The boss went from being a millionaire to being executed for dishonesty, and a national 2A level scenic spot in Sichuan went bankrupt and was auctioned off

Stepping on the withered branches and weeds under his feet, Chen Zaiping pointed ahead: This used to be a courtyard, there was a pavilion, and on the other side was a cultural corridor... On August 29, 2023, recalling every blade of grass and every tree here, Chen Zaiping was like a family treasure, "like my child, I raised it with one hand.".

Here, it used to be a national 2A level scenic spot called "Sichuan South Jasmine City", one of the key tourism projects developed by Jianwei County in Leshan City. In 2013, it won the highest award in the tourism industry in Sichuan Province - the "Golden Panda" Award. As the owner of the scenic area, Chen Zaiping has personally won the Outstanding Contribution Award for Local Tourism multiple times.

Now, the scenic area has reluctantly closed and was eventually auctioned off and changed ownership. In February 2021, the Shunan Jasmine City Scenic Area was cancelled from its national 2A level tourist attraction quality rating. More than a month later, some facilities in the scenic area were destroyed by a large fire, and now the remaining buildings are also in a state of disrepair.

And Chen Zaiping also went from being a wealthy boss with a net worth of millions to falling all the way until the company went bankrupt and became a dishonest debtor.

Shopping malls are like battlefields, where victory or defeat can be learned from.

Make a fortune

Miners Seize the Tourism Potential of Alsophila Lake

Establishing a rural tourism company

Chen Zaiping, 54 years old this year, was born into a peasant family in Bagou Town, Jianwei County, Leshan City.

After graduating from junior high school, he started farming at home and later worked as a temporary sericulture technician in the township government. He went to mines to dig coal and also helped people drive cars.

A few years later, his brother bought a small coal mine, and Chen Zaiping went to his brother's mine to mine coal and also assisted in some management work. Later, he became the mine manager. In those years, small coal mines were relatively profitable, and my brother gave me several million shares.

At that time, there were constant controversies over the whereabouts of the Jiayang small train. With regard to this history, the "Past and Present Lives of Jiayang Small Trains" released by Leshan Culture and Tourism Administration's WeChat official account recorded that "in 2003... the company leaders thought deeply about the whereabouts of small trains, and three fire fans started the road protection movement in Jiayang with 'images and images'. Subsequently, large-scale reports from domestic and foreign media and the attention of foreign friends attracted the attention of government departments, and the Bashi Railway and steam small trains were retained."

Chen Zaiping feels like an opportunity has arrived! He thinks the scenery of Suoluo Lake is too beautiful. If the small train is preserved, many tourists will come to take the small train and visit Suoluo Lake in the future.

In early 2004, Chen Zaiping rented a piece of land next to the dam of the hydropower station and founded "Yongping Farmhouse Recreation". Later, the Dama Wharf in the Jiayang Suoluo Lake Scenic Area was located opposite the farmhouse. After operating for a period of time, he renamed his farmhouse as "Suoluo Mountain Villa" and established Jianwei County Suoluo Lake Tourism Development Co., Ltd.

Since the establishment of Alsophila Spinulosa Villa, Chen Zaiping has been thinking about how to break the single mode of traditional farmhouse entertainment. In his view, traditional farmhouse music usually only provides dining, chess and card activities, with serious homogenization. He wants to make a breakthrough.

In 2005, Chen Zaiping purchased two yachts and two speedboats for tourists to go boating on the Suoluo Lake. With the increasing number of tourists, some nearby villagers have also started multiple farmhouses and put their boats into operation. Suoluo Lake is becoming increasingly known to more and more people.

Peak

Leveraging the Tourism Circle to Invest Ten Million in Building a 2A Scenic Area

Attracting over 240000 tourists per year

Since 2009, Jianwei County in Leshan City has been focusing on building a horse drawn tourism loop, attracting an increasing number of people to visit and tour the Shulun Lake. Chen Zaiping realized that he should seize this opportunity and create a unique rural leisure and entertainment destination.

