not particularly large, but there are many types, Sun Fei always has a way to solve the problem of order supply.
Although the epidemic was raging, Afghanistan at that time was not greatly affected, and the virus did not spread too violently. However, as a big agricultural country, it is still affected to some extent because agricultural products cannot be sold overseas.
Sun Fei calculated his own income, his sales in Kandahar are roughly 500,000-800,000 yuan per month, and the net profit fluctuates around 10,000-30,000 yuan.
Although it cannot be compared with large foreign trade companies, Sun Fei is not greedy. The local wage level in Afghanistan is extremely low, many people earn only four or five hundred yuan a month, and under the epidemic, Sun Fei's income is already good.
What really affects the situation is the war of political change.
【Life in the Midst of War】
During the market inspection period, Sun Fei focused on the security problems in Afghanistan.
Because the Afghan government's confrontation with the Taliban has lasted for more than 20 years, it has long been a fixed firefight, usually in the suburbs, and deliberately avoids crowded places.
The Taliban assassinations are also targeted and do not affect ordinary people, so in fact Afghanistan's security problems are not as serious as many people think. Because of this, Sun Fei decided to carry out trade in Afghanistan.
But the Taliban's counter-offensive against the government has exacerbated the problem of war.
Since the beginning of the counter-offensive, the number of wars between the two sides has increased significantly, and the government has announced the closure of roads, affecting the daily travel and trade transportation of many people, and prices have begun to soar.
On the day the Taliban entered Kandahar, a merchant's warehouse was ignited by an exchange of fire between the two sides. Sun Fei finally felt the real existence of the war, from being able to hear a gunshot once in two or three months, and suddenly evolving to being able to hear it two or three times a week.
Even if the exchange of fire avoids crowded areas as much as possible, it will not deliberately affect civilians, but after all, the shells have no eyes, and there is a possibility of accidental injury if they are not careful.
Having also lived in Afghanistan for a while, Sun Fei is still relatively reassured about the safety of the local area, and he knows that in general, the war has little impact on ordinary people. However, since you are in the land of right and wrong, it is inevitable that you will be involved in the time.
Sun Fei was bold, and he did not care about the occasional gunshots coming from the street. Once, he was talking in the customer's shop when he suddenly heard a loud noise outside without warning.
He was startled by the unprepared explosion, but soon calmed down. For him, in recent days, this has been a familiar sound, looking around, and the others around him are just as calm, each continuing to do what he is doing.
Sun Fei did not think so to continue chatting and brushing his mobile phone, just ten minutes later, he saw that the explosion was reported on social media, fixed his eyes on it, and suddenly found that the place where the explosion occurred was only about a short hundred meters away from himself!
The explosion was when someone on a motorcycle threw a grenade into a police car, and the news said that the police officer in the police car was unfortunately killed and broke his leg.
Sun Fei felt a brief moment of fear, but then returned to normal. For him, as the battle became more intense, he could hear gunshots and explosions almost every day, and gradually became numb.
The Interior Ministry and the Taliban each release each other's death tolls every day, which seems close to Sun Fei, but he still feels that he has little to do with himself and only buries his head in his work and life.
Although the war brought certain inconveniences, Sun Fei's business development was relatively smooth and did not suffer much. After the Taliban successfully ascended to power, many of the previous restrictions were cleared, and the people's lives were improved a lot.
Among the clients he interacts with on a daily basis are Taliban officials, but for Sun Fei, they are just ordinary people, customers, and friends. Despite the complexities of the outside world, ordinary afghan life can be simple.
【Recent】
Since his business career in Afghanistan, Sun Fei's career has become more and more smooth. After successfully integrating into the lives of locals, his business scope has also become wider and wider.
In June 2021, Because of business dealings, Sun Fei traveled to Pakistan, which was just to avoid the most turbulent period. But he doesn't plan to stay in Pakistan for long, because for him, the focus of his life has long been rooted in Afghanistan.
Because of the epidemic, returning to China has become a difficult luxury. After returning to Afghanistan, Sun Fei had plans to take his wife and children to live together. For Sun Fei, China will always be his hometown, but Afghan business can bring him enough material foundation.
He tried to ask his wife for her opinion, and although the impact of the epidemic is still inconclusive, he feels that her wife has not rejected this proposal. There are many quality international schools in Afghanistan, and children can also get a good education.
In addition to business, Sun Fei has been posting videos on his social media to record his life and share various foreign customs and anecdotes.
In 2022, he shared afghanistan's latest visa policy online and analyzed the business opportunities in Afghanistan.
Sun Fei never hesitated to share his experience, and unconsciously, he also gained a lot of fans, including many people who are eager to do business in Afghanistan. On this road, he has gradually become a beacon for many people to move forward.
Although there is still a long way to go in life, there are countless uncertain factors in the future. But Sun Fei, who has been relying on himself all the way, understands that no matter how the external situation changes, life is always in his own hands.
In Sun Fei's life, he has tried and failed and experienced setbacks. But once you feel the responsibility on your shoulders, you no longer have any fear. For the sake of life, for the sake of his loved ones, he always chose to move forward.
Resources:
Under the upheaval, the choice of several Afghans; the surging news
"Feature" of Chinese businessmen left in Afghanistan; Interface News
I started my business in Afghanistan for 27 months and still intend to continue living here; Sandwich Radio