Pork traders of that year now have built 100 million "Zoo"

The reason why Su Zhigang “played pigs” was because he not only kept a low profile, but always put himself in a very low position. Yang Guoqiang said that he was "the son of the peasants" and Su Zhigang said that he had five generations of poor peasants and primary school culture. After the election to the National People's Congress, the opening line he called to others was "The farmer's son came to trouble you again."

The "peasant's son" may not be known for his reputation, but his achievement is not a sentence of "eat the tiger" enough to summarize.

Over the past 20 years, Su Zhigang has created the top brand of the tourism industry of Changlong Group, which has created a series of data to pull the wind:

For example, after Shanghai Disney opened, it triggered public opinion. The peak daily passenger traffic exceeded 80,000 passengers. On the other side, Chimelong set a national record of 100,000 visitors per day on Halloween 2015. Due to pressure from the park, they cannot Did not temporarily close the on-site ticketing channels;

For instance, from the point of view of the number of visitors and the pulling power of the regional economy, Changlong has already become “Hong Kong Disneyland + Hong Kong Ocean Park” and has become China’s largest tourism brand;

For another example, in 2015, Changlong’s tourism projects received a total of 24 million visitors, more than the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.

Su Zhigang, who controls all of this, is always hiding behind the scenes. He is used to giving the media a slight apologetic smile. In recent years, he has even rarely participated in major projects of the company.

But the outside world had to work hard to understand and even ignore him because the “peasant’s son” was eating more and more tigers: In the past more than a year, he has invested continuously in two super heavyweight tourism projects. The amount of investment is just 100 billion.

Ten years of "pig chop"

In each reception room and office of the Chimelong Group, there are large portraits of Deng Xiaoping. This is Su Zhigang’s most admired idol. He calls Deng Xiaoping “Deng Bobo”.

Although he has never had a one-sided relationship with Deng Xiaoping, the chief designer has fundamentally changed Su Zhigang's life. “Without him, I am probably still farming and I may not eat enough.”

The reform and opening up gave Su Zhigang his first job as a teacher of eight classics - selling pork. Before that, he often sat in the field and called for a short sigh.

In 1958, Su Zhigang was born in Dashi Village, Panyu, Guangdong, where he was a poor peasant for generations. He was the fifth generation here. During the “Great Leap Forward” and “three years of natural disasters”, the lives of the people of the country were very difficult. Su Zhigang’s family had no food at all. Most of the time, he and his younger brother can only dig in the ground without sweet potato shoots and peanuts.

Su Zhigang's education on the curriculum vitae is "primary school." He actually graduated from high school, but Su Zhigang felt that his level of education was also elementary school because "I didn't learn anything during the Cultural Revolution."

After graduating from high school, the Su family had no money and no background. They couldn't get into the factory, when the coal workers were unpaid, and the ordering dish was still educated because of speculation. In desperation, Su Zhigang had to put a few years in the production team. "This can't be sold, it can't be planted," and the family still hasn't got enough to eat. This has made Su Zhigang, a prosperous and full-grown man, feel like he has no place in his strength and he often sits in his hair.

In 1978, when reforms and opening up began, Su Zhigang could not wait to put his head down and work with his younger brother to work in the city. At the construction site in Guangzhou, Su Zhigang met a person who sold pork. He felt that the deal was so much stronger than cement, and he set a target to sell a sum of money to sell pork.

At the beginning of the pork business, Su Zhigang's “market” was mainly concentrated in his hometown of Dashi Village. Later, he pondered that Dashi was only a rural village and had a limited business. He had to sell pork to Guangzhou, and he rode his bicycle to the restaurants in Guangzhou to deliver pork.

"In the initial stage of self-employment, it was already very happy to earn three or five yuan. Later, I gradually became familiar with it. One day's profit rose from 5 yuan to 10 yuan, and the small business operation gradually rolled up." Su Zhigang said.

