They are Chinese citizens who have gone abroad after the reform and opening up, and are active in the economic arena on five continents.

Some of them are international students with high knowledge background, and some are entrepreneurs who have moved to foreign countries with dreams. They are called overseas "new Chinese businessmen".

According to the "2008 World Chinese Business Development Report" released by China News Service in early February, there are currently about 6 million new overseas Chinese among the 48 million overseas Chinese overseas.

Their involvement is no longer limited to handicrafts and service industries, but extends to import and export, real estate, high-tech and other fields.

When the financial crisis swept across the world, it also brought new challenges to overseas Chinese businessmen.

A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily interviewed three "new Chinese businessmen" from Western Europe, North America and East Africa. They told their entrepreneurial stories and strategies to deal with the crisis.

Shen Jianyue, President of Vancouver Fuel Cell Company.

Born in the 1960s, from Shanghai, he started his own business after obtaining a doctorate in Canada.

The company produces high-end portable battery products, mainly supplied to North America.

Shen Jianyue: High-tech Entrepreneurship Returning to China to Escape the "Cold Winter" He has a doctorate in chemical engineering, applied for a number of invention patents, and founded his own fuel cell company. All these make Shen Jianyue a model of high-tech entrepreneurship in the eyes of many people.

When this green energy device opened up the market in North America, Shen Jianyue established R&D institutions and production plants in Shanghai, Wuxi and other places.

However, the financial crisis has increased the financing pressure on small and medium-sized high-tech industries. Shen Jianyue admitted that the company is "not making money" now: "But if I hadn't shifted the focus of my business to China, I would have been overwhelmed by this crisis." Shen Jianyue is resuming the college entrance examination

Later, the first batch of college students passed the exam.

In 1984, Shen Jianyue went to Canada to study and obtained a doctorate in chemical engineering from Laval University in Quebec four years later.

After working at the National Institute of Chemical Materials in Japan, he returned to Canada.

In the early 1990s, he worked as an associate researcher at a well-known university, but later resolutely resigned. A few years later, he established his own fuel cell company, which was listed on the Canadian stock market in 2002.

Fuel cells use the energy released when substances undergo chemical reactions to convert into electrical energy, with little impact on the environment.

"I realized at that time that this field would have great development in the future, and it would be beneficial to the environment, which is very meaningful." Shen Jianyue said that the products initially developed by the company were mainly high-end power products, such as power supplies for luxury yachts and military products.

However, after the company's development encountered a "bottleneck" in 2006, he gradually realized the advantages of Asia, especially the Chinese market.

In China, production costs are low and the market is large. It can not only promote more "civilian" fuel cell bicycles, but also launch backup power supplies for luxury homes for high-income groups.

"At that time, many people on the company's board of directors did not understand the advantages of China's development, which caused a lot of friction. I had no choice but to buy back the listed company and turn it into a private holding company, so that it would be easier to adjust the strategy." After the financial crisis broke out, Shen Jianyue was very glad that he had

Decide.

"Privately held companies are more flexible and can easily cut costs. They also reduce a lot of expenses in maintaining listed companies, reducing our financial pressure in the face of the crisis. In addition, we have gradually shifted our focus to China, which has paid more and more attention to new energy in recent years.

When President Hu *** visited Canada in 2005, he also visited a company engaged in fuel cell technology research and development, which provided us with good opportunities to promote our products. "But like many high-tech companies, Shen Jianyue's company.

It also faces problems such as large investment in scientific research, long product development cycles and financing difficulties.

"Some software companies may start making profits in just two or three years, but the fuel cell industry is still in its infancy. We have been researching and developing it for more than ten years. Now we can only say that we are responsible for our own profits and losses, and we can't even talk about making money. We are now

We can only ensure investment as much as possible, and we will feel more at ease after realizing industrialization." Guo Dong owns coffee, textile and trading companies in Uganda.

Born in Qinghai in the 1960s, he went to Uganda to develop in the early 1990s and has opened two African coffee shops in Beijing.

Guo Dong: Although the crisis has come, business opportunities also exist. Guo Dong, who studied Chinese painting and worked hard in Uganda for more than 10 years, now owns a large textile factory and has a stake in a mining company, but what fascinates him most is coffee.

In Beijing, he opened a unique African coffee house and provided African coffee beans to many star hotels.

"Affected by the financial crisis, the economy may be at a trough now, but we can just use this period to cultivate coffee culture." After arriving in Uganda, Guo Dong tried many industries.

He has run high-end Chinese restaurants, run a bakery, traded Chinese goods, and acquired the largest textile factory in Uganda in the 1970s, but he can never forget the aroma he smelled in a coffee shop in 1994.

“Not long after the war ended in Uganda, the economy began to recover. It was a coffee house with a front shop and a factory behind it, and you could taste coffee roasted on site.