Each time Zhang Qingjie drives along Shennan Avenue past the Shenzhen Book Tower, he habitually glances at the building. "That was my first stop when I came to Shenzhen. In 1987, it was still a small hill, and I lived in an abandoned cement-tiled house on that hill for two years."
Now, as the chairman of Youwujia, Zhang Qingjie is part of the generation that came to Shenzhen in the 1980s to seek their fortune independently. Eighteen years have passed, and the large hill where Zhang Qingjie first lived in Shenzhen is now filled with skyscrapers. He has transformed from a rural poor man into a wealthy tycoon worth hundreds of millions. The "vehicle" he once owned — a fully creaking old bicycle — has also been upgraded to the latest BMW 7 Series.
Despite this, Zhang Qingjie still has vivid memories of that old bicycle. Let's start the story from that old bike.
Self-Made Man
Riding a Bicycle to Sell Bananas, Earning Seven Hundred Yuan
"This old bicycle was the most valuable asset at the time," Zhang Qingjie recalled the hardships when he first came to Shenzhen, with mixed feelings.
In 1968, Zhang Qingjie was born in Gangtou Village, Chao'an County. "It was a place where even rice couldn't be eaten enough, with less than four fen of land per person." As the eldest son, Zhang Qingjie dropped out of school after elementary school to sell water to help support his family. In the Spring Festival of 1987, hearing people from the village who went out to work say that money was easier to earn in Shenzhen, Zhang Qingjie, not yet 20, bid farewell to his family and set foot on the gold-seeking path in Shenzhen.
"On the way to Shenzhen, I made an agreement with my companions that once we earned five ten-thousand yuan, we would return home to build a house! Because in my hometown, building a house costs about three or four ten-thousand yuan." Thus, with the grand ideal of building a house, Zhang Qingjie and his companions rented an abandoned cement-tiled house on the small hill where today's Shenzhen Book Tower is located.
When Zhang Qingjie first arrived in Shenzhen, all he had was an old bicycle and 700 yuan earned from selling fruits, otherwise, he was penniless.
Having no choice, Zhang Qingjie returned to his old trade in Shenzhen—selling fruits. On the second morning after arriving in Shenzhen, at 5 o'clock in the morning, he rode his bicycle for three hours to Nantou to pick up bananas and then sold them at the People's Bridge Small Commodities Market. "Every trip, I carried 100 to 200 pounds of bananas. However, many bananas in Shenzhen are soaked with chemicals to ripen them quickly, so they would rot within two days. Initially, due to lack of market knowledge, almost every day, I ended up with many unsold bananas that rotted. I couldn't eat them all, and throwing them away felt wasteful." Recalling the tough days when he first came to Shenzhen, Zhang Qingjie still has vivid memories.
Zhang told the reporter that after a month, the average daily income from selling fruits was only a few yuan, just enough to pay the rent, making life difficult and earning money to build a house impossible. Instead of increasing, the capital he brought with him was almost depleted.
First Fortune
Seizing Opportunities to Trade Hong Kong Goods, Making Ten Thousand Yuan Profit
More than a month later, the turning point came during a conversation. While selling fruits, Zhang Qingjie often chatted with nearby Chaozhou elders, but these weren’t idle chats; he hoped to find a way to make money through these conversations. Once, an elder casually mentioned that many villagers in Shenzhen go to Hong Kong to grow vegetables and bring back some trendy items like figs and guavas, which sell well in Shenzhen with good profit margins.
Zhang Qingjie quickly realized this was a great opportunity to make money. Thus, the goods he carried on his old bicycle changed from bananas to various trendy Hong Kong products. "Every morning, I would leave early to visit households in the villages to purchase items like figs, socks, tank tops, and shorts, and then rush to the People's Bridge Small Commodities Market to sell them."
At this point, a financial challenge arose. When purchasing goods from villagers, cash payment was required, and it had to be in Hong Kong dollars. Zhang Qingjie’s funds were limited, and the goods purchased with cash would sell out within an hour. What to do?
