Photo taken on August 16, 2023 shows Yi Xiaojun (first from left) introduces Georgian red wine to customers. (Photo by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily/ Chen Qiangwei)

Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Chen Qiangwei, Lu Fengbao) news: “Come here please, and taste the tea I brewed.” On August 16, 2023, Yi Xiaojun, dressed in a white shirt, sat in front of the office tea counter, skillfully brewing Pu’er tea and welcoming the reporters.

This young man, who is of Xibe ethnic and was born in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has been in Yiwu, east China's Zhejiang Province, for 19 years. He got married in Yiwu, and has also become accustomed to treat guests with tea.

When it comes to his entrepreneurial journey from Xinjiang to Yiwu, he sighed deeply and said, "My life experience is closely related to the national policy of opening up to the outside world. The Belt and Road initiative has accelerated the realization of my life dreams."

In 2002, Yi Xiaojun worked for a Georgian logistics transportation company in the Bianjiang Hotel Commercial Market in Urumqi. It was there that he self-studied Russian. Through his enthusiasm and loyalty, he became friends with many Georgian businessmen, which helped him accumulate clients for his future entrepreneurship.

“In 2002 and 2003, our warehouse expanded from 2 to 8, and at its peak, we could send 12 trucks of goods to Georgia in a day,” Yi Xiaojun recalled. At that time, all the goods sent to Georgia from across the country were gathered in the warehouse of the Bianjiang Hotel and then transported by road to Georgia.

Later on, the company discovered that there were a large amount of goods being delivered from Yiwu to Urumqi. Therefore, in 2004, Yi Xiaojun was dispatched to Yiwu to develop sea transportation routes.

And so, Yi Xiaojun became connected with Yiwu. When he first arrived in Yiwu, he had some difficulties adapting to the local climate and diet. But as trade between China and Georgia became closer, his work became busier, and he gradually became accustomed to life in Yiwu.

In the blink of an eye, it was already 2010. At that time, Yi Xiaojun was at the stage of getting married to a girl from Yiwu. However, he didn't have a car or a house yet. With a firm decision, Yi Xiaojun decided to start his own business.

“The entrepreneurial atmosphere in Yiwu is very good,” Yi Xiaojun said. Relying on the good reputation he had built up from his previous work, he received support and assistance from his Georgian clients during the early stages of his entrepreneurship. In 2012, he bought his first office.

"When doing business, you can't just focus on making money. You need to treat your customers as friends and put yourself in their shoes to achieve mutual benefit," said Yi Xiaojun, who has achieved success in his career and fulfilled his promise to his wife to "make her live a good life" when they got married.

Time flies, and in 2015, Yi Xiaojun’s foreign trade business steadily grew. But he was not satisfied with stability and began searching for new business opportunities.

“At the time, the Belt and Road initiative was proposed for two years, and Georgia was one of the first countries to respond to the Belt and Road Initiative. I wanted to take the opportunity to find new business opportunities,” Yi Xiaojun said.

In 2015, Yi Xiaojun’s friends in Xinjiang recommended Georgian red wine to him, which piqued his curiosity. “I’ve been doing business with Georgia for so long, and I didn’t even know about Georgian red wine. Most Chinese consumers probably don’t know about it either,” Yi Xiaojun said, indicating that it was a blue ocean opportunity.

After learning about it, Yi Xiaojun discovered that Georgia has a long history of winemaking and its traditional clay pot winemaking technique is even recognized as a world intangible cultural heritage.

Yi Xiaojun, who doesn’t drink alcohol, specifically returned to Xinjiang and found that Xinjiang, being closest to the Eurasian market, had already sparked a craze for Georgian red wine. He thought, “This is a business opportunity.”

Upon returning to Yiwu, Yi Xiaojun began to immerse himself in the study of Georgian red wine and started the import process. “It was like the excitement of starting a business for the first time,” Yi Xiaojun said.

In 2015, Yi Xiaojun founded a Georgian culture promotion and experience center in Yiwu, and he has been committed to promoting Georgian culture.

In 2016, the Yiwu Municipal People's Government signed a strategic cooperation agreement with relevant Georgian departments. 360,000 bottles of red wine arrived at the overseas warehouse of Yiwu Bonded Logistics Center not long after.

In 2018, the China-Georgia Free Trade Agreement officially came into effect, creating more space for Yi Xiaojun's business. The following year, he established the Qvevri Georgian Red Wine Museum in Yiwu.

Nowadays, Yi Xiaojun has established his own red wine brand and has reached cooperation with 15 Georgian wineries. He imports 540,000 bottles of Georgian red wine every year.

With the further development of the Belt and Road Initiative, Yi Xiaojun's foreign trade business has changed from pure export to balanced import and export.

“With the growing demand for high-quality goods from abroad, it has become a new direction for me to showcase my skills,” Yi Xiaojun said.

Starting from road transportation and then moving to sea transportation, these days, Yi Xiaojun is preparing to take the fast train of China-Europe Railway Express (Yixinou) and try to transport goods by rail to Georgia.

"Over the past decade, I have traveled from Xinjiang to Yiwu, and my business has expanded from only exporting to importing and exporting. It's like I have walked my own 'New Silk Road'," Yi Xiaojun laughed.

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