In 2015, the large textile and garment groups such as bolejia, lanyan, wuyang printing and dyeing, hongjian group and zhuangji group were swept away in the increasingly fierce economic storm. Hundreds of thousands of textile employees were thrown into the army of unemployment, but weiqiao business group was as safe as a rock. In the eye of the global storm, the aircraft carrier wei qiao, with zhang shiping at the helm, is carrying 160,000 people to the blue ocean.

Zhang shiping, known as the "king of cotton in Asia", is not only the chairman of the world's largest cotton textile group, but also an NPC deputy and the "richest man in shandong" who has been crowned for three times. What's more, his businesses pay billions in taxes a year, and more than a dozen of them keep 160,000 employees and their families afloat. At the end of July, weiqiao group ranked no. 234, up 45 places from last year, with operating revenue of $45.757 billion and net profit of $1.1503 billion in the 2014 fiscal year. It is the fourth year in a row that weiqiao has been on the list since he first joined the world's top 500 as a dark horse in 2012.

Weiqiao group has 10 production bases with total assets of 145.2 billion yuan, integrating textile, dyeing and finishing, garment, home textile, thermal power and other industries. Now the group has two listed companies, China hongqiao and weiqiao textile. Yet just over 20 years ago, weiqiao was a small oil-and-cotton processing plant with just over 60 employees. As the speed of weiqiao attracted attention, zhang shiping, the "richest man in shandong", kept a lower profile and became more mysterious.

The workshop of "" shandong's richest man" "

Weiqiao textile has 4 production bases in shandong, respectively in weiqiao, binzhou, weihai and zouping. In the production workshop of the first industrial park in zouping, the reporter saw that the most prominent position on the wall was pasted with "honor roll". The list was released in 2014, when the factory's employees ranked among the top 32 in salary income. The first li wentao, an axle maker, has an annual income of 69633.26 yuan, and the 32nd is mei yongbin, a lathe operator, with an income of 49756.17 yuan.

The workshop was surrounded by the mottled walls of the last century, with white ash peeling and splitting. Less than a metre apart, there is a blackboard, painted or chalked tightly with slogans, rewards and punishments, targets... Machines, chalkboards, and writing are densely packed, and even the gaps are filled with the roar of machinery.

Out of the workshop, in the distance are dozens of meters high coal pile cooling tower, three thermal power plants in the road south side of white smoke. Close to the power plant, workers live in dormitories, theaters, office buildings, kindergartens, clinics, and close proximity to a small society.

In a workshop of 900 looms, machines are weaving like well-trained soldiers, with only a few shuttlers shuttling between them, replacing the used shuttles left by their own machines.

Weiqiao textile last year's cotton yarn, gray cloth, denim is partly produced here. Last year, the majority of weiqiao textile products were cotton yarn, 56.2%, followed by denim, 33.2%, the rest were grey cloth, 10.6%. As cotton prices fell last year, downstream customers took a wait-and-see attitude, the textile market was weak last year, weiqiao textile sales fell. Last year's full-year revenue was 11.2 billion yuan, down 19.2 percent year-on-year, with parent company shareholders accounting for half of net profit.

In addition, the gross profit of weiqiao textile decreased by 38.4% compared with the same period last year, and the gross profit rate was only 6.6%. However, weiqiao textile is still a part of the benefits of small textile enterprises do not. Its electricity and steam sales generated earnings of $757 million, up 12.5 percent from 2013, as coal prices fell last year.

The blackboard all around the workshop also each does its duty, has the director day check column, the operation manager column, above respectively is this week the warning, the warning and so on content. There are no omissions in the office. On the wall of the manufacturing office, big letters in red paint say, "did you learn from the lessons of the day before yesterday? Did you correct yesterday's mistakes? Did you finish today's goal? In order to enable workers to work steadily, the school work schedule of weiqiao group will also cooperate with the factory's commute time.

Started from a small terry factory, all the way into the world top 500

Zhang was born in 1946 to an ordinary farmer in zouping, shandong province. In the era of constant movement, he worked as a "bicycle driver", "contract labor" and other coolies, and also encountered the cultural revolution "labor reform". In such a harsh environment, zhang shiping did not demoralize, everything must be the first. Even during the qingyun labor reform, he led a group of labor reform personnel at the age of 22 to win the first place in the whole county.

In 1981, zhang shiping ushered in a turning point in his life. Because of his "boldness", he became the fifth oil and cotton plant in zouping county director. After taking office, zhang shiping was the first among his peers to go out of the way of purchasing soybean, cottonseed and processing oil. As a result of management, two years later, oil and cotton plant jumped into the national supply and marketing system benefits of the best enterprises.

Zhang shiping is not satisfied with this, through the staff to raise hundreds of thousands of yuan, he founded a towel factory, and in the establishment of the factory that year to achieve 250,000 yuan profit.

