Why Xu Ronghong Is Drawn to the Lure of Black

In 2013, Xu Ronghong, who had a secure job at a state-owned enterprise in Beijing, suddenly announced that he wanted to resign and return to Hainan to start a business. With a reminder from his wife's younger brother, he discovered a huge business opportunity in local Dongshan goat farming. Several young people formed a post-80s startup team, but they never expected the road to entrepreneurship would be full of obstacles. See how Xu Ronghong from Hainan discovers a business opportunity and pursues his entrepreneurial dream.

At 7 a.m. on May 25, 2016, Xu Ronghong took us along to a farmer's house they had arranged to visit in advance, to collect Dongshan goats.

Reporter: Are there dogs? Is this the place?

Xu Ronghong: Right, Yuchun, are there dogs here?

Friend: No, no.

Xu Ronghong: Is this a dog? Is it tied up?

Reporter: Oh, it's tied up.

Xu Ronghong: This dog is a bit small, it looks harmless.

This farming household lives right at the foot of Dongshan Ridge. They raise nearly 100 local Dongshan goats. In this season, farmers generally are unwilling to sell their goats, because summer is hot and few people eat mutton; compared with the period around Chinese New Year, they cannot get a good price at this time.

Because Xu Ronghong had visited this farming household many times, and the owner also knew that when Xu Ronghong came to collect goats, the number would definitely not be large, that was why they were willing to sell to them.

Xu Ronghong told the reporter that they might not be particularly skilled at catching goats yet, but they had already improved a great deal compared with when they first started the business.

Reporter: What did he study? Forgotten?

Younger brother: Investigation.

Xu Ronghong: Oh, right, look, look.

Reporter: It's fine, turn around and say a few words. What was your major?

Younger brother: Investigation.

Reporter: Investigation?

Younger brother: Investigation at the police academy.

Reporter: The police academy.

Reporter: And that one? The partner who picks goats with you?

Xu Ronghong: Yuchun, what was your major?

Friend: I studied marketing.

Reporter: Learning while doing, right?

Friend: Yes, yes, yes.

Reporter: Had you ever done this kind of work before?

Friend: Never done it, look, I'm soaked with sweat.

After a great deal of effort, Xu Ronghong and the others finally picked 3 goats from the nearly 100 Dongshan goats.

For Xu Ronghong, who had never done farm work, carrying a goat of less than 20 kg by hand was already enough to leave him panting as he walked. But what happened next would make him even more frustrated.

Of the Dongshan goats they had painstakingly selected, one jumped out and ran away while being loaded onto the vehicle. The hard work of Xu Ronghong and the others all morning was wasted.

Before starting his business, Xu Ronghong had worked at a state-owned enterprise in Beijing. At that time, he had never imagined that one day he would deal with these goats every day.

But in 2014, he insisted on returning from Beijing to Hainan to start a business. What exactly made him resign from a stable job and start raising goats? And what business opportunities lie in this local Hainan Dongshan goat? The story has to start in 2013.

One day in the second half of 2013, Xu Ronghong's father received a phone call from his son.

Xu Ronghong: At the time, on the other end of the line, I said, Dad, I feel like I may have lost my passion for my work here. I just feel like I have no passion for anything I do. I feel like I might be a bit depressed. Then as we talked, I took the opportunity and said, maybe I'm too miserable in my job. I might want to go out and do something on my own, I want to start my own business. I just threw that topic out there.

Father: When I got the call, my heart skipped a beat. I told him, you've graduated with a master's degree, and now you're in Beijing at a state-owned enterprise, a relatively stable work unit. The family has a child, and we just hoped he could develop in a stable work unit. We didn't want him to work too hard, so at the time I held an opposing view.

Xu Ronghong and his wife both worked in Beijing. He had a master's degree, and his wife had a doctorate. Their life in Beijing had always been very stable. During that period, Xu Ronghong kept calling home saying he wanted to leave Beijing and return to Hainan. This made it truly impossible for the family to understand.

Mother: If they came back, how would I explain it to the relatives and friends around me? I felt I would lose face. To be honest, I felt I would lose face. Because I always felt that the two of them were in Beijing, one with a doctorate and one with a master's, doing perfectly well in Beijing, and if they came back, wouldn't people think they couldn't make it in Beijing and came back only because of that? I always imagined that feeling.

In early 2014, Xu Ronghong, who had not received his parents' support, really did come back from Beijing. What exactly was the reason that made his son behave so unusually? Could it be, as his mother guessed, that something had gone wrong for him in Beijing?

Starting in 2013, Xu Ronghong felt uncomfortable every day, with low spirits and a bad mood, but if asked exactly where he felt uncomfortable, he could not say. This kind of life lasted for a long period.

His wife Gu Xiaojuan worried about his health and had him go to the hospital, spending more than 10,000 yuan on a full-body checkup. But Xu Ronghong never showed the checkup results to his wife.

Wife: After the checkup, he didn't tell me the results for a whole month. Later I asked him, what were the results after your checkup? He just smiled, and then I flipped through it, a thick stack of checkup result sheets, very detailed. There were also some suggestions on it, saying his physical condition was very good, and also suggesting he see a psychologist.

What exactly happened to Xu Ronghong? And what was the real reason for his physical discomfort?

In 2009, after Xu Ronghong graduated with a master's degree in bioengineering, he worked at a state-owned enterprise in Beijing. At that time, his life was relatively privileged among people of his age: in Beijing he had a house, a car, and a hukou, with an annual salary of more than 300,000 yuan. But by his fourth year of work, Xu Ronghong increasingly disliked this state of life.

Xu Ronghong: How should I put it at the time? It also had a lot to do with my own personality. At the time I was, so to speak, under the system of a state-owned enterprise. A lot of things made me feel, including some of my personal ideas and some points I wanted to innovate on, that they seemed to be suppressed.

Wife: Maybe his body and soul were not on the same path. Although public institutions and state-owned enterprises are more comfortable and more stable, he always felt restless inside and still wanted to go do something. So it was a very uncomfortable state.

During that period, Xu Ronghong would always see topics about entrepreneurship on television, and because he was inspired by this, he became even more determined to leave his former life. He also wanted to start a business and go out to do something on his own. But among those around him, only his wife supported him.