The vegetable tree turned into a money tree, with very considerable economic benefits

This is a kind of vegetable, grown in Zengcheng, Guangzhou. It is big and looks a lot like napa cabbage, but one jin of it can sell for 30 yuan. For this vegetable, he was willing to resign and give up being a manager to become a vegetable vendor. Just by selling this vegetable, his annual sales reached more than 10 million yuan. Zhang Wenbin from Zengcheng, Guangzhou, how did he turn a vegetable that sold for just a few mao per jin into everyone's "money-making vegetable," spot a business opportunity, and reap wealth?

Reporter: What are you going out to do?

Late choy sum growers in Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng District, Guangzhou: Sell vegetables.

Reporter: Where are you going to sell vegetables?

Every year from November to February of the following year, at 3 a.m. every day, in Xiaolou Town, there is a group of people who, by the light of flashlights on their heads, are already busy in the fields. And the motivation that keeps them awake and working nonstop is this vegetable in the fields.

Reporter: What were you just cutting?

Late choy sum grower in Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng District, Guangzhou: Late choy sum.

Reporter: Late choy sum? Your family grows it?

Late choy sum grower in Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng District, Guangzhou: Yes.

Reporter: How many mu does your family grow?

Late choy sum grower in Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng District, Guangzhou: About three mu.

Grower 2: I have grown it for many years, more than ten years. This one looks good.

Reporter: This one looks good?

Late choy sum grower in Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng District, Guangzhou: If it is too long, it does not look good, it is old.

Zengcheng late choy sum is a traditional vegetable in Zengcheng, available only from the end of November each year to February of the following year. Every day before dawn, farmers go into the fields in the dark, carefully selecting each stalk of choy sum that has matured well, ready to take it to market to sell. This is their most important source of income.

Late choy sum grower in Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng District, Guangzhou: We have to come every day.

Reporter: What time do you go into the field to cut choy sum?

Late choy sum grower in Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng District, Guangzhou: Three o'clock. Need to sell a lot? Daytime is no good, nobody buys during the day, only from 4:30 to 6:00 do people buy.

Late choy sum grower in Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng District, Guangzhou: Now everyone grows choy sum, now is the season for growing choy sum. Of course it is hard work, my back hurts.

Every year during the 4 months when Zengcheng late choy sum is on the market, a special market forms, and in the morning there are buyers there specifically to purchase choy sum. Farmers all rush to get up before dawn to cut the vegetables, because the earlier they go, the fresher the vegetables, and only then can the selling price possibly be higher. Even so, one jin of choy sum can only sell for a few mao more, just 2 or 3 yuan per jin. Because growing choy sum is too hard, many local young people are unwilling to do it.

This young man is Zhang Wenbin. Just when many local people were unwilling to grow late choy sum, not only did he grow it, he also sold late choy sum that cost a few mao per jin for 30 yuan per jin, achieving annual sales of more than 10 million yuan and earning several million yuan in just a few years. This is something many local people would not even dare to imagine. And being able to make a fortune from choy sum was also something unexpected for Zhang Wenbin.

Zengcheng late choy sum belongs to a type of choy sum. It is not the same thing as what we usually call choy sum. Because it only comes to market in deep winter, later than ordinary choy sum, it is called late choy sum. Around Zhang Wenbin's hometown of Xiaolou Town is a major growing area for late choy sum, and there are many late choy sum fields like this.

After Zhang Wenbin graduated from university in 2005, he found a job at a tourism development company in his hometown of Zengcheng. That winter, a classmate in Guangzhou suddenly asked Zhang Wenbin about Zengcheng late choy sum. Zhang Wenbin was very surprised, because at that time Zengcheng late choy sum was too cheap, a vegetable no one was willing to grow.

Late choy sum grower in Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng District, Guangzhou: Nobody bought it, nobody developed a sales channel. In the past, even when it was grown, nobody wanted it. At that time it was very cheap, selling for a few mao per jin.

Late choy sum grower in Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng District, Guangzhou: Locals grew it themselves, every household grew a little to eat themselves. What they could not finish, they used to feed the pigs, chickens, and ducks at home.

When this unpopular choy sum suddenly became something people were asking about, Zhang Wenbin decided to go to Guangzhou to see what was going on. On that trip, Zhang Wenbin made a discovery. After returning, Zhang Wenbin began a series of unexpected moves and also began preparing for a wealth plan worth tens of millions.

It turned out that in 2004, the Zengcheng District government of Guangzhou held the first food festival, and choy sum also appeared at the food festival. Unexpectedly, the late choy sum that could not be eaten and was used to feed pigs and geese actually attracted some attention. Zhang Wenbin's classmate really wanted to try it, and at that time late choy sum was almost not sold anywhere outside Zengcheng.

Zhang Wenbin: From nobody knowing about it before, to now more people knowing about it and even actively asking for it, I thought to myself, could this be a good opportunity? No one is doing this yet, so I had this idea.

At that time, because the price of Zengcheng late choy sum was low, not only did no one locally grow it on a large scale, even less did anyone sell choy sum outside Zengcheng. Although after the food festival a little bit of the late choy sum market was stimulated, the sales channels were not mature, and still no one specifically did business in late choy sum. But Zhang Wenbin wanted to give it a try.

With no idea at all, how would Zhang Wenbin, who had never dealt with vegetables, quickly sell choy sum? How would he begin the starting point of his own tens-of-millions wealth?

Zhang Wenbin: I went to that hotel, directly took a bag of vegetables into the room, then I ordered food. I took out our vegetables and asked if they could help us process this vegetable. He said yes, but there would be a processing fee. I said no problem, because I was a customer, so I made this request.

Leave oil in the bottom of the wok, add the choy sum and seasonings, and simply stir-fry a few times, and a dish of stir-fried choy sum is ready. As soon as this dish was finished, a chef or hotel manager would always find Zhang Wenbin to ask about this vegetable.

Zhang Wenbin: They asked me, sir, where did this vegetable of yours come from? It seems quite special. Then I started to explain, and gave them a business card.

The fresh, crisp, sweet, and refreshing late choy sum has a unique vegetable flavor. Cantonese people's curiosity about and love for fresh ingredients quickly made Zhang Wenbin a choy sum supplier for 3 hotels. Every day before dawn he harvested vegetables in the fields and delivered them to the hotels before 6 a.m. One jin of choy sum could earn 2 yuan in net profit. In one month, Zhang Wenbin made more than 10,000 yuan in net profit, ten times his salary.

But before he had tasted enough of the sweetness, the late choy sum season passed. Although Zengcheng late choy sum is very difficult to grow elsewhere with exactly the same taste, which is related to Zengcheng's geographical location and microclimate, by 2010 the local late choy sum planting area in Zengcheng had increased quite a bit, but the price had not changed much.

Over 5 years, when it was late choy sum season, Zhang Wenbin did some late choy sum business, and otherwise went to work as usual. But the late choy sum business did not amount to much, yet Zhang Wenbin was promoted to the position of company manager, the fastest-promoted employee in the company. In that very year, Zhang Wenbin proposed to resign and go to the countryside to specifically grow choy sum. This greatly surprised everyone around him.