Feng Yougen is Xiangtan’s richest entrepreneur but as a child he lived with his family of seven in a tiny home and slept beside the coals like Cinderella, the Western fairytale adapted from the 1,200 year old Chinese story of Ye Xian. But Feng’s tale is more wondrous than any fairytale because he accumulated his wealth, and helped lift thousands of others from poverty, not by magic but by passion, persistence and principles.

I asked Mr. Feng how the son of a poor flower farmer could earn enough to spend almost 2.5 billion Yuan turning 5,000 acres of barren village land into a national 4A-level tourist and educational attraction.

“I had a bitter life as a child,” said Mr. Feng. “My mother gave birth to me herself; she even cut my umbilical cord herself. Until the 1970s, our home had only one and a half rooms. One room had a thatched roof, one had tile. We didn’t even have a door.”

Plunging into the Ocean of Competition

“Because my family was so poor, as a child I was always bullied,” said Feng, “so I struggled, and worked hard to make money. By 1989, I was a section chief on a state farm but that year I quit my job and plunged into the ocean of competition!”

China’s reform and opening up policies created such opportunities that the country was swept by an excitement like the 1840s California’s gold rush. When Mr. Feng told his father that he too planned to seek his fortune, his father supported him but suggested he try his hand in the crowded places where there were more people.

Eyes bright with hope, Yougen bicycled to populous Hedong, only to find that everyone else there was also trying to strike it rich, so competition was fierce. As he pondered how to find his own niche, he chanced upon a machinery factory and saw a tower crane that cost 820,000 Yuan. “The construction boom is just beginning,” young Yougen thought, “and this is a great deal!” Yougen studied the market carefully before he boldly put all of his eggs in one basket but his well calculated gamble paid off. He bought the crane, sold it for over one million Yuan, and pocketed 200,000 Yuan in profit.

“I used only cash back then,” he said, “so I took the money home. It took all night to count it! My original salary had only been a few dozen Yuan, so that 200,000 Yuan gave me a much brighter outlook for the future!”

Nine-Tailed Fox Returns to Flowers

Mr. Feng leveraged his 200,000 Yuan windfall to capitalize upon Xiangtan’s robust economic growth and invested in other businesses, real estate and hotels. By 2006, he was Xiangtan’s richest man and called “Nine-tailed Fox” by locals. Yet just as the real estate business started to heat up, he shocked friends and family alike by investing everything he had into transforming a barren village into the 800 hectare Panlong Grand View Garden. “I’m the son of a flower farmer!” Feng exclaimed to skeptics. “From my youth, flowers have influenced me. Flowers are my passion!”

Within less than a year, everyone recognized that Mr. Feng’s timing and choice of location for his grand garden had been perfect when Xiangtan was recognized as one of China’s top ten livable cities.Footnote 1 From early on, Xiangtan had emphasized national guidelines for protecting the environment during development, which of course was in keeping with Hunan’s ancient Taoist philosophy of “Man follows nature.” Mr. Feng’s Panlong Grand View Garden was simply following Xiangtan’s trend, though he took it to an entirely new level.

Feng was quick to prove that even a passion for flowers could turn a profit. His father had taught him not only how to raise and sell flowers but also to discern which flowers made money and which did not. “Orchids made money,” Mr. Feng said, “so when I was young I searched the mountains for orchids. I could smell them!”

New Era, New Agriculture

Feng quickly realized that the traditional agriculture of his youth was no longer a path to success. “In the past,” Feng said, “People struggled for food and clothing, and Hunan’s hilly land – all ups and downs! – made modern agriculture impossible. After expenses, one mu produced only 1,200 Yuan of profit. We had to be creative.” But reform and opening up ushered in a new era in agriculture.

Thanks to the modern infrastructure that gave Xiangtan access to China’s entire market, as well as favorable business policies and incentives for environmental initiatives, Feng expanded his sights to encompass not only traditional agriculture but also landscape agriculture, ecological agriculture and tourism agriculture. Feng said, “Xiangtan was Chairman Mao’s hometown, so in addition to Red Tourism, why not also dazzle the world with Green Tourism?”

A consummate businessman, Feng was careful that every Panlong Grand View Garden venture be profitable. Otherwise, the garden could not be sustainable. But at the same time, he demanded the best experience possible for guests. “I wanted guests to enjoy the park and food so much that they didn’t want to leave, and that they would return often.”

Win-Win for Villagers

I asked what happened to farmers whose land had been used for Panlong Garden. Feng grinned. “I leased more than 5,000 mu of land in Zhifang Village – and people were delighted when I demolished their homes! Do you know why? Because we gave them more than just money! The original Zhifang Village was just a barren mountain wilderness, but I transformed it into a lush green garden, and we built the villagers new homes. I also provided livelihoods. Their average annual income has risen from 5,000 Yuan in 2009 to 50,000 Yuan today.”

