China Overseas Chinese Network, December 17th, title: Another Chinese made the news for growing vegetables!

This time in Spain...

　　Recently, a Chinese in Spain made the news because he was good at growing vegetables, and attracted the attention of Western media.

　　The Chinese man's name is Ying Min Zhao, and he now lives on the Spanish island of Mallorca.

He planted Asian crops on his 3 hectares of land and then sold them in his supermarket, becoming the first Chinese to grow Asian fruits and vegetables on the island of Mallorca.

　　Ying Min Zhao was born in Qingtian, and started to manage his own clothing factory agency business at the age of 15. After the age of 23, he came to Spain.

Qingtian Data Map

　　At first, he opened a clothing store in Mallorca as his own business, and later he ran a supermarket that he farmed to supply.

　　However, everything is difficult at the beginning. In the first few years of farming, Zhao got up at 6:30 in the morning, went to work in the fields after breakfast, took care of the supermarket at noon, and returned to work in the fields in the afternoon.

Every day between 12 o'clock or 1 o'clock in the morning, after reading the day's turnover, go to bed.

　　Success always favors those who work hard. Now, the 53-year-old Zhao supermarket is booming.

Not only the Chinese like to buy vegetables and fruits in his supermarket, many locals have also become his customers.

　　No matter where they go, the Chinese always have an inseparable feeling for "growing vegetables". As long as there is a piece of soil and a handful of seeds, they can give full play to their "talent" in growing vegetables.

Italian Chinese "big vegetable growers" grow bigger and stronger to give back to the society

　　Zhou Haibin, which started growing vegetables in Italy in 2007, has now built a modern farm covering an area of ​​230,000 square meters in Mantua, with more than 50 kinds of vegetables such as sweet potato, bitter gourd, winter melon, celery, and green beans. It is also opened in Milan Chinese Street A vegetable specialty store.

　　In 1995, Zhou Haibin came to Italy from his hometown in Zhejiang.

He used to work in Chinese restaurants for a long time. At that time, most of the vegetables used in Chinese restaurants were imported from Thailand, and the varieties were single. Fresh and diverse Chinese vegetables were indispensable for the Chinese catering industry to grow and develop. Therefore, Zhou Haibin had the idea to start a farm. idea.

Italian restaurant profile map

　　Do whatever it takes. In 2007, Zhou Haibin bought 20,000 square meters of land in Varese near Milan and started experimenting with growing vegetables.

In 2013, he invested nearly one million euros to purchase land and build a farm in Mantua.

It also introduced the latest technology and equipment in greenhouse vegetables from China, and learned relevant knowledge.

　　The outbreak of the epidemic did not affect Zhou Haibin’s business. Instead, it expanded against the trend. In 2020, Zhou Haibin invested another 50,000 square meters of land and opened a WeChat mini program for its own vegetable store.

　　Today, Zhou Haibin is thinking about how to create more job opportunities and give back to the society while making his own business bigger and stronger.

Peking University has become a "net celebrity" in Canada

　　Dong Jianyi, master of geology at Peking University, holds an offer from the world's largest oil service company. He immigrated to Canada and wanted to make a big splash. Unexpectedly, he suffered an oil price crash in the second half of 2014 in Waterloo.

　　What to do?

Confused Dong Jianyi is looking for other opportunities.

Occasionally, he discovered that Calgary has a great demand for Chinese vegetables, but no one specializes in growing vegetables that Chinese love to eat.

Dong Jianyi began to wonder, should he do it himself?

"A Peking University Graduate's Road to Growing Vegetables in Canada!"

》 Video screenshot

　　The change from a golden collar to a vegetable farmer's status is not easy said than done.

First, I worked on a Chinese farm in Winnipeg for half a year for free.

　　With a certain amount of planting experience, Dong Jianyi returned to Calgary at the end of 2017 and bought a piece of land in partnership with others.

　　Then Dong Jianyi and his wife worked non-stop to solve the problem of the natural environment.

Calgary has high latitudes and high altitudes. It often snows in winter, and the snow is up to 50 cm thick. There are only 100 days of frost-free period throughout the year.

　　Dong Jianyi and his wife returned to China for inspection and finally built the first "Chinese-style greenhouse" covering an area of ​​1,000 square meters with a double-arch and double-membrane winter heating in Canada according to local conditions.

The sandy tomatoes, prickly cucumbers, and thin-skinned green peppers that the Chinese like are all from this greenhouse.

　　Many people probably know the final outcome.

His video "A Peking University Graduate's Road to Growing Vegetables in Canada!"

"Only more than half a month after it was released, it has received nearly 300,000 page views on the entire network, making it popular in North America.

　　Turn the desert into a vegetable garden to serve the Chinese in Dubai

　　Everyone said that growing vegetables in the desert was a fantasy, but he turned this fantasy into reality.

The man who brought ideals into reality is called Sun Jiansheng, a businessman from Zhejiang.

In 2006, Sun Jianshen came to Dubai for the first time, starting from a small supermarket.

　　When everyone hears about Dubai, is their first reaction to being rich?

But there is also a huge problem in living there. Because of the geographical location and the climate, don't even think about cheap fruits and vegetables.

It is even harder for the Chinese to eat a bite of hometown food.

Dubai data map

　　Growing vegetables in the desert became Sun Jian's goal.

　　In 2013, Sun Jiansheng started his vegetable growing road, solved the two major problems of water and soil for vegetable growing in the desert, and spent huge sums of money to build a green vegetable farm.

By 2014, the "Vegetable Kingdom" in Sun Jian Province had begun to take shape, covering an area of ​​130 acres, with 20 water-cooled temperature-controlled greenhouses, a fresh-keeping warehouse of more than 100 square meters, and 47 farm staff.

　　After 10 years, the original small supermarket has gradually developed into a Wenzhou Supermarket Group integrating supermarkets, online shopping malls, tea industry, green farms, and food import and export trade.

More than 40 kinds of fruits and vegetables such as greens, cucumbers and tomatoes are grown on the farm, with a daily output of several tons, which supplies 80% of the Chinese and Chinese-funded enterprises and high-end hotels in Dubai. The supply of goods exceeds demand.

　　Finally, Xiao Qiao wants to remind everyone that although it is good to grow vegetables, you must understand the relevant local rules before you start.

(Source of manuscript: China Overseas Chinese Network WeChat Official Account; ID: qiaowangzhongguo; Source: China News Network, The Paper, Ouhua News, etc.; Author: Zhang Yuqing)