Ding Bingsheng: Dogged Persistence

Ding Bingsheng was invited to Huocheng by a friend and fellow townsman who had been a Jiangsu official serving a term in Huocheng. Ding is a private entrepreneur and has three factories in Jiangyin engaged in steel molding. In 2005, at the invitation of this friend of his, he invested RMB 15 million to set up Taihu Steel Structure Co., Ltd., located in the newly initiated Qingshuihe Jiangsu Industrial Park. The steel structure was due to the small market demand for steel molding, but actually the decision to move here at all was made out of respect for his old friend. “We are former classmates, it wouldn’t have been proper to turn him down.” Ding found that Huocheng was at least 15 years behind his hometown in terms of infrastructure, but the future, he determined, was promising. “Steel structures should be in great demand, I decided, so if I succeeded, it would be in a big way. If not, the loss wouldn’t be too big to carry.”

The first few years were treacherous. Steel structures were mainly used in factory construction instead of residential buildings. “There were only a few companies here, never mind factories on the way. Who would buy my products?” His company was originally a joint-equity enterprise, but shareholders abandoned the enterprise one after another. Finally it dwindled to a family business. Nevertheless, Ding entrusted his old Jiangyin factories to a relative, and moved his family to Huocheng.

Things turned around in 2009 when the output value of his business reached RMB 35 million, doubling that of the previous year. “It will reach 50 to 60 million this year,” Ding says with a smile. This year he will set up a new project in steel molding; he believes the recent work conference of the central government on Xinjiang will help boost local economic development, and particularly infrastructure, which definitely means more profits for him.

The most unexpected difficulty for Ding was the recruitment of workers. “At the beginning, we thought human resources would offer us our biggest advantage because the number of factories is very small while a large percentage of the local population needs work.” But the facts turned out to be disappointing. Recruitment here was even more difficult than back in his hometown. It’s the same problem shared by other companies in Huocheng.

Lots of musicians in Xinjiang but a dearth of skilled technicians.

The reason, he thinks, is the local’s notion of the place of work in life. “In my hometown, those who don’t work shame the family. The social environment insists people make money to support themselves and their family, but here the locals dont’ care to make money. If you work hard, you will be teased.” The cook in Ding’s factory went back to her village, and people asked her: “Are you short of money? Why are you going out to work?” Locals prefer to take odd jobs as they need some cash rather than committing to a job in a company. Taking a break after getting a pay cheque is common, and they look for a new job only when that money is used up. The locals can rely on a small income from their farmland, so life seems okay even if they don’t work. Who needs a work ethic?

The factory salary in Huocheng ranges from RMB 3,000 to 5,000 a month. “It’s too dear an offer to decline back in Jiangyin,” Ding remarks, “but workers here show no enthusiasm for that. I asked them the reason, and got answers like ‘I make five thousand a month, and that can support me for quite a while. Why would I work longer to make more?’” In most cases, Ding has to persuade them to stay on. “It’s so hard to find new hands, and there is nothing else I can do,” he sighs.

On the other hand, Ding feels a sense of pride. “Despite this, we have changed many people’s minds.” In the last five years, more and more workers have elected to stay, including many Uygur people. “It takes time to change minds and habits. As more companies come here, it will help the locals catch up with modern concepts.”

So far, Ding has over 100 people on staff. Of these, 70 percent are locals and the rest technical workers from Jiang-yin. “In recent years, the proportion of local Jiangsu workers has become less and less; one reason is locals are gradually migrating into the ranks of technical workers. The cost of employing someone is also much higher if your pool of workers comes from Jiangyin.”

Ding says the pace of life in Huocheng is very slow; people are easy with wealth accumulation, and free from the pressure of competition. “The happiness index here is indeed higher,” he points out, but Ding still feels pressures from his contemporaries in his hometown. His investment in Xinjiang has left at least half of his friends baffled. Their attitude is, “Those who invest in other places must be fleeing from failure in Jiangyin. Only those standing firm in their hometown are the real success stories.” Friends with new BMWs and Mercedes-Benz also lean on Ding, and he admits, “I have to work harder in Xinjiang. No other way. Personally, I found myself lagging behind when I go back home; I can’t catch up with new things.”

However, one thing does make him feel satisfied: the services offered by the Huocheng government have been greatly improved, as well as the investment climate. He also expects the legal operation department will be better disposed to smoothing the way for new enterprises. Ding is looking forward to better days in Ili, and even the whole of Xinjiang. He concludes, “The Huocheng government can only solve problems in Huocheng; the big picture should be tackled by upper levels of government. We need a total change.”

Ding’s production cannot meet increasing demand. “We’ve adopted a two-shift schedule and ordered an advanced production line which will arrive in a few days,” he explains, but tension can be heard in his voice. Ding sees the market has been nurtured and efforts to raise the standard of living are intensifying. Large-scale construction will expand the steel structure market which is predicted to reach new heights in the next ten years. “Some wholesalers from Ili offered to pay in advance for all my output, but I simply couldn’t fill their needs. Workers are in extremely short supply.” Given the same production capacity of the facilities, Ding can earn RMB 100 million a year in his hometown. But here in Huocheng, he faces a deficit of mature technical workers to keep his factory run at full capacity. “I looked for old hands in Jiangyin. The conditions are good; the annual salary is 800,000 yuan and return trip and daily expenses will be reimbursed. No one wants to come! We recruited only three persons this year. My son and I are filling in shifts.”

Asked if he thought people regarded Xinjiang as unstable, he insisted, “We know that Xinjiang is not unstable at all, but you can’t talk to them. No matter how good the conditions are, people decline when they hear it’s Xinjiang. Those that consider finally turn us down under pressure from their family.” In terms of return on investment, Jiangsu seems generally less competitive, with the result that Jiangsu businessmen are looking for opportunities in other provinces. But they won’t touch Xinjiang, for the same reason. When an official came from Huocheng to Jiangsu for training, locals exclaimed: “Wow, how did you survive in Xinjiang!”

Ding finds it difficult to apply for loans to scale up his enterprise. Xinjiang people don’t like borrowing from, or dealing with, banks. An enterprise can’t develop without banks, but the institutions prefer to grant credit to farmers rather than companies. The small loan tagged for development zone stimulation doesn’t fit Ding’s company profile. He had no way out but to sell one of his hometown factories.

Nevertheless, Ding sees there are better days ahead if only he can hold on. When shareholders withdrew in 2008, cash was taken and only production tools left. His spirit was nearly crushed, but now he says, “I think they made a mistake. Actually in the first few years we didn’t have a real strategy in place, just the hope to make some money and go back home. Now it’s not simply a short-term project.” Digging in and taking his next step, Ding plans to buy the facilities he is renting, and mortgage it for loans to move his business forward.