Wei Jinzhi, king of flowers and plants in Hainan

In the summer of 2000, a strange thing happened in Danzhou City, Hainan Province. In a garbage dump on the outskirts of Danzhou City, a group of people were burning something for several days in a row. Every day, the dump was always blazing, attracting some villagers around to watch. According to the villagers present at that time, the group of people burned for a whole week, and all the flowers were in full bloom. Watching the beautiful flowers set ablaze, the villagers felt very sorry. And I don't understand what these people are doing.

Wei Jinzhi

Flowers are used for viewing and maintenance, how can anyone burn them? According to villagers who know about flowers, these burned flowers are all of the same species, called Anthurium andraeanum.

Anthurium andraeanum is native to the tropical rain forest of South America, and it belongs to the world's precious flowers. Because the blooming flowers are like an outstretched palm, they are called Anthurium andraeanum. In the flower market, the price of each pot of Anthurium andraeanum is about 40 to 50 yuan. Why should such a good flower be burned?

Every day, a large number of blooming Anthurium andraeanum are dumped in the garbage dump, piled like a hill, then splashed with gasoline and destroyed by fire. The behavior of the flower-burning people makes the villagers think they are crazy.

Who wants to burn these Anthurium andraeanum? Why did they burn it? Are they all people who don't like flowers? In fact, on the contrary, the people who burn flowers are the ones who grow these Anthurium andraeanum, and they are employees of Nanchengmei Horticulture Company in Hainan Province. Then why do flower growers burn flowers? The story also starts with a Taiwan businessman investing in the mainland.

Wei Jinzhi was born in Yongjing Township, Changhua County, the hometown of flowers in Taiwan. since childhood, she has been growing flowers with her family and has rich experience in gardening. In 1990, Wei Jinzhi was optimistic about the flower market in the mainland and decided to invest in flower cultivation in the mainland.

In the early 1990s, there were relatively few varieties sold in the mainland's flower market, so no matter what kind of flowers Wei Jinzhi introduced from Taiwan, they sold very well. as soon as the goods arrived, dealers on the mainland scrambled for them, and sometimes they even had to fight to buy them.

The vigorous development of the flower industry in the mainland has not only brought huge economic benefits to Wei Jinzhi, but also accumulated some wealth. In 1998, Wei Jinzhi found that mainland consumers like Anthurium andraeanum very much and are often out of stock in the market, so she decided to run Anthurium andraeanum herself. This time, she wants to make a big deal. She plans to invest all her money in the cultivation of Anthurium andraeanum.

Wei Jinzhi (Source: CCTV International)

Wei Jinzhi's Anthurium andraeanum seedlings are all imported from the Netherlands, the purchase price of each seedling is about 3.50 yuan, 500000 seedlings, the purchase price is close to 2 million yuan. If all these Anthurium andraeanum are sold, the wholesale price of each pot of Anthurium andraeanum can reach about 30 yuan, and 500000 pots of Anthurium andraeanum can bring more than 15 million yuan to Wei Jinzhi. The huge economic benefits made her look forward to her career in the mainland.

But the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Wei Jinzhi did not expect that she had waited hard for two years, and the last thing she waited for was not the good news of the sale of Anthurium andraeanum, but the bad news that Anthurium Anthurium was ill. When the seedlings were introduced from the Netherlands, they were already infected with nematodes, and they were infected with golden nematodes, which is one of the most harmful nematodes. At present, there is no good way to deal with the golden nematode, and the only effective way is to destroy it, but it is undoubtedly a painful decision for Wei Jinzhi to destroy 500000 pots of Anthurium andraeanum all at once. The company's funds and energy over the past two years have all been invested in these Anthurium andraeanum. Now, not only did not earn a penny, but all have to be destroyed, resulting in huge losses. At that time, it was suggested that if you sell this batch of Anthurium andraeanum with nematode disease at a low price, you can recover as much as you can.

The work of destroying Anthurium andraeanum lasted for a whole week. As pots of flowers were cleared out, the greenhouse immediately became empty, and Wei Jinzhi's heart was very heavy. It was originally expected that these Anthurium andraeanum could bring greater economic benefits to themselves, but in the end, not only did they not earn a penny, but they also had to burn the Anthurium andraeanum, which had been planted for two years, with an investment of millions of yuan. in the end, there was only a pile of grass ash in the garbage dump and an empty flowerpot in the greenhouse.

After the failure of Anthurium andraeanum, Wei Jinzhi did not even have the money to buy new flowers and seedlings again, and the operation of the company was difficult to sustain. at this time, Wei Jinzhi's family gave her a lot of support. So she can start over.