--- title: "Liu Qiangdong's Hair Turned White Overnight, Ren Zhengfei Wakes Up Crying at Midnight: Beyond a Lack of Sex Life, Entrepreneurs Fear Death and Can't Let Go" description: "Jack Ma gathered 40,000 Alibaba employees worldwide for a grand coming-of-age ceremony for Alibaba's 18th anniversary, and the cheers of tens of thousands still echo over Hangzhou. Yet behind the noise, Ma's once bleak but heartfelt regret speech resonates: 'My biggest mistake in life was creating Alibaba, because work takes up all my time... If there's a next life, I won't do this business again... I don't want to talk about business, I don't want to work.' This is by no means Ma's sentimentality; at this moment, Ma represents countless Chinese entrepreneurs." author: "New Distribution" publisher: "New Distribution" email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com" telephone: "+8615854817671" published: "2017-10-27" language: "en" canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/liu-qiangdong-s-hair-turned-white-overnight-ren-zhengfei-wakes-up-crying-485d09b1/" markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/liu-qiangdong-s-hair-turned-white-overnight-ren-zhengfei-wakes-up-crying-485d09b1.md" original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/15CjxC8DuawR2HHVaWQmLg" translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E5%88%98%E5%BC%BA%E4%B8%9C%E4%B8%80%E5%A4%9C%E7%99%BD%E5%A4%B4-%E4%BB%BB%E6%AD%A3%E9%9D%9E%E5%8D%8A%E5%A4%9C%E5%93%AD%E9%86%92-%E9%99%A4%E4%BA%86%E6%B2%A1%E6%9C%89%E6%80%A7%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB-%E4%BC%81%E4%B8%9A%E5%AE%B6%E6%9B%B4%E5%8A%A0-%E6%AD%BB%E4%B8%8D%E8%B5%B7-%E6%94%BE%E4%B8%8D%E4%B8%8B-485d09b1.md" attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/liu-qiangdong-s-hair-turned-white-overnight-ren-zhengfei-wakes-up-crying-485d09b1/" usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt" --- # Liu Qiangdong's Hair Turned White Overnight, Ren Zhengfei Wakes Up Crying at Midnight: Beyond a Lack of Sex Life, Entrepreneurs Fear Death and Can't Let Go > Jack Ma gathered 40,000 Alibaba employees worldwide for a grand coming-of-age ceremony for Alibaba's 18th anniversary, and the cheers of tens of thousands still echo over Hangzhou. Yet behind the noise, Ma's once bleak but heartfelt regret speech resonates: 'My biggest mistake in life was creating Alibaba, because work takes up all my time... If there's a next life, I won't do this business again... I don't want to talk about business, I don't want to work.' This is by no means Ma's sentimentality; at this moment, Ma represents countless Chinese entrepreneurs. Jack Ma gathered 40,000 Alibaba employees worldwide for a grand coming-of-age ceremony for Alibaba's 18th anniversary, and the cheers of tens of thousands still echo over Hangzhou. Yet behind the noise, Ma's once bleak but heartfelt regret speech resonates: "My biggest mistake in life was creating Alibaba, because work takes up all my time... If there's a next life, I won't do this business again... I don't want to talk about business, I don't want to work." This is by no means Ma's sentimentality; at this moment, Ma represents countless Chinese entrepreneurs. Wu Xiaobo has spent many days and nights lamenting entrepreneurs who suffered major defeats, writing fervently about the "failure genes" they share. However, the great defeat of Chinese entrepreneurs is not the sudden collapse of their business empires, but their常年过着丧家式生活 (living like homeless people all year round). Chinese entrepreneurs are almost the most exhausted group. For many first-generation entrepreneurs, their lives are almost entirely work. To many, such a life is almost unimaginable. Chinese entrepreneurs have enterprises but no homes. **Zong Qinghou: From Youth to Gray Hair, Still on the Front Line** Eye bags, wrinkles, age spots—all signs indicate Zong Qinghou is aging. In his youth, he was vigorous and decisive; in old age, he appears amiable. Born in 1945, Zong has worked 16 hours a day for 30 years since starting his business, spending over 200 days a year traveling on the market front line. **Work is almost everything to Zong. He doesn't work from 9 to 5, but from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., from the first day of the lunar new year to New Year's Eve, year after year. He has few pleasures; he seems born to work.