My name is Cao Tao (@ Syrian Taozi), a native of Yinchuan, Ningxia, and my ancestors have been farmers for three generations. When I was 10 years old, I drove a tractor, when I was 12 years old I went to the field to harvest wheat, and when I was 17 years old, I dared to drive a harvester to other provinces to harvest crops. When I was an adult, I ran a rental business, and a few years later, I started a construction transportation business. At the age of 30, I was already earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. However, because I often have to accompany the wine in the project, my health is obviously deteriorating, and I am less and less interested in this line of work.
In 2017, at the age of 36, I made a decision: I sold all the engineering equipment in my hand and went abroad to see other opportunities to make money. I first hit the southern wall in Africa, then went to Syria, and I found business opportunities in this war-torn country. By importing domestic agricultural machinery, I now have an annual income of millions. The main thing is to have a career that you really love, and for someone my age, it's more meaningful than how much money you make.
I sell machinery and equipment such as harvesters and tractors, all of which are part of the agricultural economy, and I am back to my old business. I was born in the countryside of Yinchuan, in the northwest of the country. The land is sparsely populated, and there are few things to do. My childhood memories are the farming and harvesting of food. My family has two children, my sister and I. The family of four grows more than 60 acres of land, of which more than 40 acres are rice, 10 acres are corn, and some wheat is planted sporadically, leaving a few vegetable plots. Often after school, my sister and I have to go to the field to help with digging, planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting...
In good years, our family can earn more than 10,000 yuan a year. In the 1980s and 1990s, this was called entering the ranks of "ten thousand-thousand-yuan households", which was a very remarkable thing. However, if you are not a peasant, you don't even know what kind of crime you are suffering from relying on the sky. Every May 1st spring planting, October 1st autumn harvest, our family of four is far from busy, and with the help of various relatives and friends, we have to work continuously for more than a month to collect the grain.
After harvesting, I have to go to the threshing field to dry it. Summer in Yinchuan can be 40 degrees, the road is so hot that you can see the heat wave, and the faces of my parents are so sunburned that only the whites of their eyes and teeth can be seen. Their shoulders and backs are sunburnt every year. After peeling, the skin will become layer by layer, which can be peeled off like plastic paper, and new tender skin can be seen underneath. Every time the skin peeled off, they grimaced in pain.
When I was a child, I took a photo at home, I have lived in brick house in the 1990s.
Farmers' children have long been in charge of their homes. When I was 10 years old, I drove a tractor through the fields. When I was 12 years old, I was regarded as a strong laborer, carrying a sickle on my back like an adult to harvest autumn. At that time, every family was like this, and the child was only a few years old and was eager to contribute to the family as soon as possible. After all, when I was young, I was reluctant to go to the fields every day when the farming was busy, so I was always scolded by my parents for this.
My dad was a literate man when he was young. He was admitted to a technical secondary school, but he became a farmer because he was replaced by someone else. This incident made him feel a lot of energy in his heart, and wanted me and my sister to get ahead by reading. My sister listened to it, and her grades were among the best in the township. I was addicted to play, and I was half-tired from working in the fields, and I spent all the time in class during the day to catch up on sleep. I finished junior high school mixed, and I knew that I couldn't get into high school. My dad was not reconciled, so he asked people to sign up for me in a nearby vocational high school, and persuaded me to study for a few more years, otherwise my education would not be as good as his.
I thought so too. But just a few days after I entered the city, I was bullied by the gangsters at the school gate. When they saw that I was well-dressed, they locked my neck and insisted on borrowing them; when they saw that I was eating well, they told everyone to change it. Once, I wore military leather boots that my mother bought for 150 yuan to school, and the next day I "borrowed without repaying". This time I was completely annoyed, and I had a big fight with them, and the result was that I was dismissed from the school.
The junior high school graduation, the wire pole wears yellow clothes is me
In 1998, at the age of 17, I dropped out of school and entered the society. After the dream of becoming a scholar was shattered, my dad wanted me to learn a skill so that I could support my family in the future. I said I like to drive, why don't you buy me a taxi. As soon as the family heard that it was reliable, they went to inquire about the price. At that time, the red hatchback small Xiali was popular in the urban area of Yinchuan, and the business households cost 70,000 to 80,000 yuan. My family didn't have that much money, so I could only collect a little from the owner and a little from the west.