In 1999, with continuous losses in the textile industry, zhang shiping bucked the trend of expansion, annexed one cotton in binzhou, shandong, and expanded the production capacity to 330,000 ingots, becoming the leader of shandong cotton spinning enterprises.

In 2005, a 40-year global quota system for textiles came to an end, with the United States limiting Chinese textile imports three times and then the threat of European Union restrictions ensued. Facing the unfavorable factors of domestic and foreign markets, zhang shiping continued to expand against the trend. By February 2007, weiqiao venture had nearly 6.5 million spindles and more than 50,000 looms, becoming the world's largest cotton textile enterprise.

In 2011, weiqiao venture group entered the fortune global 500 with revenue of 161.5 billion yuan.

Have a natural sense of financing, leading the enterprise to take off quickly

As a private enterprise, it is faced with capital problems from the very beginning. Though the state controlled fixed-asset investment to the death, Mr Zhang's adventurous spirit helped. When the oil extraction plant was built, the workers collected 100,000 yuan to buy two sets of oil extraction equipment, and when the towel factory was built, the workers collected 890,000 yuan to buy 52 looms. In modern terms, Mr Zhang touched a red line of "illegal fundraising". But "if you don't take that risk, there will be no wei qiao." Today's weiqiao people such feeling.

In the second half of 1992, the state adopted a moderately tight fiscal and financial policy. When many enterprises are constrained by funds and are unable to make any progress, weiqiao business venture opened the channel of funds by means of external forces. 8 joint ventures have been set up, which not only make direct use of foreign capital, but also improve the technical level, expand the international market, and extend the industrial chain initiated by weiqiao to the deep processing fields of yarn-dyed, printing and dyeing, and clothing.

In October 2003, weiqiao encountered the third national macro - tightening. Luckily, weiqiao successfully listed in Hong Kong a month ahead of schedule, connecting the financing pipeline to the international capital market. In May 2004, weiqiao textile was first sold in Hong Kong and raised hk $3 billion from the capital market within one year. Weiqiao once again bucked the trend of expansion, invested 7 billion yuan to expand the textile printing and dyeing clothing series project, from then on established weiqiao the world's largest cotton spinning enterprise status.

In March 2011, hongqiao, China's fifth-largest producer of aluminium products, the other main business of zhang shiping's family, was formally listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. This year, zhang shiping's family wealth increased more than 40 billion yuan, he was also crowned the richest man in shandong province for the first time.

Today, his group, with 14 enterprises and 160,000 employees, operates seven production bases, 10 industrial parks, a dozen large textile factories, 10 power plants and eight aluminum plants, and is a big MAC with total assets of more than $140 billion.

He kept a low profile and remains a mystery to this day

"" there are two 'zhang' in shandong, zhang ruimin in the east and zhang shiping in the west. This is a sentence widely circulated in shandong. On financial power, zhang shiping does not lose zhang ruimin; But zhang shiping is far less famous than zhang ruimin. The main reason is said to be zhang's "unusually low profile".

As the saying goes, "trees catch wind", zhang shiping has been well aware of this principle. He rarely gives interviews to the media, except to occasionally deal with reporters during the annual sessions.

To this day, weiqiao remains mysterious. After more than 20 years of development, the group has been closely integrated with the local economy and supported by the local government. In its headquarters in zouping county, more than 20 square kilometers of weiqiao industrial park, at least two security guards are stationed at the gate of the factory, dormitory and even culture square, and there are even eight security guards at the gate of its headquarters. Even if the distance is more than 50 meters, there will be a security guard all the way trot suddenly appear in front of the camera in hand, and raise voice to remind: "again clap to confiscate, clap flowers and plants also not line, this is a regulation".

Now, zhang shiping still arrives at work at 6:30 am every day. Usually business trip, as long as the feeling is not necessary, a person carrying a bag to leave, not with the attendant. "Management, discipline and style are all up and down," zhang once told reporters. If a leader travel with more than a dozen followers, such style, how about enterprise efficiency and cost control? Don't even think about it."

In 2012, a piece of news that "the electricity price of weiqiao self-built power grid is one-third cheaper than that of national power grid" set off public opinion, and both criticism and praise surrounded the originally low-profile enterprise. Dozens of media swarmed into weiqiao town, and weiqiao pioneering group became the focus of national media. But the incident quickly subsided, and Mr. Zhang again played down the matter with his low profile.

In recent years, with China's real estate industry cooling down and export manufacturing declining, zhang shiping and his weiqiao startup group are facing the challenges of shrinking market demand and rising labor costs. This time, Mr. Zhang has not budged as usual, and he has even optimized his company's staffing portfolio since 2013, laying off some redundant employees. After some downsizing, Mr. Zhang and his weiqiao business group became even more powerful.