Text by Tie Zheng, reporter of Green China Fusion Media
Write Chin Hanfen, difficult.
The difficulty is that this accomplished female entrepreneur did not provide any written materials before being interviewed by me.
Doing more, talking less, or even not saying it is her most prominent characteristic.
She was contacted and interviewed months ago. Due to the epidemic, she has not been able to return to Beijing. It wasn't until the day before National Day that I met her in a remote work area on Tianbei Road in Shunyi District. The area is surrounded by crops and is overgrown with old corn. I got there by car from within the 5th ring road, which took about 1 hour.
To my surprise, she didn't look like a chairman at all. Dressed in black, petite in stature, there is no style of arrogance at all. Gentle, soft-spoken and gentle like a preschool teacher.
When I told her my first impression, she smiled. It turned out that I was not the first person to have this impression of her. That's what a nationally renowned entrepreneur said when he first met her.
During the interview, I don't ask, she doesn't say. In many cases, it is not she who answers questions, but the general manager who is present responds on her behalf. When she was contacted for an interview, she repeatedly said that the general manager was still on his way to Beijing, and I would set a time after the general manager arrived, and I understood a little. It turned out that the general manager was a reinforcement she was interviewed.
Nevertheless, I approached her world. I saw that she was silent, but deep down she had a dream of letting Hu Yu go to the world.
She has always struggled to make this dream come true.
Her original intention is Hu Yu
To write Qin Hanfen, it is necessary to start from her hometown of Changshan County.
Changshan is located on the western border of Zhejiang, connected to Jiangxi Province, located in the western part of the Jinqu Basin and the upper reaches of the Qiantang River, and is historically known as the "thoroughfare of eight provinces and the first station of two Zhejiang provinces". Changshan has a long history, as early as the 23rd year (218) of Jian'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the fifth year of the Tang Dynasty Xianheng (674), it bears the name of Changshan to the present. Changshan is a subtropical region with four distinct seasons and abundant rainfall, which has nurtured the hardworking sons and daughters of Changshan and gave birth to the "three treasures" of Changshan - grapefruit, lion's erinaceus and camellia oil.
Changshan Huyu, which is at the top of the "Three Treasures", is the background color of Qin Hanfen's childhood and the coordinates of her career when she grows up.
Changshan pomelo is a natural hybrid of pomelo and other mandarin oranges, which is unique to Changshan County. Its color is golden and the fruit is beautiful. Don't look at the single fruit is only about 300 grams, but the nutritional value is very high, rich in a variety of vitamins and 16 kinds of amino acids required by the human body, as well as phosphorus, potassium, iron, calcium and other elements.
As everyone in Changshan knows, the meat of grapefruit is full, crisp and juicy, with antibacterial, lower blood sugar, enhance vitamin C effects, is a nutrition, beauty, longevity in one, suitable for all ages of the pure natural health food.
Unfortunately, Changshan, which is full of grapefruit, did not become a golden mountain and silver mountain for the local people earlier. A driver from Changshan told me that Changshan's grapefruit is slightly bitter, and some people don't feel delicious when they eat it.
The establishment of Changshan Huyu enterprise has become Qin Hanfen's original intention. Her idea is not to let the villagers hold the good fruit and suffer poverty, to let Changshan become a golden mountain and silver mountain, and to let Huyu go out of Changshan and go to the world.
The price of grapefruit is low, it cannot be sold at a good price, and the income of the people cannot go up. The market could not be found, the sales could not be opened, and the deep processing did not start. Qin Hanfen's dream of a grapefruit world is not an easy task.
She was born in a family of education and is an authentic Changshan person. His father served as the principal of Changshan County No. 1 Middle School and was awarded the title of National Excellent Teacher. My brother and sister are all in the system, either as doctors or teachers. She is the only one in the family, and she has no hesitation on the road of running a grapefruit enterprise.
After graduating from school, she worked in Changshan County Microbiology Factory, and later entered the food quality inspection station, and successfully became the deputy station manager all the way. She is not afraid of hardship, she can also endure hardship, not only does not have a little arrogance, but has a tenacity to persevere to the end. In 1991, she did Hericium erinaceus business for the county and entered the banquet hall of the Great Hall of the People.
