袁亞非 可能只有怪人才能成功

In the presidential suite of a Hong Kong hotel, Yuan Yafei starts his morning with a glass of warm green tea, a pack of cigarettes and a long, thick Cuban cigar.

在香港一家酒店的總統套房裏，袁亞非的早晨從一杯綠茶、一包香菸和一根又長又粗的古巴雪茄開始。

“You want?” the Chinese tycoon asks, breaking into English to offer a cigar before launching back into the story of how he ended up buying House of Fraser, the British department store chain that in better days also owned Harrods.

“You want?（來一根嗎？）”在回顧自己是如何一步步走到收購了英國百貨連鎖公司House of Fraser之前，這位中國大亨先用英語問記者要不要來根雪茄。House of Fraser風光的時候旗下也曾擁有哈羅德百貨公司(Harrods)。

Mr Yuan is chairman of Sanpower, a little-known Nanjing conglomerate that has snapped up 89 per cent of the UK chain in the biggest Chinese foreign retail deal in history.

袁亞非是三胞集團(Sanpower)的董事長，這家鮮爲人知的南京企業集團剛剛迅速買入了House of Fraser 89%的股權，創下了迄今中國買家在零售業最大的一筆對外收購交易。

Sitting in front of an enormous Chinese screen painting, the chain-smoking entrepreneur says he first heard of House of Fraser five months ago when a banker told him that it was on the block. Despite having almost no international experience, he decided that House of Fraser’s long history and experience could help him expand his retail empire in China.

這位煙不離手的企業家坐在一扇巨大的中式畫屏前，講起自己第一次聽說House of Fraser，是5個月前從一個銀行家那兒聽說它正在出售。雖然他幾乎沒有任何海外經驗，但他認爲House of Fraser悠久的歷史和豐富的經驗有助於擴展他在中國的零售帝國。

“When I was growing up, we always thought that England or Great Britain represented old-fashioned capitalism,” the 49-year-old Mr Yuan says through his interpreter. “Its culture was quite mysterious and fascinating to Chinese people, especially of my generation.”

49歲的袁亞非說：“在我們從小的教育裏，英國是老牌的資本主義。所以英國文化在中國人眼裏還是比較神祕，英國的東西都容易引起中國人的興趣，或者我們這一代人的興趣。”

Sanpower owns Nanjing Xinjiekou, one of the oldest department stores in China, but like other traditional retailers, it is facing headwinds from the slowdown in the Chinese economy and the rapid rise of ecommerce.

三胞集團旗下擁有中國老牌百貨商場——南京新街口百貨，但如其他傳統零售商一樣，它眼下正面臨兩股逆風，一是中國經濟增長放緩，另一個便是電商的快速崛起。

“The department store business model hasn’t changed a bit,” says Mr Yuan. “But the world is changing, our customer is changing, the way they’re buying merchandise, the concept is changing, so we must change.”

“中國百貨的模式並沒有發生什麼改變。”袁亞非說，“但世界在變，客戶在變，他們購買商品的方式在變，觀念在變，因此我們必須改變。”

Asked why House of Fraser can help his domestic business when very few Chinese have heard of the company, Mr Yuan says Sanpower can learn from the brand and the supply chain management experience it has built since 1849.

被問及爲什麼House of Fraser這樣一家中國人鮮有聽聞的公司，能對他的國內業務有所幫助時，袁亞非表示，三胞集團可以學習該公司自1849年建立起的品牌以及積累的供應鏈管理經驗。

“One hundred and sixty-four years is a long time. It’s not that easy to build and sustain a brand for such a long time, just like a human being,” he says. “If you can live past 100 years . . . you’re doing something right.”

他說：“160年是一段很長的時間。一個企業能活160多年，不是那麼容易的，就像一個人如果能活到一百歲……肯定有活到100歲的理由。”

Mr Yuan intends to open a flagship “Oriental Fraser” store in Nanjing next summer. His broader plan for 50 stores in China rests on the assumption that the shopping mall market is about to undergo a big transition. He says China is going to add 2,500 malls over the next three years, and he believes most will quickly go under.