Jasmine flower is one of the characteristic industries in Jianwei. At that time, the cultivation scale of jasmine flower in Qingxi Town downstream of Suoluo Lake exceeded tens of thousands of acres. In 2010, Chen Zaiping relocated to Chenxi Village in Qingxi Town and invested tens of millions of yuan with friends to build a new Sichuan South Jasmine City that integrates food, housing, transportation, tourism, entertainment, and shopping, becoming an important part of the Jianwei Golden Tourism Circle.

The southern Sichuan Jasmine Fragrance City Scenic Area is adjacent to the Mabian River to the south and ten thousand acres of jasmine flower fields to the north, creating a green and fragrant ecological atmosphere. The scenic area provides rural hotel accommodation, delicious local cuisine, a sightseeing experience at the Jasmine Flower Base, Jasmine Tea Art, a boat trip to the Alsophila Lake, beach leisure and entertainment, various water activities, shallow water swimming, and more. In 2012, Chen Zaiping created the first water rafting project in the Leshan area, covering a total length of approximately 5.5 kilometers from the Suoluo Mountain Villa to the Jasmine Fragrance City in southern Sichuan. "Upstream, you can go boating on the Alsophila Lake, enjoy rural leisure, experience the passion of drifting in the middle reaches, and enjoy downstream jasmine flower sightseeing, dining, entertainment, and leisure vacations."

In the same year, Shunan Jasmine City was successively rated as a national 2A level scenic spot and a four-star rural tourism hotel in Sichuan Province. According to an article published by local media in Leshan in 2014, "Sichuan South Jasmine City attracted 243800 tourists in 2013 alone.".

Those two years were the "shining moments" of Chen Zaiping and the Southern Sichuan Jasmine City Scenic Area. On September 12, 2013, the scenic spot won the highest award in the tourism industry in Sichuan Province, the "Golden Panda" award. In 2014, the scenic area was once again awarded the title of "Top 100 Farmhouses in Sichuan Province". Chen Zaiping has also won the Outstanding Contribution Award for Local Tourism in Jianwei multiple times.

But Chen Zaiping was obviously not satisfied with this. At that time, he had a "small goal" in his heart - to ultimately build the Sichuan South Jasmine City Scenic Area into a 4A or even 5A scenic area. For this purpose, he spent 400000 yuan to hire a professional organization to carry out improvement planning and conceptual planning for the scenic area, exploring the implementation path of the 2A upgrade and 5A comprehensive scenic area planning.

bankruptcy

Faced with the impact of cruise ship shutdowns and other factors, unable to recover passenger sources

Consecutive loss making shareholders withdraw, and the company ultimately goes bankrupt through auction

The reporter learned that in order to build the Suoluo Lake Scenic Area into a national 4A level scenic area, Jianwei County invested 380 million yuan in 2014 to renovate a total of 35 kilometers of tourist passages from the county town to the starting station of the small train and from the county town to the starting station of the Suoluo Lake cruise ship, and built an 11 kilometer Suoluo Lake Tourist Avenue. At the same time, the transportation facilities in the scenic area have also been improved.

Originally, the Jasmine Fragrance City Scenic Area in southern Sichuan was a must pass area for tourism, but the newly built Qingxi to Dama Expressway does not pass through the scenic area, resulting in a decrease in the number of visitors to the scenic area.

The Tourism Scenic Area Management Committee of Jianwei County has responded to this tourism avenue, stating that the project was optimized and designed by the survey and design department after repeated surveys, and the Transportation Bureau of Jianwei County constructed it according to the design requirements.

In addition, there are seven or eight chicken farms owned by farmers near the Jasmine Fragrance City in southern Sichuan, of which three are closer to the scenic area. Especially in summer, chicken manure has a foul odor and mosquitoes and flies, which also restricts the development of the scenic area.

In August 2018, the Tourism Scenic Area Management Committee of Jianwei County responded to his feedback on the chicken farm issue, stating that according to the "Notice on the Delimitation Plan for Livestock and Poultry Farming Areas in Jianwei County" issued by the Jianwei County Government Office in 2017, groups 4 and 5 of Chenxi Village in Qingxi Town are all restricted breeding areas, and the scale of breeding in the restricted breeding areas is subject to total quantity control to prevent increment and reduce stock; All dry manure from breeding farms is cleaned once a week, and after cleaning, the dry manure is transported to other places for cultivation and vegetable cultivation; The breeding farm has undergone sampling supervision and monitoring by the Environmental Protection Bureau, and the results are lower than the pollutant discharge standards of the livestock and poultry industry; No disorderly discharge of feces or environmental pollution issues were found.

