Practical, effective and practical

outline：He dared to think what others dared not, secured a national oil-import quota, obtained approvals from Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand for international oil transportation, and successfully launched the “vegetables-for-oil” initiative between China and Thailand—thereby becoming the first Chinese private enterprise to receive an oil-import quota, the first to be authorized to build bonded warehouses for refined petroleum products, and the first...

 

He dared to think what others dared not, securing a national oil-import quota and obtaining approvals from Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand for international oil transportation. As a result, he spearheaded the “vegetables-for-oil” initiative between China and Thailand and became the first Chinese private enterprise to be granted an oil-import quota; the first to receive approval to build a bonded warehouse for refined petroleum products; and the first to secure authorization from China, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand to transport refined petroleum along the Lancang–Mekong River. In addition, he has made significant donations to education and devoted himself to helping those in need, contributing more than RMB 30 million over 13 years as a way of giving back to society.

He invested 17 million yuan and, over the course of 18 years of tree-planting, transformed the reservoir area of the Nada Meng Reservoir in Menghai County into more than 5,000 mu of lush water-source forest. Despite receiving not a single penny in return, he subsequently handed the land over to the Menghai County Government free of charge.

He was born in a poor little mountain village in Mojiang County. After graduating from junior high school, he dropped out due to poverty and headed to Xishuangbanna to work as a laborer. He toiled relentlessly for eight years—during which he even nearly lost his life—all in order to secure household registration in Jinghong and finally land the “iron rice bowl” he had long dreamed of.

The harsh reality has shattered his cherished dreams time and again…

Today, he has become a highly accomplished entrepreneur, yet he has never forgotten the small mountain village where he once struggled to get enough to eat. He donated 200,000 yuan to his alma mater and invested a substantial sum in building a road for his hometown…

Liu Tianwei is a legendary entrepreneur—and, even more so, a philanthropist who runs his business with integrity and compassion.

 

Chief Reporter Dai Zhenhua, Photo Report

 

 

 

Reporter's Eye The Down-to-Earth Richest Person and the Greatest Philanthropist

There is no dispute that he is the richest man in Xishuangbanna, and he is equally deserving of the title of “the foremost philanthropist.”

More than ten years ago, I first heard the name Liu Tianwei—by then, his name was already a household word throughout Xishuangbanna. It wasn’t just that over 80 percent of the local population relied on liquefied petroleum gas supplied by his Xishuangbanna Petrochemical Company; people were equally captivated by the story of how he once arrived in Xishuangbanna with only five yuan in his pocket to start a business, and they marveled at—and deeply admired—his audacious venture into the Golden Triangle region to bring foreign oil back to China.

Our first meeting was when we were both invited, along with Dan Luo, the editor-in-chief of the Xishuangbanna Daily, to dine at Liu Tianwei’s home. It was a two-story house—though hardly the kind of opulent mansion one might expect from someone known as the “richest man”—it nonetheless exuded a dignified and tasteful elegance. The meal itself was unpretentious: six dishes and a soup, very much in the style of a home-cooked feast. He often said that food is hard-earned and that extravagance and waste are to be discouraged. Later, we learned that, on many occasions when he hosted guests, Liu Tianwei preferred to entertain them at his own home rather than splurge at luxurious hotels or restaurants.

During their second meeting, several village representatives from the Bahuo Villagers’ Group of the Bahuo Village Committee in Guanlei Town, Mengla County, arrived bearing local specialties such as bamboo shoots and free-range eggs, to express their gratitude to Liu Tianwei for donating 350,000 yuan to rebuild the bridge that had been destroyed by flooding. As usual, Liu Tianwei treated them to a meal—this time at a seafood restaurant. He said that these villagers might never have the chance to enjoy seafood in their entire lives, so he wanted them to try it.

