Han Qiangchou, who set foot in the business world at the age of 17, has encountered countless twists and turns and risks along the way. Having travelled in many countries during turbulent times, he has always been able to seize business opportunities because of his discerning eye and ability to adapt to change. Even in the face of adversity, he still chose to go against the trend. It was this kind of sword that went off the rails that made him desperate. When Cambodia was in ruins after the war, he resolutely returned to his homeland with a patriotic heart and took on the historical mission of rebuilding Cambodia.
After years of careful management, he has built a "commercial aircraft carrier" covering multiple industries such as building material production, airports, roads, real estate, agricultural planting, petroleum, etc., and has become an indispensable and important force in Cambodia's economy. After achieving great success in the business field, he did not forget to help the needy, vigorously give back to the society, won the unanimous praise of Cambodia and all walks of life, and was awarded the title of "Lord" by the King of Cambodia.
A gifted teenager who dropped out of school to start a business.
In 1949, Han Qiangchou was born in a remote town in Pengsong County, Koh Kong Province, Cambodia, he is Cambodia's most Chinese, and his ancestral home is Wenchang, Hainan. His parents not only farmed the pepper plantation left by his grandfather, but also ran a grocery store, making a stable and happy life.
His father attached great importance to his child's Chinese education, and when Han Qiangqiao was in primary school, he sent him to Juemin School in other provinces. After graduating from primary school, his father sent him to Tuanhua School in Phnom Penh, the largest and best Chinese school in Cambodia at that time.
At that time, Han Qiangchou's second uncle Fu Guowen also went to Phnom Penh to start a cooked fish business, from retail to wholesale, and even did the business in Vietnam within a year. With the continuous increase in business volume, he urgently needs a capable helper, and the smart and clever Han Qiangchou is undoubtedly the best candidate.
Whether to follow his second uncle to do cooked fish business or continue his studies has become an important choice in the life of 17-year-old Han Qiangchou. As the vice president of the class, his grades have never been lower than the top three in the class, and it is a pity to give up his studies. But at that time, there were not many outlets for Chinese in Cambodia, and after graduation, they either became teachers or businessmen. After careful consideration, Han Qiangchou finally made the most important decision in his life - to put aside his studies for the time being and learn to do business first.
At that time, South Vietnam had become an important position in the business of Nguyen Truc Language. He usually buys marine fish in Sihanoukville and cooks them with salt, which is good for storage and tastes great. After the fish is processed, it is then transported to Vietnam through Ba Rai on the Cambodian-Vietnamese border. Due to the long distance, in order to ensure that the cooked fish would not spoil, he had to cook the cooked fish again in Bayu. After Han Qiangchou decided to learn to do business, Fu Guowen sent him to Bayu and put him in charge of this business line.
Although he was still young, Han Qiangchou quickly mastered the method and started a business with ease. After he took over, the business was still booming, and he exported more than a dozen tons of cooked fish to Vietnam every day. At the same time, he also imported some machine parts from Vietnam to Cambodia, and made a lot of profits.
However, the good times did not last long, and soon after, the guns of the Vietnam War broke out, the ** environment on the Cambodian-Vietnamese border deteriorated, and Han Qiangchou's business was greatly impacted, and he had to return to Phnom Penh.
He observed that there was a shortage of mechanical talents and products in Cambodia, and in order to master more skills, he entered the Iron Handicraft Institute to study, and continued to help his second uncle in his spare time.
Self-reliant gateway galloping in the commercial sea.
In 1969, when Han Qiangchou was 20 years old, he founded his own company, Heqiang Fishery. "Harmony" means that harmony is precious, and harmony can gather wealth; "Strong" is taken from his name, and it also contains his expectation to make the company bigger and stronger.
Unlike the ordinary seafood products of Fu Guowen, Ho Qiang Fishery specializes in high-quality seafood and has a good reputation, and soon became a supplier to many restaurants in Phnom Penh.
Seeing that the demand for the product continued, Han Qiangchou came up with the idea of buying a boat to fish. A year after starting his business, he went to Kampong Son Port, Cambodia's largest seaport city, to buy two fishing boats and set foot in the fishing industry.
Since then, he has expanded his business to the fish deep processing industry, thus opening up the industrial chain of the aquatic industry.
In the early 70s of the 20th century, Han Qiangchou had a greater goal and began to engage in maritime **. It was also at that time that the Cambodian Civil War broke out. Holding a fishing vessel operating license from Cambodia and Thailand, he gradually shifted the focus of his business from Cambodia to Thailand, and continued to expand the scale of the sea.
In 1975, when Vietnam was reunified and the forces supported by the United States in Cambodia were overthrown, the United States gathered Western countries to jointly impose economic sanctions and blockade on Cambodia and Vietnam, resulting in a shortage of materials in the two countries.
