The story of young people in Jiangsu town: strivers are their common name

Xinhua Daily

Aesthetic rusticity, low income, lack of taste, is people's stereotype of small-town youth; "market sinking" and "newly rising consumption power" are the labels that capital attaches to small-town youth. However, the richness of society, the colorfulness of life, and the vastness of the stage of the times are far from being simply defined and classified.

"Small-town youth" is a vague concept, and this time, we look at young people who have had a prosperous urban experience but eventually return to the township. They have seen the outside world, but they still choose their hometown, they not only create a personal career, but also drive the development of a place and a group. These small-town youths have a common name, called "strivers", and the most precious spirit in them is struggle.

The town is his "Rome"

In the summer of 2008, Mr. Xie was notified but did not go to get his diploma while working in the back kitchen of a restaurant in Zhongguancun, Beijing. Looking through the greasy kitchen window at the well-dressed "proud sons of heaven" outside, he felt that the vocational high school diploma meant nothing to him, and there would be no chance in Beijing.

Xie Yangyang, who studied computer science at a high school and came to Zhongguancun alone before graduation, had an unrealistic fantasy about Beijing at that time: "I don't have money to rent a house, which hotel provides beds, I will work wherever I want, I think this is the most developed place in the computer industry, maybe there will be job opportunities." 」 However, nine months passed, the opportunity did not appear, and the overheard news made his eyes light up.

Two regular customers in the store to discuss the preparation of opening a LED lamps Taobao store, from a few days of intermittent dialogue, Xie Yangyang roughly understand the model of e-commerce sales of lamps, Xie Yangyang said: "I want to try, do not open a physical store, assemble it yourself, so the cost is very low, maybe you can earn a little more than working in Beijing." ”

With a few thousand yuan saved from working in a restaurant, Xie Yangyang returned to his hometown, a village under Zhangji Town, Xuzhou City. Entrepreneurship is not smooth, Taobao stores have few orders, and the income is minimal. In order to accumulate more capital, Xie Yangyang raised pigs, geese, sheep, and even burned boilers and planted crops, and gave full play to the skills he had trained in the countryside since childhood. At the end of 2009, half a year of Taobao store operation allowed him to have a deep understanding of the industry, but also added more confidence, he warmly invited Fa Xiao to start a business with him, but was blocked by the other party's family at the door of the house and scolded, thinking that he was instigating Fa Xiao to do pyramid schemes, and the neighbors were standing at the door to watch jokes.

In addition to this dispute, Xie Yangyang also bears great pressure from the family, and his girlfriend who has been dating for several months has the intention of starting a family, but his father-in-law's family dislikes him for being poor... In the insistence of not seeing hope, he insisted for three or four years, and although the Taobao store has improved, the competition among peers has increased and the competition is extremely fierce.

In 2014, he decided to give it a go, "upgrading" from an ordinary Taobao merchant, settling in the Tmall mall, buying a trademark, and investing all his savings in it. This was a turning point in his life, and after entering Tmall, the annual turnover of the store gradually reached the level of tens of millions of yuan. In 2016, he hired an operation team to operate the store professionally, and the store turnover quickly increased from 20 million to 40 million. He finally got out of the predicament, and the success after experiencing failure was particularly satisfying.

Xie Yangyang's lamps not only illuminate himself, but also illuminate more people. The workers of his factory and the employees of the company are all residents of the town, most of whom are small and relatives of his fellow villagers. Not only that, he also encouraged everyone to open a shop with him, and he supplied the unified supply, provided training, and shared the cost with the shopkeeper, and the profit was divided into 55%. Now more than half of his dozens of online stores are employees starting businesses, and the monthly income of the shopkeepers is about 20,000 yuan, which is higher than that of many white-collar workers in big cities.

The Internet has filled the gap between geography and information, bringing more opportunities to people in small towns. According to Xie Yangyang's model, there are two large-scale e-commerce companies in the town, one making lamps and one making furniture. Xie Yangyang's cousin Xie Guoli is deeply aware of the importance of professional operation knowledge in the process of taking care of the store, and he is currently planning an e-commerce operation training institution to help more people in need learn professional skills.