Yuan Jingang, a Zhifang villager weeding peach trees, told a reporter, “Since Panlong Gardens, our cooperative has never had to worry about selling our peaches, and it gets better every year.” The 536 trees on 70 mu of land produce 10,000 kilos of prized yellow peaches each year, most of which are bought by tourists. “At 30 Yuan per kilo, that’s 300,000 Yuan!” Yuan Jingang exclaimed.

Zhifang Village now has many cooperatives that are an integral part of the flower industry chain and use Panlong Grand View Garden’s platform for marketing. And many villagers have opened Nongjiale, with at least 20 of them earning over 400,000 Yuan annually.

“It’s win-win,” Feng said excitedly. “They’re happy to work with us because we’re not just partners but relatives!”

Knowledge Is the Best Charity

Feng’s careful study of national anti-poverty initiatives taught him that the first priority in raising Xiangtan from poverty must be given to infrastructure, so he spent tens of millions repairing or upgrading over 30 km of roads, including roads not directly connected to his projects. But Feng also recognized that another great barrier to prosperity was lack of education. As Feng said, “In fighting poverty, giving someone a fish is not as good as teaching him to fish. Knowledge is the best charity.” Feng employed many of the uneducated villagers in his gardens, restaurants and hotels, but he also invested millions in education for children and adults alike.

Feng invited experts from Hunan Agricultural University and other institutes to teach farmers and staff about flower seedlings, aquaculture and poultry farming, and techniques for cultivation of fruit and vegetables. He also arranged 20 lectures a year to introduce the fundamentals of the market economy. But Feng himself is now recognized as quite an expert. He has spent tens of thousands of Yuan in tuition on his own studies. “I’ve learned as much from failure as from success,” Feng said, laughing. “After long illness, one becomes a good doctor!”

“Some people collect antiques,” Feng said, “but I collect exotic flowers.” His park has over 100 kinds of cherry blossoms, 800 kinds of rhododendrons and over 1,200 kinds of lotus flowers, as well as over 200 kinds of orchids, and over 150,000 trees such as red maple, black pine and Podocarpus. But he learned the hard way that exotic plants require exotic care. He imported 800,000 Yuan of Buddha Belly Bush from Australia; they all died within three years. He also spent 2 million Yuan importing purple sage from Vietnam and Myanmar, only to discover that even though they thrived in neighboring Guangdong, they perished in Hunan. Feng was not discouraged. “Practice, practice and practice,” he said, “and then study, study and study! Either don’t do it, or do it to the extreme.”

Each time that Feng discovered a new exotic flower in Japan, Korea, Canada, the U.S. or other countries, he bought every book he could find on their care and spent millions having them translated into Chinese. To this day, he reads late into the night, and develops technical and management practices that he teaches others. Thanks to his encyclopedic expertise, he now wears another hat—that of graduate tutor at Hunan Agricultural University’s Department of Horticulture.

Passionate About Education

As an advocate of lifetime learning for himself and others, Mr. Feng funds education for learners of all ages, but he is especially keen on awakening city children to the wonders of nature. “Many children who live in cities from birth know nothing of nature!” he said. “So each year, over 300,000 children attend Panlong Grand View Garden programs to learn about diverse plants and flowers from all over the world. Adults like it too, so children of course bring their parents!”

Feng has built two Hope schools and donated almost 50 million Yuan through his “Panlong Education Fund” to help 470 students of all grades. Feng also gives a 20,000 Yuan annual college stipend to four or five exceptional students. “I review their transcripts to select students who are serious about learning. And if their families have problems, I of course help them.”

Ms. Chen Liwen, a former student of Prof. Hu Min, also a Xiangtan native and CEO of New Channel, said, “Mr. Feng is typical of Hunan people: hardiness, endurance, forceful. So he supports youth who show they can grit their teeth and endure.” As Prof. Hu Min says, “If you persist, you will succeed.”

But Mr. Feng also knows that passion must precede persistence, so after checking a prospective student’s transcripts, he asks him, “What do you plan to do after graduation?” If he’s not certain, Feng would encourage him to find his passion. “There’s not much point in spending time and money on a major if one’s not planning a career in it,” he said.

Ms. Chen Liwen asked Mr. Feng, “Have you met anyone else with as much passion for plants and flowers as you have?”

Mr. Feng hesitated, and then said, “There are some,” he said, “but very few. I believe that business success is intimately tied to your hobbies. If your profession is also your hobby and you are passionate, then you have motivation.”