When I was about to buy a car, my nightmare came again. The autumn harvest season is here, and if nothing else happens, our family will be busy again. However, this year, an accident occurred, and my family received all the food in less than three days. The reason is that a professional wheat worker from Shaanxi came to our village. He drove a harvester and charged 40 yuan per mu of land. The work efficiency was much higher than that of people. When Mike stayed at our house, he shared a great news. He said that every year when he runs in Henan, Shaanxi, and Ningxia during the autumn harvest, he can earn tens of thousands of income!
We were very jealous when we heard it. When the whole family added up, it was all to make money anyway. The harvester business was so good, what kind of taxis did they buy. The entire family has about 200 acres of land, big and small. Not to mention other things, it is too convenient to just collect food for your own family! Relatives all agreed, and added a little more to let me buy the harvester directly.
It was the first harvester in our township. It was bought at Yinchuan Xincheng Agricultural Company for 90,000 yuan. The name was Xinjiang No. 2, and it looked tall and shiny. On the way back, all I saw were the envious eyes of the villagers, and my vanity was greatly satisfied. Throughout the autumn, I was so excited that I practiced how to open the harvester every day at the threshing field, thinking that next year I must harvest the wheat in the village beautifully.
I didn't leave a photo of my car, this is a photo of the same car from the manufacturer.
The next summer, the Mai Ke, who lived in my house, handed me a message saying that the fifth month of the lunar calendar is the season for wheat to mature in Henan, and more than 20 days later, the crops will be harvested in Shaanxi. , run a lap without delaying anything. He suggested that we go to Henan to see the situation first. There should be a lot of needs. If we want to go, he can help contact the local village chief.
I've never left Ningxia before, and I don't even know where Henan is. My dad was very worried about whether outsiders would bully us. For this reason, the whole family held a meeting on whether to go out to the province to earn money. In the end, it was my third uncle's decision: a good man is determined to be in all directions, and there are good and bad people everywhere. Go! In this way, me, my father, my cousin, the three men of us drove the harvester and set foot on the road to harvest wheat from the province.
The maximum speed of agricultural machinery is 25 miles per hour. It is unrealistic to drive to Henan. We can only hire trucks for transportation at a high price of 2,000 yuan. I thought it would be difficult to find an introducer's village in Henan, but as soon as we entered Henan, our harvesters would be "robbed" everywhere. The fellows stopped on the road and insisted that you go to his house to collect. When I saw this situation, I probably had a clue in my heart: This trip should not be a loss.
As soon as the farming season comes, no one waits, and everyone wants to harvest this crop as soon as possible and immediately turn over the ground to plant the next crop. Second, farmers rely on the sky for food, early harvest and early peace of mind. In case of wind and rain, there will be less food available. There are often some fellow villagers who quarrel with the neighbors in order to allow us to reclaim the land for his family first. There are some people who are still arguing and fighting every day. It was also the first time I realized that I was so popular.
Among the three of us, only I can operate the harvester proficiently, and all the work naturally falls on me. I just learned to drive, and I was young and energetic. I was busy day and night. When I was tired, I fell asleep on the ridge. The dirt and ashes covering the face, mouth, and nose are also irrelevant. Some fellows saw my hard work, and I don’t know where I got a gas mask, but the weather was so hot that people panicked, and after wearing it for a while, the whole person became a pig’s head, and he couldn’t stand it at all.
We charge 50 yuan for one mu of land. When business is good, I can collect dozens of mu a day. The shafts are rotated every day, the work intensity is still quite large, and the machine is often broken. Luckily my dad knows a little bit of technology and can do simple repairs. We worked day and night for three months, and when we got home, we did an inventory and found that we made more than 50,000! It was 1998, and when I was less than 20 years old, I tasted the sweetness of the first pot of gold.
The villagers in the same village saw that we made money, and in the following years, they all began to invest in harvesters and joined the Mack army.
My relatives and I went to the province to harvest wheat for two consecutive years, and the team has grown stronger and stronger, and the whole family has shown signs of turning from poor to rich. If it weren't for what happened later, I think I would have continued in the Mac business, at least until I was in my forties.
It was the summer of 2001. My dad and my uncle took agricultural machinery to Henan via Shaanxi. On the way, we were hijacked by a local ruffian, and they were very deceiving and "invited" us to go to their village to harvest. Saying "please" is like holding a knife to your neck. We have no choice but to follow others. As a result, when I went to the field, I saw that the wheat ears did not bow their heads, and the days were still about 20 days away. I explained that when Henan finished collecting it, I would come back and collect it for you. The other party insisted that we live in his house. Called the police.