Recently, when I went to interview him, he was holding a calligraphy piece specially inscribed for him by Fan Zeng, unable to put it down. Liu Tianwei told me that this calligraphy had been promised by Chen Guangbiao—during a visit to his home—that he would arrange for Fan Zeng to create it for him. “Chen Guangbiao truly keeps his word,” he said to himself.

In fact, through numerous interactions and interviews, I have learned that among Liu Tianwei’s friends are not only high-ranking officials but also such renowned celebrities as Jackie Chan, Yang Liping, and Yu Rongguang, as well as members of the underclass and other vulnerable groups who wear tattered clothes. Yet he maintains sincere friendships with everyone, regardless of their social status.

 

“At Liu Tianwei’s company, everyone works diligently and reliably.” This is what some of his employees truly think.

     Over my many years in journalism, I have interviewed numerous entrepreneurs, wealthy individuals, and philanthropists—but Liu Tianwei is the only one who is truly down-to-earth, both as an entrepreneur and as the nation’s richest person and a dedicated philanthropist. I often wonder: if more entrepreneurs and the affluent could cultivate even a fraction of his compassionate heart, might our society be a little more harmonious, and might the world, as a result, be a better place?

 

Chief Reporter Dai Zhenhua

 

 

Liu Tianwei: China’s First Private Entrepreneur in Imported Oil

 

 

Liu Tianwei Donates to Earthquake-Affected Areas

 

 

Two oil tankers carrying refined petroleum products have departed from Jinghong Port.

 

Providing Financial Aid to Impoverished College Students

Liu Tianwei (center) leads company management in sourcing water for the newly commissioned Wild Elephant Spring production line.

 

 

       When he was poor, Liu Tianwei’s sole ambition was to secure a stable, government-sponsored job that would ensure his family’s basic needs were met. Now that he is well-off, he refuses to spend recklessly. He says that, in fact, an entrepreneur’s wealth ultimately belongs to society, and he strongly disapproves of the behavior some entrepreneurs display after achieving success—indulging in extravagant spending and frivolous consumption.

“Spending money should be meaningful!” In his view, being a philanthropist who gives back to society and directing one’s funds toward those in need is an exceedingly meaningful endeavor.

 

The “iron rice bowl” that cannot be held steady

“Being able to start a business in Xishuangbanna and growing it to where it is today was entirely driven by the pressures of adversity,” Liu Tianwei said, his voice filled with deep emotion as he reflected on the trials and tribulations of the past.

Liu Tianwei was born in 1962 in a poor mountain village in Tongguan Town, Mojiang County. When he was just four years old, his father passed away prematurely due to illness. His mother then struggled to raise their four children on meager means.

Like many boys of his generation, he would climb the mountain to chop firewood every day after school. Still, he dreamed of escaping the life of farming through education; his greatest ambition was to become a writer or a journalist. Yet, given his family’s poverty, he had no choice but to face reality: if he couldn’t achieve his lofty dreams, any job that paid a salary and provided a steady income would do.

After completing junior high school in the third year, his mother simply could no longer afford to pay for his continued education, so Liu Tianwei had to drop out and return home to earn work points. Despite working himself to the bone, he could only manage to eat his fill half the time.

In 1979, armed with the family’s meager savings of just five yuan, Liu Tianwei and his elder brother, Liu Tianxiong, climbed aboard a large freight truck and made their way to the Eighth Sub-farm of the Jinghong Farm in Xishuangbanna, where they joined their older sister, who had already settled on the farm as a rubber tapper. They hoped that one day they too could become rubber tappers—a profession they deeply admired.

He took a job as a porter at the substation construction site, earning just one yuan a day. The work was grueling and exhausting, but he knew it was hard-earned and cherished it deeply. Even after contracting hepatitis, he stubbornly kept working, afraid that taking time off to seek treatment would cost him his job—an attitude that nearly cost him his life. Later, once the power station was completed, he returned to the farm as a rubber-tapping worker and was even recognized as a “top-notch tapper.” He had always dreamed of securing a stable, lifelong career—a “iron rice bowl”—so that he could start a family, build a home, get married, and have children.

