Villagers Strike Culinary Gold in Shanghai: The Story of the Yimeng Pancake

Villagers Strike Culinary Gold in Shanghai: The Story of the Yimeng Pancake
Dec 24, 2015 By eChinacities.com

Editor’s Note: Did you know that all of Shanghai’s yimeng pancake stall owners come from the same village in Shandong? The popular breakfast snacks have changed the quality of life of many families from a village in Pingyi, Shandong. The families live in Shanghai to sell their goods, but have purchased or built large comfortable villas back home and BMWs for their parents and their own retirement. Here is the story of how the village of Youlou found their fortune hawking pancakes on the streets of Shanghai.

Villagers in Youlou Village in Pingyi, Shandong have struck it rich by traveling to Shanghai and cooking up yimeng pancakes. The modest village is home to 36 two-story villas and four apartment buildings. BMWs, Maserati, and Mercedes-Benzes line the drive-ways and lots.

Residents of Youlou Village earn hundreds of thousands of Yuan selling yimeng pancakes in Shanghai. Households earning more than 200,000 Yuan per year are considered normal. This income is way beyond the salary of a regular farmer. Yimeng pancakes have changed the lives of many villagers.

The small calm village set in the mountains of Pingyi and faces a lake. The area is both tranquil and bleak, but has become linked with Shanghai in a number of ways. Li Xingpu, a Youlou villager said that, “dozens of families have purchased homes in Shanghai.”

Villagers Earn More than Shanghaiers
In Shanghai, the average price of a home was 32,555 Yuan per square meter in 2015. A 90 square meter home is priced at about 3 million Yuan. Shanghai’s per capita annual income is about 47,711 Yuan, the highest in the nation. However, the average income in Shanghai is only one-third the average income of Youlou Village.
The first road from the village to the outside world was constructed in the 1990s. The road is so narrow that two cars cannot drive on it at the same time. The village has no factories, resources, or any kind of geographical advantage. How did this small village become so wealthy in the pass 20 years? How do its residents earn salaries higher than the average salary in Shanghai?  The answer: yimeng pancakes.

A Family Affair
Early in the morning, at 1 am, Shanghai has just begun to quiet down after a long, noisy day. At the same time, Li Xingwen of Youlou Village’s family of six is waking up to prepare the family pancake stall. The family lives in Shanghai but owns a home back in their hometown of Youlou.  This is Li’s 22nd year of selling pancakes in Shanghai. Every day at 3 am, Li and his wife arrive in the city outside an exit of Shanghai Metro Line 9 and set up their pancake stall. At 4 am, their first customers appear. Li refers to these customers as “night commuters.” As the run rises, another wave of customers appear—office workers on their way to work. Li’s stall is near popular subway and bus station and serves commuters all morning. 

Within 5 km of Li Xingwen’s pancake stall, there are three more run by members of his family. 20 meters north, Li’s son runs a stand. 800 meters west, his brother sells pancakes, and three kilometers down the road, his other son runs a fourth stand. 90% of Shanghai’s pancake stalls are run by villagers from Youlou Village, Pingyi.

Calculating Profits
A regular pancake costs 4 Yuan, and 5 Yuan gets you an extra egg or vegetable. Each 5 Yuan or so pancake costs Li and his family only 1 Yuan to produce. If Li and his sons stands sell 600 pancakes every day, they can make 72,000 Yuan per month, and 864,000 Yuan per year. Take out the 10,000 monthly rent for the three stalls, and the family nets about 750,000 Yuan per year and 250,000 Yuan per stall (not including Li’s brother). Those who make an above-average salary in Shanghai often earn less.

Yimeng pancakes have changed the lives of all who live in the small village. In 1998, Li Rongshi was the first villager to sell Yimeng pancakes in Shanghai. He never imagined that he would change the lives of his entire village. Li Xingwen’s entire family of six have since moved to Shanghai. His son, Li Defu purchased a house in Shanghai and got married. 98 year old villager Li Ming began his career selling pancakes and eventually became the owner of a food and beverage company and multi-millionaire investor.

Li Ming said however, that he would not encourage young people to go out and sell pancakes and except to become rich. The younger generation should use the foundation that their parents created to start their own undertaking.

Source: iFeng

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Keywords: yimeng pancake yimeng pancakes Shanghai

4 Comments

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Guest593844

I just don't believe the numbers here. If they work 8 hours a day -- every day -- they would have to make 75 pancakes an hour. While the families do get to work for themselves and probably do make solid cash in comparison to other low-skill jobs in Shanghai, their income is probably at about 50% what this article suggests. And, in my opinion, to buy the types of cars they have bought, you should be making well into seven figures. Why do so many people here spend like multiple years worth of wages on a car?

Dec 24, 2015 12:59 Report Abuse

bill8899

Face. Conspicious consumption. Bitchezzzz. That's why they buy the Benzes and BMWs.

Dec 27, 2015 20:00 Report Abuse

SaifMalik

I believe the numbers. There's a man from dong bei who sells these dong bei styled pancakes where I live. He cooks them on a huge burner where he can produce 10 at a time and they are sold out as soon as he produces one. He seems to be making a fortune!

Dec 30, 2015 18:24 Report Abuse

silverbutton1

I dont believe the numbers either. But I am knowledgeable in how minority Asian, and SE Asian hierarchical socio-economic structure work. Profits/ surplus monies are pooled for the upper echelon "village Chiefs", inwhich they buy/spend as they wish. In this case, its large homes and high-end autos.

Jan 07, 2016 11:33 Report Abuse