Family Story: Taking unpaid leave and venturing into Zhongguancun

Gradually left Zhongguancun after ups and downs in the business　　

In 1995, the 586-type computer was born and an increasingly number of people spent money on computers. Liu’s company also continuously expanded. In that year, Liu and his two friends went back to Zhongguancun and invested 100,000 yuan to open an outlet store in Huangzhuang’s electronic auxiliary market, which is the proto-type of the current Zhongguancun. The market was in a large simple single-storey house, which was filled with outlets and booths of over 400 traders. Each outlet and booth was crammed with electronic products, inside and outside, waiting for customers.

Also starting from 1995, Liu began to change his business model, from developing his business depending on his personal connections with other people to expanding the market depending on product quality.

At the same time, increasingly more people came to Zhongguancun to seek fortune and start their own businesses. The business of Liu, the first Zhongguancun generation, also experienced various challenges while developing.

In 1998, Liu divided his funds into two parts. He used the first part to establish a new computer parts company exclusively selling Sony CD-ROM’s and floppy discs. He rented a plot of land near Pearl Lake in Mengtougou District with the second part of his funds and built a tourism resort village on it in a hope to expand the market into a new area and to share the risks of his businesses venture.

That year, Liu, a successful man in business, spent 130 thousand yuan buying a luxurious white Jetta.

Early in 2003, because of an accident and subsequent SARS, Liu had to close the tourist resort around Pearl Lake. His five-year’s funds and efforts went up in smoke. In addition, the never-ending changes and improvements of computer and electronic component markets meant the profits of small companies got lower and lower. Like many other small companies, Liu’s company also gradually disappeared with the development of ZhongGuancun and the fierce market competition.

Around 2000, many of his classmates and friends who had taken unpaid leave more than ten years ago, returned to their previous posts and lived their stable lives again.

However, because he chose to resign from his position many years ago, Liu Baoliang, in his forties, had to continue to struggle in the commercial field. Now he rarely deals with electronic products and mainly helps his friends to do some projects.

Liu has now sold his stagnant company to his friend and withdrawn from the prosperous ZhongGuancun. He earns some money by helping one of his friends to install network lines, and concentrates on travelling the rest of his time.