However, by early 1981, just after his older brother had successfully obtained household registration by marrying a female farm worker, a policy adjustment resulted in Liu Tianwei not only being unable to secure farm residency and become a rubber-tapping worker, but also being laid off along with more than 6,000 other temporary workers like himself.

Left with no stable means of livelihood, he could only take on odd jobs here and there. Later, clinging to a glimmer of hope, he traveled 80 kilometers to the Dadugang Tea Plantation to work as a temporary laborer for eight months—yet in the end, he still failed to secure household registration or land a “steel-rimmed rice bowl.”

The hardships of life prompted Liu Tianwei to seek his own way forward. Following a friend’s advice, he plucked up the courage to dip into his meager savings of 30 yuan and borrowed the rest from relatives and friends, totaling 125 yuan to buy a Seagull-brand film camera. From then on, he began learning photography while traveling from village to village, taking portraits for local residents in order to earn a living.

Unexpectedly, the modest earnings he scraped together were more than enough to support himself, and he even splurged on a then-fashionable “Forever” brand bicycle. Having tasted this sweet success, Liu Tianwei gradually began to lose his longing for the so-called “iron rice bowl.”

 

Retracing the Path of Entrepreneurship

Perhaps that’s just how fate works: the more you deliberately chase something, the harder it is to attain; yet when you stop worrying about it, the very dream you once longed for so desperately suddenly comes true.

After a period of making a living by taking photographs for others, Liu Tianwei had managed to save several thousand yuan. With this capital, he began importing tropical fruits, bamboo shoots, and other local specialties from Xishuangbanna to sell in Kunming, Yuxi, and other cities, while simultaneously bringing vegetables and small household goods from other regions back to Jinghong to resell, reaping substantial profits. In 1983, he rented a shop along the highway at the Eighth Sub-farm of the Jinghong Farm and opened a small general store, which soon flourished.

Because his store was thriving and siphoning off a substantial share of the business from the small canteen run by the Eighth Substation, trouble soon began to pile up. At first, people kept reporting him for “tax evasion,” but after the tax authorities found no evidence of wrongdoing, the then-leaders of the substation simply issued an order: “Drivers from the Eighth Substation are prohibited from delivering goods to Liu Tianwei.”

No sooner had he managed to weather the transportation crisis than a “strictly prohibited” broadcast issued by the sub-farm’s leadership effectively deterred every school teacher from coming to collect the learning supplies—worth over 1,000 yuan—that he had just procured through contracts with teachers from all the schools in the sub-farm.

Following these events, while continuing to run the department store, Liu Tianwei purchased a Jiefang-brand truck and began engaging in both retail trade and freight transportation.

In 1987, Liu Tianwei unexpectedly ran into his primary-school teacher, Ye Zulian, in Jinghong—Ye had since switched careers and was working as an accountant at the Jinghong Theater.

When they encountered one of their former students in a foreign land, the warm-hearted couple, Ye Zulian and her husband, treated Liu Tianwei as their own child. Back then, Ye Zulian’s husband, Liao Guoan, even registered Liu Tianwei as his “son” and secured urban household registration for him in Jinghong.

The Jinghong household registration—once a cherished dream that seemed forever out of reach and nearly cost him his life in the process—has been resolved so effortlessly! For Liu Tianwei, it’s nothing short of dramatic.

Liu Tianwei sold off the department store and then parted with his car, after which he was hired by the Jinghong Transportation Company as a driver. After eight years of hard work, he finally managed to leave the remote mountains—once a dropout—and secure urban residency, landing what had once seemed an unattainable, stable government job.

However, once he actually secured the “iron rice bowl,” Liu Tianwei became rather restless.

