The Story of a Russian Girl Anna and King Long

On March 29^th , 2019, an award ceremony for the first Belt and Road Initiative short video competition, co-sponsored by the State Council SASAC News Center and the China Public Diplomacy Association (CPDA) and hosted by Huanqiu.com, was held at the People's Daily headquarters building in Beijing. With the theme of "Belt and Road Initiative to Pursue Dreams", King Long's entry was granted the "Chinese Enterprises' Good Stories" Award from more than 300 short videos submitted by more than 160 organizations and individuals, and King Long became the only bus enterprise in China to win such an award.

The protagonist of King Long's video entry this time is Anna, a Russian girl, who has been working at this company. She tells a touching story about how she was driven by the further advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Xiamen BRICKS Summit during her study abroad at Xiamen University in 2017 and eventually succeeded in staying in her beloved Xiamen, where she joined King Long to make her own contributions to expanding the Belt and Road market for King Long in the new era. This video, due to its vivid and moving theme and the protagonist's fluent expression in Chinese, was unanimously acknowledged by the jury members and was deserved to be honored the "Chinese Enterprises' Good Stories" Award.

Anna graduated as an undergraduate from Moscow State Linguistic University of Russia and as a graduate student from the Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics of Xiamen University in China and is proficient in Chinese, English and Russian.

Anna's first understanding of China came from her father, a Moscow businessman. Her father believed that, with the extremely rapid development of China, future opportunities would be at the hand of China. Encouraged by her father, Anna began to learn Chinese and understand Chinese culture when she graduated from high school. She began to work in the financial sector after graduating from Moscow State Linguistic University in 2014. However, deep down in her mind, there was an unfinished dream, which was to pursue advanced studies and working in China. After working for one year, under the recommendation of a friend, she was given the chance to get into contact with her dreamed institution, Xiamen University, located on the beautiful seashore of southern China. In 2015, Anna went to Xiamen University to study at the Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics (WISE).

"Xiamen is endowed with beautiful scenery and a pleasant climate in four seasons. When I first stepped onto this land, it gave me a cordial impression, making me feel like I came to my second home. The learning atmosphere for my two-year study in WISE was very active. Here I have met warm people, experienced various good teaching equipment, and found professional teachers who taught interesting stuff. More than 100 international students from all over the world have established friendly relationships with our Chinese classmates," said Anna. In August 2017, she appeared on the CCTV news as a representative of overseas students at Xiamen University.

After two years of study and living at Xiamen University, Anna had a growing sense of belonging to Xiamen, so she hoped to stay and work in this city after graduation. At that time, King Long was expanding its sales team in the CIS region, and Anna was proficient in multiple languages and specialized in finance. Her conditions in all respects matched King Long's expectations for sales positions in the CIS region very much, so the two sides formed a close relationship. In 2017, Anna joined King Long after graduation. With a linguistic advantage and previous experience as a salesperson of a large multinational company, she quickly accustomed herself to the sales job provided by the overseas sales department of King Long in the CIS countries.

Anna has been a good learner who is proactive and hard-working. Although having traveled a lot for business from place to place, she did not show a trace of fear or complaint. In 2018, Anna's personal sales performance exceeded RMB 10 million, and she has developed 3 new customers in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Under her effort, King Long's models such as 6125AY, 6901AY and 6668 broke into the Russian market for the first time.

In August 2018, she found a competitive local dealer in Uzbekistan to work together on the product launch conference of King Long, which increased the influence of this brand in Uzbekistan. At the same time, she also assisted colleagues from King Long's Mini vans Division. She sold 58 King Long mini vans in Uzbekistan that year, ranking first in local sales among Chinese bus brands.

Due to her hard work and outstanding performance, Anna was awarded the title of Excellent Overseas Sales Employees by King Long in 2018. "I'd like to first owe my rapid growth to King Long since it has given me such a big stage. And I will be more grateful to the Belt and Road Initiative for giving me the opportunity to get to know China better and take root in China. I am willing to strive nonstop for the public transport undertaking of China and Russia," said Anna with emotion.

This short video also fully shows the memorable reflections of King Long over the past 20 years in implementing international strategies and striding towards the global.

China and Russia enjoy profound diplomatic relations and have a long history of trade relations. In 2018, the volume of trade between China and Russia first exceeded USD 100 billion, making China the largest and most important trading partner of Russia. King Long has entered the Russian market since 2005, mainly serving the road passenger transport, tourist passenger transport, group reception and commuting and car rental markets. Today when you travel to Moscow, St. Petersburg and other major tourist attractions, it is easy to see a large number of King Long luxury buses commuting at any time.

Through several years of hard work, King Long has long been a household name in terms of Chinese bus brand in Russia, with the accumulated sales volume reaching more than 1,000 in Russia, and it has become the main brand and new force in the Russian bus market.

Dedicated King Long Buses for Saudi Arabia (left) and Nigeria during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia

There were King Long buses serving for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. As one of the three officially designated service vehicles for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, 150 12m-long customized King Long buses were distributed in 11 competition cities in Russia. They provided commuter support services to teams from the UK, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Tunisia, venue volunteers as well as fans from around the world.

King Long buses also served for the outdoor inspections of Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The above figure shows that President Putin took a King Long bus during a visit to Nizhny Novgorod beside the Volga River on September 19, 2014.

It is not rare to see foreign employees like Anna in King Long's global sales and service network. Each of them is a shining star who has made positive contributions to the buoyant advancement of King Long toward the Belt and Road regions and even to other parts of the world.