Brainstorming Meeting Minutes |
| http://www.sina.com.cn 2005/06/29 11:07 |
Time: 21:30 – 24:00, 05/06/2004
Venue: Alxa Moon Lake Round Meeting Hall
Liu XiaoGuang (President, General Manager of Beijing Capital Group):
Tonight, we’ll invite all entrepreneurs and experts to freely express your dreams, opinions and the deepest feelings in your hearts.
Liu DongHua (Guest, China Entrepreneurs Magazine):
I think that entrepreneurs in China have suffered a lot from bad ecological environment. Actually, one of the things that Chinese entrepreneurs want to do most is to improve our ecological environment. To a great extent, this has to be called out by Mr. Liu XiaoGuang. He is in his fifties and has gone through life’s difficulties and hardship, but don’t let this fool you, he is still young at heart. I think that whoever unwilling to participate in this Alxa League public welfare action should feel ashamed in front of him. The establishment of the SEE Ecological Association is a result of the personal initiatives and excitement of Chinese entrepreneurs. We should be happy that this brainstorming meeting gives us a chance to picture the nice dream in our heads. This is actually full of idealism.
Lin RongQiang (Supervisor, Board Chairman of TsingHua TongFang Environment Co. Ltd):
We have talked about doing this since February. It’s really great that it has now been put into practice.
Liu XiaoGuang:
I feel the responsibility on my shoulders seriously. But of course, I have my own weak points and selfish ideas; I want to substantiate my own boundary. However, we firmly oppose to any kind of business demand, and the job should go to the most capable. I was shocked last night. I couldn’t believe that the nomination procedures that we designed have all been overthrown, not to mention that we’ve worked so hard for such a long period of time. This is in fact democracy and the trail of strength against democracy. Therefore, I believe that everyone will find himself improved during this process of democratization.
Zhang ZhaoYang (Supervisor, CEO of Sohu. Com Inc.):
People like us have survived through the transformation of planned economy to market economy. Of course, the system is much better now. If you approached me two years ago and talked about this, I wouldn’t be so enthusiastic. Because all I cared about then was how to earn lots of money and make my business survive. But since everything is stable now, my attitude towards things has also changed. The company stays the same no matter how much money we’ve earned, so maybe we should develop some personal interests that can make us feel better about ourselves. I am here not to conduct propaganda for Sohu.Com at all. In fact, I’ve never mentioned Sohu.Com once since from yesterday till now. I’m here merely to do something good to the society. Sohu.Com is happy to provide the funds, so do I myself.
Liu XiaoGuang:
So, that is to say you put your business aside just for this action of public welfare?
Zhang ZhaoYang:
That’s correct. The purpose of my participation today is purely for public welfare and charities. It has nothing to do with my business. Moreover, I think joining you makes me feel that I’m at home because all of us were born in the 50th and 60th. XiaoGuang, I think you are greater than Bill Gates because it costs much more for us to reach this stage than our American counterparts (do).
Zhao BingXian (Charter member, Board Chairman of China International Capital Service Co. Ltd):
All I’m thinking is that I should actively participate in this kind of action for public welfare. The main purpose is to seek the sense of comfort during our contribution. Any form of commercial utilities does not get involved in this action. My opinion is, as long as we feel good about what we’re doing and ensure the healthy progress of this action, we should be satisfied. If we are psychologically happy with our interpersonal relationships and attitude, the result doesn’t matter too much. We have always been longing for our customers’ trust and striving to make everyone feel happy. This action is noble. It’s really good.
Yang SaiFen (Representative of Charter members, Assistant of Li MouWei, Board Chairman of Lee Chang Yung Chemical Industry Corporation):
I went to America to study when I was 14 or 15 because my father was working there then. Now when we look back, much bitterness that you went through can’t be realized by us. We deeply feel that our former generation worked very hard. They had to struggle and survive in those bad days. Therefore here I am, just for the spirit that I see in all of you.
