"It's easy for companies to enter a country, but adapting to it is difficult," Xu said. A huge difficulty is brand rebuilding. Decades ago, some Chinese companies sold fake and shoddy products in Cambodia, leaving with a bad reputation. Nowadays, local people recognize Japanese products as the best and Japanese products take up the major market share in the country. Chinese companies need to rebuild brands, regain reputation and win back people's hearts.

The poet-turned-businessman has his solution. His corporate culture is that employers and employees should be friends and partners. He believes employers shouldn't feel superior to their workers. "Having been a colony, Cambodia needs dignity and respect the most. Our company comes here to look for business partners rather than show off our superiority," he said. "Localization is the key point. We need to think what they need and cooperate with local people to build Cambodia's national industries".

There are many high-end automobiles in Cambodia but roads are bumpy. Xu believes that low-end vehicles are most suitable for local residents. He plans to introduce an automobile production line from China to the zone and build a Cambodian car brand with the help of local people. "Chinese cars are of high-quality now and have price advantage and good after-sales service, so I think they are competitive in the market here," Xu said.

Labor is another problem. After Chinese companies move to the zone, Xu needs to find enough workers for them. Bringing in skilled Chinese workers is not realistic. It will be a financial burden for companies and the tropical climate is hard for Chinese workers to adapt. A better way is to hire local workers and train them.

Knowing that the special economic zone will improve the economy and bring jobs, the Cambodian government attaches great importance to it and local residents are excited. "A local resident once asked me: now that the construction of buildings has finished in the zone, when will you move in?" Xu said. Many people began to learn Chinese because mastering both Cambodian and Chinese is an advantage when looking for a job.

As a platform, the special economic zone has many subsidiary companies, providing services such as security, construction, human resources and logistics to registered companies. Employees who can speak fluent Chinese and Cambodian have more chances.

That's an advantage Zeng Yaoyi has. When he was hired as a driver and translator Xu told him that today's Cambodia is like China in the 1980s. There are plenty of opportunities and it's a good time for young people to build their career and build their country. After consideration, he gave up his emigration plan and stayed. Now he's a manager, in charge of security and logistics.

As for Chen Jinshui, he also chose the special economic zone because he saw a bright future. Now he's in charge of construction application file work. Xu plans to set up an architecture design institute and has invited him to be a shareholder.

Zeng and Chen's decisions give Xu more confidence in his corporate culture and partner strategy. He has decided to build the zone into an incubator for Cambodian youth to start their own business and help them to build their country. "You tell me what you can do and I'll provide you with a chance. I want everyone here to be a shareholder," he said. Fitting in is the role Xu believes a Chinese company should play under the One Belt and One Road initiative.