一个亿万富翁之家的成长之路

一个亿万富翁之家的成长之路

In the 1950s, the Liu family of southwest China’s Sichuan Province was so short of food, they sent one of their youngest sons to be raised by another family.

Today, however, they are one of China’s richest families.

Rising from public scorn during the Cultural Revolution, the four Liu brothers managed to turn a small quail-breeding farm into China’s largest private company, later splitting it into four.

“The difficulties we went through in the early years made us strong,” says 60-year-old Liu Yongxing, a former factory worker who Forbes lists as the wealthiest person in China, with a fortune estimated at $3 billion.

The Lius are China’s first-generation billionaires, born into a world of Mao suits, food rations, price controls and Communist slogans. And the story of how they made their fortune is considered one of the guiding myths of China’s Communist party, a symbol of this country’s transformation over the last 30 years, since its unlikely embrace of capitalism. But their story also betrays the contradictions of modern China — a country where the average factory worker makes less than $50 a week.

“The puzzle is not why the Liu brothers succeeded, but why there are not more like them in China,” says Huang Yasheng, who teaches at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is an expert on Chinese entrepreneurs. “Rural China represents a vast pool of entrepreneurial capabilities and substantial business opportunities.”

As the global economy enters its first drastic downturn since China opened to the world, analysts say this country is searching for a more sustainable path to growth.

Waning foreign demand threatens to stall its economic miracle and Beijing’s leaders are trying to cope with the undersides of growth, like rising inequality and environmental degradation.

“The old game has started collapsing,” says Xu Xiaonian, a professor of economics at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, referring to China’s inefficient export-oriented economic model, which can be prone to overheat. “We are now in a transition period. We need to find new ways to do things.”

The hope among economists is that China’s next path to riches will inspire an even larger and more innovative group of entrepreneurs, and tap more of this nation’s impoverished rural areas.

For the Liu family, the journey from there to here was seemingly impossible.

Their road to riches is documented in a small museum they built here in Gujia village, on the grounds of their first feed mill, where photographs show the brothers examining supplies and posing with Chinese and world leaders, like Jiang Zemin, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac.

They also built a memorial about 200 miles east of here in the hometown of their hero, Deng Xiaoping, the former Chinese leader who is considered the architect of China’s economic reforms

Like many Chinese entrepreneurs, the Lius trace their fortunes back to December 1978, when Mr. Deng presided over the Third Plenary session of the Communist Party. In a critical speech to the party’s elite, he boldly called for more trade with the outside world and said he favored market-oriented reforms. These policies would later come to be called “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

“It is one of the most substantive speeches I’ve ever read by a Chinese leader,” says Robert Lawrence Kuhn, who just published a book about China’s economic reforms. “Point five said the government would allow some to get rich first. This was radical.”

After decades of isolation and outright hostility to capitalism, China suddenly began loosening state controls over the economy and encouraging its citizens to get rich. What followed was three decades of roaring growth and a export-oriented wealth boom that the World Bank says has lifted 400 million people out of poverty.

Not long before the extraordinary Communist Party meeting in 1978, the four Liu brothers — Yongyan, Yongxing, Yuxin and Yonghao — say they were toiling on farms or in state-owned factories here in southwest

China, scorned because of their “counter-revolutionary” family background: they were the descendants of wealthy landlords.

During the decade-long Cultural Revolution, which ended in 1976, their father was condemned to a “re-education” camp. Their mother was officially denounced.

But in 1978, three of Liu brothers won admission to local colleges, and soon they began plotting to make it rich.

At the time, the quiet one, Yongyan, 33, was studying engineering. Yongxing, 30, was good at fixing radios; and the extrovert, Yonghao, 27, was teaching at a technical school.

They had each inherited their father’s interest in science and technology.

Yuxin, who had been sent away from home as a child, was a 28-year-old farmer in Gujia village. But he also teamed up with his brothers to plot a new course.

Their first venture, an electronics company, failed almost immediately, they say, largely because a Communist Party official deemed it too “capitalistic.” Individuals at the time could not own factories or operate in the electronics business. Chinese were encouraged to become “socialist entrepreneurs” not capitalists, which was still a bad word.

Not many Chinese, though, knew the difference. Soon after, the brothers pooled $125 and began raising quails here in Gujia.