In 1988, less than a year after being transferred from the Jinghong Transportation Company to the Menghai County Township Enterprises Bureau as a driver, Liu Tianwei—known for his diligence, quick hands, and reliable work ethic—caught the attention of the county leadership, who decided to assign him to the County Party Committee Office to drive a small car. Two years later, having come to realize that the so-called “iron rice bowl” was not as glamorous as he had imagined, Liu Tianwei made up his mind to resign.

 

“The Bullfrog King”

For Liu Tianwei, an entrepreneur, his earlier ventures—ranging from traveling village to village to take photos for others and run a general store to working in the transportation business—were all part of a process of accumulating initial capital and gaining valuable experience. And for an entrepreneur aiming to achieve something truly significant, building a strong network of contacts is equally vital.

“At that point, holding a ‘iron rice bowl’—even if it meant working in the County Party Committee Office—no longer held any appeal for me,” Liu Tianwei said. His burning desire at the time was to start his own business; he was determined never to be an ordinary person who simply waited each month for a paycheck, spending his days in the office sipping tea, reading the paper, and killing time.

He resolutely went through the procedures for taking a leave of absence without pay and returned to work as a self-employed haulier.

While working in the transportation business, Liu Tianwei learned in Kunming that bullfrogs could fetch 80 to 100 yuan per kilogram on the market, leading him to believe that frog farming could be a highly profitable venture. In 1992, he invested 50,000 yuan to lease several mu of land near the Eighth Sub-farm of Jinghong Farm, constructed ponds, and then spent an additional 75,000 yuan to purchase 30,000 frog fry from Kunming, thereby launching a bullfrog farm.

“If we’re going to do it, we’ve got to make a real mark—Liu Tianwei is the kind of person who always holds himself to the highest standards.”

He not only mastered bullfrog farming techniques himself, but also made repeated visits to the aquaculture station—and even traveled all the way to Kunming—to invite technicians and experienced farmers with expertise in bullfrog cultivation to share their knowledge and practical experience. As a result, the mortality rate in his frog ponds steadily declined; within just a few months, each frog grew to over 500 grams, and the pond soon teemed with densely packed baby bullfrogs.

The bullfrogs he raises are sold far and wide to hotels and restaurants in Kunming, Qujing, Chuxiong, Guangzhou, and other cities. Not only did he turn a profit of more than 100,000 yuan that very year, but he also earned the reputation as the “Bullfrog King” of Xishuangbanna—known to everyone in the region—and was awarded the Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award. After gaining fame, an increasing number of farmers came to learn his techniques, and Liu Tianwei patiently shared his expertise with them without ever growing tired of it.

Having accumulated capital through frog farming, Liu Tianwei’s network of contacts continued to expand, giving him access to an increasing array of market intelligence. By that time, his vision was already set on the liquefied petroleum gas project—a venture that would not only be profitable but also help alleviate the pressure on forests caused by deforestation.

 

Reputation Earned Through Pressure

In the 1990s, although many urban residents had already switched to liquefied petroleum gas for cooking, in Xishuangbanna—where fuel traditionally relied heavily on the extensive cutting of trees—access to convenient and clean new energy sources remained a blank slate.

After several rounds of negotiations, in early 1993 Liu Tianwei invested RMB 500,000 and formed a joint venture with a businessman from Guangdong named Dai to establish the Xishuangbanna Petroleum Liquefied Gas Supply Corporation. This marked the first time in his 14-year career in Xishuangbanna that Liu Tianwei shed his status as a self-employed individual and became a partner in a formal enterprise.

To achieve the goal of “exchanging firewood for liquefied petroleum gas and protecting the rainforest,” the Xishuangbanna Prefectural People’s Government at the time introduced a supportive policy: “As long as everyone stops burning firewood and switches to liquefied petroleum gas, the government will subsidize half of the account-opening fees.” With sound management, the Xishuangbanna Petroleum Liquefied Gas Supply Corporation, established by Liu Tianwei and his partners, would soon be able to embark on a fast track of healthy development.

However, fate once again played a cruel joke on him.

