Editor
Recently, People's Daily Online reported that Hongqiao District took advantage of the opening and operation of the Jinxing Intercity Railway to actively build an aviation service circle without an airport, and by improving the working mechanism of the digital economy, actively building digital economy industrial clusters, and accelerating the promotion of key projects of the digital economy, it provides rich application scenarios and element guarantees for the development of the digital economy, and also continuously spreads branches and leaves to plant the soil for "living in a foreign land". Let's take a look!
In 2010, Yin Jiankun, the principal of New Oriental Tianjin Campus, had to rent a house near the school because he went to the United States for exchange studies.
"Why is it so hard to find a house!" Yin Jiankun was handling work while walking through the streets to find a place to live. During this period, he met many Chinese students who faced the same rental problems in foreign countries.
"Can you do something for them", this simple idea lingered in Yin Jiankun's mind, and also laid the groundwork for his future entrepreneurship.
Finally, in 2014, Yin Jiankun left New Oriental, where he had worked for many years, re-found the direction of his life, and established Tianjin Strange Land Good Home Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Foreign Land Good House") in early 2015. The name "Living in a Foreign Land" was given by Yu Minhong, the founder of New Oriental Education and Technology Group, and the company also received investment from New Oriental.
The "Good Living in a Foreign Land" app developed by the company mainly provides users with services such as student apartment booking and brand apartment booking in overseas study destinations, with listings in more than 1,000 popular cities around the world, and is a mobile "room inspection dictionary". The newly developed "Good Living in a Foreign Land" APP has a comprehensive layout of the overseas campus life industry, with many overseas campus life service sections such as foreign tuition, foreign airport pick-up, foreign supermarket, etc.
The business consultant of "Living in a Foreign Country" communicates with international students about booking rooms. Photo by People's Daily reporter Sun Yifei
On the Home Away app, all listings are in partnership with centralized apartments abroad, not individual landlords. The centralized apartment has self-owned property, standardized management, and 24-hour security to ensure the safety of international students to the greatest extent.
"Last year, our R&D investment was more than 19 million yuan, accounting for about 10% of operating income." Shi Yi, chief financial officer of "Living in a Foreign Land", introduced that the R&D team in Beijing uses new technologies to ensure the stable operation of servers during the peak period of "house grabbing" on the one hand, and improve efficiency and reduce the company's operating costs on the other hand.
Located on the 27th floor of Lujiazui Financial Plaza in Hongqiao District, Tianjin, "Living in a Foreign Land" is located at the foot of the bustling Tianjin West Railway Station.
"Our office building is also very comprehensive in terms of living facilities, supported by shopping malls, apartments, and high-speed rail stations." Shi Yi introduced that now there are not only branches in Beijing, but also additional office locations in many cities around the world.
On December 18, 2023, the Jinxing Intercity Railway was officially put into operation. "In the past six months, it has become more convenient for overseas suppliers to come to Tianjin headquarters to negotiate, and we go to Daxing Airport every time, and we will 'pinch' the point and go, and it will take 40 minutes to arrive, which is very convenient." Shi Yi said the company is planning to locate its global headquarters in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei business district.
The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei City Business District is an aviation service circle without an airport that Hongqiao District has actively created by taking advantage of the opening and operation of the Jinxing Intercity Railway. In recent years, Hongqiao District has improved the working mechanism of the digital economy, actively built digital economy industrial clusters, and accelerated the promotion of key digital economy projects, providing rich application scenarios and factor guarantees for the development of the digital economy, and also planting the soil for the continuous development of "good living in a foreign land".
At present, the business of "Living in a Foreign Land" has spread to 27 mainstream study destinations such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia, and has successfully booked apartments for 260,000 international students. In 2023, the company's transaction scale will reach 7 billion yuan.
"The all-round support of the Tianjin government department has made the company's business develop rapidly, and it also gives us greater confidence in the future." Shi Yi said that the company is planning to add a new business segment to connect with the resources of international students and well-known domestic enterprises who have returned to China for development, so that international students can not only live overseas without worry, but also quickly locate the starting point of their careers after returning to China.
Reprinted with the beautiful red bridge