[Concurrent] Aini
I came to (Shanghai) on March 7, 1986. I have always been in Hongkou, Shanghai. I have been doing business in Xinjiang (in Shanghai) to open a restaurant and do business. I have been doing business in this kind of restaurant.
It’s been 35 years since 1986. The Shanghainese called me Xiao Aini "Little Xinjiang", and now it has become "Old Xinjiang".
[Explanation] He speaks fluent Shanghai dialect, regardless of his looks, he thinks he is an authentic Shanghainese... Aini from Kashgar, Xinjiang has been working hard in Shanghai for 35 years, and the Xinjiang teenager has turned into an uncle in Xinjiang.
Speaking of the scene when he first arrived in Shanghai, Aini still vividly remembered.
He introduced that when he first arrived in Shanghai, he used his brain to make money. He wholesaled a few shirts in some clothing factories and sold them along the street. He did not expect to make more than 7,000 yuan (RMB, the same below) in a few months.
[Concurrent] Aini
I should learn Shanghainese first, then Mandarin.
Many factories are here (Shanghai). First, buy a shirt. There are many big bosses at the door. I said, would you like this shirt?
I’m not going to lie at my age, Xiaohua. Some people say that it’s not easy for Xiaohua to come out. He must make money. I can get five pieces and I can get 12 or 20 pieces. I can also get it.
At that time, the back of the planned economy was not over at all. When we came, we had to eat by ticket. It was about 7 months. I went back in September. 700 yuan has become more than 7,000 yuan.
[Explanation] Seeing the business opportunities in Shanghai, Ai Ni decided to do the naan business in Shanghai. At this time, the two Xinjiang guys recommended by my friend, they had nowhere to go because they had nowhere to go in Guangdong. They were proficient in naan making, and Ai Ni was responsible for sales, and in 1988 the profit reached 50,000 yuan.
[Concurrent] Aini
It's quite a lot all year round, more than 50,000 yuan.
In 1988, we all divided it up. They said that you helped me. I said that you can take it yourself, and one person took 5,000 yuan.
I said that this is too unremarkable. Each of you cried for 10,000 yuan. They took more than 50,000 yuan and I made 30,000 yuan. Then they stopped leaving.
[Explanation] The business of naan cakes is getting better and better, but more and more Xinjiang people are making naan cakes in Shanghai.
Aini used his brain to change the way of wrapping meat in naan cakes to attract customers, but at that time only the master craftsman in Kashgar could do the craftsmanship, so Aini returned to his hometown of Kashgar to meet the master "learning art".
[Concurrent] Aini
I later went to Kashgar to make preparations, the famous place that sells naan-wrapped meat.
I looked far away at his naan wrapped meat. When the naan wrapped meat was sold out, I went to buy the naan wrapped meat. He said that I would sit for a while and it was not ready yet. I kept watching it. I didn’t look at it the first day. Understand, I saw that person the next day and told me, did you eat naan-wrapped meat or learn something.
He caught me, and I told you the truth. I just learned from you. I lacked this thing in Shanghai. This person is very good. (He said) this is not complicated. I will teach you one by one. No you write it down.
[Explanation] Thanks to Aini's diligence and cleverness, now he has bought a four-story building along the street in Quyang Road, Hongkou District, Shanghai to serve as a Xinjiang restaurant. All the employees are from their hometown in Xinjiang.
In Shanghai, Aini not only gained a career but also won love and family.
At the moment he also plans to enter the cultural industry in Shanghai and Xinjiang.
[Concurrent] Aini
I have this direction now. Now I am engaged in Xinjiang culture here (Shanghai), and I am engaged in Jiangnan culture over there (Xinjiang). I have been in Shanghai for 35 years, and I go there (Xinjiang) to recommend Jiangnan culture.
Reporting from Shanghai by Zhang Jian, Ji Jiangtong
Editor in charge: [Wu Qingcai]