Aussie designer impressed by China’s culture of hard work

Joseph Deleo

Chen Xiaochun

654789759@qq.com

Joseph Deleo, CEO and chief designer of Airflo Australia, an Australian household electronics company, has witnessed in person the changes China has gone through since the 1990s and is deeply impressed by its culture of hard work.

Deleo now lives in Shenzhen and works with factories across the country that produce kitchen appliances. In 1992, when Deleo had a transfer in Hong Kong on the way home from a business trip to Frankfurt, Germany, he decided to get a visa and go to Shanghai.

“It was the very first time I set foot on the soil of the Chinese mainland. My very first impression was that there were a lot of people in the street, and I had never seen so many people in my life. I thought there was something wrong. Maybe there was a fire or accident,” said Deleo, adding that he had a feeling that “one day China would rise.”

In Shanghai, Deleo met a man who wanted to exchange foreign currency with him and later took him to Hangzhou to find the factories that he was looking for.

Apart from helping the factories develop different products, Deleo also helped improve their technology standards. “To get the products approved in different countries, you need to meet a certain standard.”

Since then, he has been working with Chinese factories, traveling back and forth between China and Australia. As his work continued to increase, he made the decision to move to Shenzhen five years ago.

“China gives me the opportunity to put my ideas together. It is one of the best countries in the world as far as having an innovative idea and making it work and getting it into the marketplace, because it has a very unique platform of manufacturing with a mature level of technology,” explained Deleo.

What has impressed Deleo even more is the culture of hard work in the country.

“I don’t like how people outside of China keep criticizing the country. They don’t understand the incredible job that the government has done to hold the billion people together and to pull them out of poverty. This is something short of a miracle. And China has done it,” said Deleo.

“I remember the early days when the factories were getting large orders from overseas and had to work on little profit. But they worked hard. They deserve what they get because they worked for it. It didn’t come easy.”

Deleo remembers one night when he was working with factory workers around the clock to meet a deadline for an order from overseas clients.

“We produced and produced and produced, and we worked and worked and worked,” said Deleo, adding that China deserves the fruit of its hard work.