Zhao YuanQi (Representative of Charter members, Friend of Jiao YouLun, Board Chairman of HuaXin Technology):
I’m deeply touched by joining this meeting. I left Taiwan to study in Japan when I was 15 as well, after that I studied at a University in America and went to work for a bank when I graduated. I came back to China in 1985 with over 100,000 US dollars. I set up four factories engaged in manufacture of shoes. I had no sense of environmental protection then. Therefore I’m truly touched by all of the entrepreneurs here as you pay so much attention to environmental protection. We’ve incurred lots of damages to our mother nature, and nature has retaliated upon us, too. The more our business develops, the more environmental damages we’ll create. Recently I bought another factory and I know that it’s going to generate high level of pollution during production. But if I employ technology to eliminate pollution, the cost of my products will be higher than my competitors’. Therefore, I can’t do that. I have to maintain production regardless of pollution. This situation is common to lots of entrepreneurs in China, not only to myself. At least we must be sincere to admit it.
Wang WeiJia (Charter member, Board Chairman of Shanghai Mtone Wireless):
I think that the system reform and political reform is only a matter of time. They won’t happen unless someone pushes the work forward. But environmental protection is different. For instance, I asked President Yang Jing today how well could our environment recover, he said he had no idea because some things were irreversible. Therefore, I think it’s better to take this action (environmental protection) as soon as possible. I used to live in California and I have been staying in Beijing for the past few years. I think when blue sky and white clouds can been seen in Beijing, it is definitely the best city in the world. However, people are really unable to live in Beijing on some days. Every city in China has this common problem. We need to focus on three points if we want to make it (environmental protection) happen. Firstly, we make an appeal to the public; secondly, we need everyone’s participation. One big contribution I made by losing the election is to make democratization real in terms of procedures. Competitive election wouldn’t have been realized without us. Lastly, we need perseverance. We only made a start today, I think this action is rather complicated in practice. It’s related to the economical development as a whole. Thanks to our determination, our initial proposal has been turned into this successful establishment meeting today in only 3 to 4 months. There is hope if we persevere.
Ren ZhiQiang (Charter member, Board Chairman of Beijing HuaYuan Group):
It’s a complicated social project to harness sandstorm. It’s not how much money we put in to harness it but what we actually do. Secondly, entrepreneurs like us should devote our enthusiasm and insistence to this action, just like having a sandstorm within us. Thirdly, the nature will love you if you love it, just as our society does. After all these years of securing personal gains, the social influence of promoting environmental protection is far more than how much money we donate. In one word, this action is only a kindling. It will extend to a lot of other areas and tie together overseas Chinese and us more closely. They probably wouldn’t have come if we were doing this to make profit. They’ve come here because they want to contribute to this action of public welfare for Chinese people.
Lou XiaoQi (Guest, President of Civilization Project of Beijing Municipal Party Committee):
I’m glad to be here today. I think the concept of Olympics can be used to understand this action of public welfare because everyone’s dream is to become higher, swifter and stronger.
Miao HongBing (Charter member, Board Chairman of White Collar Fashion Co. Ltd.):
I’m deeply impressed by all of you today. This is the first time that I take part in such an activity, especially a non-governmental activity. When I first heard about this from XiaoGuang on the 28th of Feb, I felt that I had to come and I’d not give up to be a council member. We drove to the summit of the Desert yesterday and it felt so different when we watched the sunset. I’m planning to hold a fashion show in the Desert. This has never been done by anybody.
Liu ZhiQiang (Representative of Charter member, Assistant of General Manager Feng Jun of HuaQi Information Technology Development Co. Ltd.):
Everyone is so negligible compared to the mighty nature. But at the same time, we are damagers to the nature. It touched me so much that all of you actually put this action into practice in such a short period of time and everyone was willing to devote themselves without any returns. Now let me talk about my dream. I’ve always been talking to our director about opening a five star retirement home in China. Though I can’t strive for the opportunity to make our director an executive council member, this action will continuously be exercised. We should pay attention to the big picture and start with each small aspect and we wish to see the achievement.
