Impressions of Mr. Hong Xiu Ping

In April of this year, Zhuhai Gateway Language village (GLV), which was founded by Mr. Hong Xiu Ping, (known to everyone as “Ping”), was named one of the top ten English language training schools in China. These top ten schools were chosen by five well-known web sites, including Sina.com and Sohu.com. GLV suddenly had a lot of publicity, rose to a leading position, and was admired in the trade as a dark horse.

It is difficult to imagine Ping as a businessman. He is still very bookish. Though he has experienced a tough life at home and abroad and even has worried about where his bread and butter would come from, he is still not thinking a lot about money. He is always seeking his own spiritual home, the paradise and the dream in his heart. Therefore, he prefers to care about the true feelings between people. Ping’s intention is to constantly improve the quality of GLV’s programs and environment, where the English language is used not only for communication, but for opening minds to inter-cultural understanding. His dream is to make GLV a language village without national boundaries, where people can communicate with each other freely.

Ping always conducts business in his own way. Unlike most people, Ping still insists on the principal of doing business without debt and even has rejected capital offered by people who were interested in investing in GLV. He looks for the spirit of partnership in his staff who are his friends, encouraging them to be part of the dream, and to support GLV’s culture and ideals. He insists on these principles stubbornly and has brought steadiness, trust, quality and honor to GLV.

Two people have influenced Ping very much, one is his mother and another one is his friend Mrs. Jene Bellows, who is from the United States. His mother taught him to conduct himself honestly and gently and with self-esteem through her own spirit of hard work and dedication. Jene Bellows opened a door for him to review his heart and the world, giving him confidence and courage for his life and business. Ping said that they have influenced him more than any other teachers. GLV has grown, penetrated by the vision of Mr. Hong Xiu Ping. The future of GLV bears his dreams and hopes.

An Interview with Hong Xiu Ping:

Li Yang Yue, a journalist with South China Magazine of Human Resources, had an interview with Ping in Nov, 2003 after GLV turned out to be a “Dark Horse” in the field of language training.

About GLV

Mr. Hong Xiu Ping: You can say it this way. To study a language needs an edified language environment. It is not as simple as remembering new words and studying grammar. What GLV offers is a total immersion, English language environment, where only English is spoken; only English is written; only English is used, at work and at play. Students communicate in English and think in English here. We have a strict rule at GLV that nobody can speak Chinese when they become a student at GLV. If a student speaks Chinese, he or she will receive a warning; after 3 warnings, the student receives a tuition refund and must leave GLV.

GLV believes that you cannot master English through book learning alone. You have to use it. We pay attention to communication and intercourse between people of different languages and cultures. Our foreign teachers stay with students almost all day long. They study together, discuss together and live together. In addition, we provide an English salon to further train the listening comprehension of students and to help them develop the right attitude to get along with foreigners. One cannot learn to swim on dry land. GLV is like a swimming pool, where students have to jump into it in order to learn how to swim.

South China Magazine of Human Resources: It is said that both the number and the quality of foreign teachers working with the students at GLV is the highest of all language schools in the country. Many teachers have worked at GLV for a long time. How do you gather them from all over the world, when GLV is not even the strongest and the biggest training school in China?

Mr. Hong Xiu Ping: We now have almost 40 foreign teachers at the school. What attracts them to come to GLV to work happily is the culture of GLV. I believe GLV believes more in education than in business. Therefore, GLV offers a platform to teachers who are interested in promulgating language and culture. In addition, we have good service and management systems, which enhance the culture of GLV even more. The teachers work here successfully and happily. Some of them love GLV deeply, and even hope to immigrate to China to settle down in Zhuhai City.

About Starting a Business:

South China Magazine of Human Resources: You had tough experiences when you studied in United States for five years. And you also met many frustrations after you came back to China to work. What pushed you to start an English education project?

Mr. Hong Xiu Ping: It is a long story. In 1993 I came back to China without U.S. dollars or a U.S. ID card. My hope was to find my own career, my dream home. The reality was not as perfect as I had hoped, though I had my Master Degree from the United States.

In 1998, the management of the American Phoenix Company where I worked changed and I had to look for a new job. I sent countless numbers of faxes without response. At last I went to Zhuhai City to ask one of my American friends, who was a principal of a language school, to help me. He wanted me to run a consulting company with some of his foreign friends to publish English study materials and recruit teachers. Unfortunately, the company folded after two months. I knew what it was like to be jobless for the first time since I came back to China.

I felt hopeless for my future at that time. My only hope was to be an English teacher. I was pleased to present two lectures and twice took over a class for an absent teacher at my foreign friend’s school. The students’ response gave me confidence. I felt I was as good as a foreign teacher! At that time, all the foreign language schools in Zhuhai City were propagandizing that only foreign teachers should teach English. They even refused to employ overseas Chinese. I had no confidence to find any other kind of job, so my only and last chance was to start my own school and employ myself.

