Carlos Chan, honorary chairman of Oishi Group, special envoy of the Philippine President to China Text by Zhang Yan In China, many people may not know who Carlos Chan is, but everyone knows Oishi. It was he, Carlos Chan, honorary chairman of Oishi Group, who successfully introduced Oishi products to China and expanded into Southeast Asian countries. This renowned Filipino-Chinese business tycoon in Southeast Asia, because his Oishi products are deeply rooted in people's hearts and well-known, is also affectionately called "Mr. Oishi" by Filipinos. He is not only a successful entrepreneur but also the special envoy of the Philippine President to China, always committed to promoting economic, trade, and cultural exchanges between China and the Philippines. At the same time, he is a philanthropist who has received the "China Charity Award" from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. He is low-key, humble, and treats others with generosity and kindness. He is so low-key that for many years, even now, many mainland Chinese think Oishi is a Shanghai product. He says, "I am an introverted person. I am not good at public speaking. I like freedom." Chinese Dream In 1941, Carlos Chan was born into a Chinese family in the Philippines. His parents were immigrants from Fujian, and he was the eldest son. In 1946, his parents founded Morning Light Food Co., Ltd., mainly doing agency sales of coffee and starch products. It gradually developed, and by the 1970s, it began producing Oishi snack foods and became a leading enterprise. After success in the Philippines, Mr. Chan set his sights on the Chinese market and invested in a factory in Shanghai in 1993, successfully introducing Oishi to China. Mr. Chan says, "Since childhood, I dreamed of going to China, to Shanghai. When I was young, I went to the movies with my parents in the Chinese district. At that time, Chinese movies showed scenes of Shanghai. From the movies, I saw that Shanghai was a very developed city, so I always yearned for it. At that time, I thought if I were to go to the mainland, I must go to the most central place. After all, China is my ancestral country; my roots are there." Since the mid-1980s, Mr. Chan has frequently visited China to understand the national conditions and inspect the market. He says, "China is a populous country. If we could enter the mainland market, it would be several times the size of the Philippines. So I kept going, making friends. When you go to a place, you need to find local people to help you. I remember there were no direct flights from Manila to Shanghai then; I had to transit through Hong Kong. At that time, I was the only one on the plane." He was always preparing, waiting for the opportunity, until 1992 when Deng Xiaoping's southern tour led to China's opening up. He seized this opportunity. Mr. Chan says, "Before the reform and opening up, market regulations required that local sales be only 20%, and 80% of products had to be exported. After Deng Xiaoping's southern tour, there were no restrictions on products; we could sell 100% in China." Therefore, he is very grateful to Deng Xiaoping for the reform and opening-up policy. He says, "Sometimes I tell the Shanghai managers, without Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening up, we wouldn't be where we are today." In 1993, with his unique vision and keen market observation, Mr. Chan successfully introduced Oishi foods to the Chinese market and gradually expanded. Currently, Oishi has 15 factories across China, and he has also expanded the business to Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, and India. While his wealth grew, he also cultivated many Chinese millionaires and multimillionaires. Now his distributors have become wealthy. So he thanks Deng Xiaoping, and many people thank him. Mr. Chan says, "These distributors made money from Oishi and, after gaining some skills, they moved into real estate. When I first met them, they rode bicycles; now they drive BMWs. So when we travel in China, we have friends. When I bring local Filipino friends, they come out to receive us." Mr. Carlos Chan says, "China is my ancestral country; my roots are there." Integration However, the road to success was not smooth. When Mr. Chan first invested in a factory in Shanghai in 1993, he encountered many difficulties. Mr. Chan says, "At the beginning, the factory workers and the managers we sent had some differences in philosophy and cultural differences. They didn't trust outsiders; they didn't trust us Chinese. The workers made trouble every day; they were afraid of losing their jobs." "The general manager we sent, also a Filipino-Chinese, later called and said, 'We are going to withdraw.'" "I said, 'Don't withdraw yet. Wait for me; I will come over.' After I arrived, I talked with them and asked what problems they had. After talking for an hour, they became polite to me and offered me a chair to sit on." At that time, Chinese state-owned enterprises were just beginning to cooperate with foreign companies. Chinese workers did not understand foreign companies and lacked confidence and a sense of security. They thought they, the workers, were the bosses, and they scolded the Chinese general manager for selling the enterprise to foreigners and betraying their interests. Mr. Chan says, "At that time, the Chinese general manager was under great pressure. In addition, they worried that during cooperation, foreign capital would gradually become stronger, harming their interests and leading to unemployment." But Mr. Chan's interest was win-win. He communicated with them honestly. If their demands were reasonable, he satisfied them. At that time, the Shanghai Oishi factory had nearly 800 workers, and their