Across China: From import replacement to global exporter, Chinese harvester maker sweetens sugarcane business-Xinhua
by Xinhua writer Zhang Yunlong ZHENGZHOU, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- "People say a woman fears marrying the wrong man, while a man fears choosing the wrong trade. I definitely chose the wrong trade," Zhang Changxian, 59, said with a laugh. When Zhang began developing a sugarcane harvester in 2008, he expected challenges. He did not expect it would take eight years to bring the machine to market. For years, the engineer-turned-entrepreneur and his team spent harvest seasons testing and redesigning prototypes in cane fields in Chongzuo, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The city is about 1,600 km from his factory in Luoyang, central China's Henan Province. During one field test, a steering linkage snapped in a muddy patch. In many others, the machine struggled with cane flatten...