In that very year, thanks to concerted efforts, the Xishuangbanna Petroleum Liquefied Gas Supply Corporation had expanded its customer base to over 2,000 households and was on the cusp of turning a profit—when Dai, a partner who served as the company’s legal representative and general manager, absconded with more than RMB 3 million in account-opening fees collected from customers.

 

“The situation had finally started to turn around, only to be hit with such a devastating blow that I honestly wanted to die,” said Liu Tianwei. “Most of these 2,000-odd clients were ones I had personally reached out to, and I simply couldn’t begin to imagine how I was going to face them.”

If the hardships he faced earlier gradually pushed Liu Tianwei onto the path of entrepreneurship, then the sterling reputation he later earned in the business world was entirely the result of a devastating scam—one that cemented his image as a conscientious and responsible corporate leader.

With a friend’s guidance, Liu Tianwei resolved to “keep the company running, quickly acquire new clients to diversify the client base, and persevere through tough times to pull the company out of its predicament.”

Although the legal representative absconded with the funds, the Xishuangbanna Petroleum Liquefied Gas Supply Corporation continued to supply gas to its customers, thereby enhancing Liutianwei’s well-earned reputation for taking responsibility. As a result, within just a few months after falling victim to the scam, Liutianwei expanded the customer base to over 8,000 households, swiftly steering the company out of its predicament.

 

To date, Xishuangbanna Petrochemical Group Co., Ltd. has established a base of over 200,000 fixed gas supply customers, placing it firmly at the top of the provincial petrochemical industry in terms of performance among prefectures and cities.

Since its establishment, Ban Na Petrochemical Company has sold more than 31.69 million cylinders of liquefied petroleum gas, which is equivalent to saving 26.87 million cubic meters of firewood and protecting 53,750 mu of forest.

 

The First Private Enterprise to Import Oil

At 10:00 a.m. on October 31, 2012, two oil tankers docked at Jinghong Port in Xishuangbanna sounded their horns in the rain and set sail for Chiang Saen Port in Thailand, marking the successful inaugural voyage of the Lancang-Mekong refined-oil transportation component of the China–Thailand Oil-for-Vegetables Project.

Tankers will transport refined petroleum products from Thailand back to Xishuangbanna under the vegetable-for-petroleum agreement signed by China and Thailand. This inaugural voyage marks the establishment of a new multimodal import–export channel for refined petroleum products in our province, integrating both waterborne and land-based transportation. Earlier, in 2008, at the 11th Xishuangbanna Border Trade and Tourism Fair held in Jinghong, Liu Tianwei—already granted a national petroleum-import quota—entered into a long-term cooperation agreement with Yunnan Nongxin Technology Co., Ltd., then Yunnan’s largest vegetable-growing enterprise, to launch a “vegetables-for-refined-petroleum” barter trade. Under this arrangement, the two parties would exchange their respective refined-petroleum import quotas and pollution-free green food products with Thailand, engaging in a direct barter of vegetables for refined petroleum.

 

“At the time, as soon as word spread that I wanted to get into the oil business, many officials dismissed it as a wild and impractical idea,” Liu Tianwei said. “In truth, I didn’t overthink it—I just figured that if the idea had occurred to me, I might as well give it a shot.”

 

In 1996, with liquefied petroleum gas in short supply and prices remaining high on the domestic market, Liu Tianwei, having heard that Thailand—located near Xishuangbanna—boasted abundant LPG resources, traveled there to conduct a fact-finding mission. His aim was to import lower-priced LPG from Thailand for sale in Xishuangbanna. To his surprise, however, Thai LPG was not only more expensive than its Chinese counterpart but was also an energy commodity subject to export restrictions.

After visiting an oil refinery in Thailand, Liu Tianwei learned that Thai oil could not only be sold to China, but also that, compared with the domestic price of RMB 3.25 per liter for No. 93 gasoline at the time, the equivalent grade of gasoline in Thailand cost only RMB 0.80 per liter. This prompted Liu Tianwei to consider importing oil from Thailand.