In the face of this situation, Han Qiangchou, who has a keen business sense, disregarded the risks and broke through the US naval blockade of Southeast Asia alone, and opened up a "Singapore-Thailand-Cambodia-Vietnam" maritime route, turning this crisis into a business opportunity. He shipped home appliances such as televisions and radios purchased from Singapore to Thailand for sale, and then bought sugar, fabrics and daily necessities from Thailand and shipped them to Vietnam and Cambodia, and then shipped aquatic products and agricultural products from the two countries to Singapore and Thailand. This route not only meets the living needs of Southeast Asian residents, but also opens up a new world for Han Qiangchou's business.
However, risks often come with him, during which his fishing boats were detained by Vietnam** for two months, and more than 100 boats along with other fishermen were forced to stop operating. Because he could speak Cambodian, Thai, and Vietnamese, and because he was the first to do business in Vietnam, Han was elected by the fishermen as a representative to negotiate with Vietnam's Ministry of Commerce.
This incident made him famous, and a Thai businessman reached out to him to cooperate with him. The other party has an 8,000-ton cargo ship, while Han Qiangchou's merchant ship has a load of 3,500 tons, and the two sides have teamed up to take his business to the next level.
Han Qiangchou, who has always adhered to the integrity of management, has won the trust of our customers, and once a customer asked him to transport 3 tons. In the face of great wealth, he did not take advantage of the opportunity to make a profit, but only charged transportation fees. Good reputation and reputation also laid the foundation for his future career.
Go away and create brilliance again.
While Han Qiangchou earned high profits through the sea, he was also coveted by criminals. Concerned about his own safety and that of his family, he moved with his family into a refugee camp in Thailand in 1978 with the intention of emigrating to other countries.
Han Qiangchou was a visionary, and as soon as he arrived in the refugee camp, he began to think about his future survival abroad. After some deliberation, he opened a bakery in the camp and learned how to make bread with his wife.
Soon, New Zealanders came to select refugees, and they wanted to choose people who had the money, could speak multiple languages, and had good skills, and Han Qiangchou happened to be suitable, so he successfully immigrated to New Zealand with his family.
On his second day in New Zealand, he found a job in a bakery, where the bread he had learned came in handy. Not only did he do bread well, but he also repaired machinery, which was appreciated by his boss, and he was soon promoted to mechanic, and his salary also increased from 2NZ$7 rose to NZ$13.
Soon he went to work in a car factory for $18 an hour. Although his income has increased significantly, he has to work overtime every day, and his hands are covered with stains that are difficult to clean.
Three months later, Han Qiangchou decided to start his own business, he started with the bread he was familiar with, took over a bakery that was not doing well, and renamed it "Han Fast Food". After taking over, he carried out a series of reforms, extending the opening hours on holidays, and also installing coin-operated game machines in the store, so that customers could play games to pass the time while waiting for bread. After the adjustment, the bakery increased its turnover from just over $1,000 a day to more than $6,000 a day.
Half a year after arriving in New Zealand, Han Qiangchou bought a house and a car. However, he was not satisfied with the status quo, and he decided to work in a fish processing factory 100 kilometers away from home, taking the opportunity to learn about New Zealand.
To his surprise, fish processing plants in New Zealand dispose of fish heads, shark fins and crayfish, which are popular foods in Singapore and Malaysia, as waste. He seized the opportunity to fly the products from New Zealand to Singapore and Malaysia.
At first, the freight was very expensive, and Han Qiangchou had almost no profit. Later, at the prompting of an overseas Chinese, he signed a long-term contract with the airline, and the freight rate was reduced. He went from sending 200 kilograms a day to 500 kilograms of products a day, and his profits gradually increased.
But New Zealand is a small country after all, and Han has bigger goals in mind. In 1986, he left New Zealand, where he had lived for seven years, to Australia in search of new opportunities.
At first, he chose to settle in Sydney, but after a period of observation, he found that the local society was complex, which was not conducive to children's education. Resolute, he moved his family to Melbourne and sent his children to one of the best private schools in the area.
He found a shop opposite Melbourne's train station and opened a fast-food restaurant again, selling mainly potato chips and dim sum, and business was booming. 4 years later, he sold it for **.
Later, he heard that dry cleaners were very profitable, so he decided to switch careers to dry cleaners. At this time, he was not confused, and he walked into the campus again to learn about fabrics and dry cleaning. Half a year later, he successfully obtained a license to operate a dry cleaner. Immediately afterwards, he invested $120,000 to open a dry cleaning shop and undertook the dry cleaning business of the airport, becoming a leader in his peers.
Rebuild your country and move towards the top.