Thus, every early morning, Zhang Qingjie would carry the Hong Kong dollars exchanged from RMB in his pocket, head to the outskirts to buy goods from the villagers, then ride his old bicycle to the People's Bridge Small Commodities Market to sell them. Afterward, he would exchange the newly earned cash back into Hong Kong dollars and return to the village to purchase more goods.
"At that time, I had to run back and forth at least twenty times a day. My old bicycle, except for the bell, was completely noisy, and I worked from dawn till dusk every day. Often, by the time others started sleeping, we were just starting to cook dinner. By the end of 1987, I finally earned my first fortune in Shenzhen—16,000 yuan." Recalling the hardships of earning his first fortune, Zhang Qingjie expressed both sighs and pride.
Reporter's Impression
All Difficulties Were Natural Things
On March 16th, at 7:30 in the morning, according to the previous arrangement with Zhang Qingjie, the reporter rushed to the foot of Wutong Mountain in Shatoujiao to climb the mountain with Zhang Qingjie for a special interview.
Going to bed at 10:30 PM every night, waking up at 7 AM, climbing the mountain at 7:30, and arriving at the office promptly at 10 AM is Zhang Qingjie's natural timetable. Now, the successful Zhang Qingjie lives in a duplex apartment by the sea. In his words, "That was something I couldn't dream of more than ten years ago." What one couldn't dream of has become reality on the land of Shenzhen.
Two years ago, Zhang Qingjie became fond of mountain climbing. In the small bag he carries while climbing, there are always two bottles of mineral water. "Actually, I drink only one bottle each time. The other one is prepared in case there is no water available in the shops at the foot of the mountain." This detail of Zhang Qingjie's life reflects his business principle: never fight an unprepared battle.
There is a Chinese saying, "Opportunities only favor those who are prepared." Although Zhang Qingjie constantly changes industries, upon closer inspection, every decision he makes is based on detailed research and careful analysis. He told the reporter, "Business is either advancing or retreating; you must always stay alert." "No type of business can guarantee long-term profits, so you must continuously seek new profit growth points."
During the interview, the reporter asked him multiple times if he encountered any difficulties while starting his business. He immediately replied, "Nothing too significant." Because in his view, all difficulties are natural occurrences.
Tough Gold Mining
Small Stalls, Less Than Half a Square Meter, Selling Clothes Idle
From the village to the People's Bridge Small Commodities Market, this was Zhang Qingjie's daily route when he first started his business in Shenzhen. However, after becoming a ten-thousand-yuan household, Zhang Qingjie did not put the money aside to build a house but instead invested in a new venture (which he considered a remarkable change)—setting up a street stall.
Zhang Qingjie said, "After mixing with the crowd at the People's Bridge Small Commodities Market, I found that clothes were the best-selling items there. It was better to rent a stall in the market than to shuttle back and forth buying Hong Kong goods every day."
However, in the late 1980s in the Special Zone, everyone's business at the People's Bridge Small Commodities Market was booming, and no one was willing to rent space to him. After a week of hard negotiation with a store operating handbags, the owner finally agreed to rent him a spot for 400 yuan per month.
What kind of stall was it? "My first stall was less than half a square meter, just enough to place a cardboard box used for holding Henan duck pears." Today, Zhang Qingjie runs a building materials supermarket with an operating area of over 10,000 to 20,000 square meters, but when mentioning his tiny stall from back then, Zhang Qingjie remains excited, "This was my first stall. For a businessman, it's like finding a place to shelter from the wind and rain when you're homeless."
"With such a small space, what could you possibly sell?" It's hard for the reporter to imagine what someone could do with such a small cardboard box-sized stall to cover the rent.
"Sell clothes! I calculated that this cardboard box could only hold two stacks of pants, but clothing has high profit margins and quick capital turnover. I remember importing a batch of 'Single Dragon Brand' shorts, which cost 10 yuan to purchase and sold for 12 yuan." His flexible mind, through market research, found that stylish shorts were one of the fastest-moving items on the market. Zhang Qingjie informed the reporter that at that time, he was busy from morning till night, going to the factory to pick up goods late at night and opening the stall at 7 am. "At the time, I thought, earning even a little bit more is worthwhile because the rent was too expensive."
