Wang Yuanyuan

    WHEN he was a child, Zhu Xiaofan never expected his life to revolve around dogs. But that’s how things have turned out so far.

    Twenty years ago, Zhu came to Shenzhen because of a dog. Ten years ago, he made his fortune because of a dog. And now, sad but true, he is in serious financial difficulty because of a dog.

    “Maybe it is fate that ties up dogs and me, or maybe it’s just coincidence. But it seems dogs keep helping me make important decisions,” said Zhu, a Sichuan Province native.

    Zhu is president of Xidian Dog School, a school for future dog trainers and pet-service workers.

    “The production volume of the pet industry is more than 1 billion yuan (US$158.5 million) a year in China, but there is no standard, regulated system for the industry,” Zhu said. “My dream is to explore a professional, regulated system for the pet-service industry.”

    Due to disputes with business partners, however, Zhu faces significant debts and his office is surrounded every day by employees asking for back pay.

    “This situation will pass and I am not afraid of failure,” Zhu said. “During the past 20 years, I have experienced so much in Shenzhen, but I have never regretted anything. After all these experiences and adventures, I’m sure my dreams will eventually come true.”    

    Leaving home

    Born in 1966 in a small town in Nanchong City, Zhu became a pharmacist at a local hospital after being transferred to civilian work from the military in 1990.

    “In 1992, I learned about Shenzhen from a newspaper article. I was excited by the city’s potential. It was so new to me,” Zhu said.

    In 1992, after Zhu’s first wife suddenly left him, one of his old friends from the army gave him a dog, hoping a pet would help him move past the pain. Having the pet changed Zhu’s life.

    “My father became extremely angry after seeing the dog, saying it represented a bourgeois lifestyle and was completely wrong. He even wrote a letter to the hospital, asking them to punish me and educate me,” Zhu said.

    Although the hospital did not punish him, its staff held several meetings to educate and influence Zhu, because they thought that owning a dog was not a proper thing for a young man to do.

    “I was angry. It was just a dog. Everybody mocked me for having a dog, so I decided to leave that place and start a new life in a new city like Shenzhen,” Zhu said.     

    Jailhouse rock

    After working in factories for several years, Zhu got a job in a restaurant in Futian District.

    “I wanted to open a restaurant after returning home, so I decided to train myself at a relative’s restaurant in the Chegongmiao area and the nightmare started,” he said.

    The restaurant was shut down suddenly one night and all its staff, including Zhu, was detained by police for illegal operation.

    “I did not know anything because I was just an employee,” Zhu said. “But all the other people, including the boss, were out [of custody] three days later, while the manager and I were ordered to stay for one year. Later I found out that the boss, who was also my relative, shifted all the blame to me and the manager.”

    Zhu, however, never lost his spirit. He joined a band in the detention house and became a rising star among other offenders in the labor reform program.

    “The band was founded by the detention house and was one of the first of its kind,” said Zhu. “Many detention houses came to learn from us and we performed quite frequently. I was even in the newspaper.”

    Because of his outstanding performances, he was hired to help run the band after his release.

    Zhu later went to work for an advertising company and met his second wife there.

    “The girl, Chen Liqiong, almost left him after coming across his story in a magazine,” said He Zhimin, director of the Meilin detention house. “But I found her and persuaded her. I told her she would regret leaving him because he was a really good man.”   

    A new dream

    Zhu and Chen got married in 2002 and started their own advertising company, giving themselves a good life. Until one day, of course, a dog changed Zhu’s life again.

    “It was a rainy day and I saw a dog wandering around our community. It was a golden retriever and looked helpless and scared,” he recalled.

    The dog reminded Zhu of his old dog back home.

    “My wife noticed how I was feeling, so she suggested we bring the dog back,” Zhu said.

    Because nobody came to their house to claim the dog after they posted a notice in the community, the dog has officially become one of their family members.

    “After getting the dog, I started to realize that there are so many things to know to raise a pet,” Zhu said. “There are a lot of vaccines and medicines [that he has to take], and you have to teach him where to go to the bathroom and how to behave.”

    Zhu turned to the Internet for help and found a big community dealing with similar problems.

    “I found that there were a large number of people in Shenzhen who had pets and they were also confused about how to raise them,” he said.

    In 2004, Zhu established an online pet club, which soon attracted a lot of members. They held parties together, sharing their experiences from raising and training dogs.

    “Because of that success, I realized there were very few people with professional pet-training skills in China and it’s something that we could do for a business,” he said.

    Inspired by his new dream, he opened Xidian Dog School in 2006.

    “I want my dog school to become a West Point for pets,” he joked, referring to the U.S. Military Academy.

    Although the school has developed very fast and promisingly over the past several years, Zhu met his biggest crisis at the end of last year after having disputes with partners.

    “I lost nearly all of my money in only one night, but I will not give up. I know that what I’m doing now is right and there will be a bright future for me,” he said.

    Zhu is now working with relevant departments to found the country’s first professional training school for pet professionals, with instruction in areas such as cosmetic services, pet training and store management.

    “Shenzhen is a place that has taught me everything. The most important thing I’ve learned from here is never to give up anything easily,” he said.