Although life in Australia is comfortable, the turbulent motherland has always affected Han Qiangchou's heart. In 1993, Cambodia finally restored its long-lost peace, and he embarked on a journey back to China after many years of absence.
Cambodia is full of ruins after the war, and while Han Qiangchou is heartbroken, he also decides to return to Cambodia and contribute to the reconstruction of the country.
When he got off the plane at Phnom Penh International Airport, he noticed that the airport was dilapidated, the facilities were outdated, and there were not even fans. He believes that the international airport is a window to the country, and if the country wants to develop, it must be built well, so he is determined to build a modern international aviation hub for Cambodia.
His heart of fist was recognized and supported by **, but when he began to prepare with enthusiasm, reality poured cold water on him. Due to years of war, the infrastructure around the airport, such as roads and bridges, is in dire straits. Not only that, but the building materials used in the construction project were also very scarce. For a time, the airport project almost came to a standstill.
In the face of many difficulties, Han Qiangchou did not flinch, but chose to resolve them one by one.
After investigation and understanding, he first founded a large quarry in the province of Seju. At the beginning of its establishment, thefts were frequent, and in order to make it easier to manage, he simply lived in a quarry. In addition to stealing, the biggest problem he faced was the lack of talent, and it was difficult to hire even ordinary civil engineers and repairmen, let alone engineers. In order to improve the work efficiency and technical level of the quarry, he flew to Liaoning, China, to buy machinery and equipment, and hired Chinese engineers to guide him. With their assistance, Han Qiangchou's quarry soon became a leading local enterprise.
Later, in response to the lack of materials, he successively set up cement mixing plants and asphalt plants.
In 1994, he founded Harmony Prosperity Design & Construction (MEC) in Phnom Penh, and worked with the Asian Development Bank to undertake the construction of Phnom Penh International Airport, Siem Reap International Airport and Sihanoukville International Airport. At the same time, Muxingwang and France's Dumez company jointly established SCA *** Han Qiangchou as the operator of the airport, participating in the daily management of the airport, and the management authority of the three major airports is until 2040.
Mu Xingwang also donated US$170,000 to Phnom Penh City** to repair the "** Avenue". For this reason, the King of Cambodia conferred the title of "Lord" on Han Qiangchou, and Prime Minister Hun Sen personally awarded him a certificate.
In addition, Mu Xingwang has also rehabilitated the National Theatre and built about 600 kilometers of roads, about 400 kilometers of railways on the "Bobi-Phnom Penh" section of the Trans-Asian Railway, and more than 100 bridges of various sizes.
When Han Qiangchou saw the huge potential of the real estate market, he resolutely entered the real estate industry, bought some land in the core area, and did real estate development by himself, which was also very successful.
In addition to engineering, he is also diversifying. He has purchased or leased large areas of land in several provinces to grow tropical crops such as coconut, jackfruit, pineapple, sugar cane, and rice. Among them, coconut groves alone are hundreds of hectares, ranking first in Cambodia.
In 2005, inspired by a friend, he realized that the oil industry had a lot to offer. At that time, Cambodia imported oil from different countries and did not meet international standards. He decided to buy ** from the Middle East, ship it to Cambodia and then refine it into Euro 5 gasoline and diesel. Prime Minister Hun Sen strongly supported the idea and approved him to build an oil refinery with an annual output of up to 5 million tons.
Han Qiangchou has made great contributions to Cambodia's post-war re-establishment and won unanimous praise from Cambodia and people from all walks of life. In 2008, Prime Minister Hun Sen conferred on him the Order of the State First Class by King Sihamoni in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Cambodia's economic development.
Sang Zi has a deep love for the pure child.
Growing up in Cambodia, Han Qiangchou has never forgotten his roots in China, and over the years, he has been actively befriending Sangzi and uniting the Chinese.
As early as 1994, he joined the Cambodian Hainan Association, hoping to promote the development and growth of the Hainan community in Cambodia. After joining the Association, he actively served and helped the Hainan villagers, and urged the Cambodian Hainan people to connect with their hometown, exchange and cooperation. In addition, the Cambodian Hainan Association is also committed to the development of Chinese education, and with the efforts of Han Qiangchou and other overseas Chinese, it has now opened five Chinese schools.
He is also a member of the Cambodian Chinese Council, which is responsible for managing and supporting 63 Chinese schools in Cambodia. In order to provide a better learning environment for Hainan students, the Federation is planning to build a Hainan school. In the future, it will invest US$5 million to buy land to build Chinese schools and dormitories in more remote places, and will also buy school buses to transport students, a project that Han Qiangchou is in charge of.
In his view, Chinese culture is the root of the national blood and the great wealth of the cultural spirit, and the development of Chinese education is the foundation for the Chinese people to inherit Chinese culture for thousands of years.