Speaking of her going to the sea, it is also related to a popular star. The star cooperated with Changshan County to set up the Drinking Emperor Company, specializing in the processing of grapefruit juice, but lost Maicheng due to poor technology, and the company suffered serious losses and was on the verge of bankruptcy.
It was a day in 1993. She walked into an upscale neighborhood in Anhuixili, Beijing, and took the elevator to the top two floors of the building. The mother and sister of the big star are there, and a white puppy is running around. Entrusted by the county government, she and the company's leaders negotiated with big stars about the aftermath.
Failure is failure in product packaging technology. Because grapefruit is an acidic fruit, whether it is a plastic bottle, a glass bottle, or a can, the packaging that can be thought of will be corroded to a certain extent.
This contact with a big star turned out to be an opportunity for her to go to sea. The fiasco of the big star not only did not scare her, but made her more and more frustrated. She didn't believe that the baby-like Changshan grapefruit would not sell. She made a decision that surprised everyone around her and started her own Huyu business.
She does what she says. In 1997, she resolutely went to sea. At first, the company was not yet established, and there were only four or five people in total. Although she was just starting out, she was very determined to sell grapefruit to the whole country and the world.
For the quiet years of the enterprise
In the 90s of last century, the fruit industry in the mainland was still scattered, chaotic, small and miscellaneous. In 1991, Qin Hanfen settled in Beijing with her husband after marriage, but her heart was still in Changshan and Huyu.
At that time, she was not the only company aiming to make grapefruit. Local enterprises in Changshan have long begun to explore the deep processing of grapefruit. One of the state-owned enterprises has gained momentum. She was not convinced, thinking that she must overshadow it. Therefore, she named her company "Aijia", which implied this unspeakable meaning.
For the quiet years of the enterprise, she worked tirelessly and carried the weight forward. At first, she focused on selling fresh grapefruit. In order to open up sales, she rode in a green leather car to run around the country, and she could not finish the train after suffering hardships. From Changshan to Shenzhen, it took more than 20 hours by train. She carried an old newspaper with her, and she was so tired that she took a nap under her seat. At that time, from Zhejiang to Xinjiang, you had to make three or five consecutive buses and arrive after two or three days. She has stayed in small hotels for 2 yuan and 5 yuan.
In order to block Party A's buyer, she squatted for half a day and said all the good things she could. The customer did not understand and recognize, she suffered unspeakable grievances, and patiently tried to persuade her. Before dawn, she pushed a flatbed truck to set up a stall at the morning market in Beijing's Huajiadi, shouting and selling grapefruit in Changshan Mandarin.
In her office at the fruit distribution center for the 2008 Olympic Games in Shunyi, Beijing, I saw a banner on the wall that read, "Make a good wish, enjoy a good fortune." In fact, she is busy every day, and she has no time to stop and take a closer look at this banner. She didn't know that this remark came from Zuo Zongtang, a heavy minister in the late Qing Dynasty, nor did she know that the same banner was hung in Li Ka-shing's office, but this was indeed a true portrayal of her Huyu enterprise.
A piece of ice heart is tied to grapefruit
Chin Hanfen's ambition is to provide first-class technology for production sites and first-class fruits and vegetables for residents.
The tree of Zhejiang Aijia has carved such a ring: in 1999, Zhejiang Aijia was established, starting from the cultivation and sales of Changshan grapefruit.
In 2001, the group buying business of institutions, social groups, colleges and universities, and the army was expanded to supermarket distribution.
In 2006, the construction of bases such as Xinjiang apples, Gansu apples and Korla fragrant pears began.
In 2008, the company began to distribute supermarkets nationwide, and has cooperated with many well-known supermarkets.
In 2010, the distribution center was developed.
In 2018, non-destructive testing equipment was put into operation.
She adheres to the concept of "integrity management, diligence and thrift, advancing with the times, and sustainable management". She comes from a quality inspection background and knows that quality is the lifeblood of the food processing industry. Insisting on quality is the magic weapon for her many years of business success.