袁亞非打算明年夏天在南京開設“東方Fraser”(Oriental Fraser)旗艦店。基於購物中心市場將經歷重大轉變這一假設，他的長遠計劃是在中國開設50家分店。他說未來3年中國將新增2500家購物中心，他相信其中大部分很快就會倒閉。

“They are all the same type of shopping mall and the Chinese market is not big enough to handle this number of the same kind of shopping facilities at the same time.”

“因爲它們全都是同質化的競爭，而且中國的市場承受不了這麼多線下的、都一樣的東西。”

After clearing his throat and leaning over to spit into a waste paper basket – a common but waning habit in China – Mr Yuan uses a four-character Chinese idiom to explain how Sanpower will benefit from the upheaval.

他清了清喉嚨，傾身將痰吐到廢紙簍裏，這個習慣在中國很常見，不過正逐漸消失。然後，袁亞非講到三胞集團將如何從這場劇變中受益。他用了一個成語。

His first tactic will be lou jing xia shi, which translates as “dropping a stone on a man who has fallen down a well”, and means that Sanpower will pounce when some of the malls go bankrupt.

他的第一招將是“落井下石”，即三胞集團會在部分購物中心倒閉時迅速出擊。

“Do you know jin shang tian hua?” he adds, using the English that he started learning three years ago – with the implication that House of Fraser will help him “gild the lily”, as the expression means.

“Do you know jin shang tian hua?（你知道錦上添花嗎？）”3年前開始學英語的他用英語問道。他言下之意是，House of Fraser將幫他“錦上添花”。

Mr Yuan is confident he will succeed, saying half-jokingly that his feng shui master has given him a high score of 90 for the “Oriental Fraser” name.

袁亞非堅信自己會成功，他半開玩笑地說自己的風水大師給“東方Fraser”這一名字打出了90分的高分。

The Hurun Chinese rich list ranks Mr Yuan as the joint 92nd wealthiest person in China with estimated assets of $2bn. Asked if that is accurate, he says: “Definitely a bit more.” A little or a lot? “Should be a lot. But I’m not the most wealthy person in China. There are many people more wealthy than I am in China.”

在胡潤中國富豪榜(Hurun Chinese rich list)上，袁亞非與人並列第92位，其資產據估計有20億美元。當被問到這一數字是否精確時，他說：“肯定比這多吧。”那麼是多一點還是多很多？他說：“應該多很多。但是我在中國不算最有錢的。中國還有很多人比我有錢。”

Mr Yuan says he started life as a “very typical commoner”. Born in Chongqing, his family moved around because his father was an engineer in the People’s Liberation Army. He attended primary school in a poor mountainous part of Hubei province, and later lived in Beijing and Hebei. When his father retired, the family moved to Nanjing.

袁亞非說，“我是一個很典型的、普通的中國人”。他出生於重慶，由於父親是解放軍的一名工程師，曾經四處搬家。他在湖北省的一個貧窮山區上小學，後來還在北京和河北生活過。父親退休後，全家搬到南京。

After studying accounting at college, Mr Yuan entered the Nanjing government where he worked in the auditing department. He says he was later sent to become acting party chief of a village but after writing an essay on agricultural reform was promoted to become secretary to the top Communist party official in the district.

袁亞非在大學學習財會，畢業後進入南京當地政府的審計部門工作。他說他後來被派去擔任一個村的代理村官，但在他寫了一篇關於農業改革的文章後，被提拔成了區黨委書記的祕書。

Like many Chinese entrepreneurs, his path changed because of Deng Xiaoping, the former leader who launched economic reforms after the death of Mao Zedong.

與許多中國企業家一樣，他的人生軌跡因鄧小平而改變。鄧小平是中國前領導人，在毛澤東逝世後，啓動了中國的經濟改革。

“After Deng Xiaoping’s southern trip in 1992 . . . I realised I wanted to live my life in a different way,” he says. “I wanted to experience what I could achieve and therefore I quit my job in the government.”