"At the most difficult times, employee salaries could not be paid normally, and even losses caused many shareholders to withdraw from their shares." Chen Zaiping recalled to reporters that for a period of time, he even wanted to give up, but he was really unwilling and couldn't watch his efforts go to waste. For this reason, he continuously strengthens the marketing of scenic spots and maintains their development.

Around 2013, Jianwei County introduced a non local enterprise for the comprehensive development of tourism in the Suoluo Lake, and built a tourist center at the Dama Wharf. The cruise ships, including Chen Zaiping and other villagers, were included in the unified management.

During this period, the villagers invested a huge amount of money to replace all the old boats with new ones, and carried out unified style decoration according to the requirements. A villager recalled that during the peak season, they could easily earn tens of thousands of yuan per month, and during the off-season, they could earn three to four thousand yuan. Cruise ships became their main source of income.

The turning point occurred in 2017. In the first half of that year, Chen Zaiping and other villagers received a notice that due to the involvement of a drinking water source protection area, the farmhouse near Dama Wharf would be closed, and all cruise ships would be suspended.

Public information shows that the Suoluo Lake National Wetland Park was piloted in 2011 and passed the acceptance inspection of the former State Forestry Administration in 2017. Due to the fact that the water intake of the Rhinoceros Tuo Water Plant is located near the Dama Wharf, some sections of the Suoluo Lake were designated as a first-class drinking water source protection area in 2013. On July 4, 2017, the Tourism Scenic Area Management Committee of Jianwei County issued a notice on the cessation of the operation of cruise ships in Suoluo Lake.

For the Jasmine Fragrance City Scenic Area in southern Sichuan, originally cruise ships, mountain resorts, rafting, and other attractions were a complete product, but the suspension of cruise ships had an impact on the source of tourists.

Under the influence of a series of factors and changes in the situation, Chen Zaiping and his Sichuan South Jasmine City Scenic Area have been unable to find a better way to solve the problem. In mid-2018, the scenic area was ultimately unable to support and closed down.

In that year, Jianwei Xinwanxing Agricultural Financing Guarantee Co., Ltd. filed a bankruptcy liquidation lawsuit against Jianwei County Suoluo Lake Tourism Development Co., Ltd. as a creditor. Tianyancha shows that the major shareholder and actual controller of Xinwanxing Guarantee Company is the Finance Bureau of Jianwei County.

Chen Zaiping's Jianwei County Suoluo Lake Tourism Development Co., Ltd. related assets were evaluated for 5.88 million yuan, and the final auction was completed for 1.95 million yuan. The yachts and speedboats registered under Chen Zaiping's personal name are being photographed.

Thinking

The tourism industry is sensitive

Rural tourism development requires good risk prediction and control

From a former boss with a net worth of millions, to now being a dishonest debtor due to company bankruptcy, Chen Zaiping has been applied for enforcement by the court for an amount exceeding 20 million yuan.

The shopping mall is like a battlefield, where both victory and defeat can be learned. The ups and downs of the Jasmine Fragrance City Scenic Area in southern Sichuan make people sigh and ponder deeply.

An industry insider who has been engaged in the tourism industry for many years said that under the background of the rural revitalization strategy, rural tourism development is booming in various regions. However, compared with other industries, the tourism industry already has sensitive characteristics. Rural tourism development needs to face more risks, such as market risks, external cooperation conditions risks, natural disasters and environmental risks, policy risks and social risks. When making decisions, it is necessary to do a good job in risk management, predict and control in advance, and minimize possible losses in order to maintain sustainable development.

It is understood that at the end of 2020, Chen Zaiping accidentally broke his leg when he went back to his hometown to cut a branch. He once had no money to cure it, and his life was also in trouble. Later, he sought help from the cultural and tourism department of Jianwei County, and now he receives a monthly living allowance of 2000 yuan from the department to maintain his livelihood.

Looking back at his entrepreneurial life, he muttered to himself with some sadness, "I also sincerely hope to contribute to society!"