It was only after inquiring with customs and other relevant authorities that Liu Tianwei learned that importing petroleum from abroad requires holding a state-approved import quota before the cargo can be brought into the country.

Since quota approval is required, please submit an application to the relevant department.

Liu Tianwei began making repeated trips—from the Xishuangbanna Economic Commission and Commerce Bureau, through the provincial Commerce Bureau, all the way to the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau. He had made up his mind: no matter how difficult it was or how many times he had to go, he would see that the import quota for petroleum was approved.

 

“At that time, I was shuttling back and forth among Xishuangbanna, Kunming, and Beijing more than 20 times every year,” Liu Tianwei said. Although many departmental leaders viewed the prospect of importing oil from Thailand as a positive development, they remained somewhat skeptical about whether he, as a private entrepreneur, could actually secure and secure the import quota on his own.

 

By December 2003, after more than seven years of relentless effort, Liu Tianwei finally received the welcome news on the company’s 10th-anniversary celebration: the state had granted the company an annual import quota of 220,000 metric tons of crude oil from Thailand.

Following the approval of his quota, Liu Tianwei, invigorated and energized, committed over RMB 50 million in capital to select sites on the north bank of the Mekong River in Guanlei Port and Jinghong, where he planned to build a bonded oil storage facility in each location. At the same time, he invested in the construction of four oil tankers, each with a carrying capacity of 250 tonnes, fully prepared to make a major push.

Just as he had completed construction of the oil depot and the tanker and was about to commence trial shipments, Liu Tianwei received a notice from the transportation authorities prohibiting the international waterway transport of refined petroleum products on the grounds that no joint approval had been obtained from the transport ministries of China, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand. Consequently, he was once again forced to make repeated trips to the provincial Department of Transport, hoping that through the department’s coordination he could secure the necessary joint approval for cross-border transport from the four countries.

 

“At that time, in order to achieve our goal, I practically spent every day stationed at the Department of Transportation,” Liu Tianwei said. Even so, all he received was the reply: “We will agree only if Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand agree.”

 

Left with no other choice, Liu Tianwei once again departed from Mohan and headed straight for Vientiane to meet with officials from the Lao Ministry of Transport. After several rounds of negotiations, he secured the necessary authorization from the Lao Ministry of Transport and immediately flew on to Bangkok to apply for approval from the Thai Ministry of Transport. He then proceeded to Naypyidaw to submit an application to the Myanmar Ministry of Transport.

In January 2014, the approval documents from Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand were submitted to the Yunnan Provincial Department of Transport. Following submission to the Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China, the official approval was finally granted. With this, Liu Tianwei’s title as China’s first private-sector entrepreneur to import petroleum was fully justified.

 

Spend money wisely.

Compared with the public perception of him as the owner of fixed assets exceeding RMB 2 billion and as “the richest person in Xishuangbanna,” to Xu Kun, an employee at the petroleum liquefied-gas storage station under Xishuangbanna Petrochemical Group Co., Ltd., Liu Tianwei presents a very different image.

In early 2010, Xu Kun, a resident of the Wuchi Group in Dahuangba Village, Dadugang Township, found himself in a desperate situation: his wife, Jing Meiling, was suffering from advanced rheumatic heart disease. All their savings had been exhausted on her treatment, leaving them with a bank loan of 20,000 yuan, while Xu himself was plagued by kidney stones that prevented him from doing any heavy labor. Their 12-year-old daughter, Xu Xuehan, who was attending junior high school at Dadugang Middle School, was now facing the grim prospect of having to drop out, return home to pick tea and farm, and take care of her parents.

Upon learning from media reports about Liu Tianwei that Jing Meiling’s surgery and treatment would cost more than RMB 300,000, he drove her the very next day to the Xishuangbanna Prefecture People’s Hospital for examination and treatment, and personally covered all associated surgical and medical expenses. At the same time, he provided financial support to enable Xu Xuehan to attend the No. 4 Middle School in Jinghong City, which boasts relatively good teaching facilities.