In order to pass on Chinese culture in Cambodia, Han Qiangchou also donated to build a number of schools. He and his friends donated funds to build the only Chinese school in the province, Pei Ying School, in their hometown of Kuo Kong Province. At the Juemin School in Gongbu City, where he used to study, he donated funds to build part of the school building and sponsored a large amount of funds; In Phnom Penh, he also generously contributed to the construction of a school building for the Integrated School.
In the context of the "Belt and Road", Cambodia's Hainan Association and Hainan have also carried out cooperation plans on training and education, and he hopes to build a technical school with Hainan in the future.
In addition to donating to education, Han Qiangchou also supports the cause of Chinese culture in various forms. In 2004, the Cambodian Hainan Literary Friends Association was established, and the literary friends hoped to publish a book to create Chinese literature in Cambodia. This initiative was appreciated and supported by Han Qiangchou. With his patronage, the first book of the Hainan Literary Friends Association, "Selected Works of Hainan Literary Friends in Cambodia", was published. The following year, he funded the publication of his second book, The Gleaning of Angkor.
In 2006, under the initiative of the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia and the positive response of Chinese and associations from all walks of life in Cambodia, the "Cambodian Chinese Education Association" was established, and Han Qiangchou donated funds again to support the development of Chinese education.
Han Qiangqian also attaches great importance to the Chinese education of his children, arranging for them to learn Chinese every weekend and communicate in Chinese at home. His eldest son will go to university in Beijing in 2024, and he hopes that the children will better integrate into the Chinese community.
After achieving great success in business, Han Qiangchou not only strongly supported Chinese education, but also gave back to the society in many fields with gratitude. As early as his sojourn in New Zealand, he joined the New Zealand Cambodian Patriotic Association and raised funds to help Cambodian refugees. He has also made selfless financial support to Cambodian** and poor people on many occasions.
Since returning to Cambodia from Australia, he has invested more than US$1 million in Cambodian philanthropy and Prime Minister Hun Sen has highly praised his kindness.
With his brilliant achievements in the business world, as well as his social status and influence, Han Qiangchou has held many social positions, such as the vice president of the Cambodian Hainan Association, the executive vice president of the Cambodian Chinese Association, the vice president of the Cambodian General Chamber of Commerce, the vice president of the Phnom Penh General Chamber of Commerce, the advisor of the ASEAN Business Council, the top adviser of the ASEAN Construction Union, the vice president of Cambodia's small and medium-sized industries, and the vice chairman of the China Foreign Council. Not long ago, he was also elected to the inaugural Board of Directors of the Cambodian Lords Association. By performing these duties, they contribute to the development of the society, society and the economy.
Seek common development and win-win future.
2023 marks the 45th anniversary of China's reform and opening up. Due to business needs, Han Qiangchou often travels back and forth to major cities in China, and he is deeply touched by the rapid development of China's economy.
He believes that from the beginning of reform and opening up to the present, China has made achievements that have attracted worldwide attention. In particular, the industry is developing rapidly, and the high-speed rail technology is the world's leading. The Chinese are full of talents and will surely become the most advanced country in the world in the future.
In recent years, driven by the Belt and Road Initiative, some Chinese companies have invested and built factories in Cambodia, and they have done very successfully. Now China is helping Cambodia build railways, which not only helps the local economy, but also provides a lot of job opportunities for the locals.
Cambodia also plans to build some industrial parks, but due to the new crown epidemic, there is no final location yet. Han believes that once the industrial park is completed, it will attract a large number of Chinese companies to invest in Cambodia.
Under the matchmaking of Cambodia, overseas Chinese in Cambodia also have a lot of opportunities to cooperate with China. Previously, Hainan Province sent a cooperation invitation to Han Qiangchou, hoping that he would come to Hainan to do coconut water processing.
Next, he looks forward to some first-class cooperation with China. Given the first-class quality of glass sand in Cambodia and the huge market, he intends to invest in glass sand projects in the next step. He has visited China's Fuyao Group and CNBM Bengbu Glass Industry Design and Research Institute to discuss the possibility of cooperation.
Years of high-intensity work have caused some damage to Han Qiangchou's body, and now he has slowed down the pace of work, and has a meeting at the company every Tuesday to make arrangements and arrangements for the work in the fields of construction, airport, and agriculture.
Despite his huge business territory, he never took out loans and did not owe a penny to others. Several of his children are also outstanding, which makes him very content with what he has today.
In the future, Han Qiangchou will not only take the helm of his "commercial aircraft carrier" to continue to move forward, but also as a responsible patriot, and continue to fully support and promote the friendly cooperation between the two countries to a new level during the critical period when China and Cambodia are facing important development opportunities.