“鄧小平1992年南巡之後……我意識到我想去過另外一種生活，”他說，“去嘗試一下自己能做什麼，我就從機關辭職下海。”

With Rmb20,000 (worth $3,200 today) in savings and money borrowed from his parents, he considered various ideas. He ended up entering the computer business, building “DIY” machines assembled from components sourced in China.

算上積蓄和從父母那裏借來的錢，他手頭有2萬元人民幣（放在今天合3200美元）。他想了各種不同的點子，最後決定進入計算機行業，用從國內採購的零部件組裝兼容機。

“I am very confident,” he says. “Compared to the business guys in those times, I am more diligent, I am smarter and I’m a better person and I am better educated.”

他說：“我很自信地認爲，我一定比那個時候的生意人要勤奮，要聰明，要善良，要有文化。”

After making his first fortune, Mr Yuan bought an apartment in Nanjing’s International Trade Center but says his “biggest dream was to get the entire building”.

掙到第一桶金之後，袁亞非在南京國際貿易中心(International Trade Center)買了一套公寓，但表示“最大的夢想是買下整棟樓”。

He did exactly that, and later bought all the other buildings in the business district. Last year he purchased the International Finance Centre from Li Ka-shing, Asia’s richest man, and plans to use part of the property for his “Oriental Fraser” store.

而他確實做到了。後來還將那個商業區所有其他顯赫物業一併買下。去年，他從亞洲首富李嘉誠(Li Ka-shing)手中買下國際金融中心(International Finance Centre)，並計劃將該物業的一部分開闢爲他的“東方Fraser”商場。

To illustrate the scope of his success, he arranges his lighter, some name cards, my iPhone and wallet on the table. Each represents one of the buildings in the business district.

他用他的打火機、幾張名片以及記者的iPhone和錢包，在桌上演示他的成功。每一樣東西都代表那個商業區的一幢大樓。

“All mine,” he says with a broad smile. Asked how he made so much money, Mr Yuan grins again and says: “It’s a secret . . . I made many mistakes in the past but I never made strategic mistakes.

“都是我的，”他得意地笑道。當被問到他是怎麼賺到這麼多錢時，他又咧開嘴笑了，說：“這是個祕密……我過去也犯過錯，但從來沒犯過戰略性錯誤。

“The economy always has its cycle. I can always foresee the down slope and I get myself ready for the right time to come and then I can get what I want when it hits its lowest. I can always grab opportunities.”

“經濟總有周期。我總能夠在經濟跌入谷底之前把事情準備好，然後等到谷底的時候，我正好能把它買回來。所以我經常能抓住這樣的機會。”

Mr Yuan has little time for leisure but says he enjoys reading and good cuisine. His favourite drink is maotai, the fiery Chinese liquor, but he also drinks red wine. “I usually drink Lafite. Since I know nothing about wine, I just drink the most expensive stuff.”

袁亞非沒什麼閒暇時間，但稱自己喜歡閱讀和美食。他最鍾愛的酒是茅臺，但他也喝紅酒。“但是紅酒裏，我通常喝拉菲，因爲我不懂，所以我只喝最貴的。”

As he prepares to leave for the airport where one of his two aircraft is waiting, he jokingly asks that his personal life be spared – even though he has revealed nothing more than the existence of a son whom he will send to primary school in the UK next year – but gives the green light to write that he wants to send the boy to Eton.

在準備離開去機場時（他的兩架私人飛機中的一架在那裏等候），他開着玩笑請記者對他的私人生活手下留情——儘管對於私人生活，他只是透露自己有一個兒子，明年準備送到英國上小學。不過他同意記者寫他想要送兒子去伊頓公學(Eton)。

When told that the school is top- notch educationally but has a tendency to produce slightly odd people, the tycoon lights up.

當記者告訴他，伊頓在教育方面是頂尖的，但是常常會培養出有點怪異的人時，這位商界大亨樂了。

“Good! Only strange people can succeed . . . I’m very strange,” he bellows. “If you think normal, you just do and think the same as everyone else, then how can you be successful?”

“太好了！只有怪人才能成功，我就很怪，”他大聲說，“因爲如果不奇怪，跟大家都一樣，那你憑什麼能成功呢？”