He once started from scratch and laid a world with his bare hands, and his personal assets exceeded 100 million yuan.
He has also invested in and participated in well-known film and television works such as "Liu Laogen" and "Shengshui Lakeside", and "became an official" in it.
After he made a fortune through serious means, in order to prove his strength and defraud money, he began to squander money, first spending 1.5 million to buy a Humvee, and then spending 1.82 million to buy the unparalleled name of 13333333333, and finally bought a batch of planes that could not fly to fill the façade.
However, the good times did not last long, and soon, the glory and wealth were disillusioned, all because of his improper intentions, and he always wanted to go crookedly. If you walk too much at night, you will always overturn.
He was able to hide it for a while, but he couldn't hide it for a lifetime, and he had an incident. He is the founder of the earth-shattering forestry industry in 2007, Chen Xianggui. What is his ** like? And what happened to him in the end?
In Zhaoyuan County, Heilongjiang Province in 1964, such an amazing figure was born, and he was our protagonist, Chen Xianggui.
Chen Xianggui was born poor since he was a child, and a steel hammer at home had to be broken into two halves, and the clothes were all worn by relatives and friends, so it can be said that life was very hard.
However, he has a flexible brain, and everyone thinks he has a promising future. When he reached the age of studying, he lived up to expectations and became a rare high school student at that time, seeing that he would be able to enter college soon, and he was glorious, but at this time he failed, and he was not admitted to university.
At the age of 18, young and with endless strength, Chen Xianggui wanted to become a soldier. Coincidentally, the forest police force came to the town to publicize, and as soon as it was total, Chen Xianggui signed up.
Speaking of which, his physical examination can be regarded as very thrilling, because he is too thin and weighs less than the required weight to join the army. For this reason, he began to drink water frantically the day before the medical examination, and it was so dangerous that his weight was stuck above the required minimum. In this way, he came to the Yakeshi Forest Army in Inner Mongolia and gloriously became the first batch of forest policemen in China.
The clever and sweet-mouthed Chen Xianggui can mix up anywhere, and it didn't take long for him to become the leader's correspondent.
In a blink of an eye, three years have passed, and the time has come in 1986, Chen Xianggui was discharged from the army, he did not choose to follow the arrangement of the army to change jobs, but took 500 yuan of discharge allowance and entered a chemical factory as a salesman, selling laundry detergent.
Coincidentally, the salesman is just right for him who can speak well and has a flexible mind, and it didn't take long for Chen Xianggui to let his deposit increase by a few zeros.
It has been said many times that Chen Xianggui has a very flexible mind, and after a few years in this chemical factory, Chen Xianggui began to want to start a business, it is impossible to work part-time, and it is impossible to work all the time in this life.
So, what to do when starting a business? Chen Xianggui remembered his old business, selling laundry detergent.
To sell something, you always have to solve the commodity **.
In 1983, Chen Xianggui and his friends rented a primary school building to set up a factory.
Chen Xianggui doesn't plan to be a second-tier dealer in the traditional sense, that is, to buy things to sell and do retail, but Chen Xianggui and his friends don't have enough money to build a solid factory and not enough money to buy a production line, what should they do? Chen Xianggui is worthy of a flexible brain, and his thinking is ahead of people, and he thinks of OEM.
The so-called OEM is to take laundry detergent from the east, and then take the packaging bag from the west, print your own brand, and combine the two together as your own production of goods to sell to the outside world.
Chen Xianggui found a detergent factory and began to produce this kind of OEM laundry detergent, and gave his OEM laundry detergent a name that hit the minds of consumers, called "Eight Minutes Laundry Detergent", and began to sell it to the outside world.
The name is catchy and highlights the ability to wash clothes in eight minutes (in fact, most laundry detergents wash clothes in eight minutes), and it quickly entered the minds of consumers.
Another trick for him to quickly enter the consumer's field of vision is that he chooses to distribute the goods first, let the store sell them first and then settle the payment for him.
This method is not uncommon now, but at that time, this method was still very rare and very effective, and it helped him to spread the goods and occupy the market at once.
After making his fortune, he also bought out the goods supplied to him from the chemical factory, and only allowed the chemical factory to supply him, and could not produce laundry detergent for other brands, nor did he allow the chemical factory to produce its own brand of laundry detergent.
