Era smuggling king Lai Changxing
In the 90s, he illegally smuggled more than 50 billion yuan, you know, at that time, the per capita salary in Shanghai was only about 300 yuan, 50 billion was astronomical at that time, equivalent to trillions now.
So, as a farmer who has not even graduated from primary school, what kind of charm does Lai Changxing have? How did he go from an ordinary farmer to a billionaire and then to a prisoner?
In order to answer these doubts, let's review the life of Lai Changxing, a legendary figure.
Lai Changxing was born on September 15, 1958 in a small village in Jinjiang County, Fujian Province. When he was a child, due to the large population in his family, Lai Changxing often did not have enough to eat.
But he showed great wisdom from an early age, and began selling breakfast snacks and fruits at a young age. For Hokkien people, wealth in the past may have been an instinct in the bones, and Lai Changxing has developed a strong interest in business since he was a child.
Lai Changxing dropped out of school after reaching the third grade of primary school and returned home to start farming at home. A few years later, in order to make more money, he followed his brother to Quanzhou as a migrant worker. There, Lai Changxing had to push a wheelbarrow to push more than 400 catties of soil two or three kilometers away every day and dump it, and then repeat the process, working for more than ten hours a day.
But Lai Changxing did not indulge in this kind of repetitive work all the time, but chose to return to his hometown and get a job running business in the agricultural machinery factory. In the process, he learned many business skills, which also laid the foundation for his future entrepreneurship.
In 1978, Lai Changxing began his career. Lai Changxing, who was only 20 years old at the time, raised funds with five friends from the same township to set up a small auto parts factory.
It was the first investment in his life, and it didn't disappoint him. At this time, it was the early stage of reform and opening up, and the demand of all walks of life was far greater than the supply. As a result, this small family-style factory was very popular as soon as it opened, and several people made a lot of money from it.
This made Lai Changxing, who has a keen sense of smell, smell business opportunities. Two years later, Lai Changxing used the money he earned to open a textile machinery factory on his own. Because he found that there were not many people doing textile machinery, and he just caught up with the tide of processing economy after the reform and opening up.
A large number of garment processing factories began to appear in the coastal villages and towns of Fujian and Guangdong, which brought a huge market for Lai's textile machine business.
Lai Changxing, a legend from worker to entrepreneur. In 1985, he only spent 20,000 yuan to buy the design drawings of the textile machine and started his own business.
Although he doesn't speak Mandarin well, he impresses customers with his persistence and enthusiasm and establishes his own sales network. Lai Changxing's memory is also amazing, he can remember the ** numbers of more than 300 people, and can remember the names of people he has met.
No matter who he talks to, he makes people feel comfortable. Lai's hard work and enthusiasm soon led to the success of his textile machinery factory, which led him to amass a considerable fortune and meet his wife, Zeng Mingna.
After that, he successively opened a printing house, an umbrella factory, a garment factory and many other factories, and by 1989, he was already a multi-millionaire, but he was not satisfied with that.
He found a new business opportunity – reselling electronics. At that time, the demand for electronics in China was much greater than the supply, so electronics were extremely profitable. Lai Changxing began to resell vouchers, but later found that smuggling was more profitable.
He knew that doing this kind of business required a backstage, so he chose a more dangerous path.
Lai's social approach and generosity make him an attractive figure. He adheres to the principle of long-term courtesy and non-expectation, so that many people are willing to make friends with him.
He will also try his best to meet the needs of others and make them feel like his friends. For example, he once held a birthday party and gave each of the 200 people present a red envelope of 100,000 yuan, which was impressive.
Lai Changxing's commercial success is also his attraction, and he established Xiamen Yuanhua Group's family-owned company, which has a wide range of businesses, including chips, refined oil, vegetable oil, automobiles and cigarettes.
He also ventured into the real estate industry, winning several land parcels in Xiamen. As a result, Lai Changxing has become a celebrity, and has been praised as an honorary citizen of Xiamen City and an outstanding young person in the 21st century.
The most impressive thing is that the Xiamen Yuanhua football team he acquired kicked into the A League, and his nephew Lai Wenfeng also dated Yang Yuying, a first-line actress in the entertainment industry, which reflects the glory of Yuanhua Group from the side.
Lai Changxing built a seven-story building in Xiamen called the Red House as the headquarters of the Yuanhua Group. The interior of the Red House is unique, in addition to Lai Changxing's office, there are also long-term massage and bathing services.
The Red House is not a private club open to the public, but a club set up by Lai Changxing to meet the special needs of the four classes: whales, punishments, intermediaries, and slaves.
The whale is of the highest order, enjoying the flattering service of the slaves and feeling condescending. In addition to enjoying the service, I also want to get to know the giant whale. The middleman is somewhere in between, and they introduce the slave to the whale and punish in order to gain favor and trust.
Slaves need to use intermediaries to find whales that are higher than them. The existence of the Red House is not an isolated case, and there is a similar hierarchy in bars, private rooms, ** and private clubs.
Interested friends can ** The movie starring Tom to learn about the erosive life behind the powerful community.
This film is speculated by everyone to be an allusion to the Illuminati, once people have power, they will enjoy the fun of conquering the opposite sex, but sometimes, just because there is no **, so people don't know.
Half a year later, Lai Changxing had an accident. The incident began when a business partner of Lai Changxing wrote a 74-page whistleblower letter reporting Lai Changxing. The main reason why Lai Changxing was reported was that his business partner gambled in Macau, owed huge debts, and then extorted him, but he did not comply.
In the end, his business partner became angry and wrote a long whistleblower letter, revealing all of Lai's secrets. The whistleblower letter eventually worked, and Lai Changxing began to be investigated by the task force.
One night in August 1999, the public security department and the armed police began to arrest Lai Changxing. On the night of **, Lai Changxing first drove to Shenzhen, and then took a speedboat to Hong Kong in Shenzhen.
A few days later, he flew from Hong Kong to Canada. Lai Changxing's arrival in Canada did not go well, and his refugee claim in Canada was denied. In order to pass a refugee claim in Canada, you must prove that you have been subjected to ** because of political, religious, and racial reasons.
Obviously, Lai Changxing does not meet these conditions.
Lai's financial woes are the second reason. He was an avid gambler and paid high legal fees for refugee lawsuits. In desperation, he was forced to sell his luxury villa and move into a small apartment.
He was then placed under residential surveillance in Canada** for immigration violations, which is no different from being jailed in China. In the face of interviews with reporters, Lai Changxing always looked very aggrieved.
He admits that his financial situation is a little strained and that he doesn't deserve to be treated like this. However, he does not miss the rich days of his life, but prefers to live a peaceful life.
He also wanted to look for a job, but the immigration authorities did not approve it. In 2011, Lai Changxing was repatriated to China, ending a 12-year career as a fugitive. In 2012, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for smuggling and bribery, and the Yuanhua extraordinarily large smuggling case that caused a sensation across the country came to an end.
Lai Changxing's story makes us think deeply, if you want to turn over, you not only need a flexible mind, but also need to keep up with the pace of the times. The most important thing is to stop it in time.
If Lai hadn't dabbled in smuggling, he would probably be a very successful entrepreneur by now. His story tells us that success is not only about money and power, but more importantly, about having the right outlook on life and values.