Edith Yeung.com Dream Think Act

I was born and raised in one of the busiest commercial district in Hong Kong called Wanchai. People from all walks of life pass through the district – business people, laborers and shoppers …. Hundreds and thousands of people would pass by Wanchai Ferry pier everyday on their way to work, play or across the Victoria Harbour.

This is also the place where the famous Wanchai Dumpling was born.

In 1977, the year I was born, there was a woman named Madame Chong. Chong left her native Shangdon Province in east central China for a new life in the bustling city of Hong Kong. Work was scarce in Hong Kong at the time, especially for a single mother with two young daughters, so Madame Chong decided to work for herself.

She began making dumplings from an old family recipe and selling them in the city’s busiest district, Wanchai. Every night she would prepare for her dumplings. And every morning, she’d push her handcart to the crowded pier and sell them to the business people, laborers and the shoppers. She slowly won a loyal customer following and made her living selling dumpling.

When I was ten years old, Madame Chong created the Wanchai Ferry Peking Dumpling factory. She no longer had to sell dumpling on the street. She upgraded to have her own store front in the wet market in Wanchai right next to the butchers and fish sellers.

Madame Chong has a great attention to details and she listened carefully to her customers. She kept revising her recipes over time and perfecting them along the way. Word soon spread across the city and her dumplings became the talk of town. The Hong Kong press even made Madame Chong in the City’s Dumpling Queen.

Thirty years later, General Mill decided to buy the Wanchai Ferry brand that Madame Chong has created.

Madame Chong no longer need to worry about survival anymore…

P.S. Dumpling is also one of my favorite food.

Photo by Sashertootie

Think About It
Imagine you are in a foreign land and have absolutely no choice and no one would hire you, what would you do to survive? What kind of brand would you create?

Related Articles

• Goodbye to Corporate America Log - Day 10

• What’s in Your “Emergency Bag”?

• Goodbye to Corporate America Log - Day 24

• Silicon Valley loves Seth & The Dip

• When you turn 30…

     

Trackback this Post | Feed on comments to this Post