In the end, Chen Xianggui established the "Eight Minutes International Washing Group" and had greater ambitions.
After earning the first pot of gold after starting a business, Chen Xianggui was not satisfied, he still wanted to make more money. But the local market is already getting saturated, how to open up a bigger market? Chen Xianggui thought of it - please speak for it.
Laundry detergent is mainly used by housewives, so the choice of spokesperson should choose a down-to-earth, well-known person to endorse, Chen Xianggui thought about it, spent a lot of money, and invited the famous, two-person actor Gao Xiumin, who has won the first prize of the Spring Festival Gala many times.
Gao Xiumin lived up to expectations and quickly opened a new market for Chen Xianggui, and the two also had a good personal relationship. All of a sudden, Chen Xianggui was equally beautiful, and Chen Kaixuan, the boss of Liby, was called the second Chen in the north and south of the laundry detergent industry.
Like many entrepreneurs, Chen Xianggui still remembered his hometown after he became rich, and in August 1993, Chen Xianggui built a road for his hometown, which won him a good reputation.
The good times did not last long, with the entry of a large number of laundry detergent manufacturers into the market, coupled with the emergence of laundry detergent, the market competition became more and more large, and Chen Xianggui's business was also squeezed. Under pressure, the advantages and disadvantages of the product are revealed.
After all, Chen Xianggui's eight-minute laundry detergent does not have its own production line, nor does it have its own core technology, and it is always just an OEM product.
Chen Xianggui was very anxious, and he thought of many ways to save his sales. For example, prize sales. If you buy laundry detergent, you have a chance of winning a Santana. Under the ** of money, Chen Xianggui's eight-minute laundry detergent business has also revived.
But at the same time, Chen Xianggui also began to think of crooked ways to make money. At that time,The supervision of sports lottery is not very strict,So,He contracted the issuance of sports lottery,And invited a large number of celebrities to publicize,Attract people to buy sports lottery tickets.
In fact, he has been playing tricks behind his back for a long time, implementing some black-box operations, secretly pocketing tens of millions of grand prizes, and leaving only some small prizes for others to win.
He continued to operate in the dark until the state sensed that something was wrong and began to investigate, and he did not stop.
As Chen's business grows bigger, he is also looking for a better reputation to help him win a better personal and corporate image and make more money.
Coincidentally, Chen Xianggui had already met Gao Xiumin by asking a spokesperson before, and this time, he learned through Gao Xiumin that "Liu Laogen 2" lacked filming funds, so he decisively found the crew of "Liu Laogen 2", indicating that he was willing to invest hundreds of thousands of yuan, and provided a Mercedes-Benz and an extended Lincoln for filming, but the premise was that "Liu Laogen 2" would arrange a positive role for him.
When Zhao Benshan heard this, he was overjoyed, and without much hesitation, he arranged the role of "Secretary Ma" for Chen Xianggui. Secretary Ma is a downright positive character, decent and honest, it can be said that it is the golden thigh of the protagonist, and I want to know that this is a very likable character.
Chen Xianggui's handsome and righteous appearance can be said to be very suitable for this role, plus the shopping mall is also like the showbiz, sometimes it is an acting act, Chen Xianggui, the gold owner who brought money into the group, acted quite well, and became the "Secretary Ma" in the hearts of many people.
After becoming popular with the role of "Secretary Ma", he was led by Gao Xiumin, invested 5 million and participated in an excellent work "Shengshui Lakeside", this TV series is also one of Gao Xiumin's masterpieces.
This time, he is still playing a Qing official, and this time he is playing a township party secretary, Secretary Chen.
participated in TV series twice, which created a good reputation for Chen Xianggui, which also laid the foundation for his success in cheating and abduction later.
Thousands of miles of afforestation
In August 2002, the state promulgated a policy that forestry was fully open to individuals.
Chen Xianggui relied on his intuition and experience as a forest policeman for many years in business, and judged that it was very profitable. He began to roll up his sleeves and get ready for a big fight.
Chen Xianggui didn't plan to take the right path this time,From the beginning of the contract lottery issuance,He has tasted the sweetness of crooked ways,And out of control。
You must know that his ideal is to become the richest man in China, but these crooked cleverness can only be rich for a while, not for a lifetime, I believe he will not be unaware, but he is greedy for a while. His approach can be said to be completely contrary to his ideals.