After the police understood the situation, they let us go, but as soon as the front foot left, the gangsters on the back foot chased after us in a car. One of the guys was so daring, he was going so fast, he even wanted to jump from the car to our van. We shouted not to jump, it was very dangerous, but he didn't listen. As a result, he jumped over and failed to grasp it firmly, and fell directly in front of the truck. The next second was run over by the wheel, and the person was gone on the spot.
The first time I witnessed a bloody scene, I was terrified. Although we were not responsible, we still had to stay in Xi'an during that time to wait for the investigation. I was in a very bad mood, and I didn't care about anything.
Sometimes when I want to talk, I will chat with the taxi driver who is waiting on the roadside. I asked a master how much a taxi in Xi'an cost, and he asked me a little over 200,000. Did I say that's not nonsense? I also considered buying a taxi, how can it be so expensive? My eldest brother explained to me, saying that the car is good at 60,000 to 70,000 yuan, and it has to spend hundreds of thousands of yuan to buy the indicator of a business owner. He also said that Xi'an is a big city, and it is leading in everything, and we will have this fee there in the future, and advised me to hire a car while I don't hurry.
Taxi in Yinchuan, now it is said to cost more than 500,000 yuan to transfer the car together with the household
I took these words to heart, and after the investigation of the case, I returned to my hometown and decided to rent it out. My dad didn't want to run out anymore, so he bought me a taxi with money. The four or five years I was driving a taxi was a relatively loose time for me. I have experienced life and death, and people have learned to enjoy it. I pick up people at several fixed points in the city every day, but I am not too busy. Whenever I have time, I go out to barbecue and drink with my friends and friends, and I don't go home much. My mother's goal for me at the beginning was to give my family 100 yuan a day, because I didn't like to spend enough money to play, and it gradually became 80, and then it became 50.
When I was twenty-four or five years old, my peers all got married and had children, and I got married at the urging of my parents. Some of the good things in life I get too early. As a result, I still do not change my nature after marriage, have no sense of family responsibility, and just want to play all day.
I gave myself a holiday and took it when I traveled to Xi'an
In 2006, my relatives told me that the business of muck trucks and semi-trailers was very good. He has worked in the coal mines for several years and can be introduced to me if I wish. I just got tired of running a taxi and turned the car out without much thought. The result is exactly as the driver in Xi'an said. At that time, the sales quota of a taxi in Yinchuan had risen to 200,000, and the money I didn't earn from my sports car was recovered all at once.
With more than 200,000 yuan on hand, I bought a second-hand heavy truck for transportation. Earning four or five thousand a month, the work is very long, and it is a good livelihood. This business is really beneficial, as long as you have a car, and the car is not too bad, you can make money. It didn't take long for me to start hiring people to do the work for me. Over the past few years, I have successively borrowed to purchase dump trucks, road rollers, and excavators that have been paid off, and I have almost all the heavy equipment. Because of the construction projects, I am more homeless than before. Seven days a week, I can go out to drink five days, and call my friends to play cards every three days.
This is one of my excavators, preparing for work on the site
The most troublesome thing about doing a project is getting the account, which is usually paid after the project is completed. When I asked for money, I begged my grandfather to tell my grandmother everywhere, but I might not be able to get it. The main way to ask for money is to drink alcohol. During those five or six years, my wife and I have been unable to have children. This has a lot to do with my health, and I feel very guilty about it. My wife didn't get pregnant until early 2013.
In the following years, the market of engineering transportation in Yinchuan was not very good. Especially in the winter of 2016, a big house in our local area collapsed. Several guys of mine worked for him for three or four years, but he didn't get a dime for the project. an excavator. If I want to file a lawsuit, the other party is insolvent, and I cannot afford any property. This single job has caused me a heavy loss.
All of a sudden, my motivation to do things disappeared. The scene of myself drinking in the dark for some projects flashed in my mind again and again, and when I look at this end, I feel really embarrassed when I think of those past experiences. Suddenly, I was sick of this life from the bottom of my heart, and wanted to change the track and do some other small business.
At the beginning of 2016, I just replaced myself with a car, and at the end of the year, I lost money in business
Due to the low level of education, the business I can think of is limited to opening restaurants or KTVs. At that time, I also found two partners to work together, the contracts were signed, and it was agreed to be a hot pot restaurant. As a result, one of the partners had some problems and quit halfway, and the matter was settled.
In the next six months, I had nothing to do for a long time, and I was in my thirties. Compared with the younger generation in the same village, I used to earn a little more. But I work hard every day, and I have never been to anywhere except Yinchuan and Xi'an. I still don't know what I want to do in my life. It can be said that these years have passed in confusion. This feeling made me even more lost, always thinking about what to do in the future.