Xie Yangyang's experience has changed the town's impression and concept of e-commerce, and more people have begun to connect the outside world through "one network cable". Xie Yangyang has a rich factory lighting product line, the annual turnover is about to break through the 70 million mark, personal annual income of nearly 10 million yuan, he has become "other people's children", more and more elders accept their children to sail the career sail into the ocean of the network.

For 10 years, Xie Yangyang has been living in Zhangji Town, he is simply dressed, looks humble, and the WeChat circle of friends also shows the daily life of his wife and children, which looks no different from ordinary small-town youth, and does not look like the entrepreneur in people's impression. His two children, who also attend school in the town, were asked why they didn't leave the town like the rich and send their children to aristocratic schools, he said: "I grew up here, my family and friends are here, and I have a sense of belonging." The kids loved it too, they were free and had no worries. Xie Yangyang looked relaxed and calm when he said this, and the poverty and hardship, gossip and misunderstanding and questioning of the past did not create any gap between him and the town, but made each other closer.

Xie Yangyang is not an isolated case, small-town youth are not all helpless and have no choice, on the contrary, many of them know themselves well enough to make active choices. Every road leads to Rome, everyone in this world has their own Rome, and the town is Xie Yangyang's "Rome".

A young man came from the village

There are always a few important moments that determine the direction of life. For Zhang Fan, one night in August 2018 was such a moment. That night, Zhang Fan and her parents soaked softly until dawn, and only then did they let them support her to contract 100 acres of greenhouses to plant lettuce. Previously, the two foreign bosses had planted peppers and melons one after another, and the losses were quite miserable.

Two months earlier, Zhang Fan resigned from the accounting job of a real estate company in Wuxi and returned to his hometown of Liren Township, Siyang County, Suqian City, and was arranged to be the deputy secretary of the party branch in his hometown of Zhang Zheng Village. A year earlier than her, young people who returned through the "New Village Cadre" recruitment policy began to plant winter dates, plant herbs, raise lobsters, and raise cicada pupae, making the originally hollowed out countryside vibrant. "Seeing that they are always praised at the county and township congresses, I am envious and not willing to fall behind." Zhang Fan's initial motivation for starting a business came from wanting to be strong, and this girl who was the head of the shift from childhood to adulthood decided to build a family farm and take the villagers to get rich around the "farming" word article. To this end, she went to Shandong to investigate, but also wrote a project book, she firmly believes that the township is a hot land for entrepreneurship, she started a business is not to make a fortune for herself, but to bring her uncles and aunts to get rich together.

Zhang Fan found a distant uncle to be responsible for management, the township helped coordinate a low-interest loan of 100,000 yuan and designated agricultural technical cadres as technical consultants, and then Zhang Fan signed a contract agreement for 56 greenhouses on 100 acres of land, transforming from an urban white-collar worker to a "soil" village cadre.

The first thing after the greenhouse made Zhang Fan suffer, 100 acres of land was deserted for more than half a year, and the grass grew taller than people. Born in the countryside but never done farm work, Zhang Fan got up at 5 o'clock every morning to take people to the ground to hoe grass, and at the end of the day, his body was sore, and the blisters on his hand with a sickle were piled with blisters. The first two bosses lost money mainly because of internal waterlogging, Zhang Fan asked someone to dig a reservoir and buy a water pump, and was prepared. Next, lettuce selected the purple variety "Flying Bridge Purple Leaf Fragrance", planted in October but grows listless, please check the soil identification company, it turned out to be too alkaline, hurry up to improve the soil...

The days of starting a business are tense and hectic, anxious and full of hope. Four months later, despite the mildew and snow disaster, the first season of lettuce was very competitive, and after 4 months, the yield reached 4,000 catties per mu, selling for 4 cents per catty, and the cost of planing was slightly surplus. But the village cadre Zhang Fan was most satisfied with the fact that these 100 acres had brought 50 villagers to work, and the diligent people could get paid four or five thousand yuan.