In 2019, Qin Hanfen, who has always been close to his homeland, installed the company's headquarters in Changshan. In order to better develop the enterprise, she gave up the procurement model of accompanying the market, invested a lot of money to develop a self-built standardized production base of origin, introduced advanced technology, equipment and talents, created high-quality products throughout the industry chain, and continuously improved the core competitiveness of products.
She values technology. Under her leadership, Zhejiang Aijia integrated the resource advantages of talents, places, bases and brand influence, and joined hands with universities and scientific research institutes to establish a product research and development center, a digital agricultural reserve research and development center, and a scientific experiment base. On platforms such as R&D centers, science and technology institutes, and project projects, we will promote the integrated and linkage development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries through cooperation, unveiling, and sharing.
Relying on the origin resources of Changshan grapefruit, she organized and built a quick-frozen production line with an annual output of 30,000 tons, a 10,000-ton grapefruit juice extraction production line, a digital sorting production line and a cold storage of 68,000 cubic meters, and invested 580 million yuan to build the "Roaming Valley" grapefruit theme park project, promoting grapefruit products to go further on the road of organic, green and low-carbon development.
Today's Zhejiang Aijia has long changed shotguns. The company is registered in Changshan County, Zhejiang Province, and its main business centers are in Beijing and Wuhan. Through the model of "production area base + warehousing and processing + cold chain distribution + supermarket catering", the company has created a production chain and supply chain of grapefruit products.
Where the fruits and vegetables are delicious, build the base! In the northwest, northeast and central south, she has built and jointly built more than 50,000 mu of standardized bases. In 14 provinces and municipalities including Xinjiang, Sichuan and Gansu, she has built more than 40 famous and excellent fruit and vegetable bases, and has established market sales platforms in 10 regional central cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
The high-end fruit and vegetable distribution base she created has realized the one-stop operation of sorting and processing, storage and preservation, and cold chain distribution throughout the year, and has become a model of comprehensive modern agricultural industrialization and socialization services.
I couldn't see how she did it all, but I saw her talking to her co-workers cordially, and I saw her sitting around a working meal with her co-workers at noon.
Huyu base
Just love this bottle of freshness
Qin Hanfen personally feels that technology is the guiding light for Hu Yu to go to the world.
Under her leadership, Zhejiang Aijia has successively cooperated with Zhejiang University and other universities, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other institutes to jointly develop high-value utilization of grapefruit whole fruit.
For many years, she has been deeply engaged in the grapefruit industry. She presided over the development of the "Ai Yu Xiang" brand of grapefruit juice, which digested the seasonal pressure of grapefruit at different peaks and increased the value of grapefruit.
One of the main products of Zhejiang Aijia is Changshan Huyu series juice drinks. NFC grapefruit compound juice produced by non-concentrated reduction process is the king of kings. It is naturally slightly bitter and naturally cool. It is 100% pure fruit juice and requires low temperature refrigeration due to zero additives. No additives such as sugar, water, preservatives, etc., maximize the preservation of the nutrition and flavor of grapefruit.
The company staff brought a bottle of juice. I held it in my hand and looked at it carefully, only to see a sentence printed on the bottle in Chinese and English: I only love this bottle of freshness. I could see her and her team fighting for this fresh bottle.
She repeatedly said, write less about me, write more about the company's products. According to her, the company also owns grapefruit Kaman orange compound juice drink, grapefruit lime drink, grapefruit water - grapefruit sparkling compound juice drink and so on. The grapefruit jam developed by the company is bitter and warm, and it is used for both food and nourishment.
Fresh products also include frozen fruits and vegetables. It is understood that the company has built a quick-frozen fruit and vegetable products production line with an annual production capacity of 10,000 tons, and its quick-freezing capacity reaches 3 tons per hour. It can produce various styles of quick-frozen products, and can also customize products and packaging specifications according to customer needs. Broccoli, edamame kernels, carrots, etc. remain green after quick freezing, while frozen mixed vegetable packets are colorful and very attractive.