At that time, the only way I could pass the time every day was to watch TV, watch CCTV 13, and the news network. I watched and watched, and I noticed that "One Belt, One Road" is a high-frequency word. In the past, when working in engineering, the big bosses always said that it was right to follow the national policy. I searched the Internet to find out what "One Belt, One Road" means. I also bought maps and globes specifically to study where I could do something. Holding the globe, I thought of a direction: revitalize Africa.
The news channel in 2016, I watched a lot of these feature films
As a businessman, I especially like a sentence - the safest ship is parked at the dock, but that is not the purpose of shipbuilding; people are the most comfortable staying at home, but that is not the pursuit of life. Then I can go to Africa to see? Once the idea popped up, I couldn't stop it. I don’t know a word of English, and I’m sure I’ll be smeared when I go out alone, so I started to follow all kinds of information about Africa on the Internet, and I even added WeChat everywhere to see who was going to Africa recently, and asked if they could take me with me. Look, look, don't say, I really found it.
Around the Spring Festival in 2017, I contacted a Chinese compatriot who is the market leader of an agricultural machinery company in Shandong. He plans to go to Ghana and Nigeria in Africa to inspect and promote machines in the near future. The departure time will be about two months later. I explained my intention to him and asked if I could have a company. I also wanted to see the outside world, and he agreed without asking more.
In order to solve the language problem, I spent more than 3,000 yuan to buy a translation pen
I'm about to go abroad, and something I didn't dare to think about before is actually going to come true, but I'm so excited! I started to prepare non-stop at home. Since it was my first time to go abroad or to a remote Africa, my wife, children and children were very worried. I comforted them and said how could I lose such a big man. With the translation pen, I still have more than 8,000 US dollars in exchange, so it shouldn't be a problem to go anywhere, right? But in fact, I was also a little worried in my heart, after all, I was going to a completely unfamiliar place.
In April 2017, I took a flight from Beijing to Ethiopia to Ghana. I was full of expectations on the plane, looking forward to what opportunities to make money on the African continent were waiting for me. However, after the plane landed in the capital of Ghana, I was disappointed for a while. Located in West Africa, even the capital airport looks so shabby. In comparison, our Yinchuan can be called an international metropolis.
In order to solve the language problem, I spent more than 3,000 yuan to buy a translation pen
When I arrived in the city, the popularity was still not at all prosperous. It was like a big village, and there were local people with dark skin everywhere. I had never seen such a dark skin person before, I really learned a lot. After I settled down with my companions, I completely became his follower. I followed him when he visited farmers in various places; I learned how to deal with people and things by looking at the local environment.
Later, my companion returned to China, and I continued to live alone in a Chinese-run hotel. When you meet a foreigner and want to chat with others, the translation pen comes in handy at this time. Of course, it's not 100% accurate. It can have an accuracy of 60% to 70%. If I cooperate with the environment at the time, and rely on body language to make gestures, I can probably guess 7788, and basic communication is not a problem.
But after staying for a few months, I have not been very fond of the local area. Because I can feel that the sense of integrity is not strong in some places, I have encountered thieves and cheats several times; the security is not very good, and I have heard about four or five cases of robbery after staying here for a long time. The most important thing is that I haven't found any suitable market and opportunities. The Chinese compatriots who came early have almost occupied the market, so I can only return in disappointment.
It was taken during an inspection in Africa. Because the security is not very good, many businesses employ security guards with guns.
After returning to China in 2017, I stayed at home for more than a year, doing nothing all day, thinking about my future. Later, the second child was also born, the water inlet for the family to earn money was closed, and there were more and more water outlets. My wife has no income as a housewife, and she is about to sit and eat.
One day in 2018, I suddenly saw news on the Internet that Syria is a country undergoing post-war reconstruction, where 60% of everything is imported from China. As soon as I thought, this place should have a lot of opportunities, and it started to move around again. My idea is that if I drive the first batch myself, even if there is a risk, I should be able to get a little bonus.
In early 2018, a group photo with my wife and children before I went abroad
Just do it. I found a Chinese woman on Qyoyou.com. She married to Lebanon, which is very close to Syria. With her help, I got an invitation letter from Syria. Since there were very few international flights from Syria after the war, about a month later, I first flew to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and then took a taxi to enter Syria by land.