However, the second season did not go so smoothly. One night in June last year, Zhang Fan took dozens of people to harvest and load the car, busy until 10 o'clock in the evening, the truck had just been sent to Suzhou, the buyer repented on the phone: "1,000 yuan deposit will be sent to you for a meal." "Dial it again, and the other side's phone turns off." Zhang Fan was angry, anxious, tired and helpless, and ran to the farmers' markets in Yancheng, Huai'an and Suqian with his cousin, and only found a buyer at three or four o'clock at night and sold the 20 tons of lettuce at a low price. "It's not easy to start a business, and when it's difficult, I'll find a place where no one is crying, but I didn't even have time to cry that night." Zhang Fan recalled the scene at that time.

People always grow up in wrestling, after tasting the sour, sweet and bitter, the family farm is on the right track, and Zhang Fan has become the main backbone of the uncles and aunts in the village. At this moment, she made another unexpected decision: to become the secretary of the village party branch in Dingyao Village. Dingyao Village is a provincial economically weak village, 10 years have changed seven or eight secretaries, the relationship between cadres and the masses is tense, can a 25-year-old girl control that situation?

Zhang Fan didn't have a bottom in her heart, but she knew that she had to talk to the villagers first. The villagers are very simple and recognize you as a person who will support what you do. Every day, 2 hours before going to work and 2 hours after work, Zhang Fan will go to the villagers and say that the parents are short, touch the people's feelings and public opinions, and rationalize the work priorities.

Next, Zhang Fan won 2 million yuan of funds to harden and widen the road in the township Tongding kiln, and also installed street lamps; promoted land circulation, so that the land generated greater value to increase the income of villagers; let low-income households participate in the winter jujube business with labor force...

The village has experienced Zhang Fan's bravery, decisiveness and fierceness, and she has made the villagers set up a desire to get rid of poverty. Villager Yang Weicheng was disabled by illness and legs two years ago, coupled with family changes, he once had an inner breakdown. Zhang Fan and the village cadres helped him apply for a small low-interest loan, let him contract 70 acres of ponds to raise crayfish, and also provided a rent-free agricultural machinery warehouse for him to open a shop, and now he can earn 60,000 yuan a year. He said: "I used to think that the sky had fallen, but Zhang Fan made me understand that people are not short of ambition, and they can do it with their hands in a good day." ”

Today, more than 90% of the 132 low-income households in Dingyao Village have received industrial poverty alleviation and employment poverty alleviation support, and all low-income farmers have been lifted out of poverty.

At the beginning of this year, Dingyao Village became the only demonstration village in Siyang to overcome poverty, and Zhang Fan also changed from "that little girl" to "Secretary Zhang" in the mouth of the villagers.

Everything now stems from that sleepless night in 2018. That night, the weather was hot and dry, and my mother's temper was even more irritable: "Pack the greenhouse to plant lettuce?" How do you think a play is a play! I haven't done farm work for a day, and I don't know how thick the sky is. Honestly, is it okay to be a cadre in the village to get paid? ”

Zhang Fan replied, "I must do it!" That night the decision not only changed her life, but also affected two villages and a group of people.

A pair of "socks" can also go off the beaten path

"Hi-Po, come and buy it!" Buy it! Buy it!" Every Friday night, Zhu Cheng will change from the chairman of the "Chuancheng" socks company to the anchor with goods, mask mask latex pillow, lobster hand string daddy shoes, in his enthusiastic shouting, in just four hours, his sales on the live broadcast platform reached two or three million.

This year is the 13th year that Zhu Cheng has returned to his hometown to start a business.

At the age of 22, Zhu Cheng made a "wayward" decision - to take a break from school and go home and start his own business! According to common sense, a young man like him who came from a small town and fought for the one-way bridge of the college entrance examination, the "best choice" after graduation is to stay in the big city. But Zhu Cheng did not take the usual path, and he wanted to return to his hometown and show his fists there. "I am a person with a hometown complex, and I have a Cheng character in my name, Cheng is the abbreviation of Jiangyin, so I want to return to my hometown to start a business and lay my roots in the land of my hometown."

Zhu Cheng's entrepreneurial dream began in the second year of college, when he studied international trade at Hohai University, he wholesaled some foreign trade tail single socks from his hometown of Jiangyin, knocked on the door and sold them one by one, and when he was in his junior year, Zhu Cheng had saved 150,000 yuan by selling socks.

