He made a fortune by farming a new fish species, after once gambling away his entire family fortune

He started his business in his twenties and earned more than 10 million yuan in just 6 years. In 2004, he became addicted to gambling. In just over 2 years, he not only lost his entire family fortune but also went more than 5 million yuan into debt. By early 2009, he was still drifting from place to place, and many people looked down on him. He wanted to start over, but the business opportunity he spotted was not recognized by others. In only 6 years, he built up annual sales of more than 30 million yuan again. So how did he do it?

He is Guo Qiaohe. When the reporter came to interview him, Guo Qiaohe was leading workers to set ground cages to catch fish.

Guo Qiaohe: In deep spots, catching fish, in 10 minutes, 15 minutes, you can get 20-30 jin per cage. If the water is shallow, you can't catch any fish; the cage must be submerged under the water.

In just 15 minutes, a lot of fish had crawled into the ground cages.

Reporter: What kind of fish are these you caught today?

Guo Qiaohe: These are female fish, pure females. We selected them before putting them in, and basically 97 percent are females.

This fish is called the Taiwan loach, and it is larger than ordinary loaches on the market. Almost all the loaches Guo Qiaohe caught today are female, so they fetch a higher price.

Guo Qiaohe: This one is about 25 yuan or so.

Reporter: 25 yuan per jin?

Guo Qiaohe: About 25 yuan per jin.

Reporter: I know that loaches sold on the market don't seem to be this expensive.

Guo Qiaohe: These are kept for breeding as females, and as breeders they are certainly more expensive. If sold at the market, the current price (pond-side price) is 13 to 14 yuan per jin.

Male loaches have a horizontal hard bone at the tail, which you can feel with a touch. Female loaches have no hard bone at the tail, so they feel very smooth and soft.

Just from selling the female Taiwan loaches and fry, Guo Qiaohe's annual sales exceed 10 million yuan. However, Guo Qiaohe told the reporter that in his aquaculture base there is another fish that makes even more money -- the spiny loach.

Guo Qiaohe: This one now fetches 120 yuan per jin from buyers on the market. 120 yuan per jin, and supply cannot meet demand. Things are precious when they are rare; when there are few, they are expensive.

This fish is named the spiny loach because of its pointed head and the spines on its body. Guo Qiaohe has already successfully hatched a batch of spiny loach fry. Now, by farming several kinds of fish fry, Guo Qiaohe's aquaculture base has annual sales of more than 30 million yuan, and he has also become a well-known local man who got rich. Yet as the interview went deeper, the reporter learned that in 2009, Guo Qiaohe was someone many villagers looked down on.

Interview with Guo Yinghe in Nanhai District, Foshan: He (Guo Qiaohe) had nothing left at the time, and still owed people a pile of debt; everyone looked down on him.

Guo Qiaohe's wife, Xian Xuerong: All at once we fell from heaven to earth; the feeling in my heart, it was truly bitter.

Guo Qiaohe's daughter, Guo Wanwen: It's because of you (Guo Qiaohe) that our family, my younger brother and I, ended up like this, we didn't even get to continue our schooling, and we came here to deliver takeout.

Guo Qiaohe: In my heart it really felt like I was shedding tears, but I had to endure this; I myself truly had nothing to say.

Why did his family and the villagers all look down on Guo Qiaohe at the time? And how did Guo Qiaohe go from having nothing to becoming a well-known local man who got rich?

Guo Qiaohe was born right here. After graduating from junior high school, Guo Qiaohe did small business locally to make money. In 1992, Guo Qiaohe discovered that the price of eel on the seafood market was extremely hot, and he decided to farm eels. During the interview, Guo Qiaohe took the reporter to a local pond that was being drained to harvest eels.

Guo Qiaohe: Right now it's around 30-32 per jin; this eel is worth about 50 yuan, bought at the pond side. At the pond side we get 60,000, 62,000 (per ton) at that price.

In the early 1990s, the price of eel fry and feed was much lower than now, yet the eels sold were more expensive.

Reporter: How much per jin could one this big sell for at that time?

Guo Qiaohe: This kind of food eel generally could, at the very least, sell for more than 130,000 (yuan) per ton, and if it was for roasted eel, more than 160,000. Back then it rose by 10,000 a day, rose by 10,000 a day; it was as if it wasn't renminbi anymore, you'd think the money was fake. One pond produced more than 1 million (yuan) worth of fish.

By farming eels for more than 6 years, Guo Qiaohe earned more than 10 million yuan. By 2000, the profit from farming eels grew smaller. So Guo Qiaohe used his savings to open a hotel. At the time, that hotel had more than 100 tables, and daily sales were more than 100,000 yuan.

Guo Yinghe, a villager of Qixing Shilong Village, Datong, Nanhai District: That restaurant was very big, with 100 or 200 workers; around Xiqiao Town it was the biggest.

Wife Xian Xuerong: In one day we did more than 100,000 (yuan) in food business; every day (customers) lined up, people who came to eat all had to line up to eat; the business was really incredibly booming.

However, in 2004, Guo Qiaohe became addicted to gambling. At the time, he went to Macao, China at least 2 times a month to gamble.

Guo Bingyuan: He (at the time) liked to gamble, and every time he went to Macao, China to gamble he lost one million or several hundred thousand.

By 2006, Guo Qiaohe had not only gambled away his entire family fortune but also owed more than 5 million yuan in debt. Almost every day someone came to press him for the debt.

Guo Qiaohe: (The creditors) called dozens of times a day, every one of them urging me, when will you pay, when will you pay, but I didn't have the ability to repay that debt, and I couldn't answer them as to when I would pay.

Wife: I didn't know he had gambled away so much money. By the time I knew, it was already too late; all the money had been gambled away. By the time I knew, it was too late. All the money had been gambled away.

Guo Qiaohe fell rapidly from the peak of life to the bottom. In 2006, Guo Qiaohe took his wife and left Guangdong, coming to Nantong City, Jiangsu Province. There, Guo Qiaohe and his wife kept working for others away from home.

Guo Qiaohe's daughter: Mom went to (a restaurant) to work as a waitress, and she would pack up some leftover dishes and bring them back to my dad, that is, the leftovers the customers didn't finish were packed up for my dad to eat.

Guo Qiaohe's wife, Xian Xuerong: A month's wages were more than 2,000 yuan. Besides calling them (the children), I also had to rent a house, rent a place to live; in fact I really wasn't making any money, so I had no choice.

In 2009, Guo Qiaohe and his wife saved up money and opened a small restaurant in Nantong City, but the business was poor. That year, after Guo Qiaohe bought train tickets to Nantong City for his son and daughter, he had only 26 yuan left in his hand. The family spent an unforgettable Spring Festival.

Guo Qiaohe's wife, Xian Xuerong: On the first day of the lunar new year (2009), our family of four had only 26 yuan; this impression will always be the deepest.

Guo Qiaohe: (On the first day of the lunar new year) we stayed shut in at home and never went out the door, just watching other people's excitement, the fireworks, the firecrackers, all of it. It's like what we say in Cantonese, other people's happiness is your own happiness; there was no other way.