In order to become a strong pork business, Su Zhigang learned to kill pigs and trained a knife. Because he mastered the two processes of "killing" and "selling," his pork was more competitive in price than his peers. Su Zhigang contacted several well-known hotels in Guangzhou to sell to the point.

Dashi Village is more than 20 kilometers away from downtown Guangzhou. The road passes through two ferries. In order to deliver on time, Su Zhigang often gets up early in the morning and goes out when he does not shine. He sends the goods back home, at least two or three in the afternoon, and then He had to kill pigs and process meats and lived. "One year and 365 days, every day."

At that time Su Zhigang's happiest thing was to be able to spend an hour or two working with his son in a busy work.

If he had sold pork for nearly 10 years, Su Zhigang's business had become quite prosperous and he had also opened a slaughterhouse. However, compared with the surrounding business people, the gap is obvious.

At the end of the 1980s, Guangzhou's economy was already in its infancy, and all walks of life were flourishing. Among them, Su Zhigang was not reconciled: "Is it like this for a lifetime?"

During the sale of pork, Su Zhigang had a close relationship with many restaurants and felt that this was stronger than selling pork. So, Su Zhigang set a second career goal: to open a big hotel.

Annual revenue 60 million

The opening of restaurants and the sale of pork are two different things. The demand for funds is not an order of magnitude at all. After listening to Su Zhigang’s thoughts, the family was distressed: It would be nice to sell good pork. Finally, there was an easy way to live. You shouldn’t mess up and lose.

However, Su Zhigang is a person who has set a goal and is always moving forward, and his ideas are not blind. In 1988, the Luoxi Bridge linking Guangfan Road was to be completed. Su Zhigang believed that it is an opportunity to develop the catering industry next to the highway. To do so, make a name and make a name.

As a result, he resisted enormous pressure, not only invested 10 years of savings, but also borrowed more than 100,000 from the bank, bought two acres of land in Dashi, and built the Xiangjiang Restaurant.

At that time, the monthly salary in Guangdong Province averaged around 100 yuan, and investment of more than 100,000 yuan is undoubtedly a large sum of money. During the construction period, relatives and friends came over to persuade them to do it. It was OK to do it. But this place is not in front of the village. The customer flow is not guaranteed. Can you change the place?

On August 28, 1989, the Xiangjiang Restaurant officially opened for business, and Su Zhigang said, "I will never forget that day."

The hotel along the highway is a good deal, and Su Zhigang sees this very accurately. The Xiangjiang Restaurant "is not in front of the village and has no shop behind it". It is the most dazzling restaurant along the way. When it opens, the business is endless.

Su Zhigang quickly discovered that the hotel was more tired than selling pork. Due to the shortage of manpower, the “Su boss” ran as a waiter and camper before running, and the delivery of food and cooking were also hands-on. Late at night after the market closed, the waitress had already left work. Su Zhigang had to put away the tablecloth and wash it until two o'clock in the morning. "Otherwise, I had no time to air dry and I couldn't use it the next day."

With geographical advantages, diligence and hard work, coupled with delicious dishes, the business of the Xiangjiang Restaurant has continued to flourish, and even prosperous enough to be received. Even Guangzhou's guests are attracted to their names. It is common for one night to “turn over” three or four rounds. In the three years, Su Zhigang made millions, which is the number he couldn't even think of during the pork trade.

The impressive results inspired Su Zhigang’s greater “appetite”. In 1994, Panyu built a broad urban road - Yingbin Road. A Xiangjiang restaurant is no longer sufficient to meet the needs of diners. Su Zhigang bought a few acres of land in a prime location on Yingbin Road and built the second Xiangjiang Hotel. This time, the family members unanimously agreed.

At that time, the Guangzhou municipal government put forward the strategy of building an international metropolis and the integration of urban and rural areas in Panyu. Su Zhigang decided to build the Xiangjiang Grand Hotel into a well-known hotel that meets the standards of the “international metropolis”. Not only is the scale bigger and the grade higher, the business also covers catering. , accommodation, tourism and other full-scale needs. In 1994, the Xiangjiang Hotel, with a building area of ​​20,000 square meters, was completed and became a new tourist card for Guangzhou.