At the time, Gujia was one of the region’s most impoverished villages, located 17 miles northeast of Chengdu, the provincial capital. It had no electricity or running water and its houses were small huts constructed with mud and grass. But conditions were good enough to raise quail.

“If you raise quail, you don’t need much feed,” says Liu Yongxing, explaining their choice. “Quails are small. And we didn’t have much land or money.”

Suddenly other villagers began raising quail too, and customers in bigger towns lined up to buy quail eggs. Gujia became the quail-breeding capital of China. And the Liu brothers thrived.

Before long they were among the first in the region to be honored by local Party officials as “10,000 RMB men,” model socialist entrepreneurs who accumulated Chinese currency or renminbi.

“If you did business during the Cultural Revolution, you were the evil capitalist and you would be paraded through the street and people would throw garbage at your head,” said Gao Peineng, 53, the former village chief of Gujia and a longtime friend of the Liu brothers. “But in 1982, the government began honoring what they called the “advanced wealth maker.” They would ride you in a truck with red flowers and a gold medal.”

Liu Yongxing says there were hard times too, like the time they shipped thousands of quail eggs to a buyer, only to have his check bounce, practically bankrupting the family.

But early market chaos gave way to big opportunities.

With agriculture designated as one of the first areas open to market reform, the Liu brothers quickly branched out into the animal feed business.

At a time when many farmers simply fed their animals garbage or scraps, the brothers copied the new feed production techniques of the Charoen Pokphand Group of Thailand, one of China’s first big foreign investors.

The Lius then convinced farmers that buying their feed would make animals grow much faster. They grabbed market share by pricing their feed much lower than Charoen Pokphand. With meat consumption in China soaring, demand for feed skyrocketed.

Between 1978 and 1990, grain output in China rose by more than 30 percent.

“The Liu brothers are very smart and grasped the opportunity early,” says Wan Zhaojun, dean of the Sichuan Animal Husbandry Institute. “Living standards were improving dramatically; meat consumption was going up. This was the golden time for the feed business and they were right there.”

Their success was validated by the Communist Party in 1994, when Song Jian, a government science official, visited their feed mill and declared that “the future of China’s economic reforms will rely on these socialist entrepreneurs.”

Soon after, they adopted a new name: the Hope Group.

The visit was an early sign that government officials were the ultimate arbiters of success, and while the Liu brothers give credit today to the market reforms, they acknowledge in their speeches and their museums that the Party also played a role in their success.

“By 1984, almost all the Sichuan government officials came to our farms,” says Liu Yongxing. “It was like a big advertisement for us.\

After rapidly expanding in Sichuan, home to the world’s biggest pig population, they built feed mills all over the country.

By 1992, the Hope Group was so large the Liu brothers decided to split it into four companies, along geographical lines — East Hope, West Hope, New Hope and Continental Hope, allowing each brother to pursue his own interest, and diversifying the family holdings.

Yongxing moved to Shanghai and invested in aluminum, power plants and finance. Yonghao, who runs New Hope was listed in October at No. 4 on the list of China’s richest, with a net worth of $2.2 billion and holdings in real estate, feed and banking. Chen Yuxin (his adopted family’s name) runs West Hope, with the original feed operation in Sichuan and a five-star hotel and retail properties in Chengdu. And Yongyan has a feed and electronics business. The Lius’ only sister, Liu Yonghong, handles all the accounting for the family. Even with billions of dollars, family members and friends say the Liu brothers are frugal and modest. Liu Yongxing flies economy class (even though he’s the richest man in China) and Chen Yuxin doesn’t have a personal assistant.

They insist, like many Chinese entrepreneurs, that they do not show off or indulge in extravagant luxuries.

“It’s ridiculous to show off your wealth,” says Liu Yongxing, sitting in his Shanghai office wearing casual clothes and sipping tea.

The next generation of the family consists of four daughters and one son, Shawn Liu, the only child of Liu Yongxing.

Educated in the United States, at the University of Southern California, and married to a woman from Texas, Shawn, 33, is preparing to take over from his father. Two of the founders’ daughters work with their fathers, helping manage the companies, while another two live in the United States and have no role in the company.

“My goal is somehow to bring the company out to have an international presence,” says Shawn. “If not international, at least southeast Asia. We are now looking at opportunities.”