Since he was self-reliant and didn't have friends to rely on, Zhang Qingjie cherished every penny he earned. He recounted a small anecdote to the reporter: At that time, in Shenzhen, there was a common practice of giving a cigarette whenever meeting someone. He himself didn't smoke and didn't know how to smoke. But to reciprocate, he always kept a pack of cigarettes in his pocket, "Sometimes, the cigarettes would mold in my pocket without me realizing it."
Although this duck pear box-sized stall was small, it was the real starting point for Zhang Qingjie's career. Soon, he had stalls in several prosperous small commodities markets in Shenzhen like Ximen and People's Bridge. During this period, Zhang Qingjie traveled around Nanhai, Guangzhou, and Shantou to purchase goods.
Zhang Qingjie recalled, "At that time, I spent half a year in vehicles. Going to Beihai to purchase goods took a day and a night, and I would nap in the car when tired, then get off to buy goods when the car arrived." Despite traveling tirelessly, the profits were not substantial. "Because my principle was thin profit but high volume. For example, a piece of fabric only made 0.8 yuan, and a pair of shoes only made 5 yuan. Don't underestimate these few yuan; my money was accumulated bit by bit in this way."
Even now, decades later, Zhang Qingjie still clearly remembers every detail of his early entrepreneurial days. "The current Wang Dian restaurant under the People's Bridge Film Building and near the World Financial Center were places where I used to set up stalls." To commemorate his arduous entrepreneurial journey, Zhang Qingjie even bought the property of the Wang Dian restaurant on the first floor of the current film building.
In 1989, despite having accumulated some savings and being known as a famous "ten-thousand-yuan household" in his hometown, Zhang Qingjie still didn't dare to spend recklessly. "I lived in that cement-tiled house for more than two years. There was no gas there, and since I couldn't obtain alcohol stoves, I had to take cold showers for two years." Of course, what troubled him more was that every time it rained heavily inside, it rained heavily outside, and plastic basins of all sizes were scattered everywhere.
"Do you feel regretful now about those tough times?" the reporter asked.
"At that time, I only thought about making money and didn't feel anything was particularly hard," Zhang Qingjie replied faintly.
Success Formula
Industrial Momentum Appears Immediately Transition Without Attachment
"Businessmen are always looking for opportunities." Zhang Qingjie repeatedly mentioned this phrase during the interview.
In fact, from selling fruits to setting up clothing stalls, and then founding a building materials supermarket today, over more than ten years, Zhang Qingjie has been involved in more than a dozen industries, and his business has grown larger and larger. He told the reporter, "I always transform when an industry shows signs of slowing down, allowing me to always grasp market dynamics and thus continue to develop."
"I have a business philosophy: small capital leads to high profit but low overall profit; large capital leads to low profit but significant overall profit. How to understand this? For example, my initial clothing business, although it had small capital, offered relatively high profit margins, but due to the need for higher capital investment, the overall revenue wasn't very high. Now, I founded Youwujia, a superstore spanning tens of thousands of square meters, despite the large investment and low profit margin, the overall revenue far exceeds what I earned from running a street stall."
Zhang Qingjie is an observant person, always searching for business opportunities around him. In 1997, when the profit from the clothing business began to decline, Zhang Qingjie gradually transitioned. "As your capital accumulates to a certain level, you need to discover new industries within your cost control range that can also appreciate your capital."
In 1997, seeing that jewelry and small appliances were profitable businesses, many tourists coming to Shenzhen would go to Shatoujiao to buy cameras, gold necklaces, etc., Zhang Qingjie started a jewelry business in Shatoujiao. In 2000, he acquired several shop units at SEG Plaza for 9.8 million yuan. "At the time, I foresaw that the properties in Huaxia South would definitely appreciate in value, and now it has proven that my judgment was correct."
Among those who started businesses with Zhang Qingjie, some are still doing small-scale businesses, and others lost their fortunes due to failed investments. Only Zhang Qingjie consistently excels in every industry he enters. What is his investment secret?
