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A captivating English translation of Jiang Rong's award-winning novel chronicles a Beijing student's immersion with nomadic farmers of the Mongolian grasslands just before China's Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and '70s. The story becomes a passionate eulogy to a ferocious and far-flung way life, and to the wolf, the foremost predator of the grasslands. The story was inspired by Rong's own experience as a student in Mongolia. "Wolf Totem" has now been translated into English after winning the 2007 Man Asia Prize for fiction. The story soon becomes a passionate eulogy to this ferocious and far-flung way of life, and to the wolf, the foremost predator of the grasslands. Chen's Mongolian hosts pour their energy into respecting the cycles governing the grasslands, as they have for centuries. The author said, “Wolf Totem is now published in Mongolia’s Cyrillic after having been published in over 30 languages including English, French, German, Japanese, Italian and Spanish. It means that Mongolian wolf naturalism is coming back to the Mongolian steppe which is its own native land of intelligence. I would like to express my extreme happiness for it. After Wolf Totem was published in 2004 in China, there were severe disputes. However readers welcomed it with appreciation and now it has become one of bestsellers in recent years in China.

As saying goes, “Brand is produced by brand-intelligence”. The gentleman who was able to get MSM a brand name in the Mongolian business sector is a German. The Mongolians are familiar with “Mongolian Star Melchers” due Johnson&Johnson and Mercedes-Benz products. However, not many of us know our new acquaintance Laurenz Melchers, who is contributing to the development of Mongolia by introducing a Western business practice in the market. Our interview started with a talk about a world famous brand.

What requirement had the Mongolians to satisfy to sell Mercedes Benz’s famous product?
It is not easy to sell expensive brand products, however people have trust in a well established brand and its quality. We set up our company 12 years ago and at that time Mercedes-Benz did not give us many guidelines to adhere to. Time was quite different in those days. Today things have changed of course and the Mongolian consumer has grown up and has high expectations. Due to this, MSM decided to make a full investment according to the international Corporate Identity Guidelines of Mercedes-Benz. Sooner or later this would anyhow have been expected of us.

The Europeans, especially Germans are said to be careful people. To what extent did you study Mongolia before you establish a company?
You’ll be surprised to hear my answer. I did not undertake any study on Mongolia.

Was it risky?
Maybe it was risky, but I did not know it then and paid little attention to such thoughts. I acted by gut feeling and it worked quite well.

I see many photos on the wall of yout office showing the life of Mongolians. You might have been one of those backpackers. What was special for you in the taiga life of Khuvsgul?
I’ve been there many times. I find taiga people very friendly. They are peaceful, and have nothing to panic. I catch sight of the wonderful nature of Mongolians from taiga people in Khubsgul. They treasure nature above all. They are very patient. I admire their loving feeling for nature. In addition, I find tea prepared by taiga people to be most tasty.

Did you happen to get lost in taiga?
I never get lost in taiga. But I get lost in Gobi. While traveling to Oyu Tolgoi, Umnugobi aimag in 2005. I fully relied on my GPS which was somehow set wrongly and led me to driving in the wrong direction for 6 hours.

Is there any traditional business of Melchers family?
I haven’t told you that I come from Bremen in the northern Germany. My forefathers founded a commercial company in 1806. My family is involved in business inherited from that company having 200 years history. In 1860 they established a branch company in Hong Kong. My father was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Shanghai. So Asia is not ‘foreign’ to us and we fell happy in this region.

How do you remove your stress, except traveling?
I love skiing. My hobby is bicycling in and climbing the mountains. I have a great family and a wonderful dog. On top of all of that, we all live outside of UB in the most wonderful nature and there it is easy to get rid of stress.  

What do you think of Mongolian businessmen’s education?
Things are different from person to person. Some businessmen have a good business background, and they have heard and know many things. Also, there are business people, completely lacking knowledge. The phenomenon is observed in all countries. However, there are many businessmen in your country, who are excellent managers, and who know more than I do. I know some businessmen, who started a company 10 years ago, and who were able to make their companies as exemplary. They are almost of my age. Observations show that people learn in the process of a creation and become experienced. There is no secret recipe for us. Individuals themselves get developed in the process of a development.

Mr. Melchers, we thank you for your time.
The pleasure is all mine.