After the business was bigger, Su Zhigang began to play differentiation.

Guangdong people love to eat game, the needs of diners give criminals the motivation to commit crimes, and the hunting of wild protected animals has continued for many years. In order to meet the double standards of legal management and diners' needs, Su Zhigang began to invest money in the breeding of ostriches, crocodile and other animals as ingredients. Shortly afterwards, the Xiangjiang Hotel became the first edible crocodile meat catering unit approved by the relevant state authorities.

With the signboard of game feast, the hotel has attracted a large number of tourists. Not only the diners from Guangzhou and Shenzhen have come here, but even Zhongshan, Zhuhai and even Hong Kong and Macau tourists have come to take advantage of it.

In 1998, the annual revenue of Xiangjiang Hotel was as high as 60 million, ranking among the top 30 in Guangzhou's catering industry. Su Zhigang also became an out-and-out local tyrant. In this section, Su Zhigang actually started thinking about buying and selling "as opposed to a hotel".

From "killing" to "keeping"

The popularity of the Xiangjiang Hotel is closely linked with the upsurge of tourism in the South. At the end of the last century, with the improvement of people's living standards and the closer ties between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, leisure and vacation became fashionable vocabulary.

However, Guangdong’s tourism resources at the time were relatively monotonous. The introduction of foreign conceptual theme parks was the main trend. The “window of the world” was one of the representatives. The new tourism resources were more inclined to playgrounds, and the zoological tourism resources could not meet the needs of tourists. .

In 1994, the newly built Xiangjiang Hotel ushered in a special guest - Huang Zhibao, then deputy minister of the State Department of Forestry. He represented the Central Government and received a president from an African country. Su Zhigang also attended lunch. During the meeting, when talking about tourism in Guangdong, Huang Zhibao suggested to Su Zhigang: Shenzhen has just opened a wildlife park. You have done such a successful farming in Xiangjiang. Can you use this experience and use it to run a wildlife park?

Su Zhigang listened to the heart, but the zoo has always been a national patent, private capital is too difficult to do, technology, resources, funding, management, are high threshold. Huang Zhibao encourages Su Zhigang: Although the examination and approval are strict, there are safari parks around every major city, and generally only one or two are approved.

Su Zhigang immediately fell into a fierce ideological struggle. He clearly knew how difficult it was to become a private zoo. His family, relatives, and friends also agreed that this was not something that could be done privately, but the leaders of Panyu District and the provinces and municipalities were very supportive.

Considering again and again, Su Zhigang has a bite: For many years since the reforms and opening up, many things that they did not dare to think about in the past have become reality. This is also the case. If you are confident, you can do it.

In 1995, Su Zhigang started preparations for the “Han River Wildlife World” project, and he invested almost all the profits of the two hotels. He invited world-renowned animal experts to come to the demonstration and planning, and implement world-class standards in all aspects.

One year later, the project was approved by the State Department of Forestry and abandoned the first earth in 2,000 mu of wasteland. After the project was started, Su Zhigang took the easy way. He stayed on the construction site every day and began ascetic life. Under its supervision, the zoo only took eight months to plant trees, and the total green area was as high as 90%, restoring the original ecology of sub-tropical rain forests in South China.

After that, Su Zhigang started a series of investment and expansion activities that have continued to this day and are simple, crude, and cost-effective.

Just like a hotel before, Su Zhigang's philosophy is to either do it or not. An old employee disclosed that Su Zhigang asked the team to visit around the world and copy good designs and projects to the country, but the size is at least three times the original size.

In this tone, the starting point of the Xiangjiang Zoo is generous. Prior to the opening of the park, Su Zhigang had introduced rare species such as white tigers, anteaters, and koalas, created China's largest rare group of white tigers, and created a record for a Chinese crocodile breeding base.

