By Wang Xintong

From Ash to Wealth

By Wang Xintong

P rovoked by the insult he got at his wedding,Xuan Quan,a poor boy in Jiangxi Province of central China,decided to have his own business.From ashes of rice husk, which most people neglect and deem as trash,Xuan Quan made a fortune.

A Penniless Bridegroom

After graduation in 2000 from a technical secondary school in Nanchang City, the 21-year-old Xuan Quan was assigned to Yiyang County of Jiangxi to serve as the Secretary of the Communist Youth league.There,he met Li Dan,the principal of a local elementary school,whom he fell in love with at first sight.But the parents of Li Dan were against their relationship as they disdained Xuan Quan of his job.They only reluctantly agreed totheir marriage after Xuan Quan loved Li Dan devotedly for 3 years.

When picking up the bride on wedding day,Xuan Quan failed to offer the 5,000 yuan“betrothal gift”to her parents as the local custom requires,for all his savings were spent.Li’s parents complained with distain on the wedding,“How can you marry a woman when you cannot afford such a small betrothal gift?”“A flower has been stuck on a heap of cow dung.”It was Li Dan who helped him out secretly through some friends by providing the cash out of her own pocket.

Xuan Quan felt insulted and determined to set up his own business to prove that he can provide a better life for his beloved wife.

In early 2004,Xuan Quan noticed that a rice processing plant in the town was providing rice husks to fuel boilers to a factory.An idea hit upon him that he might make money from the“yellow garbage”.His mother supported his idea with 50,000 yuan from her savings.Xuan Quan promoted the rice husks from his hometown to factories using boilers in neighboring provinces such as Henan and Anhui,and those factories suggested cooperation after he set up his technical team to reform boilers into equipment exclusive for rice husk burning.

Xuan Quan harvested an amount of five hundred thousand yuan in 2006.

The Pink Ash

In July 2006,Zhang Xuesong,directorof Anhui Xuancheng Cement Plant told Xuan Quan that a Taiwanese businessman was searching for a sort of pale pink gray ash made from rice husks, which he planned to provide as a sort of“heat preservation agent”of molten liquid to steel plants.The Taiwanese businessman could provide technical drawings and promised to buy the ashes of rice husks at 1,600 yuan per ton.

Xuan Quan knew that,to most people,rice husks could only be used as the fuel for burning,other than that,it was almost useless.The ashes of the rice husks were also a source of pollution to the farmland and water.Xuan Quan persuaded Zhang Xuesong to work with him in his hometown and started a new company.

He constructed the plant in the Caoxi Town of Geyang County and entered an agreement with the Taiwanese businessman to produce the magical pale pink gray ashes.Those factories who cooperated with him agreed to provide rice husks free to the door of his plant.The project rolled on smoothly as both the fund and the raw materials were abundant with the right technology.

The first batch of product were about to be ready after smoldering in the kiln for about twenty days.All workers and Xuan squatted in front of the kiln eagerly.Everybody was stunned the moment the kiln door opened,as there were only black ashes!There was not a single sign of pale pink gray ash.With an iron shovel,Xuan Quan tried in vain to dig around every corner of the kiln for the pale pink gray ash.He sank down desperately.

Xuan Quan repeated the failure for dozens of times and he even felt deceived.But he knew that qualified products were successfully produced in foreign countries with the same technology.

At that stage,all Xuan Quan's savings,together with the four hundred thousand borrowed money,was gone. All workers left and Xuan shed tears in the empty plant.

“Don't give up halfway!It is not a big deal and let me help pay the debts if you really fail.”His wife encouraged him to restart.

Succeed and Furthermore

XuanQuanfoundthefiveresigned workers and promised to them:“Please help to have a last try.I will pay off each of you before the Spring Festival no matter we succeed or not.We have been working on it for a year and let us give it one more try!”His earnestness won the support from the workers.

Xuan Quan scrutinized the whole production process and finally focused on the ventilation pipe of the kiln.It was designed too small and thin that caused poor ventilation of the kiln.All the ventilation pipes were soon replaced.

On the eve of the Spring Festival in 2008,with trembling hands Xuan Quan opened the door of the kiln after 20 days of smothering.He rushed into the kiln and turned over the ashes with a shovel. This time,things were different from before.Though the surface of the ashes was still black,it became too hard to shovel.Workers screamed out as they see the pink ashes underneath the black layer!

The pale pink ashes were packed and sent to the Taiwan businessman to be used as the material of covering agent of liquid steel.The Taiwan businessman was very satisfied with the quality and made bigger orders.The quality of Xuan Quan's ashes became better and better, and the sales kept increasing both in Taiwan and the main land.The sale of his company amounted to more than four million yuan by 2008.

Xuan Quan did not settle down.He started a new venture in 2010:to invest all his savings and a five million yuan bank loan,altogether ten million yuan, in deep processing rice husks.

It turned out that Xuan Quan felt that the narrow application scope of the pink ashes limited the development of the industry and his business depended too much on the customers.He had to broaden the usage of the rice husk ashes in order to have more say in business negotiations.

Potential Discovered

In the next two years,Xuan Quan traveled all over the research institutes and universitiesinJiangxiandSichuan Provinces to consult experts and access and review numerous data.Finally,in early 2013,he produced a rare product in the domestic market with the waste of rice husk ashes named“white carbon black”or silica.

It is a white powder with silicon dioxide as the main chemical component and can be used as filler,a reinforcing agent or a friction agent.Previously white carbon black was only made of quartz sand. The invention of quality white carbon black made of rice husk ashes surprised everyone.

The market of white carbon black products is vast beyond imagination.It can be used in rubber,plastics,paint, paint coating and daily cosmetics.When mixed in the feed,it is a beneficial additive for animal growth.It serves as a friction agent in the toothpaste and can whiten the teeth.In 2014,Xuan Quan cooperated with many companies from home and abroad and the annual sales of white carbon black reached 30 million yuan with a net profit of over 10 million yuan.

The scale of Xuan Quan's company doubled and redoubled in two years.The production base covers an area of 500 mu(Chinese unit of area,1/15 of a hectare)with a staff of more than 800. The base can treat 100 thousand tons of the solid waste of rice husk ashes per year,with an annual output of 30 thousand tons special white carbon black and 12 thousand million tons of cover agent for molten steel.

Xuan bought his wife a car and promised to spend more time with his family and drive the family to travel around the world.

His parents-in-law felt embarrassed and requested Xuan for excuse.“Please do not be angry with us.We hurt your feelings when you marry our daughter Dan.But all we wished was that the daughter should marry and live well.”Xuansmiledbackgenerouslyand replied,“Please do not mind.In fact,I should thank you for your stimulation. Without it,I may be still a clerk or satisfied with a small business.It was you who inspired my potential and I am thus lucky to stand higher with a broader and more beautiful view.”

(FromTimes FinanceVol.16 2015. Translation:He Qiang.Illustration:Yan Guilai.)