上世纪五十年代，地处中国西南的四川省的刘家过着缺衣少食的生活，他们甚至将三儿子送给了一户姓陈的人家抱养。 但是，如今刘家却是中国最富有的家族之一。

文革之后，刘家四兄弟由一家小型鹌鹑养殖农场起步，发展出了中国最大的私企，而后又将其一分为四。

60岁的刘永行说：“创业初期所遇到的困难让我们更加坚强了”。他以前是一位工厂工人，而现在以30亿美元的身价成为了福布斯富豪榜上的中国首富。

刘家兄弟是中国的第一代亿万富翁。他们在毛的时代出生，成长在一个满是食品配给、价格控制和共产主义口号的氛围中。他们的创富故事可以被看做过去三十年中国社会改革的一个象征。同时也暴露了当今中国存在的一大矛盾：在中国一个普通工人的平均周薪低于50美元。

任职与麻省理工学院斯隆管理学院的黄雅声（音）说：“让人迷惑的不是为什么刘家四兄弟成功，而是为什么在中国没有更多的像他们这样的成功者。”黄雅声是研究中国企业家的专家：“中国广大的农村的地区蕴含这巨大的创业能力和商机”。

分析人士指出：在改革开放后的第一次全球经济大衰退面前，中国正在寻求一条更加可持续的增长道路。

疲软的外需威胁着中国经济奇迹的延续。身在北京的领导层还得处理一些由经济增长带来的负面问题，比如越来越严重的社会分配不均以及自然环境的退化。

中欧国际工商学院的经济学教授徐晓年（音）说：“旧的游戏规则已经开始崩溃了，我们现在处在一个转型期，需要找到新的运作方法。”意指中国的出口导向型经济模式有些过热。

经济学家们心目中的希望在于，中国的下一条通往财富的道路将会激发一群更具创新能力的企业家，而且会垂青贫困的农村地区。

刘氏家族的创业旅程看上去有些不可思议。

刘家兄弟在古家村他们建立第一个养殖场的那块地上修建了一座小型博物馆。博物馆里陈列的物品记录了他们创业之路上的点点滴滴。包括兄弟几个检查原料供货的照片以及他们和江泽民、克林顿、布莱尔、希拉克等领导人的合影。

刘家兄弟还在古家村以东200英里的地方建了一座纪念碑。那里是他们心中的英雄邓小平的故乡。

与众多中国企业家一样，刘氏兄弟的财富道路要追溯到1978年12月。邓小平主持了十一届三中全会，并做出了重要讲话。他勇敢地指出中国需要扩大对外贸易和以市场为导向的改革。这些政策后来被称为“中国特色的社会主义”。

罗伯特·劳伦斯·库恩说：“那是我所阅读过的最有实质的中国领导人讲话之一，其中第五条指出政府允许一些人先富起来。这具有根本的意义。”库恩刚出版了一本关于中国经济改革的书。

在几十年的孤立和对资本主义的敌意后，中国突然开始放宽国家对经济的控制并且鼓励人民争取富裕。随其而来的就是中国经济三十年的惊人增长和出口导向型的财富热潮。据世界银行估计这使4亿人中国人脱离了贫困。

在1978年以前，刘家四兄弟（永言、永行、育新、永好）都在农场或者国营工厂辛苦劳作。因为“反革命”的家庭背景而受到蔑视。他们是地主的后代。

在历时十年的文化大革命期间，他们的父亲被送到了改造营，母亲也受到了公开的批斗。

但是在1978年，刘家兄弟中有三人获得了本地的入学资格，之后不久就开始策划他们的创业道路。

那时，兄弟中比较安静的一个，永言33岁，在学习工程学；30岁的永行擅长维修收音机；外向的永好27岁，在一所技术学校教书。

他们没人都继承了父亲在科学和技术方面的兴趣。

被陈家抱养的育新，是一个28岁的农民。他也加入了弟兄们的创业计划。

刘家兄弟的第一次冒险是一家电子公司。这家公司很快就倒闭了，因为当地的一名官员认为它资本主义色彩太过浓厚。在那时作为个人是不能拥有工厂的，也不能从事电子领域的业务。中国人要成为“社会主义企业家”而不是资本家。

虽然并没有多少中国人知道这两者的区别。不久后，兄弟几个就筹集了1000元人民币，开始在古家村饲养鹌鹑。 那时，古家村是当地最贫困的村子之一。坐落在成都东北17英里的地方，不通水电。村里的屋舍都是茅草房。但是这样的条件已经足够饲养鹌鹑了。