In my imagination, Syria should have been devastated by wars, displaced and left in ruins. After I came here, I was quite surprised. The streets of the capital Damascus were full of traffic, and many buildings were in good condition, but occasionally there were traces of war in some places.
The street scene of the capital Damascus, in fact, the people here are
The ruins of buildings on the streets of Syria are relatively few in Damascus, and there are more in several cities such as Homs in the north.
The Chinese woman rented a small single room for me, and every day I woke up and wandered the streets to see if there was a suitable opportunity. There are almost no foreigners in Syria, which has just ended the war, and there are no more than 20 local Chinese. I originally thought that for the sake of safety, I could open a small supermarket next to the Chinese embassy. If there was a war, I would run into the embassy to seek asylum. Later, I felt that this place was not as dangerous as the outside world thought. It seems that this idea is still too cautious. .
During a walk, I met a Syrian professor who had studied in China for 8 years. When I asked him about his salary, he said that it was only US$60 per month, which is equivalent to more than 400 RMB. I quickly said that I also give you $60 a month, can you take time out every day to chat with me and tell me about the situation in Syria? The professor agreed, and he came to my rental house for tea every day after work, and told me about the local customs, historical background and business environment here.
Friends I met in Syria, my daily job at that time was to find people to chat and learn from
Through exchanges with local Syrians, I learned that only a small part of the Kurdish armed forces in Syria are still resisting the government forces, and most areas have returned to their former tranquility. But Aleppo, a major industrial city in the north, has been hit hard, and the country's industrial system is basically paralyzed. It takes time to revive the economy, so wages are much lower than before. Before the war, the average monthly salary of civil servants was 1,500 US dollars, and now it is less than 50 US dollars. Some people who do international trade are very rich, and there are ordinary people living on the streets. There is a big gap between the rich and the poor.
During the chat, the professor told me that Syria is a big agricultural country. The local people grow a lot of olives, wheat, and onions. The food can be self-sufficient. It is not difficult for the people at the bottom to survive. As soon as I heard about farming, I immediately became interested and asked how the peasants here are doing the law. Only then did I realize that although Syria is a small country, it is vast and sparsely populated. 18 million people live on 180,000 square kilometers of land, and a family can divide 200 acres of land, and the property rights are still permanent. The food produced domestically cannot be eaten, and will be exported to nearby Jordan and Iraq.
Taking a photo with local children during an inspection tour in Syria, the locals are generally friendly to foreign faces
I figured in my heart that I have driven agricultural machinery myself, and I have also bought a few agricultural machinery with my relatives, so the agricultural machinery business should be good. The old business was put in front of me again. This time I did what I said. I seriously inspected the local agricultural machinery market and found that the degree of mechanization here is higher than ours in China, but all I used were purchased from Europe before the war. The second-hand goods that come in are basically used for more than 20 years, and there are only one or two agricultural machinery brands in the country. Seeing it as a good opportunity, I quickly flew back to China, went to Shandong to inspect an agricultural machinery factory, and negotiated to be their agent to sell agricultural machinery to Syria.
In the early stage, I had a small amount of funds and could only sell them one by one. Before the New Year in 2020, I sent two wheat harvesters from Qingdao Port in Shandong to Latakia Port in Syria. I was thinking of going back to my home country to spend some time at home. I didn't expect the epidemic to come when the shipping was about to arrive in Hong Kong. I was trapped at home, and the door to the country was closed soon after. Seeing that the agricultural machinery was about to arrive at the destination, I am still on the kang, anxious like ants on a hot pan.
I searched for help online, and finally found a Syrian boy named Ghaith who was studying in Ningbo University. His father is also a trader, not far from the port, and is willing to help me pick up the goods first. There is no one-sided relationship. It is necessary to hand over these two expensive machines to the Syrians. I am very uneasy, but there is really no other way. I can only choose to believe him.
In fact, not long after I came to Syria, I suffered a loss on money. For example, the professor I mentioned earlier, I fully trusted him in my contacts. Later, when I returned to China, I left him tens of thousands of dollars for the registration of the company. As a result, he suddenly lost contact with the money. Break my heart. This is a highly educated intellectual who is so short-sighted, not to mention some small business hawkers, so my concerns are not unreasonable.
Fortunately, Dad Geis is a reliable person. He not only helped me pick up the goods at the port, but also took the initiative to help me sell one. About ten days before and after, the payment for the goods was directly credited to my account, which made me so excited. This experiment allowed me to find a reliable partner, and then I began to ship and sell cars in this model.
