Getting Rich by Raising Tibetan Mastiffs: Ma Yanbin's Entrepreneurial Story

    Ma Yanbin, a capable young man of Hui ethnicity, was born in April 1983 in Qiaotou Town, Datong County, Qinghai Province. He graduated from the English Department of Qinghai Normal University in 2006, and currently serves as vice president of the Yushu Prefecture Tibetan Mastiff Association and principal of Qinghai Tianzi Culture and Education Training School. He founded the Qinghai Province Xiaoyushu Tibetan Mastiff Breeding Base and is the founder of the Qinghai Tianzi Culture and Education Charity Foundation.
　　
Ma Yanbin was born into an ordinary worker's family of five. He and his younger brother and sister were all in school, and the family depended solely on his father's meager wages. As the eldest son, he bore the heavy burden of the family on his young shoulders far too early.

In September 2002, Ma Yanbin was admitted to the English Department of Qinghai Normal University with outstanding grades. While newly enrolled freshmen were still immersed in the joy and excitement of getting into university, Ma Yanbin was already thinking about how to cover his tuition and living expenses during his college years. During his four years at university, he used holidays and weekends to work as a waiter in restaurants, a salesman in shopping malls, a private tutor, and a substitute teacher...
　　
While working as a private tutor and substitute teacher, he won the trust of many students and parents through his solid professional knowledge and unique teaching methods. In his sophomore year, he borrowed money from classmates and relatives and founded the Tianzi Tutoring Center. While continuously expanding his business, he also provided work opportunities for many impoverished classmates.

One day in March 2007, at the Lhasa Railway Station, Ma Yanbin, who was then working as a translator for the Qinghai Provincial Tourism Bureau General Company, was drawn to a conversation among a group of people: "I'll give you 1.8 million for this one." "No way, this is a purebred Tibetan mastiff, the only one in the world. 1.8 million is too low." It turned out that these people were conducting a Tibetan mastiff transaction. To Ma Yanbin, over a million yuan was simply an astronomical price. After returning to Xining from Lhasa, he immediately consulted relevant professionals and concluded that this was the path he had been looking for. So he gave up his translator job at the Qinghai Provincial Tourism Bureau General Company, immediately raised funds, and prepared to establish a Tibetan mastiff breeding base.
　　
Ma Yanbin scraped together more than 100,000 yuan from various sources to set up a Tibetan mastiff breeding base. However, because he did not have a deep understanding of Tibetan mastiffs and related breeding knowledge, he assumed that the Tibetan mastiffs bred in the areas around Xining also counted as Tibetan mastiffs. In addition, he did not pay attention to feeding and medical care. As a result, some of the breeding stock he had purchased fell ill, and some died. When he tried to sell them, customers said what he was selling were not Tibetan mastiffs at all. All his investment was lost completely.

At that time, Ma Yanbin was under enormous pressure. His family, relatives and friends all opposed his continuing to raise Tibetan mastiffs. But he quickly pulled himself together, carefully summed up his experience, and went to Beijing to visit the "Father of Tibetan Mastiffs" Wang Zhankui at the Beijing Tibetan Mastiff Club and the China Fine Tibetan Mastiff Breeding Base to learn about Tibetan mastiff selection, feeding and breeding. He also sought advice from Mr. Ma Junren, chairman of the China Tibetan Mastiff Club, learning how to distinguish the bloodlines of purebred Tibetan mastiffs, Tibetan mastiff feeding, and how to identify genuine and fake Tibetan mastiffs. At the same time, he also investigated the Tibetan mastiff market. Four months later, he set out on the entrepreneurial path once again.
　　
In order to find a purebred Tibetan mastiff, Ma Yanbin and his companions made multiple trips deep into remote areas such as Qumalai County in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, enduring hardships beyond what ordinary people could imagine. Once, because their vehicle broke down on the road, they were stranded in the snow, with several wolves circling the vehicle the whole time. They were hungry, cold and terrified. Yet, in order to obtain a purebred mastiff, he felt that such sacrifices were nothing.
　　
Today, Ma Yanbin has made a name for himself in Tibetan mastiff circles nationwide, with an annual income of several hundred thousand yuan. Ma Yanbin knows well how hard it is for impoverished students to pursue their studies. In 2009, he injected nearly 300,000 yuan to expand the "Tianzi Tutoring Training Center" he had run during his school years into the non-profit "Tianzi Culture and Education Training School." When he learned that many outstanding high school students or impoverished students at his alma mater, Datong County No. 7 Complete Middle School, had been admitted to universities but were worried because of family financial difficulties, he took it upon himself to donate to education and established the Tianzi Reward Fund. He said: "Without the earnest guidance of the leaders of Datong No. 7 Middle School and the meticulous care of the teachers, I would not be where I am today, let alone have achieved success in my career."