Although Ma Yun has many competitors in the mall, Liu Qiangdong is undoubtedly the strongest one. Although Jack Ma may be reluctant to admit it, JD.com has gradually emerged as one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the country since its inception in 1998.
As the founder, Liu Qiangdong has become one of the super-rich people in China with this platform, writing a legend of grassroots counterattack. Unlike most of the other wealthy people with middle-class family backgrounds, Liu Qiangdong's background is quite ordinary.
He was born in 1974 in a small remote village in Suqian City, Jiangsu Province, and his family was not wealthy. His parents worked outside the home all the year round, and he was raised by his grandmother. Although her grandmother did not have much education, she knew the importance of reading and always encouraged Liu Qiangdong to study hard. Under the careful cultivation of his grandmother, Liu Qiangdong's academic performance has always been excellent. However, when he was admitted to the Chinese National University, his family's difficulties also followed.
Tuition and living expenses were a huge expense for this poor family. Just when Liu Qiangdong was struggling to raise tuition, the villagers reached out one after another. They scraped together 500 yuan and 76 eggs for him, which was a lot of money for the poor in the village 30 years ago. Liu Qiangdong carefully sewed the money collected by the villagers into his trouser pocket, and with this heavy love, he embarked on the road to study.
During his college years, Liu Qiangdong, like many children from poor families, worked while studying. He originally majored in sociology, but in his sophomore year, he developed a strong interest in software programming. In order to gain an in-depth knowledge of software, he often stayed up all night teaching himself programming. With hard work and talent, his programming skills quickly surpassed many computer science students. In his junior year, he wrote a first-class beverage management system for a catering company in Beijing, and earned his first pot of gold with this project.
It was this experience that laid the foundation for Liu Qiangdong's entrepreneurial journey. He understood the potential of e-commerce and founded JD.com in 1998. After years of hard work, JD.com has developed into a leader in the domestic e-commerce industry, and Liu Qiangdong has also transformed from grassroots to billionaire.
In the journey of life, Liu Qiangdong has also written a tortuous chapter. He once designed a power management system for a local unit, which won him the first pot of gold in his life - a full 300,000. However, in his senior year, he did not choose to devote himself to the workplace or further his studies like most people, but used 200,000 yuan to open a restaurant around the campus. As a novice who is new to the business world, Liu Qiangdong has not mastered too many management skills. He left the responsibility of purchasing to the chef, but failed to strictly control every link. Eventually, due to various problems, his restaurant unfortunately closed after a short period of operation. The failure of this venture made his investment come to naught.
However, Liu Qiangdong was not thwarted, and he chose to start again. In 1996, he joined a foreign-owned company, amassing strength and waiting for a comeback. However, the entrepreneurial flame in his heart has never been extinguished. In 1998, he resigned and began to raise funds to start his own business again. He scraped together a lot of money, and finally borrowed 10,000 yuan, rented a small shop in Zhongguancun, and started a business of selling recorders and CDs. This is the prototype of Jingdong**. His efforts were not in vain, and JD Duo** gradually emerged in the market.
In 2001, his business scope expanded to all parts of the country, opened a number of branches, and became the largest optical disc product manufacturer in China at that time. His career is booming, so he decided to change the name of JD Duo to JD.
But the SARS epidemic in 2004 challenged his career like never before. In order to ensure the safety of his employees, he had to close all his stores. In the face of difficulties, he did not choose to give up. He began to think about how to transform to keep the business profitable.
At this time, the e-commerce platform Alibaba Group had already made its mark in the market, which gave him a revelation: why not try to sell products online? So, he listed the products in the store and sold them online. At first, due to the high pricing of JD.com**, the sales volume was not ideal, and there was even a loss. He wanted to give up several times, but whenever this thought came to mind, there was always a voice echoing deep in his heart: "I bought a CD on JD.com for 3 years and didn't buy a fake." The trust and recognition of his customers rekindled his fighting spirit. It is this perseverance and customer-first belief that has allowed Liu Qiangdong to lead Jingdong through the road of ups and downs.
Today, JD.com has become one of the giants of China's e-commerce industry, and its success story has spread throughout the business world. Liu Qiangdong himself has become an outstanding entrepreneur and business leader, and his entrepreneurial spirit has inspired countless people to chase their dreams. Liu Xiangdong, an ordinary young man, started his entrepreneurial journey with huge dreams. He not only built his own independence, but also bravely sought financial support from investment bosses Xu Xin and Zhang Lei, and began to build JD.com's logistics system.
At that time, his dream was still just a distant shadow, but he never gave up. 2014 was a turning point in his life. JD.com has emerged in the e-commerce sector, becoming the second-largest e-commerce platform in China, after Alibaba. JD.com was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and Liu Xiangdong became the focus of attention. He embarked on the road to success, but he did not forget his original intention. He remembered the kindness of the villagers, the small village that raised him.
During the Spring Festival of 2015, he returned to the village with a truckload full of cash. He gave 10,000 yuan in red envelopes to each of the elderly over 60 years old in the village, and also sent 5 million yuan worth of New Year's goods to each family. The villagers happily called him "Big Qiangzi", and his heart was filled with the joy of the villagers. He doesn't just settle for that.
In 2017, he donated 100 million yuan to the education cause in his hometown to improve school facilities. He also actively promoted the Xianlin branch of Nanjing Foreign Chinese School to settle in his hometown to provide better educational opportunities for children in his hometown. He knew that only education could truly change their destiny. But Liu Xiangdong knows that education is only one aspect of changing the lives of his fellow villagers. In order to solve the employment problem in his hometown, he built JD.com's customer service center in Suqian, providing more than 20,000 jobs for his hometown. This is a kind of feedback from his fellow villagers, a deep gratitude and love.
Compared with other business tycoons, Liu Xiangdong is a particularly down-to-earth person. He always remembered where he came from, the land and the people in his hometown. "Suqian is my hometown, a small but peaceful place," he said. After he became famous, he did not forget to give back to the township, full of gratitude. And a person who knows how to be grateful, his luck will naturally not be bad. He is Liu Xiangdong, an entrepreneur with dreams, feelings and responsibilities. He interprets his love and gratitude for his hometown with his actions, and also inspires us to work hard for a better future. Let's look forward to his future and look forward to JD.com's tomorrow.
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