Not to mention, this business is quite profitable. A domestic harvester with a price of more than 100,000 yuan can be sold here for 60,000 to 70,000 US dollars. Excluding shipping costs and customs clearance costs, it can basically make double the profit. However, this wave of dividends didn't last long. After the epidemic, the price of international freight soared. Before my profits could be made, I was hit the thinnest.
In the second half of 2020, I finally figured out a way to get an invitation letter, and flew to Syria again to prepare to show off my skills. As soon as I landed, I found out that none of the locals wore masks! I still have a high level of safety awareness. I am afraid of infection wherever I go, so I cover myself tightly. When the locals see me, they worry that I am sick and hide from me. It really makes people laugh and cry.
With the help of Dad Geis, I registered the company, recruited a few partners, and began to take them to the market every day, visiting major customers and secondary dealers, and also using Facebook and other online platforms to promote. Since there are not many competitors, large-scale farmers see that our products are cheap and easy to use. Basically, they order one and get paid quickly. At most, I ordered 16 units from China in one go, and it took me a few months to digest them all.
I am not satisfied and want to continue to make large orders. The local government has also provided a lot of convenience. There are very few Chinese here and the social status is relatively high. For example, sometimes I want to meet the minister of the Ministry of Agriculture to discuss a centralized procurement or something. I can make an appointment as soon as possible without having to wait in line like other people. Sometimes when I go to the street to buy something to eat, the local people who are queuing up ask me to buy it first, and they are very friendly.
A photo of me and a local general in Syria
Up to now, my small company has a total of 6 people, in addition to me and a Chinese big brother who took in, there are also 4 local translators. Local labor is cheaper and easier to gain the trust of customers, which is the main reason I choose them. It sounds easy, but in Syria, a country that has been ravaged by war for many years, there are no more than 10 people who have studied Chinese and have been to China, and I used almost half of it. Therefore, some Chinese language institutions have recently approached me, wanting to train some Chinese teachers locally, so that we Chinese can come to Syria to do business and start a business in the future.
In order to promote products, I now often have to run around, not only grinding my lips. Sometimes when the farmer is too busy, in order to show others how easy the machine is, I have to personally go into battle for them to harvest the autumn. Last year, there was a farmer who planted 1,500 mu of wheat, and the vast wheat fields could not be seen at a glance. I drove the harvester to help them harvest for a day. On that day, I felt that the time was stretched for a long time, and it reminded me of the scene of harvesting wheat before. In the blink of an eye, twenty years of life have passed.
drive a harvester to harvest wheat
I am a hard-working child with a low level of education, so I can only do the most basic jobs to earn a living. If there is a business that is more suitable for me in China, in fact, I would rather have my family reunited. It's just that at this stage, my career is also worrying me. I also thought about bringing my wife and children together. Considering that it is very inconvenient for my baby to study, I finally gave up. Moreover, the air ticket back to China is very expensive now, and I don’t dare to go back to China if there is nothing important at home.
This is teaching a Syrian driver to drive a harvester. Usually I'm quite busy here.
Before I went abroad, I was a very wealthy person. My wife and children were on the kang head. I felt good when I earned enough money a year, and I didn’t have much pursuit. In the past, I always heard people say "dream" and "goal in life". I felt that these words were only words worthy of successful people, and I didn't deserve to mention them at all. In the past few years since I came to Syria, I have seen myself grow up with this country, my business is getting better and better, and my life is getting more and more promising.
A lot of people like to say "lying flat", but I don't think I belong to the kind of character who can "lying flat". Even though I actually "laid down" at home for more than a year, all I was thinking about during that time was desperately looking for a business direction to give my family a better life. Every time I think about this, I am still very grateful to myself for stepping out of the country bravely. As the third uncle said before, "a good man is determined to be in all directions", I believe this is the best arrangement of fate.
Recently, I just transferred a container ginger from China to Syria, I plan to open up the direction in the agricultural field.
Finally, I still have to emphasize the security situation here. Although the war in Syria is not as fierce as before, there are still small-scale armed conflicts in certain areas. For example, the port of Latakia, where I picked up the goods before, was hit by an Israeli air strike in December 2021. According to the news, many containers were on fire. Fortunately, my goods were not in the port at that time.
From last year to this year, the Chinese embassy in Syria has issued security reminders for many times, warning everyone that the war in Syria is still going on. The capital Damascus and other government-controlled areas have also been hit by air strikes several times, and various small-scale explosions have occurred. So doing business here is not so simple, the risks are still very high, maybe I am relatively lucky.
