"King of Refrigeration" Chen Hegui

Although he is known as the "King of refrigeration", Chen Hegui recalls that since starting his business, he has hardly enjoyed a single day of happiness "carefree and happy". "It is really while panting and stumbling".

Eighty-six is the age of grey hair and wavering teeth. But the 86-year-old entrepreneur is hale and hearty, with white hair and a hearty laugh. This is Chen Hegui, A Zhejiang-born Taiwanese entrepreneur who heads the A-share listed company Guoxiang.

Chen went to Taiwan in June 1949 and founded Guoxiang Refrigeration Machinery Company in 1966, which became the largest manufacturer of industrial refrigeration and air conditioning equipment in Taiwan and was honored as the "King of Refrigeration" in the industry. In 1993, Chen CAME TO MAINLAND China, and established ZHEJIANG Guoxiang Refrigeration Industry Co., LTD WITH a joint venture company in Shangyu City, Zhejiang Province. In December 2003, Guoxiang became the first Taiwan-funded company approved to go public on the A-share market. However, years after its listing, Guoxiang Refrigeration, a model listed on the mainland and one of the world's top three train air conditioning manufacturers, ran into problems and has now been taken over by China Fortune, a real estate company.

At the same time, Chen Hegui, who had retired, returned to invest again at the age of 85, hoping to regain his former glory in the land he knew so well.

Burn out

In 2003, as the first Taiwanese-owned company to be allowed to list on the A-share market, Guoxiang was touted as an example of an "honest and down-to-earth" Taiwanese company. For Chen Hegui, this is undoubtedly great news. In fact, from 1999 to 2003, due to the Asian financial crisis, Chen Hegui's company in Taiwan suffered huge losses and was unable to get bank loans.

"At that time, Guoxiang Company's financial difficulties were almost ten bottles with only six caps, which was impossible to move over. There were a lot of things to be busy and annoyed with every day!" At the end of 2003, when Chen Hegui thought he was at the end of his life, the news came from the mainland that Zhejiang Guoxiang Refrigeration Industry Co., Ltd. would be listed on the A-share market. This greatly inspired Chen and made him determined to return home.

However, after the listing, the business situation of Guoxiang began to decline. Since THE DECISION TO LIST IN THE MAINLAND, Guo Xiang HAS begun to expand the domestic market in the mainland, focusing on the brand market, and the domestic sales ratio has jumped to 90% of the revenue. Just did not expect to enter the domestic market, but suffered a bloody price war. In 2005, the company began to operate at a loss.

In terms of technical standards, Guoxiang is in a leading position, with China's largest refrigeration compressor product testing center, China's first successful development of a special air conditioning mainframe for nuclear power plants, China's first production of 4,400 tons of central air conditioning (Hangzhou International Trade Center), etc. But according to people familiar with the matter, Guoxiang lost nearly 20 million renminbi when it made two major missteps after going public. One was to build a hospital in Shangyu, where the local government offered cheap land, but running hospitals was not Guoxiang's expertise. Another mistake was the relocation of the Shangyu factory to Shanghai, during which production could not be carried out normally for about half a year, greatly affecting shipments. In 2007, the revenue was scheduled to reach 400 million yuan, and finally only 300 million yuan.

During this time, the exhausted Chen Hegui decided to quit. In 2006, Chen and his son signed the Equity Transfer Agreement, in which Chen Hegui transferred 27% of the company equity held by himself to his son Chen Tianlin for 27 million yuan, and gave Chen Tianlin full authority to handle the company's business in the mainland.

But there was nothing Mr. Chen could do. In June 2009, Guoxiang announced that Chen Tianlin had transferred more than 30 million shares of the company to China Fortune Foundation Co., LTD.

To return to the mainland

Chen, however, did not give up on his career on the mainland. This may have something to do with his constant nostalgia for his hometown.

"In 1991, my uncle had the intention to return to Dongyang to invest in the industry, but it was delayed again and again due to the traffic environment, investment projects, and other reasons." Chen Hegui's nephew Chen Junjian said. In the 1990s, the refrigeration equipment produced by Guoxiang was mainly sold to Shanghai, Tianjin, and other big cities. At that time, it took Chen Hegui a long time to return to Dongyang from Hangzhou airport. He thought that the transportation in Dongyang was not convenient enough, which would increase the transportation cost and make it unsuitable for business cooperation. Although Dongyang's successive municipal party committee and municipal government leaders have had contact with him, he always thought the opportunity to return home investment is not mature.

