Ripe future beckons businessman
By Pan Zhongming (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-27 08:51
For some, war offers opportunities like for Liu Lei, co-author of the
recently-published "Making a Fortune at the Foot of the God of Death."
Making a Fortune at the Foot of the God of
Death | In mid-2003, the resident of Shenzhen, in
South China's Guangdong Province, chucked his job of three years in the IT
industry to find his fortune in Iraq where the Saddam Hussein regime had just
collapsed.
Liu had a comfortable job but he was approaching 30 and did
not want to slave for someone; so with US$3,700 in his pocket and hope in his
heart he set off for Baghdad.
He opened a Chinese restaurant right opposite
the five-star Sheraton hotel where many foreign journalists and officials were
ensconced and who clearly liked his food.
The restaurant had a good start
but for once in the hospitality industry, the old maxim location did
not prove auspicious.
The crowds of foreigners in the area had become a
target of car bombs. After each explosion, the US soldiers would clear out all
the foreigners.
The tragedy was that almost every month, there was one
bomb. So after four months, Liu called it quits after suffering a loss of
US$2,200.
With only US$1,500 left, Liu began scouting for a safer
location and there was none better than the heavily-fortified Green Zone,
home to the central government and about 15,000 US forces.
The problem
was getting in. He first tempted one of the guards with a
colourfully-illustrated magazine article on Chinese food and promised him
he would bring the real thing the next day.
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