Just two years after the policy was issued, in January 2004, he registered in Tongliao "Inner Mongolia Wanli Afforestation *** and claimed that he would invest 10 billion yuan in five years to afforest 15 million mu in 14 provinces north of the Yangtze River, and played a slogan, "Ten thousand miles of afforestation, benefit the country and the people".
If he is really planting trees honestly, then this is indeed a good thing for the benefit of the country and the people, but is Chen Xianggui really planting trees honestly?
In short, with Chen Xianggui's crazy and successful publicity, in the three years before the incident, he was crazy 12More than 700 million yuan, a total of 19,987 people invested in the Wanli afforestation project. So, how did he build this **? Let's read on.
First of all, in order to win the trust of the people, he used 600,000 yuan to rent a manor covering an area of more than 440 acres and more than 20 villas as the headquarters of the Wanlida Afforestation Company, and at the same time spent 500,000 yuan to buy five planes that could not be used at all as a façade, and said that this was a special plane for the Wanlida Afforestation Company to spray pesticides on the trees, which was used to fool the investors who came to the door.
In addition, he also pulled in He Qingkui, who was very famous at the time, who was also Gao Xiumin's object, the screenwriter of "Holy Water Lakeside", and Gao Xiumin himself stood for them.
For this platform, Chen Xianggui paid 6 million. Because of this, He Qingkui and Gao Xiumin were firmly tied to this ship. Gao Xiumin's untimely death, some people believe that there is no shortage of things related to Chen Xianggui and his "10,000-mile afforestation" accident.
After the "Ten Thousand Miles of Great Afforestation" project became famous, Chen Xianggui was even able to enter and leave the Great Hall of the People and was interviewed by Yang Lan and Zhao Zhongxiang. Yang Lan and his entourage also filmed a documentary "Great Afforestation" for their "Great Afforestation" project, but unfortunately, in the process of filming, no one found the project "boring".
Before and after, Chen Xianggui invested more than 5,400 yuan in advertising to a total of 405 ** companies across the country, and such a large amount of advertising money was smashed, and the phrase "thousands of miles of afforestation, benefiting the country and the people" has also been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Chen Xianggui once said to a friend: "I want to thank my parents, it is they who gave me a kind appearance, the same lie, I say that at least 8 out of 10 people will believe it." ”
Yes, relying on his good image, his earth-shattering ** succeeded.
So, how exactly did Chen Xianggui construct his **?
First of all, he first contracted or simply bought the land for planting trees at a rate ranging from 2 yuan to 30 yuan per mu per year, and then sold the forest land at 2,600 yuan per mu.
This is already a huge profit, and Chen Xianggui is not satisfied.
He began to develop a business similar to MLM**. The company first through the "recruitment and **" to obtain a group of salesmen, first by this group of salesmen and salesmen to introduce the people to buy forest land, and then by this group of people to develop the downline, salesmen through the sales and development of the scale of the downline personnel to get commissions and get promoted.
Everyone understands at a glance that this is essentially a pyramid scheme!
So, how did Chen Xianggui convince investors to believe in his project at that time? He asked investors to listen to his speech and publicity, and at the publicity meeting, the salesman of Wanlida Afforestation Company claimed: "After the customer buys the forest land, the company will have a special person to take care of it, to ensure that the survival rate of the forest reaches 100%, and can ensure that the forest stock reaches 12 cubic meters after 8 years."
It is equivalent to saying that it takes 260,000 yuan to buy 10 acres of forest land, 8 years later, after deducting the cost of buying forest land and entrusting Wanlida Afforestation Company to take care of forest land, a net profit of 160,000 yuan."
Who wouldn't be tempted by this kind of business that is sure to make money without losing money? But when you think about it, the interest rate is too high, incredibly high. Is Chen Xianggui really doing it for nothing, doing charity? It's obviously impossible.
Mr. Liang, 57, was one of the victims of the deception. After listening to the so-called "project briefing", Mr. Liang contributed 260,000 yuan bought 10 acres of forest land.
Mr. Tian is also one of the victims, but compared with Mr. Liang, Mr. Tian is a little different, he is more defensive, but he is also deceived by more money. The reason for this is that Mr. Tian went to Tongliao to see the experimental fields of the Wanlida Afforestation Company and "saw the trees that were growing well".
