“Customers come and go, you just have to get used to it.” - Ms. Cai-Zhen
Hualien Markets - Exclusive Interview with Zhuang Feng Butcher Shop
#FuxingMarket
#MarketWomanisResilient
#LeavetheBusinesstoFate
September 11th, 2020
Text/ LI Shan
Interviewer/ HSIN Pei-Chin
Translation/ LIU Yi-Chun
Photography/ LEE Te-Mao
Fuxing Market is located in the business center of Hualien City. Walking into the alleys, you will find twenty butcher shops that are based in the metal building area. This is the largest pork distribution center in Hualien. Ms. Cai-Zhen and her husband Zhuang Zhi-Cai started from scratch here, and they have participated in every process from slaughter to sale. Her husband’s elder brothers are all selling pork. After they got married, she began to learn how to run the business. Until twenty years ago, her husband decided to participate in politics, so she was in charge of the butcher shop. At that time, she also had to take care of the children. She managed to get through hard times with her strong will.
The business is crazy busy during the Lunar New Year
"Now we take two days off every week, same as working in government agencies. It’s actually not very tiring on regular days, but the business is crazy busy during the Lunar New Year. We may have to prepare three pigs a day. I’m always so stressed that I can’t fall asleep the night before," said Ms. Cai-Zhen. Zhuang Feng Butcher Shop normally will prepare two pigs a day. The pigs will be delivered to the shop at five or six in the morning, and Ms. Cai-Zhen will greet the customers at the market after eight. The Lunar New Year holiday is the busiest time in the market, and everyone will burn out during that period time. If they must sell another pig, it will take an extra hour to prepare. Ms. Cai-Zhen joked that to think about this makes her feel exhausted.
Market women are resilient and diligent
"When I was young, I watched the movie "You ma cai zi" (Ah Fei) and couldn’t understand it. However, after I got married in my thirties, I realized the true meaning of the movie. The life of a woman is similar to the life of a rapeseed. We grow wherever we land. We are resilient.” As a woman who has worked in the market for fifty years, she has worked with "pork" for such a long time. When she was young, she didn’t feel hard, but now she sometimes gets tired. She asked other women who worked in the market whether they felt tired, they all said they did, but who would listen to their complaints? She believes that women who do business in traditional markets are the most resilient and diligent because they hardly complain.
Instead of fighting against each other, the vendors are like friendly neighbors
Even though there are many butcher shops in the market, Ms. Cai-Zhen does not think they have a competitive relationship; instead, they are more like friendly neighbors because each shop has their own regular customers. For example, Zhuang Feng Butcher Shop half serves lunch box restaurants, and half serves individual customers. She thinks it’s normal that customers come and go, they may buy at whichever stall they stop by. Therefore, the vendors have a consensus that they will not compete by cutting prices. "Everyone is trying to get a life," Ms. Cai-Zhen said open-mindedly.
To run the business for the long-term, it’s important to put yourself in others’ positions
The customers of Zhuang Feng Butcher Shop are raging from mother-in-laws to daughter-in-laws. Ms. Cai-Zhen mentioned there is also one customer who will take the first bus from Fengbin to buy pork from her. Ms. Cai-Zhen said she has been able to control her temper after working in the market for so many years. If her customer argues with her, she will think about whether she says something wrong. This helps her build good relationships with the customers. She said that one time she was suffering from ear infection and was not in good condition, her customers noticed and asked her if she was okay. Ms. Cai-Zhen also shared her secret of running the business in the market for the long run, which is to put yourself in others’ positions and always think about the needs and feelings of customers. This is as well how she teaches her son. Sometimes she feels annoyed and tired, but seeing the vendor that is already in the eighties still working diligently, she tries her best to keep it up.
It used to be Hualien’s Central Market with a variety of stalls
In the early days, Fuxing Market was actually the central market in Hualien, and it was located in the area of current Dayu Street. When every household still cooked at home, the market was busy and the business went well. There used to be as many as forty-eight pork stalls in the market, but now only half of the stalls remain. Other vendors went to other markets or retired. Ms. Cai-Zhen preferred when Fuxing Market still had a variety of stalls and sold all kinds of things. Many banks and stores have joined the present area of the market, which brings more people and increases the demand for parking spaces. This is also a challenge that the market needs to deal with.
The environment of the market is so hot that requires strong will to tolerate
Ms. Cai-Zhen’s husband was the chairman of the Fuxing Market. He once visited the markets in other cities and saw some of them were equipped with indoor air-conditioners. Ms. Cai-Zhen hoped that Fuxing Market could also have such facilities so the environment would be more comfortable. As the weather gets hotter every year, the metal buildings are becoming more and more difficult to stay even with three fans running at the same time. She must tie a towel on her head and wash it several times a day. She mentioned that it is impossible for people in the market to wear necklaces due to the hotness. They may even have heatstroke. Despite the harsh environment, Ms. Cai-Zhen already gets used to working in the market. It is like going to the company to work every day. In fact, she couldn’t imagine working at another place.
Ms. Cai-Zhen hopes to become friends with the customers in the market. She wants to tell those who have supported her for a long time, "thank you for taking care of me. Without your support, I won’t be able to sell pork."