** His subordinates say that although he lives in Hangzhou, he hasn't sat by West Lake for years; seeing the scenery is a luxury for him. From youth to gray hair, Zong is now over 70. In 2017, Wahaha celebrated its 30th anniversary, and this 72-year-old food industry veteran still travels on the market front line. Regarding this, Zong's most frequent saying is: "**I'm used to hardship.** When I was young, I often went without meals. Later, I endured much hardship in business; money was earned bit by bit through hard work, but I really don't know how to enjoy life." **Zhong Shanshan: A Life-and-Death Journey in Agriculture** In 2007, Zhong Shanshan went to Ganzhou, Jiangxi, and seeing the navel oranges covering the mountains, he assumed good orange juice would be easy to obtain. So he quickly decided to develop orchards there and build a factory to produce orange juice. What Zhong didn't anticipate was that this hasty decision would cost him ten years of effort to remedy; agriculture was far more complex than he imagined. Persist or give up? Zhong chose the former. Some say it's because of his stubbornness—he won't turn back until he hits the wall; but in his own view, it was forced by circumstances. "The money was invested, the factory was built; there was no retreat," he said. "It seems like just an orange and two bottles of juice, but Nongfu Spring took many detours, almost a life-and-death struggle," Zhong said. **Tao Huabi: Life's Path Is Never Smooth** Tao Huabi, from Guizhou, is a rural woman who never attended school and can't even write her own name. Yet with a jar of Laoganma, she became a nationally recognized goddess and brought a Chinese brand to the world. Her husband died early, leaving her a widow with a child; a woman with little education had to make a living with her child! **She started from a street stall, gradually accumulating, carrying a load of over 100 jin to sell rice tofu daily, which left her with severe aftereffects; to this day, she still relies on medicated patches.** She was once pushed off a bus by a ticket seller, forcing her to walk dozens of miles. But this unyielding woman managed to endure through sheer perseverance. Tao said: "From youth to old age, I feel life's path is never smooth. Without weathering storms, you're not an entrepreneur; only after enduring wind and rain, sun and exposure, are you a true entrepreneur. Some entrepreneurs, don't look at what they say; look at what they do—that's real skill and hard work. If they can't show it, they're like plants grown in a greenhouse, unable to see the sun. We've seen the sun, weathered storms, and walked through wind and rain." **Liu Yonghao: We Didn't Get Rich Overnight** This chairman in his 60s seems untouched by time; he walks briskly, has a young mindset, and seems to have an eternally young heart. "We are not overnight millionaires; we know the hardships of entrepreneurship. Our company's foundation is steady and vibrant because our goal is to build a century-old Hope. **We are pragmatic, avoid ostentation, seek no vanity, don't smoke, don't drink excessively, don't play cards, and spend no more than 100 yuan a day. We eat and dress simply, just appropriately.**" Being wealthy yet living a simple and fulfilling life is what distinguishes Liu Yonghao from many successful people; it's why New Hope has thrived for years without falling. **Niu Gensheng: With Effort, a 'Loser' Can Achieve Success** In 1958, Niu Gensheng was born in Hohhot. Shortly after birth, due to poverty, he was sold by his biological parents to his adoptive family. As Niu himself described, "Because we couldn't afford food, my biological father sold me for 50 yuan." He was raised by his adoptive mother for 14 years. In 1978, he started working as a cattle farmer. In the 1990s, Niu could never have imagined that he would later become a major figure in Chinese financial history. At that time, he was a 41-year-old "old man" who had to travel from the Inner Mongolian grasslands to Beijing to find work, sending out over 50 resumes without even getting an interview. Yet this "loser" eventually turned things around and created a miracle in China's dairy industry. **Chu Shijian: Don't Dwell on Life's Grievances; Keep Moving Forward** Chu Shijian was once the famous "King of Chinese Tobacco," leading Hongta Group to become Asia's largest and one of the world's leading tobacco companies. Later, he fell from the peak of life to the bottom: he was sentenced to life imprisonment for bribery, and