After Mr. Tian looked at the test field, his heart was put into his stomach and he boldly threw 1040,000 yuan, bought 30 acres of forest land. Of course, this 1040,000 were lost.
At its peak, Wanlida Afforestation Company even set up 99 branches in 12 provinces and cities.
In order to win the trust of more people, Chen Xianggui not only spent a huge amount of money on advertising, but also spent a lot of money to buy various awards and painstakingly manage his own image.
In December 2004, Chen Xianggui threw 250,000 yuan in exchange for the title of "China's Top Ten News Figures in Reform and Opening-up", and in October 2005, Chen Xianggui threw out 150,000 yuan again in exchange for the title of "China's Most Influential Entrepreneur". In May 2006, another 100,000 yuan was spent, and Chen Xianggui won the "Top Ten Planning and Innovation Figures Who Moved China" award, and in September 2006, another 100,000 yuan was spent. This time, Chen Xianggui won the title of "Top Ten Wealthy Leaders in China's Rural Areas". Countless halos are endorsing Chen Xianggui, and he probably didn't expect that honor would come so easily, as long as he threw money.
In addition to using various methods to shape the image of the company and Chen Xianggui, Wanlida Afforestation Company also promised the majority of investors that they had insured the trees from insurance companies, but in fact, these policies were not effective, because they insured the trees from being affected by disasters, that is, to prevent accidents, not to prevent the trees from growing.
Except for Chen Xianggui and his company members, no one expected that the forest tree they bought, "Zhelin No. 4 Yang", would only grow 3 cm thick after three years. That's 177 meters, the average growth of DBH is 245 is even more far behind.
In fact, this place is not suitable for planting poplars at all, and the locals are well aware of this, they say that if they could really make money by planting trees, they would have planted them a long time ago, so the number of local victims is very small, only 451 people.
According to the data, only 20 people were deceived at the location of the head office of Wanli Afforestation.
Everything has a process of going from prosperity to decline. A wicked man is his own hell. Chen Xianggui not only made black money, but he also entangled a group of gangsters to act as his "legal department", and once he noticed any movement of an employee, he immediately asked this group of "legal department" to torture him. Under this kind of ** rule, the employees are obedient.
However, making black money definitely can't last long.
Although as early as August 2004, some people began to question the reliability of the operation model of Wanli Afforestation, but it was not until April 28, 2007 that Chen Xianggui, general manager Liu Yanying, and a group of accomplices were arrested.
On the morning of December 31, 2008, the first-instance verdict was handed down: Chen Xianggui and Liu Yanying were sentenced to 11 and 9 years in prison respectively, and the other accomplices were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 4 to 3 years or suspended sentences, depending on the severity of the crime.
Chen Xianggui was confiscated 200 million yuan of personal property, and Liu Yanying was confiscated 1500 million yuan. From this, you can see how much money they have made from the people.
However, in court, Chen Xianggui still insisted that he was doing good things for the benefit of the country and the people, and he was not **. Of course, no one believed him. However, there are also many people who believe that he did plant trees, which is not the same thing as not planting at all, and for this reason, they would rather give up the recovery.
In the blink of an eye, the time came in 2015, and Chen Xianggui was released. Because he behaved well in prison, he was released after only 7 years in prison.
After being released, Chen Xianggui started his business again, and he registered the "Save Half" business group with a registered capital of 100 million yuan.
This is also inevitable, after all, once the credibility is damaged, it is difficult to recover, and it still takes a lot of courage to make everyone believe in such a "giant fraud". In addition, the conditions he gave to the ** merchant were also very harsh.
However, he finally made a comeback, but his venture did not seem to have succeeded. So he filmed again and participated in "By the Holy Water Lake". And, just in 2021, he launched another project called the "Military and Civilian Farm Land Trust Project".
Business is based on integrity, I believe he will not be unaware, the chance to come back is only once at most, I hope he will not go the wrong way this time.
References:1] China Forestry Industry, "Chen Xianggui Case: Wanli Afforestation or Wanli Dakeng People", 200901.02
2] **Legal System, "Tracking [Wanli Great Afforestation] Case", No. 16, 2008.