刘永行说：“养鹌鹑，不需要多少饲料。鹌鹑个儿小，我们没有多少资金和场地。”

突然间，其他的村子也开始养鹌鹑了。大城市里的人排着队来买鹌鹑蛋。古家村成了全国的鹌鹑养殖中心。刘家兄弟也借此积累了财富。

没过多久，他们就成了当地的第一批受到政府表彰的万元户。

53岁的古家村前村长高佩能（音）说：“如果你在文化大革命期间做生意，那就是万恶的资本家。你就要被游街示众。人们还会往你头上扔各种垃圾。”他和刘家兄弟保持了长久的朋友关系，“但是在1982年，政府开始表彰那些先进财富创造者。给他们发大红花和金牌。”

刘永行说也不是没有艰难的时候。一次他们将上千个鹌鹑蛋运给了一个买家，而支票却被退回了。这几乎连累全家破产。

但是，早期市场的无序也提供了很多机会。

农业是最先向市场改革开放的领域，刘家兄弟很快就向动物养殖业伸出了触角。

当大多数农民都还在用泔水饲养牲畜时，刘家兄弟就学习了泰国卜蜂集团的新型饲料生产技术。卜蜂集团是第一批到中国的外国投资者之一。

刘家兄弟想办法让农民们相信购买他们生产的饲料可以让牲畜长得更快。他们以比卜蜂集团的产品低廉的价格迅速占领了市场。随着中国肉制品消费的飞速增加，对饲料的需求的水涨船高。

在1978年和1990年之间，中国的谷物出产量增加了30%以上。

四川畜牧研究所主任万兆君（音）说：“刘氏兄弟很聪明，他们很早地抓住了机会。那个时期，人民生活水平得到了巨大改善，肉制品消费迅速增长。是饲料工业的黄金时期。而他们正好瞅准了这个机遇。”

他们的成功在1994年得到了共产党的承认。国家科委主任宋健视察了他们的饲料加工厂并且表明：“中国经济改革的未来要靠这些社会主义企业家。”

很快，他们就给集团取了一个新名字：希望集团。

这次参观表明政府官员才是企业成功的最终决定者。尽管刘氏兄弟将今日的成功归功于市场化改革，他们同时也承认在这些成功中党也扮演了很重要的角色。

刘永行说：“到1984年，几乎四川省的所有官员都到过我们的农场。这对我们来说就像一个最好的广告。” 四川是全世界生猪饲养量最大的地区。希望集团在四川迅速扩张后，又开始在全国建立饲料加工厂。

1992年，希望集团已经具有了相当大的规模。刘氏兄弟将其一分为四，分别是：东方希望集团、华西希望集团、新希望集团以及大陆希望集团。这之后，兄弟四人各自发展，将家族产业逐渐多样化。

刘永行转战上海，在铝业、发电厂和金融产业上进行投资。刘永好经营新希望集团，投资饲料产业和银行业。今年十月他以22亿美元的净资产排在中国富豪榜的第四位。陈育新经营华西希望集团。从事饲料加工业，在成都拥有一个五星级宾馆和零售网络。刘永言主要从事饲料和电子业务。刘家唯一的女儿，刘永红负责整个家族的会计事物。尽管坐拥上亿美元的财富，刘氏兄弟在亲戚朋友的眼中仍然是勤俭、谦逊的。刘永行作为中国的首富，出行却只坐经济舱。而陈育新连一个私人助理都没有。

他们和大多数的中国企业家一样，坚持不炫耀不沉迷于奢侈品之中。

刘永行穿着休闲，坐在上海的办公室里，边品茶边说：“炫耀财富是一件很荒唐的事情。”

刘家的下一代中有四个女孩儿一个男孩儿。刘相宇是刘永行的独子。他在美国南加州大学接受的大学教育，并娶了一个德州姑娘为妻。刘相宇现在正在为继承父亲的事情而做准备。四个女孩儿中有两个在跟着父亲做事，帮助管理公司，另两个现在生活在美国，没有参与家族生意。

刘相宇说：“我的目标是把东方希望集团带向全世界，如果全世界不可能，那至少要向东南亚进军。为此我们正在寻找机会。”

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