salaries were very low. Mr. Chan says, "I raised their salaries twice, renovated the canteen so that night-shift workers could have hot meals. There was no heating in southern China, so I installed heating for them." Gradually, the workers began to trust him, feeling that the Filipino-Chinese boss was good and cared about them. Mr. Chan says, "At that time, the trouble was intense. I told the manager to hold a vote, one person one vote, to decide whether to keep or close the factory. At that time, the domestic environment was not used to opinion polls. The Shanghai municipal and district governments were also conservative. Some people told me not to do this. I said this is easy to solve: if you say we leave, we leave; if you say we stay, we stay. In the end, 90% of the people wanted us to stay, and then the trouble stopped." After years of adjustment, now the managers sent from the Philippines to China can communicate with Chinese workers and live in harmony. "I believe communication can always solve problems. If we really cannot communicate, then we will withdraw," says Mr. Chan. Management Philosophy The success of Oishi's investment has three secrets: know-how, commitment, and capital. Know-how means understanding the industry; commitment means managing and putting in effort. In Oishi, capital is not the first priority; know-how is. Once you have the industry, you need people to commit; third is capital. Oishi has been operating in the Philippines since 1975. When investing in China, it had accumulated over a decade of experience and had a team in the Philippines that was a leader in the industry. Therefore, Mr. Chan dared to come to China with confidence; he knew the business. Mr. Chan says, "In management, managing people is more important than capital. Our managers are all brought from the Philippines, and they have good temperaments." These personnel sent from the Philippines to China all come from well-known Philippine schools. Their education, qualifications, character, and personality are relatively average. Before coming, they were trained in the Philippines and can adapt to the corporate culture, basically integrating. Mr. Chan says, "In management, you must adapt to Chinese culture and habits. Communicate more, invest more. Be good at using people; trust that they will do better than me." Currently, Oishi has over a thousand distributors in China and 15 factories. There are over 10,000 local mainland employees and over 100 people sent from the Philippines. Of these 100-plus people sent from the Philippines, half are Filipino-Chinese who are in management. The other half are Filipinos who manage technology and production quality. Each factory has a factory manager sent from the Philippines, and a Chinese assistant. Both Chinese and Filipino senior management cooperate in management. Mr. Chan says, "My father taught me that doing business is like growing flowers; you must water them every day for them to bloom. So in any country we go, we keep a firm grip on operations and never relax. Why do some people not succeed? Because they invest with others and then let go. In that way, your technology, your business philosophy, and how you do marketing are not passed on." Mr. Chan also brought new design concepts and packaging technology to China. In the early 1990s, domestic food was packaged in simple transparent plastic bags. Oishi introduced the concept of cultural food packaging to China, so much so that many people thought Oishi packaged foods were imported. Living in a Chinese family, school education is part, but family is a more important part. As a successful entrepreneur, Mr. Chan's entrepreneurship, conduct, and family education are all infused with Confucian thought. Now he also passes on this traditional Chinese culture and spirit to his children. Mr. Chan has six children, named: Xue Shun, Xue Li, Xue Shan, Xue Zhi, Ren Mei, Ya Ren, which shows the influence of Confucian culture. Today, his six children are all outstanding, each taking charge in different areas of the family business. Mr. Chan says, "Our corporate culture and management philosophy are summed up in two words: 'harmony'." Over the years, Mr. Chan has always insisted on giving employees a sense of security and not arbitrarily laying off workers. Oishi's distributors have been with the company for over 20 years, and basically no one has been replaced. Sometimes when performance is poor, he sends marketing personnel to support them, conduct research, and improve. Now he and his distributors have been friends for ten or twenty years, becoming like family. Under Mr. Chan's sponsorship, eight famous calligraphers and painters from Shandong went to Loboc, Bohol, Philippines, to demonstrate Chinese calligraphy and painting to local teachers and students at the Loboc Technical Training School he donated. China Envoy Born and raised in the Philippines, and later doing business in China, he has deep feelings for China on one hand, and on the other hand, he has good connections with mainstream Philippine society, and he is willing to do things for Sino-Philippine friendship. He handles his relations with both China and the Philippines very well. He believes that if the two countries handle their relationship well and develop together, both hometowns will be better. He says, "I think all overseas Chinese should help our ancestral country. If everyone contributes a little, China will be better off." Mr. Chan says, "Now there are some frictions in Sino-Philippine relations, but that's okay. Yesterday I told our guests, 'Do you think Filipinos will be anti-Chinese? No. Look, when you came, they waved Chinese flags to welcome you. If they were truly anti-Chinese, would they have smiles? Would their