 

“During that period, Mr. Liu would always bring several thousand yuan in living expenses every time he came to visit,” Xu Kun said. “If it hadn’t been for Liu Tianwei’s help, our entire family would have fallen apart.” In 2011, after his wife succumbed to a serious illness, Liu Tianwei immediately hired Xu Kun and assigned him to work as a security escort at the gas storage station.

 

“Now I earn about 3,500 yuan a month, which is just enough to support my daughter through high school and on to college,” Xu Kun said gratefully. “Liu Tianwei is truly our family’s lifesaver. The only way I can repay him for pulling us out of such a desperate situation is by working as hard as if this company were my own home.”

 

As early as 2002, Liu Tianwei donated RMB 500,000 to the financially strapped Menghai County Education Bureau and established the “Tianwei Hope Primary School” under the Manwei Village Committee in Menghai Town, Menghai County. To encourage ethnic-minority students to study diligently and cultivate more outstanding talents, Liu Tianwei also set up a scholarship fund with RMB 100,000. As the school continued to expand and the need to improve its teaching environment grew, Liu Tianwei has made annual charitable donations to the school, bringing the total amount of his contributions to over RMB 1.3 million to date.

In August of the same year, parts of Jinghong were hit by a flood disaster not seen in many years. Liu Tianwei immediately donated 100,000 yuan in charitable funds to help the affected residents of Jinghong weather the crisis; on September 27 of that year, he further presented 36,000 yuan in condolence payments to lonely and destitute elderly residents under the jurisdiction of the Jinghong Subdistrict Office.

In October 2009, on the eve of Senior Citizens’ Day, a charitable donation of RMB 100,000 was made to 55 centenarians and elderly individuals in extreme financial hardship across Xishuangbanna Prefecture.

On January 6, 2010, a one-time donation of RMB 5 million was made for the renovation of dilapidated school buildings at schools throughout Jinghong City.

In 2011, a devastating flood struck Guanlei in Mengla County. Upon learning that the Bahuo Bridge—essential for access to several villages, including the Bahuo Villagers’ Group under the Bahuo Village Committee, which is situated in a low-lying area—had been washed away by the floodwaters, Liu Tianwei immediately donated 350,000 yuan to help the villagers build a new concrete bridge, which the locals affectionately named “Tianwei Bridge.”

Every year, Liu Tianwei donates 100,000 yuan in charitable funds to support 20 impoverished college students recommended by the education authorities.

Most commendable of all is the fact that the Nada Meng Reservoir, which serves as the drinking-water source for tens of thousands of residents in Menghai County and also provides irrigation for more than 3,800 mu of farmland belonging to over 1,200 farming households in four townships, including Menghun Township, once suffered severe vegetation degradation due to land-clearing and cultivation by local farmers. Upon learning of this situation, Liu Tianwei voluntarily stepped forward to take on the contract, investing over RMB 17 million to plant Chinese fir and pine. After 18 years of meticulous management and conservation, the area has now grown into an artificial forest spanning more than 5,000 mu—and despite having yet to generate a single penny in revenue, it has been handed over free of charge to the People’s Government of Menghai County.

 

“When I first proposed the contracting arrangement, I knew it would involve only investment with no immediate returns—my sole aim was to restore this degraded water-conservation forest for the people of Menghai,” Liu Tianwei told the reporter. “Otherwise, with Menghai County’s population growing so rapidly today, its drinking-water supply would already be under severe strain.”

 

According to incomplete statistics, over the past 13 years, Liu Tianwei has donated more than RMB 30 million in charitable contributions to various sectors of society and to support impoverished individuals. A charity foundation named after Liu Tianwei is also currently being established.

 

Chief Reporter Dai Zhenhua, Photo Report