xue guozhu, former vice-president of ccb, joked, ‘don’t go business trip with mr zhang jianhong if you do not have two lives’ when talking about going to yunnan for interbank lending with mr zhang jinhong in december 1992.
in december 1992, dongyue planed to start the 3000-ton r22 project, but only two reaction kettles would cost 8 million yuan. at that time, there was only 1 million capital available, and this only can maintain the regular operation. funding gap was to great, and it could only rely on loading. president zhang jianhong visited all banks in the county and the city, but got nothing. at that time, macro-control policy was implementing, and every bank tightened the money supply. it was impossible for township enterprises like dongyue to loan money. at this time, a staff from ccb told mr zhang jianhong that there was one ccb in beijing that could do interbank lending. hearing this news, mr zhang jianhong immediately went to beijing, and ccb huantai branch also sent one representative xue guozhu to go along. when they arrived there full of joy and expections, they were told that the practice was closed. but they also got the news that one ccb in yunan still could do this business.
havn’t thought it over, they immediately got the material ready, and hurried to kunming. going through all difficulties, they finally found out that the ccb doing this business was not in kunming, but in lijinag which is 500 kilometer away from kunming. they immidiately got to the coach station, and got on a beaten-up bus. the mountain road was so bumpy that they did not arrive at the destination until midnight. then they found a small inn and stayed there.
after 5 days’ searching, they finally found the bank and luckily loaned 2 million for a 3-month term. geting hold of the draft, mr zhang jianhong immediately called mr wang(director of the factory) and mr liu chuanqi. and they were very happy and excited. there were two routines of going back: the farther routine is from lijiang to kunming, then to jinan; the less far rountine is from lijiang to panzhihua(mountain roads in-between), then to chongqing, and jinan. the locals said that the distance was short as if taking the mountain roads, but the traffic is bad, and it was likely to meet robbers on the road. considering that the project needs the funds urgently, mr zhang jianhong chose the mountain roads which are much closer. to avoid being robbed, mr zhang split the one thousand yuan he took with him, and put the money into his jacket, pant and shoes respectively. shortly after the journey started, the bus broke down within lijiang. it took over 2 hours to get the bus back on the road. but it did go far before it broke down again. it took almost 10 hours to almost get to panzhihua, but the journey was supposed to cost 7 hours. suddenly, a group showed up in front of the bus and stopped the bus, and they intended to get on the bus, but the driver refused to open the door. and they smashed the window. seeing this, mr zhang jianhong told mr xue to get down to the floor and to use the coat to cover his head. to make sure mr xue’s safety, mr zhang asked him to hide under the seat. the bus was in chaos of beating and scolding, shouting for help, and the sound of smashed glass. the driver was beaten up and his head was full of blood. everything was under control till the police came. night was coming, and there was no bus. having no other ways, they tried to stopped the vehicle passong them when they were walking. finally, they caught a small bus which was going to panzhihua. they bought 2am tickets for chongqin , and then they realized that they did not eat anything all the day. while waiting the train, they went to eat noodles at the train station.
so exhausted, they took off their coats and fell asleep on their seats. at about 4am, there came a group of people who sold pettitoes, when most passengers were asleep. actually, these people were to steal properties from the passengers. dazzledly, zhang jianhong felt that someone searched the coats on the hanger with knife. since the passengers were sleeping, he was single-handed, and had to watch the thief took his money (200 yuan) from his coat. however, mr xue was still asleep and knew nothing of it. not until chonqin, did mr zhang tell him it.
going through all the adversities, they finally got the 2 million loan, and the project was successfully put into practice. however, the 3-month term loan was required to pay back in less than one month., and mr zhang started to borrow money from somewhere else. our company become a quality client for several financing institutions. especially after dongyue was listed in hk, the credit line that financing institutions give to dongyue is far above the capital need. the age of borrowing morning from yunan has long gone, but we can not forget the experience.