At the age of 80, the company's capital chain broke, owed 20.77 million in debt, refused to apply for bankruptcy, and paid off the debt in 10 years... Recently, the down jacket of 92-year-old "honest grandma" Chen Jinying in Lishui, Zhejiang has started selling again, attracting attention.
On December 8, Chen Jinying told a Beijing Youth Daily reporter that she was getting older and her body couldn't take it anymore. This year will be her last year selling down jackets. She used to be a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and planned to return to her old profession. Help others to see a doctor.
Talking about why she insisted on selling down jackets to pay off debts instead of filing for bankruptcy back then, Chen Jinying shared her most simple idea: doing business is to be trustworthy, to keep promises, to do things honestly, and to pay back the money owed to others.
The down jacket factory has a debt of 20.77 million
"Integrity grandma" paid off in ten years
Recently, on the first floor of the Antique City of Lishui Building in Zhejiang Province, the Xinghua Feather and Feather Specialty Store posted the message "Clearance in the last year, please don't miss it, new and old customers".
A regular customer came to the store. When choosing down pants, he mentioned that the pants bought here for 80 yuan a few years ago are still worn here, and now the price of down pants in the store is even as low as 20 to 30 yuan a pair.
The shop owner took it and said, "Our pants are of good quality and won't run down, don't worry."
The owner of the shop who spoke was Chen Jinying, known as "Grandma Honesty", who is 92 years old this year.
She used to be a successful businesswoman, and she continued to see patients after she retired as a Chinese physician.
She found that some elderly people are prone to back pain and joint pain in winter, which is related to not wearing enough warm clothes, so she came up with the idea of producing down jackets for middle-aged and elderly people.
Later, the capital chain of the down jacket factory broke, and the sales of down jackets were not good. She was in debt of 20.77 million yuan, which took 10 years to pay off.
She still remembers that the last arrears were paid before the Spring Festival in 2021. It was an arrears of 70,000 yuan from her nephew.
She said that the order of her debt repayment is to pay others first and then her own relatives. After paying off the last debt, she can finally celebrate the new year happily.
Selling down jackets in the last year
If not sold out, it will be donated to the nursing home
Today, Chen Jinying, who has no debt pressure, still guards her down jacket shop.
On December 8, she told a reporter from Beiqing Daily that she was getting older and her body couldn't take it anymore. This year will be her last year to sell down jackets, and she will sell as much as she can. If she can't sell it, she will give it to the elderly in nursing homes.
"There are nearly 4,000 pairs of down pants and more than 2,000 down jackets in the warehouse, but I only have one store now, and I can't sell much in a year. The quality of the clothes in my store is good, and they are filled with 90% down. It costs 20 to 50 yuan, and a down jacket costs two to three hundred yuan. This price is a loss. The government and the masses have treated me so well, so I have to pay some."
After attracting attention recently, many netizens expressed that they would go to the store of "Integrity Grandma" to support her and buy clothes for the elderly at home.
Chen Jinying said that in the past few days, the business in the store has been quite good, and many new and old local customers have come to patronize her when they learned that she had a big clearance in the last year.
"If netizens from other places want to buy, it's not worthwhile to mail one or two pieces. If you want to organize a group purchase, for example, if you need 30 or 40 pieces, you can also contact me and we can mail it."
Chen Jinying said that apart from being old, her body is actually quite healthy. She has been a Chinese medicine practitioner before, and she wants to return to her old profession in the future to use her spare energy to help others see diseases.
To do business is to talk about credit
You should pay back the money you owe to others
At the age of 53, Chen Jinying used 3,000 yuan as start-up capital to establish a garment factory that produces down jackets for middle-aged and elderly people.
In 2005, she also invested more than 16 million yuan to build a new factory.
After more than 20 years of hard work, Chen Jinying's career has reached its peak, and the annual output value of the garment factory has reached 10 million yuan.
On December 8, recalling that period of time, Chen Jinying told a reporter from Beiqing Daily that when the garment factory developed well, she had down jacket stores in Jinhua, Wenzhou and other places besides Lishui.
Later, due to the lack of capital turnover, the production of down jackets could no longer continue. Chen Jinying owed 20.77 million yuan to the bank, relatives and friends, of which 18.5 million yuan was owed by the bank.
Since then, her entrepreneurship has also had to be suspended.
"Every business requires loans, loans from banks, and loans from relatives and friends." In 2011, due to a broken capital chain, she failed to start a business. In order to pay off debts, she sold all the factories and houses, and took out the cash on the clothing factory's books. With the money, the bank owed 18 million.
It took her ten years to pay off the remaining debt of more than 2 million yuan.
Less than two months after the factory was sold, Chen Jinying's wife passed away, and she was already 80 years old at the time.
She recalls being persuaded to file for bankruptcy so the remaining debt would not have to be paid.
But she said, "Being a man must be honest. No matter what, I can't break my promise. I will definitely pay back the money. As a man, you can bend your back, but you can't bend your waist."
Beginning in 2012, Chen Jinying rented a small factory and continued to produce down jackets with more than a dozen old employees. However, due to poor sales and a backlog of inventory, she began to set up stalls on the streets and parks to sell down jackets at low prices.
Someone asked Chen Jinying whether she would be worried if she owed so much money to others at such an advanced age, but she smiled and said, "It's useless to worry about it. Only when you take good care of your body can you be able to pay back the money. "
Over the past ten years, Chen Jinying has paid off the remaining arrears by insisting on selling down jackets.
Talking about why she insisted on selling down jackets to pay off debts instead of filing for bankruptcy back then, Chen Jinying shared her most simple idea: doing business is to be trustworthy, to keep promises, to do things honestly, and to pay back the money owed to others.
Because of this, she is affectionately called "Integrity Grandma" and was also awarded the 2021 "Zhejiang Pride" Person.
Text/Reporter Dai Youqing, Intern Ma Xinye (Source: Beijing Youth Daily)