after being released on parole, he started a new business at the age of 75, contracting 2,400 mu of barren hills with his wife to grow oranges. His "Chu Oranges" became famous across the country, making him a legend once again. Now 89, Chu is still struggling on. Chu said: "Society judges heroes by success or failure. Whether I'm the 'orange king' isn't for me to say. I'm a doer; evaluations are for others. I'd give myself 80 points." **Liu Qiangdong: JD Facing Bankruptcy Crisis, Hair Turned White Overnight** What reflects Liu Qiangdong's "boss" temperament might be the small patch of white hair on his forehead. In 2008, after the first round of funding was used up, JD faced the danger of bankruptcy. Amid the financial crisis, no one was willing to invest in a company with uncertain profitability. During that period, Liu met five investors a day, said the same words, and got the same answer: rejection. "The guilt and pain toward my brothers surged all at once." **Ren Zhengfei: Six Months of Nightmares, Often Waking Up Crying** "I couldn't control it; for six months, I had nightmares and often woke up crying at midnight," and "If R&D fails, I'll jump off a building," were words Ren Zhengfei resolutely said during Huawei's difficult startup period. At that time, he experienced the betrayal of a beloved general, his mother's death, domestic market being "snatched" by Harbor, international market facing Cisco's lawsuit, and the loss of core talent... He worked over ten hours a day but still felt powerless. This business hard man, who grew up suffering in the countryside and was tempered by years in the military, appeared as tough as iron to outsiders, yet he was once so fragile. Later, in an open letter to Huawei employees with depression, Ren candidly admitted that he "was also a severe sufferer of depression and anxiety," and that he had multiple illnesses, including two surgeries for cancer... **Why Are These People So Fragile?** Business commentator Wang Yukun, in his book "The Strong: Entrepreneurs' Dreams and Obsessions," describes the hardness and fragility of Chinese entrepreneurs: > Because the sun-like armor is too dazzling, people's eyes cannot penetrate it to reach their hearts. In people's eyes, they are as hard as that armor, until one day, when that hard body collapses, people are shocked, not understanding why such a hard body would crumble without warning. This can also be explained by a saying from Chinese history: "When heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on a man, it will first test his resolve, exhaust his muscles and bones, starve his body, impoverish his being, and disrupt his actions, so as to stimulate his mind, strengthen his nature, and enhance his abilities." Entrepreneurs appear glamorous on the surface, but once they choose to become entrepreneurs, as Huang Ming, chairman of Himin Solar, said, it means **their lives will from then on be accompanied by pressure, competition, fatigue, and anxiety, never to be at ease again.** Entrepreneurs bear the dual pressures of body and mind, moving forward under heavy loads. **1. Most Are Workaholics, Falling Ill from Overwork** "Only by enduring the bitterest hardships can one rise above others"—this saying fits entrepreneurs perfectly. As the top leader of a company, entrepreneurs often face a myriad of development issues. Most are workaholics: they don't sleep until they wake naturally, have no weekends, no holidays, work long hours, have irregular schedules, and even when sick, they keep delaying treatment. Before falling ill, Kai-Fu Lee often competed with young people in staying up late, replying to emails at midnight; a schedule of Wang Jianlin once circulated online, showing he wakes at 4 a.m., exercises for 45 minutes, and works about 16 hours; Jack Ma flew over 800 hours in a year, averaging 2 hours a day on planes, visiting 33 countries and regions; Liu Chuanzhi said that when he got sick, he would return to work the day after recovery, which became a norm, with illnesses recurring about every half month; Isaacson, author of "Steve Jobs," said "Jobs was working the day before he died"... Such schedules and high-intensity work are not uncommon among entrepreneurs, and today, 89-year-old Li Ka-shing and 87-year-old Warren Buffett still work on the front lines. Wang Jianlin's daily schedule **Unwillingness to say "tired" seems to be a common ailment among Chinese entrepreneurs.