Farmers in Laiyang, the Home of Pears, Fulfill Their Dream of Becoming Bosses Through the Internet
The Internet Fulfills Farmers' "Boss Dream" - Laiyang, the Home of Pears
Recently, Zhao Yanbin of Zhaojiapuzi Village, Heluo Town, Laiyang City, Shandong, was grinning from ear to ear. Orders came pouring in over the Internet: 6 containers of Laiyang pears and 12 containers of carrots for a Thai client, and 1,000 tons of pears for a client in Fuzhou. The booming online trade left Zhao Yanbin marveling: “The computer and the Internet have fulfilled my ‘boss dream’!”
In 2000, Zhao Yanbin heard from a friend that business information could be posted online, conveniently, quickly and at low cost, so he immediately bought a computer. Although he had only a junior high school education, the headstrong man did not lose heart and attended computer training classes in his spare time. Using what he learned, he logged onto websites in Dalian, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Beijing and other places to post supply and demand information for agricultural products such as fruit and onions. His first successful online transaction was supplying 1,200 tons of onions to a client in Beijing, which earned him a net profit of 75,000 yuan. Having tasted the benefits of the Internet, Zhao Yanbin set his sights on foreign buyers, hoping to send his hometown's agricultural products abroad. In October 2004, his Yantai Huibin Import and Export Company was officially established. He invested 8,000 yuan to build the company website ——— "Laiyang, the Home of Pears," 2,300 yuan to join the "Alibaba" website, and 1,600 yuan to join the "Yantai Da Jingmao" website.