(Source: Xinhua) Fuzhou, October 31, Xinhua (Wang Wenqing, Chen Dan & Lin Min) When autumn comes, Putian, the city of litchi, is covered in green. Although it is past the fruiting period, lush litchi trees can still be seen everywhere in the city.

Putian is a city in Fujian province with a vibrant private economy. In 2014, Putian was listed by the National Development and Reform Commission as a pilot zone for the comprehensive reform of private economy. As of January this year, there were 46,748 private enterprises in Putian, accounting for 97 percent of the city's enterprises, generating more than 50 percent of tax revenue and providing over 80 percent of jobs.

See the forest in a tree. Having survived the fierce market competition, how do private entrepreneurs see the ups and downs in the market, and how can they forge ahead braving wind and storm? Recently, we paid a visit to SKSHU Paint Co., Ltd. and asked "three key questions about China’s economic resilience".

Question No.1: how to deal with the crisis?

Getting ahead by bucking the trend.

In the early 1990s, the wave of market economy swept across the country. Hong Jie, who was working at the Chemical Building Materials Company of the Materials and Equipment Bureau of Putian City, quit the job and started his own business.

"When I decided to quit, I didn’t leave a way out for myself. Once the choice is made, don’t think about turning back. If you ever think about turning back, it could only mean you are not 100% decided." Hong Jie has the same firm gaze in his eyes when recalling his journey of entrepreneurship.

However, the road to start a business is covered with thistles and thorns. At that time, China's coatings market had long been dominated by foreign brands, such as Nippon and Dulux. There were few Chinese coatings companies, especially in Fujian, that could compete with them.

How to survive and find a breakthrough in the crisis was a matter of existential importance for the company.

"The pressure from the competitors was so huge that all my hair had fallen out in one night. But competition was also a good thing, because it prompted us to aim for their quality and even beat them in quality." It was in those early days that the wish of building China's national coatings brand took root in Hong Jie's heart.

In 2003, the 3TREES coatings brand was born. Over the past ten years and more, 3TREES has stood out from nearly 15,000 brands of China's coatings industry, and made into the list of "China's 500 Most Valuable Brands" for 13 consecutive times. In 2016, 3TREES was listed on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. In 2019, it joined the ranks of the world's top 35 coatings companies, with a total brand value of 23.985 billion yuan.

The times has given 3TREES a fertile land to grow. Having won the competition against the opponents, can 3TREES continue to get ahead of the times? How does 3TREES look at the current economic situation and what’s its response?

"Our strategy is to keep growing in times of adversity, like the hundreds of litchi trees in the 3TREES Park, which continue to sprout and grow in winter. Our company also wants to be a tree that grows big and tall even in winter days." Hong Jie believed that even a crisis would offer opportunities. When the market is at its low point, the industry also enters a period of consolidation. Consolidation and reshuffling is a good opportunity for promoting transformation and upgrading and achieving high-quality development. The ability to seize this window of opportunities is particularly important for enterprises.

Hong Jie said that enterprises should not just beat the competitors, but lose to the times. At the time of crisis, a good enterprise must think about not only its own development, but also the future of the industry. High-quality development is a task for enterprises in the new era. When the enterprise is prepared and has a sound plan, it can buck the trend to embrace greater development.

Question No.2: where did the confidence come from?

Driving transformation with hardcore innovation

According to the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Coatings Industry Association, in 2018, the output of 1,336 major coating enterprises totaled 17.5979 million tons, up 5.9 percent year-on-year, and the main business income of 1,998 major industrial enterprises reached 326.48 billion yuan, up 6.5 percent year-on-year.

The growth of the figures speaks to the people's demand for a better living space, and shows the progress achieved by enterprises in pursuing high-quality development following a period of painful adjustment.

How to ride on the trend and seize the opportunity? Hong Jie has a clear plan in his mind: China is promoting the construction of new urbanization, and has issued a series of policies such as old town renovation, affordable housing construction in cities, shantytown renovation and rural revitalization, all of which generate new demands for coatings products. In addition, the parallel development of the new coating and re-coating markets, and the accelerated upgrade of residential consumption have given a boost to the home recoating and high-end environmental coatings markets.

"The rising demands for green, healthy and personalized products have provided us with a positive development space and a good opportunity to consolidate our business." Hong Jie said that enterprises must change with the evolving market demand, and the purpose of such change was to realize high-quality development.

To change to the track of high-quality development, we must empower our business by hardcore innovation. 3TREES now has a nationally recognized enterprise technology center, a postdoctoral research workstation, an academician workstation, and a CNAS-accredited laboratory, equipped with more than 100 sets of world-leading research equipment. We have hired Professor Jean-Marie Lehn, the Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, as our Chief Technology Advisor ...... Sixteen years ago,  we started our business by selling paints. Today, we can provide our customers with one-stop product lines and integrated services.

Hong Jie believed that private enterprises that aim to achieve sustainable, high-quality development must take the initiative to meet upgraded consumption needs, help people realize their dream of a better life, and transition toward high-end brands, high-quality products and service-oriented manufacturing through the twin drives of "innovation + service".

Question No.3: how to build resilience?

Imitation of Nature and the Chinese Dream

Sitting on the back of green hills, facing acres of litchi forest, three natural waters converging ...... the picturesque landscape of the 3TREES makes one wonder if it is really a company that produces coatings.

If innovation is the hardcore condition of development, then culture strengthens the resilience of the company, according to Hong Jie. That’s why he had attached great importance to the construction of corporate culture when the company was just built. With a sense of reverence for nature, Hong Jie incorporated the idea of “Imitation of Nature”, which stresses the harmony and unity between heaven, earth and man, into the day-to-day management of the company and the construction plan of the eco-industrial park.

As early as 2003, 3TREES put forward the concept of "Healthy Paint" and dedicated itself to developing green paints; in 2005, 3TREES products went on board the "Shenzhou VI" space mission; in 2018, 3TREES supplied the functional paint for the entire section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge undersea tunnel ... From dressing up healthy "families" to protecting the green "homeland", 3TREES has held the belief that enterprises should contribute to the lasting health of the environment, to the progress of the society, to the healthy growth of the industry and to the healthy life of consumers. Today, "Respect Nature and Care for Your Compatriots" has grown into an integral part of 3TREES's corporate culture and become the code of conduct for all employees.

"Protecting our beautiful homeland has always been our goal," said Hong Jie. He remarked that 3TREES had set up a public welfare foundation to support charitable causes such as education and environmental protection, and share the benefits gained from reform and opening up in a more targeted and comprehensive fashion with the society.

"I have full confidence in China’s development. I will align the growth of my company more closely with the national strategy to realize both my own business dream and the Chinese dream," Hong Jie said.