Hangzhou Native: A Successful Entrepreneur in Philadelphia

Song Feihong decided to open a bookstore in 1995. She made that decision after trying in vain to find a book in simplified Chinese in any bookstore in Race Street， Philadelphia that sold Chinese books. She was totally frustrated by the futile search. She wanted buy a copy of “A Dream of Red Mansions”， a classical Chinese novel， for her 9-year-old daughter. But she couldn’t find one in simplified Chinese in Philadelphia. As a matter of fact， she visited bookstores in six cities in four states in order to buy this book. She drew a blank. All the Chinese bookstores she had visited were operations by Taiwan business people. And in her opinion， some of them were not serious book businesses at all. On shop shelves in these shops gifts numbered more than books.

So Song Feihong promised to her daughter that she would open a bookstore and sell books in simplified Chinese within five years.

It was the summer of 1995. Song Feihong had five years to keep her promise. But she needed to take action immediately， for she did not have the capital. She began to work very hard. The jobs she did were all small: baby-sitting， working a sewing machine， teaching， doing chores in a restaurant， taking care of old people in a nursing home， modifying garments for clients at night. Well， she worked herself to sickness. In 1998， she was down and out for al most a whole year. She was hospitalized five times and had three surgeries. But on June 6， 1999， her bookstore， the first one of its kind， began its operation in China Town in Philadelphia. The bookstore runs from nine in the morning to nine in the evening and it is open on big days such as Thanksgiving， Christmas and Spring Festival.

Today， Wu’s bookstore in Race Street sports a very large shop sign， flashing新華書店 (Xinhua Bookstore) in the handwriting of Chairman Mao. The shop has more than 100，000 titles on sale and they are worth of 20 million yuan. It is more than a bookstore. Its product portfolio also includes musical instruments， video tapes， music disks， stationery. The bookstore also operates an internet café.

In April， 2005， that is， six years after the bookstore was first open， Song Feihong set up a shop of arts and crafts beside her bookstore and she called it Home of Shanghai. It sold arts and crafts from all over China such as mahogany furniture， silk from Hangzhou， Qipao from Shanghai， porcelain from Jingdezhen， purple-clay kettles from Yixing， stone-carving from Qingtian， woodcarving from Dongyang， gifts from Beijing， toys from Guangzhou， traditional stationery from Anhui， and printed fabric from Yunnan.

Later she purchased a property in Race Street and put the two businesses together in the same building. Hers now is the largest store in America that sells Chinese cultural products.

Song Feihong spends a lot of time running her business. When she comes to the shop， she often wears a traditional garment， acting as a model for garments her shop sells. She now and then performs Peking Opera arias in the shop. And she demonstrates her arts of painting， calligraphy and plays musical instruments now and then. Artists are frequently invited to the shop to give a show.

Song Feihong is now a business leader in China Town in Philadelphia and a respected overseas entrepreneur recognized in China.

Family Roots in Hangzhou

Her father Song Baoluo (born in 1916) was a prominent Peking Opera actor in the 1940s in China. He was invited to stage an exclusive show for Chiang Kai-shek in celebration of the victory over the Japanese invaders in 1945. After the liberation in 1949， he was invited to stage a show for Chairman Mao.

Under her parents’ guidance， Song Feihong grew up trying to be a Peking Opera artist herself， but the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) plunged the family into chaos. After the hell broke loose， her father did not get a cent from Zhejiang Peking Opera Troupe where he worked. So Song， the third of the seven children in the family， took care of her four younger siblings while her elder brother and sister were sent away. At 14 she got herself employed by Wuhu Peking Opera Troupe on a probation basis. She thought she had a good chance to be on the payroll of the troupe， but at the last minute she did not get it. The job was given to someone else through backdoor arrangements.

She was so broken-hearted that she wished to kill herself. When her father was rehabilitated， she came back home and began to receive a normal education. She later studied English at a teachers’ academy and after graduation， she taught English at a middle school in Hangzhou.

Her father Song Baoluo is still alive in Hangzhou. A national celebrity， he enjoys longevity.□