On December 26, 1997, more than 300 million Xiangjiang Wildlife Worlds (changed to Changlong Wildlife World in 2012) officially opened to the public, becoming China's first and only large-scale national wild-type investment managed by private companies. zoo.

Although it has never been made public, it is clear that Su Zhigang’s initial goal was to make it the No. 1 player in Southeast Asia. Even such a title cannot match Su Zhigang’s appetite.

N items "world's best"

The nascent safari park was already quite large and of a standard. However, Su Zhigang never stopped investing in the safari. He has been building and perfecting it.

Although a lot of money is spent, Su Zhigang has a scale in his heart and there are many comprehensive considerations behind his spending. When the zoo was first opened, Su Zhigang was very clear that he had no advantage in animal species compared to state-owned veteran zoos such as Beijing and Guangzhou. Therefore, he chose to work hard on the large-scale ethnic groups of individual rare animals.

When the African species was introduced, Su Zhigang intended to buy 30 giraffes, and it was a packaged flight. At the time, there were only 3 giraffes at the Beijing Zoo, and it was unheard of for such large-scale air transportation of wild animals around the world.

Su Zhigang thought of it. He bagged a Boeing 747 in South Africa, not only pulling 30 long-term deer once, but also transporting a total of 144 animals including zebras, cheetahs and various antelopes.

After 2000, international trade barriers to wildlife increased, and Su Zhigang began to work in the area of ​​ethnic reproduction, and he quickly set a benchmark.

When Chimelong imported two white tigers from Sweden, there were only 100 white tigers in the world. After continuous breeding, the number of white tigers in Chimelong exceeded 200, accounting for half of the total number of white tigers in the world. The White Tiger has become a symbol of Chimelong and even as a goodwill ambassador in Guangzhou was given as a gift to Thailand.

"National Treasure" giant panda is also the sign of Changlong. After reaching cooperation with the National Research Centre for Giant Panda Conservation, Changlong has bred seven panda cubs for four consecutive years, including the world's only giant panda triplets, which has set a record for the history of giant panda breeding in the region south of the Tropic of Cancer. Not long ago (December 26, 2016), Chimelong added a pair of twin pandas. The two groups of “flesh balls” are waiting for the netizens to name them.

With the introduction of rare animals, Su Zhigang continued to expand its industrial chain with a series of vast projects. He has successively built hotels such as hotels, circuses and water parks. Su Zhigang has been pursuing the only and the biggest in every one. For example, the world's largest nocturnal animal world, super megaphone chute, ten-ring roller coaster, the world's largest permanent circus venue, the world's largest U-shaped skateboard, Asia's largest four-dimensional cinema and so on.

In the rampage, Su Zhigang also hit a roadblock. In 2006, Changlong’s world’s largest nocturnal animal world ceased operation because the model was unconvinced in Guangzhou, and its revenue was hard to see. During the visit, an insider of the tourism industry said: When I met Su Zhigang, he always complained about why he had to be big, and what benefits he could have if he became bigger.

However, complaining and complaining, Su Zhigang still cannot suppress his ambition to become bigger. In order to avoid risks, he began to make a fuss about comprehensive recreational activities: Self-driving animals, elephant theater, Journey to the West Theatre, African animal performances, etc. Changlong continued to introduce new products to attract tourists of all ages.

The popularity of Chimelong is getting higher and higher. Su Zhigang always stays behind the scenes. He never talks about the results or lessons from the outside. The outside world is not even sure how much he invested in the Guangzhou Changlong plate, he only saw more and more mainlanders. Even Hong Kong and Macao tourists dragged their families to Changlong.

In 2010, the annual number of visitors to Guangzhou Changlong has exceeded 10 million passengers, which is more than double that of Hong Kong Disney. The industry compares it with the animal in Su Zhigang's hand: He is like a predator, hiding, but has a great appetite.

However, Su Zhigang's courage, appetite and handwriting are greater than the outside world imagined.

Land and financing

In November 2009, the Hengqin New Area, jointly developed by Macau and Zhuhai, was established and became the third national-level new district after Pudong New Area and Tianjin Binhai New Area.

