---
title: "Taking Command in Crisis: A Veteran Turned Pork Factory Director, Slaughtering 50 Million Pigs a Year, Earning the Title 'Butcher'"
description: "Adults often 'scare' their children by saying that if they don't study hard, they'll end up feeding pigs at home, implying that working with pigs is shameful. However, there is one person who loves pigs and has spent his entire life working with them. From pigs to pork to factories to meat products, what comes to mind? Yes, ham sausages. This article is about Wan Long, the founder of Shuanghui, who bears the title 'Butcher'."
author: "石榴姐"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2017-07-24"
language: "en"
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# Taking Command in Crisis: A Veteran Turned Pork Factory Director, Slaughtering 50 Million Pigs a Year, Earning the Title 'Butcher'

> Adults often 'scare' their children by saying that if they don't study hard, they'll end up feeding pigs at home, implying that working with pigs is shameful. However, there is one person who loves pigs and has spent his entire life working with them. From pigs to pork to factories to meat products, what comes to mind? Yes, ham sausages. This article is about Wan Long, the founder of Shuanghui, who bears the title 'Butcher'.

Adults often 'scare' their children by saying that if they don't study hard, they'll end up feeding pigs at home, implying that working with pigs is shameful. However, there is one person who loves pigs and has spent his entire life working with them.
From pigs to pork to factories to meat products, what comes to mind? Yes, ham sausages. Today we're talking about Wan Long, the founder of Shuanghui, who bears the title 'Butcher'.
1
**Taking Command in Crisis: A Veteran Turned Pork Factory Director**
Wan Long, founder of China's meat brand, was born in 1940 during a time of war and chaos, and grew up in poverty.
In 1960, after dropping out of high school, Wan Long enlisted in the army and became a railway engineer. In 1968, he was demobilized and started working at a meat processing plant in Luohe. From clerk to office director, then to deputy factory director, he worked there for 16 years.
In 1984, all 800 employees of the meat processing plant unanimously elected Wan Long as the director of Luohe Meat Processing Plant. From then on, he began his lifelong association with pigs.
At that time, the plant had fixed assets of 4.68 million yuan but losses of 5.8 million yuan, making it insolvent. That year, coinciding with the state's cancellation of the policy of unified purchase and sale of pigs, the plant was struggling and had to find its own way out. Wan Long immediately decided to reform the plant, and with an iron fist, replaced several deputy directors in one go.
The following year, he proposed a plan for 'negotiated pig procurement', posting advertisements in surrounding towns with Luohe as the center, offering three cents more per jin (half a kilogram) than the unified purchase price. Many residents brought their pigs, and the plant no longer worried about a shortage of pig supply. Through negotiated procurement, by August of that year, the plant had made a net profit of 20,000 yuan.
Since Wan Long took over as director, 'Luohe Meat Processing Plant' went from being ranked last among Henan's top ten meat processing plants to becoming a renowned ham sausage producer.
2
**Export Crisis Turned Opportunity: From Selling Pork to Selling Ham Sausages**
With the domestic pork market saturated, Wan Long turned his attention to the Soviet market and obtained pork export qualifications. However, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the company lost its export market, causing Wan Long to feel an unprecedented crisis.
In 1992, 'ham sausage' came into Wan Long's view, and he decided to act immediately. He staked everything he had, ready to make a big move.
Through Wan Long's continuous efforts, within just a few years, Shuanghui brand ham became a household name in China. In 1998, Shuanghui successfully went public with a market value of 2 billion yuan, making Shuanghui Group the nation's number one meat products company.
On March 15, 2011, Shuanghui was exposed in the 'clenbuterol' incident, severely damaging its brand image. To address this, Wan Long implemented reforms to improve food safety, imposing strict testing on pig sources. Under Wan Long's leadership, Shuanghui Group successfully resolved the 'clenbuterol' crisis. The following year, in 2012, it achieved an overall listing, and by 2016, WH Group became one of the Fortune Global 500 companies.
3
**Acquiring Smithfield to Conquer the US Meat Market**
When the news of Shuanghui Group's acquisition of Smithfield broke, the entire food industry was shocked! No one could imagine Wan Long's ambition, nor that Shuanghui, after the 'clenbuterol' incident, could regroup and make such a big splash.
In fact, as early as 2008, Wan Long had intended to acquire Smithfield. At that time, the US was in the midst of a financial crisis, making it an ideal time to acquire Smithfield, but Wan Long did not do so. It wasn't until 2013 that Shuanghui Group successfully acquired the world's largest pork producer for $7.1 billion.
Why acquire Smithfield?
Smithfield Foods, founded in 1936, not only has a strong American brand image and mature management technology but is also the world's largest hog producer and pork supplier. Acquiring Smithfield provided a huge boost for Shuanghui Group to expand its overseas market.
4
**The Iron-Fisted Boss Doesn't Care for Cigarettes or Fine Wine, Only 'Slaughtering Pigs'**
Today, Shuanghui's annual slaughter volume reaches 50 million head, half of the entire US market!
Although Wan Long's personal wealth exceeds 50 billion yuan, he still maintains the same lifestyle as ordinary people. Every day, he gets up at 7 o'clock sharp, goes to look at the factory across the street, and by 8 o'clock he's in his office starting the day's work. After getting off work at 8 PM, he spends half an hour reading media reports about Shuanghui Group. Perhaps one day, while jogging in the morning, you might see that 'little old man' in black clothes—that's him.
This simple and orderly life is his state of being. He hasn't become extravagant because of his success in building Shuanghui Group, nor has he stagnated because of his wealth of over 50 billion. Someone once asked him, 'When do you plan to retire?' He said, 'Responsibility and competition keep me from stopping; competition pushes me forward.'
In others' eyes, Wan Long may be a 'ruthless and heartless person', but in his own eyes, he is just 'someone who, if he wants to do something, must do it well'. Someone also asked him, 'What do you like to do most?' He said, 'Slaughter pigs, and slaughter them well!'
Wan Long's secret to success lies in: 'If you can fall in love with one line of work in your lifetime, do it well. In this life, I just love dealing with pigs!'
**About the author: Sister Pomegranate, an in-depth internet observer, focusing on the latest trends in the internet, enterprises, and the workplace.**
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