Wang WenJing (Charter member, Board Chairman of UF Soft Inc.):
By listening to the speeches of two professionals today, I realize that the term environmental control actually implies how to balance the relation between human activities and environment, not just for its own sake. Yesterday I read The Book of Changes, in which the concept of “unity of sky, earth and human” was mentioned. Our ancestors knew this concept long time ago. The Desert is actually very beautiful and it’s a gift of nature. However, sandstorms are not. The relationship between environmental protection and livelihood was explained clearly by the second expert this morning. Environmental protection concerns not only harnessing the environment directly but also to plan our livelihood. When we mentioned environmental protection in earlier years, all we thought about was how to plant trees and so on. But in fact, the biggest contribution that we make to our nature is that we’ve secured our livelihood. Companies and enterprises founded a few decades ago have fed many mouths yet created significant damages to the nature. However, we now know how to develop our business in another way that causes less damage to the environment. Stepping into the 21st century, our production should be environmentally friendly. This is my suggestion.
Hou ShouFa (Charter member, Board Chairman of Beijing Chang’an Xingye Real Estate Development Corp.):
Every representative here today has come to fulfill our duties. Most of us are Directors of our business and we’ve come here in our own time. We have given up a lot in terms of money and time. I’m deeply impressed. This reminds me of a newspaper article I read a while ago, which criticized that entrepreneurs in China only care about making money instead of how to protect our environment. I didn’t feel very good when I read that. It is true that we entrepreneurs only take little share of money out of the profits we’ve made. The article provided statistical evidence. But their attitude of criticizing all of us really upsets me. I think that most of the entrepreneurs now have a strong sense of social responsibility. Though I didn’t know that I’d be here one day for harnessing sandstorms, I’m always sure that I’ll do my best for environmental protection when needed.
Lin RongQiang:
What I want to say is, we shouldn’t feel so mighty for doing this. This is only a start and we must discuss how to do it well. In fact, some entrepreneurs have done this kind of things before but failed. It won’t be good if we fail too since we’re doing this in a large scale and broad scope. Apart from the funds we sponsored, we still need to use our intelligence to develop practical plans because this is a difficult project. Just take a look at this small area of Moon Lake, it is so hard to harness. Who dares to say that he’s confident? We should also take note of the difficulties.
Gong JiaDong (Liaison Officer, Expert Committee):
We must have in our mind a clear picture of ecological problems, especially in those remote and poverty areas. Lots of places especially in remote areas, a herdsman with a few dozens of sheep at home might even earn ten or twenty thousand yuan a year, an amount enough for him to support the family. Even though this is unsustainable and at the cost of ecology, the government pays for the loss. I think that ecological protection has to be linked with the actual residents in those areas. I agree with Director Lin, we have to be mentally prepared for a long-term task. Environmental protection is not a bit easier than managing your business; it might even be harder. It is already difficult without taking into account the humane and system environment in China at present. Therefore I want to know our attitude towards this and find out that everybody is the same, we are very positive.
Liu XiaoGuang:
Firstly, everyone should actively take part in the action. We should all have some input and exchange opinions and ideas. It’s good to establish some new contacts, for example with other national and international members. We’ll put this on our website. Our next step should include the following stages. Firstly a SEE Fund needs to be prepared. Secondly, we should develop a project plan with our experts and human resources. Thirdly we have to strengthen our organization. We need people with useful thoughts as well as volunteers. Lastly we must initiate a few programs after strict demonstration.
Zhang ShuXin (Vice President, Board Chairman of Genesis Capital):
I think that we should give great gratitude to the organizing staff of this meeting. They have worked for three whole days without a blink of an eye. Most of them won’t get paid for doing this. We didn’t have the conditions at all for holding this meeting a month ago. But we finally did it.
Liu XiaoGuang:
What we’ll do next is to improve the work of our association. We’ll develop some detailed plans. So we really hope that everyone can contribute your ideas and thoughts through our website and we’ll also forward you some materials through the web. We should work in an inter-dynamic manner and develop ourselves step by step. We are keen to become the biggest and most effective sandstorm harnessing charity organization! Thanks very much!