As soon as the idea of dropping out of school to start a business was spoken, it was immediately resolutely opposed by his parents. In the eyes of the two old people, Jiangyin is the traditional industrial base of socks, there are more than 50 large and small socks factories in Huashi Town, and a young man with no background and no experience wants to break out on the road of operating socks. But Zhu Cheng did not listen, he insisted on going his own way, after a few months of stalemate, his mother chose to compromise and said to him: "Then try it, even if it fails, it is a wealth in life." ”

In the end, with the 400,000 yuan that the family sold the house in exchange, and the entrepreneurial funds from relatives, Zhu Cheng returned to his hometown - Jiangyin Huashi Town, rented a 200-square-meter old house, bought 6 sock machines, recruited 6 workers, and founded his first sock factory in his life.

And the local socks factory is keen to do foreign processing is different, at the beginning of the operation, Zhu Cheng registered the "Chuan Cheng" brand trademark, and pay close attention to the market dynamics at home and abroad, the first time to put into the market is the most popular fashion socks of the year, the first year, Zhu Cheng earned back the investment costs. After that, with a unique vision of the market and a keen sense of business, Zhu Cheng's career has become smoother and smoother, and in just seven or eight years, he has accumulated 30 million yuan in his personal account.

The road to entrepreneurship has always been full of difficulties and hardships. Because he did not step on the market situation, Zhu Cheng's decision-making mistake made all his previous efforts in vain, and also made him change from a multi-millionaire to a "negative man" with tens of millions of debts. Turning around and returning to the original point, perhaps many young entrepreneurs will choose to run away and give up, but Zhu Cheng is unwilling, "If I choose to give up in order to avoid debt, this will become a stain on my life's credibility." That year, Zhu Cheng changed the signature of the circle of friends to -" A sentence to describe himself: Xiao Qiang, who can't die. ”

"As long as people can survive, they will definitely live better!" Zhu Cheng firmly believed in this sentence.

In order to "live better", Zhu Cheng began to adjust the traditional business model with the spirit of "fighting the small strong who cannot die", focusing on the micro-business platform. "In 2015, I met a few micro-business teams, and they suggested to me, why not try micro-business to expand the sales channels of socks?" Zhu Cheng, who was originally skeptical of micro-business, decided to give it a try. To his surprise, in just 4 days, Micro-Business sold 400,000 pairs of socks, while the Internet channels sold in the same period only sold tens of thousands of pairs, which shocked him. Zhu Cheng saw the huge energy contained in the micro-business, so he personally led the team to create an elite team of "micro-business" and sold on the WeChat platform through tens of thousands of agents.

"Now the government encourages everyone to set up a stall, in fact, our team is also a stall, but it is a 'cloud stall' in the circle of friends." In the impression of many people, micro-businesses have been criticized for low operating thresholds, unclear product sources, lack of supervision by relevant departments, etc., but Zhu Cheng has been trying to make the team tear off these negative labels, and the rules he set are "do not sell fakes, pay taxes according to law". Over the past few years, the team he led has changed ten, ten hundred, and a thousand... As if the cells are fissioning, creating one sales miracle after another, "agents can reach up to 200 million sales a year, and at least one or two million in a year." The rising sales not only helped Zhu Cheng pay off all his debts, but also led hundreds of local people to start a business, 90% of whom were women.

This year, live streaming with goods has become a hot word, and Zhu Cheng has transformed into a "net red anchor" in the "Xi Brush" platform he founded, creating a new round of growth in sales performance. "To do business, you must go with the flow!" Zhu Cheng sighed that in the rapidly changing Internet era, only by speeding up the pace can we keep up with the pace of the times, "Before, it was said that three years was a big change, but now it is a small change in three months, if you don't try to seize the outlet of this era, you will be eliminated." Since starting his business, Zhu Cheng has always held such a mentality of thinking of danger in times of peace, and in the future, he hopes to create a 7×24-hour uninterrupted live broadcast room to create an enterprise-level product and a phenomenon-level model.

Some people say that the times are changing, and the channels of ascension are narrowing. But in fact, in the sinking market, there are countless young people who work hard like Zhu Cheng, who are like fine capillaries, building a new driving force for China's economic development. (Wang Hui, Wang Hongwei)