Chiranjaya’s 18 Years Life Story in China

（采访/撰文：Aurora S）

“Today's live stream is all about giving you guys some great deals! Guess what? Today, this gorgeous gem is yours for just 368Yuan! Forget about 600 or 700, folks! Alright, ready? Three, two, one, link it up!”

If it’s your first time to step into this buzzing room or stumbled across this fired-up Sri Lanka man on live streaming, you would be shocked by his fluent Chinese with perfect intonation promoting products, who just sold budget-priced peridot to several people in a few minutes.

He is one of the prentices of Chiranjaya Udumullage, the founder of China Sri Road Connection, who is on the spot proudly watching his “students” maneuvering the skills imparted by him.

The old adage“Chance favors the prepared mind” proves to be true when you peer into the life of Chiranjaya Udumullage.

Looking at how well he is doing with his company based on Sri Lanka-China trade, you can hardly imagine he came to China 18 years ago as one seven Sri Lanka students pursuing a Chinese education in Computer science.

Chiranjaya came to China in 2006 with a scholarship and the support from his family. This has been a dream from a very young age. His image of this foreign country was built bit by bit since he was a child, from the stories told by his father who was a member of China-Sri lanka Friendship Association. With the expectation of a well-developed country with hardworking people, he applied for the scholarship and came to China after high school.

It all revolves around “determination”.

He arrived with three determination:“I will learn Chinese first, and learn about the Chinese culture, and the knowledge to build my career in China.” and did lived up to his words. He spent his first year at a university in Tianjin for language study, after struggling with listening and intonations that “our throat are not trained like that”, from not even knowing“nihao” (hello) to start bargaining in Chinese, he finally achieved his first goal, all for his love to this culture.

It's nice to have a friend especially when you are fitting into a new culture. “They told me the best way is to make friends!” He said his secret of becoming adept in spoken Chinese is having those helpful friends, whether it was his first Chinese friend Kevin who opened up his first QQ account for him, or the friend who picked him up at the airport when he first came to Beijing, and every person who have taught him one or two small words.

Clearly there were some struggles, but he handled them. He’d always pick “Kung Pao Chicken”(spicy diced chicken) from the menu when he went to a restaurant because he couldn’t read Chinese, and lived on a budget of 800$ per month by planning every single expense to the dime.“I tried to minimize only five to six yuan within one day to survive”, he was trying his best to save some money at that time, and he still keeps the papers of the budget planning till now.

Apart from that, the first year went on really well, not only the apartment mingled with the smell of one different cuisine on each floor, also the activities he participated in, including tennis and cricket. He introduced cricket to Chinese students and even applied to teach them voluntarily. As the Beijing Olympic 2008 took place the second year he settled in, he has never forgotten the experience of watching the closing ceremony, during which he exclaimed “I can’t believe my eyes”at the spectacular fireworks that rendered him speechless.“If someone asks what is the best memory in my life, I would say it’s the first year in Tianjin, it’s a special feeling. “That’s how he recalled about his first step in China.

“From the first day I landed on China, I have the determination. I want to stay with China and might live and build my career in China.”

His part-time job in a gem store and tea exhibitions opened up a new world to him, where he noticed how Sri Lanka’s products are appealing to Chinese people. “China is such a big market. There’s a huge opportunity we can promote more products in China. “He began selling tea, coconut products, and gems while he was in his master’s degree in computer science, and started learning about marketing after he graduated in 2014, and finally came out with his company in the winter of 2018.

Starting a company in China as a foreigner wasn’t that easy back then. It takes time and has to go through multiple phases. Dealing with food license, bank accounts, and business administrations was demanding. But now things have become easier with the opportunities given by the government, with projects like BRI, subsidizing the rent, opening up cargo access through the port, facilitating the process of starting up a company from 1 year to 3 days, and also hosting exhibitions where he can compare and learn from other products.

Coming to this level has only been six years, “It was fast, but it wasn’t easy.” Chiranjaya noted as he summed up this long haul.

There was a romantic interlude in the middle of his career. He met a Chinese girl who liked to take photos of the sea in the early morning while he was working as a tourist translator in Sri Lanka, and that girl now became his wife after seven years of long-term relationship, beginning from the loving proposal by the sunset of Indonesia’s beach.