** Peng Zuoyi of Tsingtao Brewery died suddenly of a heart attack; Hu Kai of Dazhong Electronics and Yang Mai of Ericsson both died of heart disease; in Japan, 12 general managers of large companies died suddenly within one year, and behind this is often accumulated fatigue and sudden death from overwork. Entrepreneurs work so hard, with long-term high loads, that their health is worrying. And as middle and senior managers follow suit, more and more people are eroded by disease and sub-health, which cannot be ignored. **2. Enormous Mental Pressure** On the afternoon when Guo Jiaxue wanted to commit suicide, employees who noticed something wrong rushed to his office and said: > If you die, you'll kill all the colleagues who followed you for their dreams. Are you dying to make everyone lose heart? Have you thought about the pain of your parents, brothers, and children? Have you thought about the feelings of the many friends who helped you? If you die, what about the jobs of tens of thousands of employees... These words undoubtedly struck Guo's heart word by word. With so many expectations on him, his life was no longer just his own. One must live well, and living well means doing meaningful things. In fact, when a person carries too many expectations and pressures for a long time, it can easily lead to depression, which is not uncommon among entrepreneurs and top leaders. The Legal System Daily once cited public data: since the 1980s, more than 1,200 entrepreneurs in China have committed suicide due to psychological barriers they couldn't overcome. Image from the internet Liu Chuanzhi experienced many great scares when he first started his business; he said he "almost got scared into a nervous breakdown." Xu Xiaoping of ZhenFund admitted to suffering from depression twice, and Mao Daqing suffered from depression during the most difficult period of Vanke's transformation. And the most famous depression sufferer in the internet industry has to be Charles Zhang. Zhang described 2012 as "miserable"; he was anxious, depressed, and often in a state of fear that outsiders couldn't understand. "I have everything, but I'm still in pain!" He eventually chose to闭关 (seclude himself) for a year, almost completely isolated. When he reappeared in public, the world had changed dramatically. How the former godfather of China's internet leads Sohu to face the newcomers is a new challenge he must confront. Entrepreneurs may bear more than the outside world imagines and are more fragile. He Yifan, last Qingming Festival, summarized six ways 35 entrepreneurs died. He found that whenever the macro environment cools, exports slump, private lending collapses, banks call in loans, or anti-corruption peaks, there are concentrated cases of entrepreneurs fleeing, committing suicide, or suffering violent attacks. **The "Four Mountains" Pressing on Entrepreneurs** In China, there is a group of people who insist on "running toward a better life," people willing to become big trees, and entrepreneurs are exactly such people. Wu Xiaobo observed that many feel it's increasingly tiring to run a business. Entrepreneurs are fragile, but they dare not get sick or die; why? Behind this is the dilemma faced by private enterprises, which are undoubtedly the Sword of Damocles hanging over entrepreneurs' heads. Below are four aspects summarized. **1. Handling Government-Business Relations Often Depends on the Top Leader** Feng Lun once summarized three ways private enterprises die in 30 years, with the most important being government-business friction. Government-business relations are the number one cause of enterprise mortality. Hupan University's research also ranks government-business relations as the top cause. China's business environment has two forms of capital: state-owned capital and private enterprises, sometimes even called "non-public enterprises," a term that inadvertently exacerbates the divide. In the recent Fortune Global 500 list, 115 Chinese companies were listed, and 80% of them are local SOEs or central SOEs. The development of private enterprises has a long way to go. In many fields, no matter how well private enterprises do, they can only play supporting roles. And private entrepreneurs don't receive the respect they deserve. Mei Yonghong, who resigned from government to go into business, said that during his time in local government, he saw many officials treating entrepreneurs with