She continues to increase investment in research and development, through a series of in-depth development, various derivative products such as grapefruit drinks, grapefruit jam, grapefruit tea drinks, and grapefruit sparkling water have formed a scale, radiating to daily chemicals, food and functional products to meet more market consumer demand.
Only love this bottle of freshness, is also her heart's voice.
Poverty alleviation and "national advanced"
On February 25, 2021, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council made a decision on commending advanced individuals and collectives in poverty alleviation across the country. Seven enterprises in Zhejiang Province received awards, and Qin Hanfen's enterprises were among them.
The full name of Qin Hanfen's enterprise is Zhejiang Aijia Fruit and Vegetable Development Co., Ltd. Under the leadership of Qin Hanfen, this national key agricultural leading enterprise has won honors such as the Golden Peacock Award of China Green Industry Expo and the Beijing Olympic Merit Medal. But these are not as touching as the title of "National Advanced Collective for Poverty Alleviation".
She has a strong social responsibility, and puts the political task of poverty alleviation and the social responsibility of leading enterprises in the first place. Since 2003, she has been working on poverty alleviation through industry, helping low-income farmers to lift themselves out of poverty by building cooperatives with farmers, purchasing special agricultural products, and innovating new technologies in some poverty-stricken areas such as the northwest and southwest.
She led the company to rely on the resource advantages of agricultural product base layout and sales link construction, actively respond to the call of the party and the government, take "within the company's reach, the needs of poor households" as the starting point, and adhere to the priority of poverty alleviation in production areas and industrial poverty alleviation.
Changshan grapefruit is the leading industry in the local area and has always been one of the important ways for farmers to increase their income. Under the leadership of Qin Hanfen, the company has played a huge role in the upgrading and development of the grapefruit industry and helping farmers increase income.
She personally established the Changshan Huyu Industry Socialization Service Center to provide free quality grading services for pomelo farmers. By promoting high-quality grapefruit to the high-end market of big cities, the sales and circulation level and price of Changshan grapefruit will be improved.
During the fight against the new crown epidemic in 2020, Changshan Huyu fresh fruits were seriously unsold. Farmers watched the grapefruit rot at home, and the hard harvest of the year came to naught. She decided to quickly decommission the juice extraction line that processes 15,000 tons of grapefruit per year. She advocated the "bottom" purchase of grapefruit, giving priority to the purchase of grapefruit from low-income farmers. In May, when the natural storage limit of grapefruit was reached, the company purchased more than 5,000 tons of grapefruit, increasing the income of grapefruit farmers by more than 5 million yuan. "Bottom" grapefruit has become a "common fruit" for farmers.
The enterprises she ran have led to the employment of peasants and enriched the people. The company has fruit and vegetable quick-freezing production line and fruit and vegetable juice production line, and a fruit and vegetable standardization demonstration base of 38,000 mu. The company provides jobs for thousands of rural workers, 10% of whom are low-income farmers who have lost land, lost work and heavy burdens. The wages paid to farmers every year amounted to more than 14 million yuan, and she never owed a penny to migrant workers.
She founded the Production and Marketing Alliance to help poor areas and poor rural households build bases to sell products, and implement poverty alleviation in production areas and industries in Xinjiang, Sichuan, Gansu, Jilin, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Yunnan and other provinces.
In Aksu, Xinjiang, Liangshan and Luzhou, Sichuan, she personally built 42 fruit and vegetable planting bases covering an area of 38,000 mu, helping 15,000 rural households. Every year, the product deposit and base agricultural material advance paid in advance to farmers reach 120 million yuan.
The company also donated money and materials to schools in poor areas of Xinjiang and Sichuan, and contributed money to build bridges and pave roads and dredge ditches for base villages, helping farmers in poor areas to get rid of poverty and become rich.
On February 25, 2021, the National Poverty Alleviation Summary and Commendation Conference was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Qin Hanfen did not enter Beijing to receive the award, but continued to trek on the road to benefit the people.
100% factory pass rate
I've been wondering what kind of person Qin Hanfen is.
She is a person who can persevere. She believes that in everything you do, you must always keep doing it. As long as you persevere, you will definitely be able to become an expert in this field.