South China Magazine of Human Resources: Could you tell me about the development of GLV?

Mr. Hong Xiu Ping: We experienced tough times during the first two years. Several times, we almost couldn’t go on. At first, we rented an abandoned karaoke hall. To make ends meet we even sold a cup of mineral water for 1 Yuan, and one rose for 5 Yuan. My house keeper cooked lunch for my employees at home and brought it to school. I even thought about ending the business, partnering with other people or having other people run and manage the school, and I would work for other people again. But I succeeded finally with the help and concern of my relatives and friends.

In the middle of 2001, we took a new direction – to be engaged full time in the TIE (Total Immersion Experience) course and English-only training exclusively. Some professional managers came to the school to help us. From then on, GLV was on a path of regularly improving our teaching quality and getting more and more honors. And more and more students came to GLV to study English. In May of 2002, GLV became very crowded.

Encouraged by my friends, we rented a place at the Zhuhai Xiangzhou Culture Plaza and totally renovated it. The size is almost 3000 square meters. On July 5, 2002, we moved to the new campus. The size of school was twice as big as the first school. The environment and atmosphere were better than before as well. Not only did students come from Zhuhai City to study at GLV, but also from other cities of Guangdong Province, other provinces in China, and even from other countries. In April of this year, GLV was named one of the top ten foreign language training schools in China, chosen by five well-known web sites. I also received many honors, such as commissioner of the Political Negotiation Committee and commissioner of the Zhuhai Business Association.

About Conducting Oneself

South China Magazine of Human Resources: You said that two ladies influenced you very much, one is your mother and another one is your American friend Mrs. Jene Bellows. How did they influence you?

Mr. Hong Xiu Ping: When my mother was a child her family was very poor. She never got a regular education but she taught me many principles about how to conduct myself. After my mother married my father, she began to repay a debt for my father. No matter how tough our life was, we always repaid the debt first and then considered our own bread. My mother always taught us not to envy other people and to do our best, not to be greedy and not to begrudge the wealth of other people. My mother was never envious of other people’s fortunes, and even during our toughest times she often helped people who were poorer than we were.

My mother influenced me deeply. I always remember what my mother taught me: Only do what you can do. During the period of GLV’s development we never ran the business with any debt, except for several months when I committed the school to one of my foreign friends because I lacked confidence. I never risk any money readily; even money from my relatives. I prefer to develop slowly and earn less money rather than risking other people’s money. I prefer to lose my own money than lose other people’s money. It would be very difficult for me to face them.

Recently, one of my friends introduced a German millionaire to me. He was very interested in our language and culture school. He had even been to GLV three times with many of his friends and he wanted to cooperate with me. Many people said it would be a good opportunity. You don’t have to care how he spends his money, why do you worry about it? I said that nobody could guarantee a business, but you could keep a friendship. I felt we did not have a basis for cooperating. What I need is to cooperate with people who would like to devote themselves to education and strive for it all their lives. If we are friends with the same dream, even though the business fails, we will still be friends and still cooperate with each other. Otherwise, though we succeed in business if we have no friendship, it is insignificant. I have always obeyed my mother’s principle that it is preferable to lose money than to break my word and to break a friendship..

South China Magazine of Human Resources: So how did Mrs. Jene Bellows, who is your friend of another generation, help you?

Mr. Hong Xiu Ping: I was eager for the freedom, rich and independent spirit of the United States before I went there. I sniffed Chinese culture and felt the Chinese were lamentable. When I went to the U.S., I felt that I suddenly had come to paradise and everything was perfect. After several months of honeymoon, I experienced feelings of loss and loneliness that I had never faced in my life before. Although I spoke English fluently, I felt I could not ever enter this society. It tortured me. It was lonely and painful.

At that time, a middle aged American woman named Jene Bellows came to our university to deliver a magic lantern lecture introducing her life in China. The common Chinese people in her photographs smiled with honesty, simplicity and goodness. Suddenly, I realized that the dream home that I had sought was not in the outside world, but in the bottom of my heart. I understood why my American dream became a nightmare -- I was taking a fruitless approach, making vain efforts that were poles apart from my true self. Jene Bellows’ magic lantern made me understand the true meaning of life. Paradise is not on the outside, it is at the bottom of people’s hearts. Life is like the shoes that you put on your feet; you don’t put them on just for other people to look at. Only you know if they are a good fit for you.

Jene Bellows not only gave me the confidence and courage to live life but she also is the adviser for my life and career. I regard her as another mother.