Lei Jufang, Chairperson of Qizheng Tibetan Medicine: Talent is the Number One Challenge.

　　The reporter previously interviewed Lei Jufang, Chairwoman of Qizheng Tibetan Medicine, at a session of the Tibet Autonomous Region’s Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. At that time, she discussed the topic of talent in Tibet. Now, in another interview with our reporter, Lei Jufang once again focuses on the issue of talent.

　　During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the primary challenge for enterprises is talent.

　　In an interview with reporters, Lei Jufang said: “For Qizheng Tibetan Medicine, as we enter the crucial ‘12th Five-Year Plan’ period—a phase that bridges the past and ushers in the future—the company has already transformed its single business model into a branch of the broader health industry. At this moment, talent is the company’s greatest challenge.”

　　In the Outline of the 12th Five-Year Plan, the Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region proposed to deeply implement the strategies of revitalizing Tibet through science and education and strengthening the region through talent development. The Outline points out that during the 12th Five-Year Period, leveraging both internal and external educational resources as well as favorable conditions provided by paired assistance programs for Tibet, the region will vigorously cultivate urgently needed and scarce talents. Focusing on the requirements of distinctive advantageous industries, emerging industries, improvements in people’s livelihoods, and major project construction, the region will intensify efforts to attract urgently needed and scarce talents. It will optimize the structure and distribution of talent resources, coordinate and promote the building of talent teams at all levels and in various fields, and establish a talent pool that is well-suited to Tibet’s leapfrog development and long-term stability and security. The region will remove institutional barriers to talent mobility, optimize mechanisms for talent flow and allocation, and create an institutional and social environment that enables outstanding talents to stand out.

　　On this point, Lei Jufang told reporters that she was deeply moved when she saw the goals and tasks outlined in the 12th Five-Year Plan concerning the cultivation and introduction of talented individuals. She said, “For Tibet, talent is even more scarce.”

　　Lei Jufang believes that Tibet must place equal emphasis on cultivating and tapping its own internal talent as it does on attracting external talent.

　　Speaking of this, the affable chairperson began to “count our talent” for us. She said: Over the past two decades, the total number of students who have graduated from Tibetan classes in inland China across the entire region has reached several tens of thousands. If we take an annual figure of 10,000 graduates, at least 10% of them—those who’ve attended schools specializing in technical professions or management institutions—could become senior engineers after ten years of graduation. Given that we’ve already trained some 40,000 to 50,000 such graduates, at least four to five thousand of them should now be senior engineers whom we ourselves have trained. Moreover, if every five years a new cohort of these graduates can attain mid-level professional titles, then Tibet alone could have produced nearly 10,000 mid-level professionals by now.

　　That’s not the case at all. Lei Jufang told reporters that Qizheng Group has always been eager for students who have studied at top schools in Tibet and those sent to outstanding schools in mainland China to prioritize working for first-class enterprises when choosing their careers. However, today, faced with the challenges brought by modern social life, breaking down this barrier has become extremely difficult, leaving everyone struggling to make a decision. In fact, whether they can serve as role models, setting examples for others and becoming true inspirations in their respective workplaces is entirely achievable—even without pursuing a career in public service. This requires the government to adopt an equal and inclusive policy that benefits all graduates, while also prompting students, parents, and society at large to shift away from the long-held, outdated mindsets.

　　To Lei Jufang’s great satisfaction, the Tibet government has already proposed in the Outline of the 12th Five-Year Plan: guiding college students to shift their employment mindset, encouraging them to start their own businesses and pursue self-employment, and motivating them to showcase their talents in enterprises, at the grassroots level, and in challenging regions.

　　Since its establishment in the early 1990s, Qizheng Tibetan Medicine has been guided by the mission of "promoting health wisdom and returning to freedom of body and mind," and anchored on the core values of "doing good for others and pursuing righteous paths and honest professions." It advocates the integration of ethnicities, cultures, technologies, and talents, earning widespread acclaim both within and beyond the industry.

　　Today, Qizheng once again finds itself at a new starting point—bridging the past and ushering in the future—and is confronted with numerous new opportunities and challenges. Lei Jufang said that, faced with these unprecedented development opportunities, the greatest challenge for the company’s growth is talent. Throughout its journey so far, Qizheng has already paid twice the price in terms of talent development. At the very least, the compensation offered to company employees must be on par with that of civil servants, while also providing them with excellent training conditions—costs that are significantly higher than those for talent in mainland China.

　　“The most capable and idealistic talents go to enterprises.”

　　Lei Jufang said, “The most capable talents go to enterprises, and the most idealistic talents also go to enterprises—enterprises’ doors will always remain open to outstanding talent.”

　　She gave an example: For a long time, Japan’s manufacturing industry has been highly respected around the world. This is because more than thirty years ago, Japanese college students aspired to attend top-tier universities, join top-tier companies, and become top-notch professionals—many officials even went straight into the corporate sector. Joining a top-tier company in Japan was considered a lifelong source of pride for them.

　　Lei Jufang said, “For Tibet to develop and for China to develop, we must firmly establish this mindset—only then can we achieve genuine development. The values held by the post-80s and post-90s generations are already different from those of the older generation. This is precisely the strength of the younger generation, and that’s why there’s hope for our development.”

　　Speaking of this, Lei Jufang smiled and shared an amusing story with us: Not long ago, she ran into a young man who had started his own business—he’d opened a language school—and his parents were fiercely opposed to it. Once, when the young man was on a business trip in Shanghai, his father insisted that he go see a doctor. When the son asked his father what kind of illness he was suffering from, his father blurted out, “The neurology department.” Hearing this, the son was speechless. Every time his son received his paycheck, he’d ask his father to go to the bank to withdraw and count the money. Each month, the father would carefully count not only his son’s salary—over 6,000 yuan—but also his wife’s salary of more than 1,000 yuan. Through this practice, the young man gradually made his father realize that in this new era, as long as young people are willing to put in the effort, they can excel in any field and achieve remarkable success.

　　According to reports, Qizheng Tibetan Medicine recruited 42 people at the beginning of 2011. Qizheng not only provides young people with opportunities and an environment conducive to their growth and success, but its chairman, Lei Jufang, who consistently guides the company’s development forward, often tells her employees with heartfelt sincerity: “You must become role models for those who come after you—let future generations see your success. That is precisely your mission.”

　　Lei Jufang told the reporter that in a company, success depends on the power of the team. Our Bai Ma Cangjue has already gone abroad and is now studying at Harvard University in the United States—I feel incredibly proud of her, because she started out from “Qi Zheng.” Our Zhuoma has been with the company for three years, and she’s already passed the certification exam for secretaries at listed companies. That means listed companies are actively recruiting her, and her annual salary will definitely exceed 100,000 yuan. I’m so proud and delighted for her. When each individual achieves success, they’ll undoubtedly bring benefits to society—and in the process, they’ll inspire and help others as well. Talented people are like water: they’re constantly flowing, and it’s precisely this constant flow that gives them vitality.

　　Lei Jufang hopes that her company will not just be a business—it wants to transform it into a school for nurturing talent. She says, “How much tax Qizheng pays is secondary; what matters most is how many talented individuals Qizheng has cultivated. Our employees are our future—and this is no empty slogan. In another four or five years, if Tibetan young people whom we’ve trained ourselves are filling positions across Tibet, that would be truly gratifying.”

　　Lei Jufang said that Qizheng particularly wants to recruit top-notch students—first-class talent—and, through her own efforts and those of the company, help cultivate a group of talented individuals for Tibet. She added, “If one day these young people can independently support an entire enterprise, I’d consider that truly remarkable.”