In 1999, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma founded Alibaba, a mail-order retail company. Within a few years, it grew to be valued at nearly $130 billion, employing more than 124,000 people. Alibaba is now considered the largest competitor to Amazon, the leading mail-order retailer, as well as a major player in cloud computing and physical storage. Jack Ma chose the name “Alibaba” not only because he was inspired by the stories from “One Thousand and One Nights,” which have captivated him and hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
He also saw a connection between the book’s vast collection of stories and his virtual store, which offers millions of merchandise items. The name was also selected for its ease of memorability, recognition, and simple pronunciation and spelling in most of the world’s languages. The company’s name is linked to one of the stories from the book, “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” and the cave where Ali Baba stored all his valuable stolen goods, which could only be opened by shouting “Open Sesame” while standing in front of it.
This is reflected in Alibaba’s website, which resembles a deep cave full of treasures. It provides individuals and small businesses around the world with significant opportunities to profit by ordering items and reselling them. Despite the clever logic behind the name, the Arab mindset often struggles to accept it because of its association with “the Forty Thieves.” But that is another story.
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Due to China’s vast size and huge population, and because many people are busy with hard, constant work, many do not have time to shop, especially for items that are not readily available in local shops or supermarkets, particularly those living in remote villages. As a result, the number of Chinese relying on mail-order delivery for most of their needs continues to grow. This is how Jack Ma built his enormous fortune.
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An Iraqi tourist visiting China shared in a video posted on Instagram that he noticed shelves filled with mail parcels of various sizes at the entrances of many residential buildings. These parcel delivery companies, such as Alibaba, placed the packages there for residents to pick up when they returned from work in the evening. He revealed that no one else took parcels that weren’t theirs, adding that this behavior is common in atheist countries where the majority, if not all, of the population does not follow any religion.
The Iraqi tourist said he was surprised by this unusual behavior, especially compared to the theft of shoes from worshippers in many of our countries. He revealed that his own shoes were stolen while praying in Iraq. His observation does not imply that the Chinese are a “special” people, nor that they are perfect. China has its share of bad habits that are difficult to accept. I myself had witnessed many of them during my visit to several Chinese cities. However, it does mean that our problem runs much deeper than theirs.
By Ahmad alsarraf
email: [email protected]
email: [email protected]
