Chinese language - Family fabric

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BIZCHINA / Biz Who

Family fabric

By Liu?Weiling and Diao Ying (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-20 06:51

Father and son

He is a good kid, excellent at schoolwork.

That is the way Zhou Haijiang describes his own child, although his son
has barely graduated from kindergarten.

Self-disciplined, working seven days a week, Zhou said he inherited the
characteristic from his father, and that is the way he teaches his own
son.

Zhou's family is typical for a privately owned business in East China's
Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. The second generation is born with the
natural mission to be future leaders of their family enterprises.

Zhou was elected president of the company in 2004, in which he took
pride: elected, that is, not inherited.

But businesses in the towns where the factories are located make it a
complex issue to choose a president: over 70 percent of families in
Donggang town, where Hongdou is located, have members working in the
factory. A company often contributes to over half of tax revenue in a
town and the owner of the company is often the head of local government.

Hongdou hired a Chinese Canadian as a general manager in 1998, who worked
for a year and left. So it is a family business.

Zhou would not admit that he is himself the second generation running the
enterprise because he has been with the company since the 1980s. But his
educational background sets him apart from his father's generation. And
he is well aware of that difference.

"In making decisions, my father's generation is more bold, and they have
very strategic vision," he says. "But I tend to wait until I feel totally
confident."

They certainly have one thing in common: Both worked to ensure their
children are disciplined and well prepared for their future roles. Just
like Zhou remembers - the times when he had to stand up for the entire
night for doing something wrong.

Zhou also remembers the day when his father called the brothers together
and told them that only one of them could continue their education.

His younger brother, who "is smart too, and was a good student himself"
volunteered to quit school and Zhou went on to university.

That is why he came back after graduation, knowing and believing in the
responsibility to his family.

(China Daily 08/20/2007 page12)

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