The First Generation Millionaire Chen Xingchang

In the era of ideological imprisonment, all private economies were characterized as capitalist, and no one dared to do business as a boss. In the early days of reform and opening up, even though the policy was liberalized, many people still had doubts, and the self-employed were even scornfully called "street boys". But look at today, everyone believes Entrepreneur Everyone is competing boss The policy of letting some people get rich first has really made a lot of money.

On this occasion, our investment page launched this column to pursue the first generation of Guangzhou millionaire Our entrepreneurial footprints are used to recall the great people, analyze the entrepreneurial spirit of the first batch of pioneers, and encourage the latecomers.

Entrepreneurship background

1979: The first batch of formal self-employed households came into being.

Mark: In February, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council approved the first report on the development of the individual economy: "Local governments can, according to market needs, approve some idle labor with official household registration to engage in repair, service and handicraft personal labor after obtaining the consent of the relevant competent business departments."

Data: In 1979, about 100000 self-employed businesses were approved to open nationwide. There are no more than 1000 households in Guangzhou.

1980: Encourage and support the individual economy.

Symbol: In August, the central government held a national labor and employment work conference, which proposed to encourage and support the proper development of the individual economy. All law-abiding individual workers should be respected by the society.

In 1981, self-employed workers could be hired.

Mark: In July, the State Council issued Several Policy Provisions on Non agricultural Individual Economy in Cities and Towns, which requires the protection of the legitimate operation, legitimate income and assets of self-employed households. It stipulates that self-employed households can hire one to two assistants with the approval of the Administration for Industry and Commerce, and self-employed technicians can bring up to five apprentices.

Data: At the end of the year, there were 1.01 million self-employed households nationwide.

1982: "Protecting the Individual Economy" was incorporated into the Constitution.

In December, the Fifth Session of the Fifth National People's Congress adopted a new Constitution, which stipulates that "the individual economy of urban and rural workers is a complement to the socialist public economy. The state protects the legitimate rights and interests of the individual economy."

Chen Xingchang and his wife

For nearly 50 years, Chen Xingchang has been used to everything in Guangzhou, but his strong Ningbo accent is still "unchanged". Although he is 85 years old, Chen Xingchang still manages his children's clothing business with his wife. He worked as a helper in a clothing store when he was young. He came to Guangzhou at the age of 28 and started his business five years later. In 1979, he became one of the first self-employed households in Guangzhou by the first ray of light of China's reform and opening up. In 1989, he was the first person in Guangzhou to receive a private enterprise business license, numbered 0001. {page_break}

At the beginning of entrepreneurship, he was called "street kid"

Chen Xingchang, a native of Ningbo, worked as a tailor in a famous suit shop in Shanghai in his early years. Now some suit brands on the market are developed from some famous stores in Shanghai at that time. At that time, Shanghai's clothing industry was relatively prosperous, while Guangzhou did not improve in this regard. So in 1947, when Chen Xingchang's sister went south to Hong Kong, he also went to Guangzhou, the "virgin land" of clothing.

At first, as a "poor boy", he could only work for others. In 1952, he and his wife, who were also familiar with the business, discussed setting up their own "mom and pop shop". At that time, everyone gradually stopped wearing suits, so most of their "business" was to process fashion. "However, because of hand-made, a suit of clothes takes two or three days. Of course, it was impossible to make a lot of money at that time, just to make a living." Chen Xingchang just smiled faintly when talking about the hardships of the past.

However, before the reform and opening up, the common people despised the "self-employed", which is beyond the understanding of the commercial society. When Chen Xingchang talked about this, he immediately stopped smiling, and his face became solemn: "People today can't understand people's ideas at that time." At that time, people called him "street boy", and his neighbors didn't like him, and few friends approached him. Even when the son is an adult, it is difficult to find a target, because when people hear that he is the son of "street kids", they are afraid to avoid him. The hard work and poverty did not make Chen Xingchang and his family give up the idea of starting a business, but they were not accepted by the society and respected by others. However, the injury still haunted him when he recalled it.

Great changes have taken place in China since 1979. At that time, there were not many people doing clothing business in Guangzhou, and most people were still worried about the current situation and dared not open up their business. Chen Xingchang, however, was resolute and courageous. When others were uneasy about the new situation, he had already registered with the Administration for Industry and Commerce this year, becoming the first batch of formal self-employed households in Guangzhou after the reform and opening up.

One of the four millionaires in Guangzhou

In 1980, the state advocated family planning. Although most families are still not rich, parents attach their heart to their children. Chen Xingchang was optimistic about this market and began to switch to children's clothing business in 1984. For 10 years, Chen Xingchang and his wife only slept three or four hours a day, and only slowly increased their sleep time to five hours when business was on track.

It is the market that is difficult to make children's clothes now, and the style design that was difficult at that time. Since there are few specialized children's wear enterprises in China, and there is no model to learn, Chen Xingchang used the "foundation" of fashion to buy design books from Hong Kong and abroad to learn, and then innovated and gradually created his own style. At that time, Guangzhou was one of the first cities to open up in China. Many guests from other provinces visited and shopped in Guangzhou. They were surprised to see Chen Xingchang's children's clothes. During the period from 1981 to 1982, people even queued up overnight to buy children's clothes.

According to the old Guangzhou people who are familiar with the changes of Guangzhou's business, around 1985, Chen Xingchang and three other entrepreneurs were called the four millionaires in Guangzhou.

Today, Chen Xingchang's products are exported to overseas and provincial markets. Even though he is 85 years old, Chen Xingchangxin is not old. He said that he has started trial operation of fashion stores since last year, with good results, so his next goal is to carry out latest fashion Design, production and sales, on the basis of doing a good job in children's clothing, he will also start his own business.