The New District government has launched a series of investment promotion projects, one of which is to grant billions of bank credits to the Chimelong Group, and “tailor-made” the conditions for land auctions. With almost no competitors, Chimelong took down 3 million square meters of tourism development land with favorable conditions.

In this context, Su Zhigang moved his body for the first time and took his animals out of Panyu. This year, Changlong announced the construction of Zhuhai International Marine Resort, with a total investment of over 20 billion yuan in the first phase.

When the news came out, the industry was upset. Public opinion has discussed one after another. What is the profitability of Chime?

At that time, the profitability of domestic theme parks and playgrounds had caused widespread concern. According to the data, over 50% of the theme parks were in a state of loss, and no more than 20% of the profits were realized. A large number of newly-emerged theme parks were operated soon after their birth. Bad declaration of bankruptcy. At that time, Changlong's annual revenue was maintained at more than 2 billion yuan, and the 20 billion investment is undoubtedly a heavy burden for the group.

The theme park is a heavy asset industry, with high requirements for land and capital, well-known theme parks in China, such as Happy Valley (OCT Group) and Fangte (Huaqiang Group). Most of them are supported by other industries or listed funds. In contrast, Su Zhigang and Chang Long appeared to be weak.

However, from the result point of view, in all the theme parks in China, Chimelong has always been one of the most fierce and most famous people in terms of development momentum.

How does Su Zhigang play heavy assets? In the view of Chinese businessmen (micro-signal: hstl8888), one of them is very important.

When deciding to switch to a hotel, Su Zhigang demonstrated his courage in land and loans. The land of Dashi Village and Yingbin Road is the foundation of its early loan from the bank. After expanding Guangzhou Changlong, its land advantage has further expanded.

With the Panyu government's opportunity to develop a new district, Su Zhigang has acquired a large number of plots. Panyu is located at the core of the Pearl River Delta. During the past few years, the Guangzhou Metro, Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed rail, and Guangzhou-Zhuhai inter-city light rails have converged one after another. The land price has tens of times. Chimelong covers an area of ​​5 square kilometers, which provides a guarantee for expanding the scale of bank loans.

After that, as mentioned above, Changlong won a large amount of land in Hengqin New District at a favorable price, and these sites further increased the weight of the Group's subsequent financing.

This logic seems simple, but the problem is how to get to the ground. The reason why Su Zhigang's assets and investment model are unfounded is that the key to his long-standing and industrious Chime-Lung longevity is the gold medal. For local governments, the Changlong theme park is undoubtedly the “caucasian god” driving the local economy. Both taxes and taxes are of great benefit.

On the basis of entity management, Su Zhigang and Changlong continue to strengthen the quality of this signboard, making Chimelong more famous. The most important one is the Disney-style “tourism + culture” strategy.

From the creation of “Panda Sanbao” (Kung Fu Panda 3) to the participation of “Where is Daddy Going?” to a series of popular variety shows such as “The Good Voice of China”, “The Challenger League” and “The Brothers Running”, Chimelong The influence quickly spread from the PRD to the entire country.

Along this road, Chimelong's footsteps stretched all the way, and its amusement parks also went to the current hot live broadcast platforms. Many have never been to Changlong's audience, and they are also very good at it.

According to Guangdong

Although the momentum of development is excellent, Su Zhigang actually has a strong sense of crisis.

In the process of development, Chimelong has always been a strong ringer, with OCTs and Fangte nearby, and Hong Kong Disneyland and Hong Kong Ocean Park a little further. The current competitive situation is even fiercer: International theme parks have landed in China. In addition to Disney, Universal theme parks, Legoland, and Ferrari theme parks will also come one after another. On the other hand, domestic companies are also digging into gold, including Wanda Group. A group of mega-enterprises within it all regard the tourism complex as the next competition focus.

Under such circumstances, Su Zhigang, who has always been a step closer, chose to take the initiative and raise the investment level to the shocking 100 billion level.