Meeting the love of life fueled him to work harder, “I want to make her feel secure. “So a new aim was added on his list of determination: to give her the assurance.

As his theory of “the best way to merge into a culture is to make friends”, his wife played a big part in guiding and helping him accommodate to this foreign culture, as well as greatly supporting his business being his one and only companion.

Accomplishing all his three goals, he is now an expert in Chinese culture, he knows how Chinese people drink tea, how to cheer with a cup lower, and even how to chat with seniors eloquently, plus, he’s a fan of dumplings and Mala Tang (Chinese hotchpotch).

Difficulties struck during the lucky streak. The pandemic broke out during their honeymoon in Myanmar, which closed the gate for them to come back to China and continue the business. They were trapped at home in Sri Lanka for three month, with no purchase, no trade. The supply chain was blocked for 6 months and the foods were damaged in the warehouse, the curfew was fickle and this gloomy situation seemed endless.

But the dark moment also led to the pathof livestreaming. Chiranjaya had to seek new ways to maintain his business, and it was the online platform that saved him. Again he started acquiring this new skill by watching livestreamers, learning how they attract people. Starting from Taobao (a Chinese e-commerce platform), he quickly fit into the new identity of being an online celebrity from a businessman who tends to promote his products through interactions on exhibitions, and the livestreaming with the ambassador at CIIE was phenomenal.

Being a Sri Lanka who speaks good Chinese have given him an edge, especially in blazing the trails for“a Sri Lanka businessman livestreaming on Chinese platform” which opened up the market of cross-boarder e-commerce.

“The market of China is very important to us, 1.4 billion people are living in China, but we always fail to reach them. China goes with the technology. “From what he perceived, Sri Lanka people used to measure the success of a business from how many supermarkets one owns, but now he’s changing their mind to ask “How many products have been sold to China”, trying to introduce the development of Chinese digital technology to his home country. He stated, “Now 90% of people buy products from their phone, our products have to be promoted through the technology.”

Blessed by the burst of e-commerce and his provident insight, his profit is now soaring with the market trend, selling boxful of biscuits and tea for 100,000 in one hour isn’t a fantasy. “I don’t think you can have this by opening 10 or 100 shops,(with e-commerce), the cost is not that high, but you have to display well, we have to learn how to do that with technology,” says Chiranjaya, eagerly conveying his experience to other people.

As a person who commands both Chinese and Sri Lanka culture, he values his company as a bond between the two country, with tea from Sri Lanka and tin from China—as what his company’s name tells: China Sri Road Connection, which is also the homophone of Silk Road project, signifying the connection.

Not only is he importing and promoting Sri Lanka’s products, but also exporting wisdom from China, he would introduce China’s drone and other manufacturing machines to Sri Lanka’s agriculture system, complementing each other, showing the joint force of agriculture and technology could also be a sign of good relationship.

He has been following the annual two sessions and always focuses on the topic related to international business, for it not only helped him, but has the potential to benefit more people.“The decisions they made are very important to the whole world’s economy.”

Most people would opt for a laid-back pace of life compared to a stressful and hasty one, but not in Chiranjaya’s case. He’s probably one of the few people that says“I think I love the speed of China”, by meaning the pace of life, which makes him surprisingly a good match for China’s dominant lifestyle. Some people in China tend to work to what’s beyond “enough”, and Chiranjaya sometimes does the same thing, without groaning about it, because the motivation stems from his own urge—the vision of being better off. Fueled by the goal of promoting his career, going to his office at 9 am or midnight is equivalent to him,“It isn’t tired, because I have to work hard. We all have only a short period of time in our life, so you should get the most out of what you can do. If I think it’s enough I can go back to Sri Lanka and relax, but that’s not me.”

Looking back to what he said about his determination at the very beginning, he really meant it.

Though he did such a good job in embracing the bustle that people would’ve otherwise complained, If you force someone to nitpick out of the status quo, it would be the peer pressure, as commonly being the tradeoff of Chinese people’s industriousness. However, it isn’t the pressure that plagueshim, but the homogeneous competition he is concerned for. “If you open a gas station and is earning money, another gas station will be open near you.”If you make a business, others would quickly follow suit, it’s always the similar shop that congregates, which also means more rivals, but he is poised to the challenge, and understands that there will always be opponents that covet and try to impede you, which he regards as evidenceof blossom.