expressions be natural?'" He also tells guests from the mainland, "You should separate the Philippine people from the government. Only a few are against China. Most Filipinos are not anti-Chinese." Mr. Chan says, "Because we are Chinese, I hope the overall environment is good. In my heart, I love China and also love the Philippines. Why do I like to bring Filipinos to China? Because China is becoming more and more beautiful and developed. Now when I bring them to see, we are also happy and proud; our status has also risen." With Mr. Chan's strong promotion, he has facilitated the establishment of friendly province relations between Bohol and Jiangxi, sister mountains between Chocolate Hills and Lushan, and friendly provinces between Anhui and Cavite. Longhai in Zhangzhou, Fujian, and Gerona in the Philippines signed an intention, and Gerona and Hefei also signed a sister city intention. Over the years, Mr. Chan has never stopped giving back to society. "Take from the people, use for the people; remember the source when drinking water, and give back to society," is the belief he has always upheld. In 2008, after the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, Mr. Chan initially donated 2 million yuan. Later, watching TV and seeing the PLA's disaster relief scenes and many touching stories, he was deeply moved and added another 10 million yuan. In the end, he donated a total of 13 million yuan to the Sichuan disaster area, including 1 million yuan worth of Oishi products. In August 2008, when then Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to China for the Olympics, at Mr. Chan's suggestion, President Arroyo visited the Sichuan earthquake disaster area and went to Dujiangyan. It was August and very hot. Arroyo went to tents and temporary housing to see the victims, bringing Oishi gifts, and Mr. Chan personally accompanied her. He also facilitated the recuperation of 100 middle school students from the Wenchuan earthquake area in Bohol, Philippines. At that time, Philippine President Gloria was about to go to Beijing. Before boarding the plane, Mr. Chan called her and said, "When you meet President Hu, suggest inviting 100 Wenchuan earthquake children to come for recuperation, and the company will host them." Mr. Chan says that President Arroyo indeed told President Hu, and President Hu was very happy. The level was very high, and both the Chinese and Philippine governments attached great importance. Mr. Carlos Chan donated river lights for the famous Philippine tourist spot Loboc River, bringing a different scenery to tourists cruising at night. Mr. Chan also loves the Philippines, the land that gave him birth and raised him. When Bohol was hit by an earthquake in 2013, he generously donated nearly 700,000 RMB in total. People on Bohol Island call Mr. Chan "foster father." Every time he visits Bohol, they are very enthusiastic, especially the children, because he donated money to repair schools, and the children are very grateful to him. To promote local tourism in Bohol, Mr. Chan also hired a Guangzhou company to install colored lights on the tourist river cruise route of Loboc River. Mr. Chan says, "Because it is hot during the day, I hope tourists can visit at night." Mr. Chan has also invited the internationally renowned Loboc Children's Choir of the Philippines to perform in China multiple times, and invited teachers from the Confucius Institute at Ateneo de Manila University to teach them to play the guzheng, erhu, and other traditional Chinese instruments, and to teach the choir children to sing Chinese songs. Last year, when Mr. Chan went to Shandong, he and the local government jointly funded the restoration of the tomb of the Sultan of Sulu, who died of illness over 600 years ago and was buried in Dezhou, Shandong. This caused a great response locally. The tomb of the Sultan of Sulu in Dezhou, Shandong, was designated by the State Council as a national key cultural relic protection unit, becoming a historical symbol of enduring Sino-Philippine friendship. He hopes that the 600-year-old friendship between China and the Philippines can continue. Future Now 74 years old, Mr. Chan is in good health and still frequently travels between China, the Philippines, and around the world. When in Manila, he gets up at six every morning, plays golf for an hour, and then goes to the office. He loves traveling very much. He says, "I am proud that I have visited all 33 provinces in China. When I studied geography in primary and middle school, I hoped to visit them all, and later I realized it. I have been to Jiuzhaigou more than ten times and have invited Philippine ministers and Senate presidents to go." He especially loves watching performances. When talking about performances, his eyes light up and he becomes excited, saying, "Chinese performances are the best." Every time he returns to China, he chooses local specialty performances to watch at night, such as "Songcheng Eternal Love" in Hangzhou, "Liu Sanjie" in Guilin, "Impression Lijiang" in Yunnan, Yang Liping's "Yunnan Impression," "The Everlasting Regret" in Xi'an, and Lao She Teahouse in Beijing. Currently, Oishi Group is investing in building its 16th factory in China in Pinghe County, Zhangzhou, Fujian, the hometown of Lin Yutang. Speaking of the future of Sino-Philippine relations, Mr. Chan says that China and the Philippines should strengthen communication. This year is an opportunity, as it marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Philippines, and the APEC meeting is also being held in the Philippines. He says that a Philippine official said something particularly good about Sino-Philippine relations: "We cannot choose our neighbors, but we can choose to live in friendship."