disdain, their condescending attitude chilling. The "close and clean" government-business relationship has been set, loosening restrictions on private enterprises and giving them more hope, but it also requires entrepreneurs to maintain and manage it with more wisdom. Especially for some large local private enterprises that had early public capital participation and were later fully authorized, the balance of power is not something ordinary people can handle. **2. Most Chinese Private Enterprises Are in a Stage of Brutal Growth, with Internal Management Lagging** Apart from a few large private enterprises like Huawei, Vanke, Lenovo, and New Oriental, China has over 20 million small and medium-sized enterprises, which are an important pillar of the Chinese economy. In their development, they often struggle, stumble, endure, and grow wildly, adjusting their posture while running—this is the true portrayal of SMEs. In the early stages of a startup, almost everything is oriented toward survival. In this context, establishing a reasonable and complete talent pipeline management system is a great luxury. Many private enterprise leaders also play the role of spiritual leaders, tightly holding power and doing everything themselves. This more easily leads to a company being dominated by its founder, heavily dependent on a single person. This also increases a company's risk. **3. Many First-Generation Entrepreneurs Haven't Prepared for Succession** According to data from the "New Fortune 500 Rich List," 67% of private entrepreneurs in China are over 50, meaning nearly 70% of Chinese family businesses need to find successors. In the next five to ten years, about 3 million private enterprises in China will face succession issues. Zhang Haimeng, managing director of McKinsey's Shanghai office, mentioned in an interview article "Three Drivers of Private Enterprise Transformation, Key Success Factors, Boss's Vision... This Article Explains It Thoroughly": In fact, when most first-generation entrepreneurs start to hand over, they find it's already too late. I think many of China's first-generation entrepreneurs haven't prepared for succession and haven't made arrangements for the next generation of leadership. Choosing a family insider to take over is the first choice for first-generation entrepreneurs and the most typical and common model for Chinese private enterprise succession. Liu Chang of New Hope, Zong Fuli of Wahaha, and Yang Huiyan of Country Garden are successful "post-80s" second-generation successors. But even second-generation members raised for the role may not be willing to take over, like Cao Dewang's son Cao Hui. More and more startup founders are choosing the professional manager model. Liu Chuanzhi handed Lenovo's baton to Yang Yuanqing, Wang Shi handed Vanke to Yu Liang, etc. Before first-generation entrepreneurs find suitable successors, they still have to stay on the front lines. **4. Pressure from Public Opinion and Capital** The editor once heard a listed company chairman tell his shareholders and employees: "The biggest risk to the company's stock growth is whether my health fails." This shows how important an entrepreneur is to stabilizing or increasing a company's stock market value. Therefore, if a company's founder or top leader, especially of a listed company, has health issues, the PR department often takes measures to stabilize morale and keep silent. Once a public figure's illness is exposed, it quickly becomes a headline for major media and a topic of public concern, like Steve Jobs and Kai-Fu Lee. When news of Jobs' pancreatic cancer broke in 2004, the entire "Apple world" fell into panic. Maintaining the health of the top leader is not just a personal matter but a responsibility to employees, investors, and the capital market. The **2017 (3rd) FMCG + Internet Conference** will be held in Chongqing in November 2017. The conference will closely focus on the theme "New Forces, New Ecology," inviting **1,000+ distributors, 500+ brand owners, 200+ B2B platform founders, and 100+ investment and financing institutions** to jointly explore a new chapter of cross-industry integration! Click the links below to review the highlights of the 1st and 2nd FMCG + Internet Conferences: [2016 "FMCG + Internet" Summit Forum]() -END- --- ## Copyright and AI use This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL. Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671