In 1993, Chen made his first investment in the mainland, setting up Guoxiang Transportation Equipment Co., Ltd. in Shijiazhuang to provide professional air conditioning equipment for rail transit vehicles. In the same year, he founded Zhejiang Guoxiang Refrigeration Industry Co., LTD in Shangyu, Zhejiang Province. The "ACE Air Conditioner" produced by Guoxiang quickly opened the market and became the largest manufacturer of household central air conditioners, air-cooled heat pump units, and screw ice water units in mainland China, and one of the three largest manufacturers of train air conditioning in the world. However, back to Dongyang investment has always been Chen's wish.

For Chen, returning to his hometown to start his own business is partly due to his strong homesickness and partly due to the opportunities brought by the rapid economic development of the mainland.

"I can't forget my happy childhood and the mantou Wu and meaty dumplings in my hometown." This is how Mr. Chen described his state of mind in Taiwan. In the first year of Taiwan's opening to the mainland, Chen Hegui and his family went back to visit their families. "At that time, the wind was strong and the snow was heavy. It was a bumpy journey from Hangzhou to Dongyang. It took seven hours." But even that doesn't stop Chen Hegui from returning to his hometown every year. At the age of 86, Chen can no longer communicate fluently in the Dongyang dialect, but he always smiles when he hears his hometown accent.

The Call of home

In recent years, with the increasing number of visits to his hometown, especially the opening of expressways such as Yongjin and Zhuyong, Chen Hegui's view of his hometown has constantly changed. The year before last, Chen Hegui was passed by Jinhua. A staff member of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Jinhua Municipal Government told him that Zhang Zhongshan, the Party secretary of Dongyang, happened to be in Jinhua for a meeting. He asked him if he would like to meet him. Unexpectedly, learned the news of Zhang Zhongshan for the first time and rushed to see him, which let Chen and you very moved. Feeling the expectations of the people in his hometown, Chen Hegui once again determined the idea of investment back home. He said to his son, "I am old, and if I don't go back to invest, I will have no chance, and now all the conditions are ripe."

On the morning of September 27, 2010, the groundbreaking ceremony of Zhejiang Sike Guoxiang Refrigeration Equipment Co., Ltd. was held in Chengbei Industrial New Area of Dongyang City. After nearly 20 years, Chen Hegui has finally returned to his hometown of Dongyang from Taiwan.

The registered capital of Zhejiang Sike Guoxiang Refrigeration Equipment Co., Ltd. invested by Chen Hegui in his hometown Dongyang is $8 million. The project covers an area of about 70 mu and produces central system air conditioning products and refrigerated containers, etc. At present, the company has invested 160 million yuan. Zhejiang Cisco Guoxiang Refrigeration is the first Taiwan-funded enterprise introduced in Dongyang, and Chen Hegui also brought Taiwan's advanced technology and equipment to Cisco Guoxiang, making it more competitive.

By the east wind of the mainland

The A-share market is not the first failure Chen Hegui suffered. Behind the Refrigeration King's success lies a series of setbacks.

At the end of 1971, Chen Hegui was defrauded of NT $2.5 million by Zhang's Air Conditioning Company. When he learned this, he almost fainted. In 1986, Chen Hegui, together with two "American science and technology experts returning to Taiwan", established Guorui Technology Co., Ltd. to develop the so-called "thermal power generator". By 1991, the company had lost more than NT $40 million in total and had to close down. In 1991, Guoxiang Auto Body Co., LTD was established. In 1994, the company was forced to close its business because of its debts of NT $30 million. From 1999 to 2001, as Taiwan was affected by the Asian financial crisis, the company was charged more than NIS 40 million by its peers. In 2005, he contracted for the electrical and mechanical project of the newly built teaching building of Taipei Medical University by Lijia Construction Company, during which the company went bankrupt and was cheated out of more than NT $70 million.

So many bad things have happened to Chen Hegui again and again, but he still insists that he is "a man favored by fate": "If you win, you lose, and if you lose, you gain. And I often use this phrase to comfort myself: the day will drop a great task on people, must first suffer their mind, strain their bones and muscles, starve their skin, empty their body, do what they do." It was this attitude that made Chen Hegui survive many hardships and twists.

Looking back on the history of more than 40 years since he started his business, Chen Hegui believes that Guoxiang is just like the founder of his "hard life", who has gained and lost, lost and gained again. He never has much money to spare, but he has never returned a check in the past 40 years. "The company's vice president of finance Lao Jiji I love to borrow the east wind of the mainland, borrow the east wind of my hometown." Chen Hegui said, "I hope this time, in the land of my hometown, I can borrow the east wind again."