Raising Oysters to Get Rich Has Its Secrets, He Knows Oyster Wealth Best

Freshly shucked raw oysters go straight into his mouth; a palm-sized oyster is swallowed in one bite. He says eating oysters this way is what real enjoyment means! A man in the restaurant business - why would he become a tour guide? Some say he is neglecting his proper work, yet he stumbled into success by accident. At 38, he gave up a senior executive position at a state-owned enterprise and went into business. Over a decade later, people respectfully call him "Oyster Master." He introduced more than 50 kinds of oysters from abroad, and to sell oysters, he even took a Hong Kong wine-tasting expert as his teacher. How great is the potential of oysters? Oyster Master will show you beyond your imagination.

Chen Hanzong: This oyster is still quite good. Why does it get wrinkles like that? Because it is alive, it has vitality. Let me eat one for everyone to see.

Tourist: Oyster Master, how do you eat it? Camera, camera, camera. What does it taste like?

Chen Hanzong: Very crisp, and when it reaches your stomach it is very sweet.

This person who is shucking oysters, talking about oysters, and eating raw oysters for everyone is Chen Hanzong. Today Chen Hanzong brought 40 tourists from Shenzhen to Shanwei City, 100 kilometers away, to visit an oyster farm. To let everyone experience eating raw oysters, Chen Hanzong ate two in a row as a demonstration, but most tourists still just watched. But Chen Hanzong had ways - one move of his instantly sparked everyone's interest in eating raw oysters.

Chen Hanzong: So big, wait a moment, take a photo. Who wants it? Do you want to eat it? Come, let me feed you.

Tourist: Feed who?

Chen Hanzong: Feeding a beauty an oyster. Get me a tissue.

Tourist: Fresh, especially fresh, very sweet, seawater, the fragrance of seawater, but the aftertaste is quite sweet.

Reporter: Do you find it fishy?

Tourist: A little bit, it's okay, acceptable? Completely acceptable.

Seeing someone eat one, the surrounding tourists all became eager to try, wanting to experience the feeling of eating raw oysters by the sea. At first they were a bit nervous, but soon the scene could not be controlled - eating raw oysters, taking photos, then posting them to WeChat Moments.

This freshly shucked oyster meat, apart from the seawater on it, has no seasoning at all. You grab it and send it straight to your mouth - what you eat is pure enjoyment.

Tourist: So delicious.

This oyster produced in Shanwei City, Guangdong Province, is known for being plump, crisp-fleshed, and sweet. Here, an oyster weighing two liang and more than ten cm long is very common.

Chen Hanzong: This oyster has grown for at least five years. Look, so plump and beautiful, this one is palm-sized. Compare it - look, this beauty's hand is only this big, right? Who wants to eat this oyster?

Tourist Pei Yi: I'll eat it, I'll eat it!

Chen Hanzong: Another beauty wants to take on the challenge. Come, one two three, camera camera camera, get ready, get ready. Happy? She's choked on it. Choked, how does it feel, she can't speak.

Under Chen Hanzong's leadership, everyone was very satisfied with the raw oyster tasting experience.

Tourist Diao Shaoyou: It was my first time eating raw oysters, I ate two.

Reporter: Two? Happy, right? You look very happy.

Tourist: Happy, very excited.

Chen Hanzong: Everyone, do you feel happy?

Tourists: Happy.

Chen Hanzong: Is it fun?

Tourists: Fun.

Chen Hanzong: Do you want to come again? Come.

Every year from November to April of the following year, Chen Hanzong leads tour groups from Shenzhen to Shanwei every month to see oysters and eat oysters.

In Shenzhen, Chen Hanzong has a nickname related to oysters. When his hair was black, everyone called him "Oyster Brother"; after his hair turned white, everyone called him "Oyster Master." Some say Chen Hanzong loves oysters as much as life itself. What exactly is the bond between Chen Hanzong and oysters?

Peer: Oyster Master, he is Oyster Master, the most famous Oyster Master in Shenzhen. His oyster dishes are unmatched in Shenzhen, absolutely outstanding.

Peer: Oyster Master is the true representative of Shenzhen's local cuisine, and his oysters reach a world-class standard. His influence is great and his seniority is high, so he is a true expert.

In some barbecue restaurants in Shenzhen, a charcoal-grilled oyster sells for just a few yuan, but Chen Hanzong can sell a Shanwei oyster for over a hundred yuan each, with annual sales of more than 30 million yuan. How did Chen Hanzong do it?

As early as 2000, Chen Hanzong was the general manager of the Guangzhou branch of a state-owned enterprise in Guangdong, responsible for restaurant operations. But he personally witnessed the parent company, which once had tens of billions in assets, become heavily in debt and face restructuring. This deeply shocked Chen Hanzong.

At the time, Chen Hanzong, already thirty-eight years old, made a decision: to leave his job and start a business.

Chen Hanzong: I wanted to do something to prove my own ability. I could do well in a state-owned enterprise, and if I went out on my own, I could do just as well. So I have always done things this way: I will go all out, work hard, and as long as I have decided on something, I will do it well. If after trying and doing it I fail, then I will go back to being an employee.

Chen Hanzong is from Haifeng, Shanwei City, Guangdong Province. In 2001, Chen Hanzong invested 1 million yuan to open a Shanwei hometown cuisine restaurant in Shenzhen.

He selected some of the most distinctive dishes from Shanwei, such as this kind of vegetable tea eaten during the Lantern Festival, made by stir-frying various green vegetables with dried squid and dried shrimp, then served with bone broth, peanuts, and puffed rice. There is also this cuttlefish paste, made with salted squid and pork belly, a dish Shanwei people often ate with rice in the past, and it can also be eaten in his restaurant.

Dish after dish of seemingly ordinary hometown food - Chen Hanzong turned them into a bond that connects hometown people emotionally.

Customer 1: I have eaten here for at least fifteen years, eaten here for fifteen years.

Customer 2: I can't remember how many times I've come, countless times. This isn't advertising for the boss - this is truly our hometown flavor.

In 2003, a seemingly ordinary event became the turning point in Chen Hanzong's life.

One day, a friend who shoots food photography asked Chen Hanzong for help. He had heard that Shanwei oysters were large and plump, and asked Chen Hanzong to find some Shanwei oysters and develop some dishes for him to photograph. Chen Hanzong agreed. Unexpectedly, that trip back home to find oysters left a deep impression on Chen Hanzong. Chen Hanzong discovered that shucked oyster meat in Shanwei sold for only one or two yuan each on average.

Oyster farmer Wu Yongbiao: The oysters here are all sold to Shenzhen and Hong Kong, as semi-finished products, to help Shenzhen's Shajing build its brand. We here simply do not understand branding, so the price is not high. We earn little money, and Shenzhen's Shajing earns more.

Chen Hanzong: First, they didn't realize it; second, those people didn't spread the word or speak up. I said we should find a way to help them, because these oyster farmers all work very hard.

Oysters in Shenzhen are a common seafood product on the market. In Shenzhen's barbecue restaurants, one oyster sells for just a few yuan. After some investigation, Chen Hanzong decided to do something different from others.