From 2015 to 2016, Chimelong has successively launched two new major projects. One is to build a second theme park in Hengqin and the other is to develop Guangdong Qingyuan Changlong Project. Among them, the planned investment for the second phase of Hengqin is 30 billion yuan (a total investment of 50 billion yuan), and the Qingyuan project announced an additional investment of 50 billion during the first phase of construction.

Hengqin Theme Park II is rooted in the outstanding performance of Zhuhai Chimelong International Marine Resort. In January 2014, the park was opened to the public for the first time. With a wealth of rare marine animals, top-notch amusement equipment and novel large-scale performances, it refreshed 7 of the world's most advanced industries and became the largest and most plentiful of recreational facilities. The world's top marine paradise.

At the end of the year, the Zhuhai Chimelong Ocean Kingdom stood out from the world's 169 tourism projects and was awarded the “Outstanding Achievement Award for the theme park” awarded by the Global Theme Entertainment Association. This award, known as the "Oscar of Tourism," is the industry's highest award. Chimelong is the first Chinese brand to reach the top since the award was created.

Along with the international reputation, there is also a continuously rising performance. In 2015, the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom received a total of 7.48 million tourists and ranked the first in the global marine park. The Changlong-Guangzhou and Hengqin projects received nearly 24 million visitors throughout the year, more than the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.

In the second phase of the investment, Chimelong plans to build four theme parks, 20,000-room hotels, and 50 million annual visitors.

The Qingyuan Changlong project also clearly defined the magnificent goal of attracting tens of millions of tourists each year, bringing the total economic benefits to over 100 billion yuan, creating 50,000 jobs, and stimulating the employment of related industries to 200,000.

Huge sums of money have covered an interesting phenomenon: Su Zhigang's "narrow" investment radius. In the national theme parks, one after another, they have spread all over the country and even tried to lay out the globe. Changlong never took half a step in Guangdong. The industry is therefore skeptical: Will a single visit to the market lead to oversupply, and even three long-term parks "internal fighting"?

In view of this, the analysis of Chinese businessmen's strategy (micro-signal: hstl8888) believes that for Su Zhigang and Changlong, the temporary “defense” of Guangdong is not a problem.

There are many situations to consider when choosing a theme park. The Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei are the agglomerations of domestic theme parks. Among them, the weather in Guangdong is suitable for traveling throughout the year, there is no obvious light season, coupled with the location advantages of the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as the advantages of Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed rail, Xiamen-Shenzhen high-speed rail, etc., Guangdong's tourism resources are quite competitive Power, and still have room for substantial improvement.

Secondly, Chiron is quite familiar with the local environment and policies, which is crucial for large-scale projects. The project of Chimelong has received a lot of support from the local government. Its project meetings have the experience of the governors at the level of participation in the hosting, and related financial services and surrounding transportation planning and construction are readily available. To be bigger and stronger in such an environment is obviously more advantageous than “blinding out”.

In the new plan, Su Zhigang’s focus is not only on tourism resources, but on building an urban complex around tourism. Its commercial and residential projects have already been built, and super-large commercial centers will also be launched. Obviously, after 20 years of cultivating Chiron brand and traffic, Su Zhigang is planning to increase the group's revenue capacity in more ways.

However, apart from what has already been shown, what changes will continue to occur in the future Chiron is still unknown. Su Zhigang rarely talks about strategies and ambitions. He rarely even participates in major events at Chimelong. Even the "Oscar" awards are presented by the president of the group. Therefore, for Chime, the outside world often rely on "guessing."

In extremely limited interviews, Su Zhigang also often "cares about him." For example, he said that he never forgets the experience of "pig chop" and dreams of killing pigs at night.

From killing to “keeping health,” Su Zhigang has completed a cycle. From "keeping a brand" to "killing," he began a new cycle. Perhaps in Su Zhigang's view, when it is not yet time to talk about the results, in a few years, this giant crocodile will really get up and out of the territories to hunt and eat, and create a truly world-class national tourism brand.