Ms. Chen nodded agreement and said, “Then we should find ways to enhance students’ love for all walks of life, and educational reform should include career planning courses so students can find their passion and make the right choices.”

“You are right,” Mr. Feng said. “And theory and practice should be linked. Even as farmers sow crops in fields, teachers sow ideas on blackboards, which lead to new practices, which lead to new ideas. If a professor’s theory is not linked to practice, his students can be only mediocre. Practice proves truth.”

Mr. Feng warmed to his subject like a teacher in his classroom. “Consider Yuan Longping,” he said, “the father of hybrid rice in China. Yuan Longping said, ‘Book knowledge is very important, but I am engaged in rice research. There is no rice in the books. Only rice can grow rice. Practice!’ Only because Yuan Longping has been rooted in the land for a long time has he been able to produce hybrid rice from generation to generation.”

Mr. Feng reminded me of professors I’d met at Harvard Business School (HBS), which has students analyze real-life case studies to deduce on their own the relevant theories and practices. Although HBS sees this as innovative, such practices have been an element of Chinese education for thousands of years. Confucius himself taught by asking questions and forcing students to think for themselves. As he famously said, “If I show one corner and the student cannot deduce the other three, I do not repeat the lesson.”

Passion Plus Principles

Mr. Feng is obviously propelled by powerful passion, but his passion is profitable because he grounds it in four principles:

“First, firmly support the government leadership.”

“Second, focus on economic efficiency and benefits.”

“Third, respect and obey the law.”

“Fourth, treat employees well.”

“We must treat employees like family and friends,” said Mr. Feng, “because company growth depends upon every employee’s contribution. Only this can make us invincible. A boss must know that ‘disperse money, people gather; hoard money, people disperse.’ Why do employees follow us? For a brighter future and a better life! So we must have the spirit of ‘Sow much, reap much; sow little, reap little.’”

“Our focus,” Mr. Feng continued, “should not be posterity but how to benefit society here and now. So I’ve never thought of Panlong Grand View Garden as my own, but as belonging to the state and society. If every boss seeks only his own personal interests, then state and society really have no hope. On the other hand, if everyone gives it their best and gives a little love, then this society must be beautiful.”

For over a decade, Mr. Feng has given his best to Panlong Grand View Garden, arriving each morning at 6 AM and often working late into the night. “I’ve been sharpening my sword for over ten years,” he said, “planting 300,000 trees. Each tree I planted by myself. I myself designed everything in the Grand View Garden. I’ve worked on Grand View Garden a long time, and it will eventually be as beautiful as fairyland.”

China’s Future?

Feng is confident about Panlong Grand View Garden’s future—and confident about China’s prospects. “China is vast, with so many people, so I think it has far more opportunities than other countries. Chinese used to struggle just for food and clothing, but that problem has been solved! I am 58 years old and I’ve witnessed China’s decades of development firsthand. Today, China’s first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are in no way inferior to the big cities in the developed countries of Europe. Even in urban development, they are far better than many big cities abroad. I have been to more than 100 countries, and I know from personal experience that we lead the world in our technology and urban construction.”

Feng is also optimistic about rural development. While many look to foreign trade for growth, Feng sees gold in China’s own countryside. “There is actually more room for development in relatively backward places,” he said. “Only 30% of China’s land is in cities; the other 70% is in towns and villages. I think that as society develops, the big opportunities will be in rural areas. Land is an invaluable treasure that lets us respond to change. These 5,000 acres of land of Panlong Grand View Garden is a blank slate upon which we can paint and play at will!”

After a meal of Hunan favorites and regaling us with tales of Xiangtan’s dramatic changes, Mr. Feng gave us a tour of his hotel. The best in town, his hotel still looks new even after a decade. Too often, builders cut corners only to waste far more money later on costly repairs, but Mr. Feng built his hotel to last. He proudly pointed to the lobby’s staircase and columns. “I’ve not had to renovate since I built this 10 years ago!”

Feng is obviously as passionate about his hotel as everything else he puts his hand to. But as he said, “My career proves that the secret to success is three words: sincerity, attentiveness and persistence.”

Yet Feng admits that he owes much of his success to his roots and to reform and opening up. “I am rooted in Hunan. Without my Hunan and China roots, I’d have not succeeded anywhere in the world. If you can’t make it in China, you can’t make it anywhere else! That’s why my children do not emigrate. I want to bloom where I’m planted – here in Hunan.”

This flower farmer’s son has certainly bloomed—and enriched not only Hunan but all of China with his passion, persistence and principles. But the following day I was delighted to learn that even the remotest minority villages in Hunan, such as Eighteen Caves Village, were prospering as youth flocked home from the cities to seize new opportunities right at home.