"Doing business, a crucial aspect is knowing when to act and when to refrain. Over the years, people have consistently been engaged in commerce, such as selling mobile phones, computers, etc. These retail businesses differ only in the products they sell. There is also a principle: always control risks, ensuring that investment funds do not exceed your capacity to bear them." Zhang Qingjie informed the reporter that before entering a new industry, he conducts detailed market research, refraining from involvement unless thoroughly investigated.
In 2000, he found a plot of about 20,000 square meters in Nanshan, originally planning to open a department store. However, at that time, most buildings in Nanshan hadn't been constructed yet, appearing desolate and lacking popularity, unsuitable for a supermarket. He was unfamiliar with other industries. "Finally, after investigation, we discovered that Nanshan lacked a large building materials market, yet numerous construction projects were underway in the surrounding areas. We believed that the building materials market held great potential, so we decisively chose to open a building materials supermarket."
Unconventional Path
Youwujia Auction Property Investment Yields Considerable Returns
In his 18-year entrepreneurial journey, Zhang Qingjie is particularly proud of never engaging in loss-making businesses. The only exception was a stock market investment that resulted in a severe loss—he invested 10 million yuan in the stock market that year, and now it's worth less than 7 million yuan.
"Opportunities exist everywhere, but you need to study them to capture them." This is another business insight Zhang Qingjie has distilled over the years. Nowadays, besides leasing properties and operating building material malls, Zhang Qingjie has added a new item to his investment portfolio: seeking opportunities in auctions.
Therefore, every Wednesday, no matter how busy Zhang Qingjie is, he always takes the time to study auction announcements in newspapers. "This contains countless business opportunities, and over the years, I've gained considerable returns from purchasing auctioned properties."
He informed the reporter that in 1997, through an auction notice, he successfully acquired several shops behind the Yantian District government at a price of 5,000 yuan per square meter. Now, the market price there has reached over 10,000 yuan per square meter. "But I don't invest randomly. After each decision to purchase, I study the development prospects, rent, lease terms, and the difference between land prices, etc."
Recently, Zhang Qingjie spent 3.8 million yuan to acquire two unfinished buildings in Longgang Bantian. Some friends didn't understand, thinking that unfinished buildings might not be revitalized anytime soon, and the housing prices there were originally not high.
"But before purchasing, I conducted thorough research on this location. For example, Vanke City, which Vanke plans to build in Bantian, is located right between the two buildings I purchased. The floor price of this Vanke land has already reached 2,000 yuan per square meter. If construction costs are added, the housing price should be at least 4,000 to 5,000 yuan per square meter. However, the unfinished buildings I acquired averaged only 380 yuan per square meter, so it's certain to make a profit."
Indeed, the value of Zhang Qingjie's two unfinished buildings has nearly doubled. Not long ago, a developer was willing to pay 7 million yuan to acquire this property.
A Good Husband and Father
Optimistic and pragmatic Zhang Qingjie also has a simple love story. His wife, Wu Shiqing, met him in 1990 when she was conducting business in Shatoujiao. Back then, Zhang Qingjie was a small shopkeeper mainly dealing in clothing retail and wholesale, and Wu Shiqing, who often helped her boss deliver goods to Zhang Qingjie's store, caught his eye.
Though Zhang Qingjie has transformed from a small shopkeeper to a successful entrepreneur, in his wife's eyes, he remains a trustworthy husband and a caring father. "Mutual trust and respect are important. Despite his busy schedule, he usually returns home around 8:30 pm to watch TV and chat with the family." Wu Shiqing informed the reporter that after climbing the mountain every morning, if there's time, Zhang Qingjie also goes to the market to buy groceries for the day.
With a happy family and a thriving career, this is the fortunate life Zhang Qingjie has built in Shenzhen over the past decade.
Starting by selling fruits, setting up street stalls, selling mobile phones, investing in shops, and eventually owning hundreds of properties and a large chain building materials supermarket, Zhang Qingjie's entrepreneurial experience vividly represents the self-reliance and success of a generation of Shenzhen residents.
As the interview concluded, Zhang Qingjie said, "My success is thanks to the environment of the Special Zone back then. Those opportunities were indeed rare, and now they seem hard to replicate." He immediately added, "However, diligence and research are still universally applicable."
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