Young entrepreneur from Taiwan succeeds in SE China’s Fujian, voices confidence in Chinese mainland

With the success of his businesses in southeast China’s Fujian province, Fan Jiangfeng, a young entrepreneur from Taiwan, has not only enabled more would-be entrepreneurs from his hometown to thrive on the Chinese mainland, but also became increasingly convinced that the Chinese mainland is the right place for young people to develop themselves.

Photo shows Fan Jiangfeng. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Fan, 40, now runs an entrepreneurship base, which was established five years ago in Xiamen city in Fujian. “My company has summarized all of the favorable policies on the Chinese mainland for those Taiwan youngsters who are willing to seek opportunities here, as well as providing a free service for them to apply,” Fan introduced.

So far, Fan’s company has facilitated exchanges and visits to Fujian for roughly 8,000 young people from Taiwan, having helped over 300 youngsters from Taiwan to develop themselves in the neighboring province on the mainland, while having initiated over 150 programs in addition to assisting young entrepreneurs from Taiwan in applying for over 6 million yuan (about $939,600) in subsidies.

“What I am most proud of is that over 90 percent of all the young Taiwan entrepreneurs our company helped now still run their businesses on the Chinese mainland,” he said.

Fan also runs cultural and creative businesses and a business related to China’s rural revitalization strategy. His team is working on creative products based on stories and figures from traditional Chinese culture. Moreover, to let the young generation on the island of Taiwan better understand the Chinese mainland, he started a media company, which shares stories on culture, tourism, cuisine, pets, and entrepreneurship, including the Chinese mainland’s related polices affecting Taiwan, which has extended its reach over 2 million people living in Taiwan.

Dispatched by his former employer to Xiamen in 2009 as a branch manager, Fan felt somewhat perturbed due to his lack of knowledge about the Chinese mainland. But he adapted himself well while in Xiamen shortly after his arrival as the city and Taiwan share similar customs, architectural styles and cuisines. Four years later, after he witnessed constantly improving public facilities in the city, he decided to resign from his post and start his own business there. “I believed that Xiamen had promising prospects,” he said.

Fan encountered many difficulties before he was able to open his entrepreneurship base. But thankfully, his idea of building an entrepreneurship base that could integrate with the cultural and creative industry stood out in a program launched by Fujian province, which aimed to help young entrepreneurs from Taiwan. As one of the winners in the program, he was able to put his idea into action.

Now Fan finds his choice very rewarding and believes that the Chinese mainland has a promising future.