Turns out, he loves the speed of China in both ways, which definitely includes the speedy development of China.

China’s modernization is forging ahead in great speed, with technology advancing by leaps and bounds over the past decade. Being the person who have lived 18 years in China, Chiranjaya is absolutely entitled to take over the mike and talk about this.

From what he has witnessed, the most prominent case he’d frequently talk about is the miracle change in the transport system, as the long haul of a three-hours-train from Beijing to Tianjin when he first came by 2006 now accelerated to 30 minutes after one year when the bullet train was launched, and the lines of undergrounds have swiftly soared to more than 20 within 10 years, which greatly facilitates both interprovincial and urban commute; The infrastructure as well, struck him as one of the tremendous achievement China have made, which astonished his friend that came back to China after ten years with completely new look, including one of the biggest airport in the world; He was also very excited talking about the cash-free payment, “It’s been more than three to four years I do not use cash. I only take my phone when I go out.”, also mentioning how technology has spread alike in rural areas, how skillful are the elder people using electronic devices with no gap between ages.

“The development of China is huge, you can’t even imagine.”

Now with his live-streaming career is gathering momentum, he didn’t have time to go back to Sri Lanka as frequently as usual, but have been around China for business trips,especially the southern part, as well as rural areas where he’s able to correlate with China’s agriculture and introduce Sri Lanka’s tea.

Of all the things he loves about China, the people affected him most, he revealed eternal gratefulness to all the kindness and hospitality of Chinese people along the way he recalls his journey of paving the path in China. “Whenever and wherever I go, even at night, even at the smallest restaurant, they have big respect to foreigners and are always ready to help us. People on the road are very helpful even I don’t speak Chinese, and people in the restaurant treat us well regardless of money. “He always remembered the kindness he received from Huzhou city, the residents offered lodging and introduced people to support him when he just started his business, minimizing his expense and wholeheartedly back up his career, just for“You are good. You are hard-working. We have to help you.” That friendship transcends age. One of his friends was nearly 70, “he always come to the station to pick me, always take care of me, if I stay in a hotel he’d stay with me for concerns of security. I can’t believe he’s doing these for me even spending money and time.”

“Courtesy calls for reciprocity” underlies the his interaction with people, he is now extending the kindness to more people in need.“My main target right now is to help with the Sri Lanka student who graduate in China, and whoever wants to come and find a job in China.”There are Sri Lanka graduated students in the live room, at the reception, and in the accountant’s office, who are doing really great job to make a living with the skills imparted from him, especially yelling the taglines and “Link up!” with amusing tone in front of the live stream camera. “I support the Sri Lanka students to graduate and come to work at my office, anyone, anytime, for I wasn’t given that opportunity before.“He’s always open up ready to give a hand to anyone who seeks to come to China.

“Today I’m here because of the opportunity given from the Chinese government.” emerge as heartfelt words in one of his interview by Beijing Service.

In a volatile and complex world beset by geopolitical conflicts and unpredictable horrors, China is blazing a trail in international engagement.

“The government have done such a great job to give the equality to the whole country of 4 billion people, it’s not easy to rule a country without any problems, there’s always problems, you can see people coming to the road, people shouting, but China is a very peaceful country, it’s amazing how the government has maintained the peaceful environment in China.” Of whatever you can earn through money, the peaceful lifestyle is the only wealth unobtainable through richness.

His message to China:

“ I will say you are very lucky people, living in the safest place in the world. You can see the whole world in this country, and there are so many beautiful places, so many beautiful culture, and people are very nice in all of the places of China, and brought so many things to the world. Chinese people are very lucky to be the part of the country and be proud of it. I wish China more and more developed, becoming the best country to live safetly and happily.” He’s sharing the pride with China, and sincerely wish upon the development of China and the relationship between China and Sri Lanka.

His message to Sri Lanka:

“We have faced lot of difficulties from time to time, we are unlucky to have those unlucky difficulties, but we passed it, and now my people are very strong and we have the courage to overcome those problems. I wish my people can also learn from China, of how they conquer difficulties in the past years, that’s how China comes to the development seen by now, So we can learn from China, take the benefit and opportunity provided to build Sri Lanka, it wouldn’t be a big task. I hope this beautiful country also smiles.