Wildlife Lover He Qiaonyu

A Stunning Donation

At the beginning of 2018, a post on The Ellen Show’s Instagram account stunned netizens from all over the world. It announced that a Chinese billionaire has donated 1.5 billion US dollars (a third of her assets) to save endangered animals.

It was the biggest figure committed by a single donor ever for the conservation of endangered species including snow leopard in China, jaguars in Latin America, tigers in Asia, and many others.

He Qiaonyu, the donor, is a Chinese entrepreneur and the founder of the Beijing Oriental Landscape and Ecology Co.Ltd. Her donation for wildlife conservation was made in October of 2017, and attracted the attention of people all over the world.

Her Childhood in the Countryside

According to Bloomberg, “The number isn’t the only thing that’s surprising about the announcement. The source might equally raise eyebrows:The donation isn’t coming from a known Western conservationist like Paul Allen, but from a landscape planner-turnedenvironmental steward who’s based in Beijing.”

Madame He, a heroine by many Western media outlets, was born in a rural village in Wuyi County of Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province in the year 1966. During her childhood, she lived in a small house less than 30 square meters with six family members,and a sow and some piglets that they raised. In the summer, she walked barefoot until she received a pair of sandals as a gift for her 10th birthday. The only time eggs would appear on their dining table was when a new semester began.

Later, her father started a small company buying and selling seedlings, which sparked her love of plants. Under the influence of her father, she chose to study at Beijing Forestry University and obtained her bachelor’s degree in 1988.

Business in Landscape Gardening

After graduation, she worked at the Forestry Bureau of Hangzhou.There she discovered business opportunities in the horticultural market.

A visit to a bonsai exhibition in Beijing a few years later inspired her to start her own business selling the miniature trees from Japan.

“Everyone I met was fond of plants and flowers. But there was definitely a lack of greenery in people’s living and working spaces at the time,” she recalls.

外媒點贊何巧女

世界網友的驚嘆

2018年初，美國熱門脫口秀節目《艾倫秀》轉發的一條視頻消息，讓各國網友驚嘆不已。它講的是一名中國女性，捐出15億美元（她財產的三分之一），拯救瀕危動物。

這是有史以來數額最大的，針對野生動物保護的個人慈善項目捐獻。那些瀕危動物包括中國雪豹、亞洲虎、拉丁美洲豹……

而這位令人欽佩的女性，就是中國的女企業家、東方園林創始人何巧女。她巨額捐助野生動物保護項目，其實是去年10月的事，外媒作了大量報道。

女英雄的農村生活

彭博社的消息稱，令人感到意外的不僅是捐款數額，它并不來源于保羅·艾倫這類西方知名的環保主義者，而是來自北京一位以景觀設計起家的女士，也讓外國人感到驚訝。

這樣一位被外國人視作女英雄般的人物，1966年出生于浙江金華武義縣的農村，她小時候，家中7個人住在一間不足30平方米的房子里，養著一頭母豬和幾頭小豬；夏天赤腳走路，10歲的生日禮物是一雙涼鞋；一年只有開學時才吃得上雞蛋。

后來，她父親開辦一家倒騰花草樹木的小公司，她由此與花草結緣。受父親影響，她去北京林業大學讀本科，于1988年畢業。

景觀市場的商機

畢業后，她留在杭州林業局工作。一次偶然的機會讓她發現盆栽市場的商機。

幾年后，她到北京參加一場盆景展覽會，那次經歷促使她自己也開一家賣日本微型盆景的公司。

“平時跟我聊天的所有人都很喜歡植物，喜歡花草樹木。但是那時候，人們的居家生活和辦公環境里幾乎沒有綠植身影。”她說。

她從不同渠道大量買進苗木盆景，租給或售給北京的五星級酒店和寫字樓，賺到人生的第一桶金。

Later she bought a large number of bonsai from different channels,and landscaped a string of fivestar hotels, office buildings, and the homes of wealthy individuals in Beijing, from which she made her first million.

In 1992, Madame He established the Beijing Oriental Garden Art company with a goal of building 100 beautiful art gardens in 100 cities in China.

Inspiration from Female Leaders

Throughout her years of business,she has experienced fraud, deceits,and failures in investment.

Her initial business hit a setback when a manager ran off with company cash, and then she made an investment in iron ore that failed. However, she never gave in. In 1994, she started doing landscaping and gardening for foreigners in Beijing’s suburban villas.

When she felt that she could no longer persist, she would read biographies of great women in history, such as Deng Yingchao and Soong Ching-ling. She did this to learn from them, and, most importantly, to get encouragement from them in face of the difficulties.

T o d a y, h e r c o m p a n y i s responsible for many of the large urban landscape gardening projects in China, including the Beijing T3 Terminal, Beijing Canal Culture Square, and Jinji Lake (literally Golden Chicken Lake) in Suzhou.

A Charity Foundation

“At the very beginning, our dream was to build 100 beautiful parks in 100 cities in China,” said Madame He. However, along the way, she became more concerned about the polluted water systems and deteriorating urban ecology.

In 2012, Madame He initiated the Beijing Qiaonyu Foundation to embark on tackling environmental problems that are threatening the world.

She believes that philanthropy is the most important part of wealth inheritance. The Rockefeller foundation was the key for his family to carry on philanthropic tradition for more than a century.She said, “Charity is not something you need to wait to do when you become rich and successful. You can do it right now.”

“You feel successful when your business grows big. But it’s like mountain climbing, when you reach a point, you’ll find a more mountainous challenge beyond and want to conquer it as well.” It’s not just a matter of money, but a matter of time.◆

(Source: China Daily )

1992年，何巧女正式成立東方園林藝術公司，她要在中國100個城市建造100個藝術園林。

杰出女性的激勵

她被騙過，投資失敗過：

創業初見成果沒多久，一位經理就把公司的錢卷跑了。后來，她投資的一個鐵礦項目也遭遇滑鐵盧。但她堅持下來，1994年，她重整旗鼓，為京郊外國人居住的別墅進行園林綠化。

當她覺得自己實在快要扛不下去時，還曾專門找來鄧穎超、宋慶齡等偉大女性的傳記，學習她們做人做事，最重要的是，學習她們面對困難的精神。

很多你熟悉的大型市政綠化工程都是出自她之手：北京T3航站樓、北京運河文化廣場、蘇州金雞湖。

慈善公益環境美

何巧女說：“最初，我們公司希望在中國100個城市建設100個最美園林”。隨后，她卻注意到城市沿路被污染的河水和被破壞的生態環境。

2012年，她成立北京巧女公益基金會，致力于解決世界壓力最大的環境問題。

何巧女認為，慈善公益是家族傳承最重要的部分。洛克菲勒家族的百年傳承正是通過他的基金會。她表示，不要說等到成功以后一定做慈善公益，而是從現在就開始。

“你這么大的時候，你覺得成功了。到了那個點，發現高處有一個山更美還想往上攀登。”不僅是花錢，更要花時間。◆