She is a person who does not value money. She runs a business and does business, but she never puts money first, preferring to suffer losses herself. Promises that can't be fulfilled, she never says.
In 2003, she provided group buying services for the Central Party School. During a spot check in the afternoon the day before delivery, she found that the appearance of the grapefruit was not smooth enough. She led everyone to open the box and check them one by one. 2,400 boxes, 30 pieces per box, tens of thousands of grapefruits checked one by one. Although there were less than 10 "problem pomelos" found in the end, she still felt that such rigor and rigor were worth it.
When the company served the catering industry, there was once seven or eight boxes less from the base than the order. It was proposed to buy from the market to make up for it. She resolutely refused, saying that this would ruin Aijia's reputation. In the end, she and the customer reached an agreement and delivered the missing goods directly to the restaurant by courier.
I saw the quality goal of the company posted on the wall: 100% factory pass rate.
Insisting on quality and integrity is her "stupid" method.
In her eyes, employees are the pillars of the company, just like her own relatives. There are dozens of employees who have worked in the company for more than 15 years. She said that they gave their youth to the company, and I am responsible for them.
Every morning, before 8 o'clock, she arrives at the office, and leaves work at night. She wears no gold or silver. When I was young, I loved to draw, and I never used a pen after starting a company. Whether in Beijing, Hangzhou, or Changshan, she is the company and residence. No matter where you go on a business trip, you always leave after finishing your errands, and you never stop to wander around the local area.
When her daughter was young, she never saw her mother, and it was the nanny who grew up with her. In order to save trouble, her daughter's hair is always cut short. The mother can't cook, but the daughter does. When her daughter grew up, she always said that she would never hire a nanny in the future. Lacking company, there are also her parents.
Grapefruit hanging from branches
There is no end to Hu Yu's story yet
Qin Hanfen has established a 320-mu standardized demonstration grapefruit base in Taigongshan, driving more than 4,200 farmers to develop 10,000 mu of standardized production of grapefruit orchards.
At the base of Taigong Mountain, an observation deck shaped like a grapefruit is particularly eye-catching. She loves standing on this observation deck. As far as the eye can see, there are large fields of grapefruit trees. In the green forest sea, the golden yellow grapefruit bends the branches, and the light fruity fragrance in the air is refreshing.
Looking back, this Huyu Queen was deeply touched. She felt a great social responsibility on her shoulders. Enterprise prospects, employee development, social feedback, etc., not only require the courage of enterprise leaders to take responsibility, but also need the correct positioning, the concept of advancing with the times, the ability to innovate and develop, etc. As the leader of Zhejiang Aijia, her sense of responsibility in her heart is heavy, and no day dares to relax.
A strong sense of urgency made her dare not stop. She knows that social development is fast, market competition is fierce, survival of the fittest, and Zhejiang Aijia is entering the fast lane of development. She often has a feeling of "time does not wait", always reminding herself to be a trendsetter of the times and not to be eliminated by the tide of the times.
The "Beijing Olympic Merit Award" medal on the windowsill records the company's glorious past. Qin Hanfen, on the other hand, is looking to the future. Despite her successful career, she often feels panic about her skills. Businesses are getting bigger. She, the leader, still has a lot to learn. We must learn from our peers, from the excellent, and from the young. She firmly believes that only by continuous learning and continuous progress can we lead the company to a new highland.
Growing and deepening the industrial chain not only enabled Zhejiang Aijia itself to develop rapidly, but also drove the continuous upgrading of Changshan Huyu industry. The blueprint she drew is to build a standard production base, build a digital fruit selection center, build a modern warehousing and processing workshop, deeply develop new products of grapefruit, and continue to promote the development of the grapefruit industry in the direction of high-end, green, digital and integration.
I have not been to her base in Changshan, Zhejiang. But I believe that it is another battlefield for her.
My article documenting her dream of the world of grapefruit is coming to an end in the middle of the night. But I know that as the commander of the elite army of Zhejiang Aijia, her Huyu story is far from over.
Green China B (second half) September 2022 issue