Chinese entrepreneurs: Nian Guang Jiu (年广久)

Nian was born into a poor family, even by pre-reform standards in China. He was illiterate. He could only read ro write 5 chinese characters, 3 of which made up his name. To survive, he did all kinds of small businesses from childhood, like gathering and selling disposed cigarette butts. Finally, he settled on making and selling processed sunflower seeds (a snack for the Chinese). He branded it "Fool's Sunflower Seeds" because he was called a fool all his life.

Before the reform, he was jailed for street-retailing (which at the time was an economic crime). When reform began, Nian's sunflower seed business took off; his workforce grew to more than 100 and he was making loads of money. He became an icon of entrepreneurship. However, the local government decided that under communist doctrine, having 100 workers made him a capitalist exploiting the proletarians. He was saved when the then Premier Deng Xiaoping told the local government stall the prosecution, in a bid to sustain the reform momentum.

At one stage Nian started using prize promotions to drive sales. It worked very effectively. Soon after however, the Chinese government prohibited the use of prize promotions, and Nian's business was crushed.

In late 1987, Nian was arrested again on bribery charges. The charge was later dropped, but he was successfully prosecuted on self-confessed rape charges and sentenced to jail. Deng again protected him, indicating that prosecuting him will have negative impact on the reform momentum in the country. Nian got lucky again.

The story of his life reflected the clash between old and new political doctrines as a result of the reform. While in the long-run Nian rode the wave of economic liberalisation to financial success, his periodic set-backs revealed the difficulty of introducing a new way of thinking and living in the face of established communist doctrine.

While Nian was one of the more extreme examples of social outcast entrepreneurs of the time, he was also very typical of them: uneducated, unscrupulous, no job  and no money, but instinctively opportunistic and daring. Millions of small business owners (个体户) like Nian drove China's economic growth in the first phase of reform, and became rich in the process. They shaped an era, but they were also products of their era. As the fundamental environment of doing business changed in China, characteristics of entrepreneurs in China changed along with it. People like Nian became a relic of history.

Nian has said that he relied on no one else for his entire life. However, there is one person in the world he is grateful for: Deng Xiaoping. He is probably referring to Deng directly saving him from prosecution on multiple occasions. But what he should be most grateful for, is Deng's firm decision and execution. Without it, Nian wouldn't have been lucky enough to ride the economic liberalization wave.