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By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
Jeff Liu, 37, owner of Island Art & Framing, was unable to
speak English and had just $20 in his pocket when he came to
Hawaii from Beijing in 1985. His goal was to establish a career
for himself before he turned 30.

HE spoke no English and had just $20 in his pocket when he arrived from China in 1985. Today, Jeff Liu owns four art galleries, a travel agency and a fledgling Internet venture.

"In China, we believe you have to have something of your own before 30," said Liu, never far from a cellular phone. "If you make mistakes, you still have enough energy to do something about it."

The 37-year-old entrepreneur has an abundance of that.

Since starting his first business -- Island Art & Framing -- on Queen Emma Street in 1991, Liu has opened galleries in Hawaii Kai, Aloha Tower and, last year, in Waikiki. Sales were up 20 percent last year, he said.

PROFILE Name: Jeff Liu. Age: 37. Born: Beijing. U.S. citizen: 1990. Family: Married, three children. Businesses: Island Art & Framing; Island Art Galleries; Business Travel; Beimei.com.

Liu's travel agency, Business Travel, is poised for a promising market in China, held back mainly by communication barriers, he said.

Meanwhile, Liu several months ago launched "Beimei.com," a Web site meant to facilitate American trade with China. (See related story.)

"The Chinese want to get American products but they have two problems," said Liu. "They don't understand the language and they don't know where to go to get them."

Success wasn't handed to Liu, who spent his first months in Hawaii living with a relative before renting a two-room apartment in Kaimuki and sub-leasing both rooms while sleeping on a borrowed couch.

"I got my own studio about a year later," he recalled.

Liu found a job working for a frame shop and took classes at Kapiolani Community College at night.

A year after gaining American citizenship in 1990, he was running his own business.

Growing up in communist Beijing, Liu was taught that America was bad and businesses took advantage of workers.

"But we thought, how come foreigners always seem to be well-dressed and have lots of things?"

Much of his youth was spent surreptitiously looking for ways to get ahead.

"I was always thinking about how to make some money," he recalls. "We used to go to Guanzhou and get some things to bring back and sell."

These days Liu looks for bigger opportunities in Beijing. He recently returned from China after signing a contract with Motorola Inc. to provide Web content from Beimei to a new generation of wireless telephones able to access the Internet.

"There are 40 million mobile phone users in China," he said. "Motorola projects there will be 70 million by the end of the year."

Liu plans to open an office for his new Web site in Beijing by April.

Liu's family has a long connection with Hawaii.

In the 1850s, his great-great grandfather, Tong Yi, was among the earliest Chinese immigrants to Hawaii.

Tong Yi eventually returned to China but his son, Tong Hong, returned and attended Iolani School, Liu said.

Tong Hong, who founded the Chinese American Bank in Honolulu in 1917, also returned to China after the bank failed in 1935.

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Liu hopes to link up
U.S., China businesses

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

A leather store in Beijing wants $500,000 in sportswear from the United States. A government agency in Xian needs help with a $80 million irrigation project. A lender in Florida has $500 million for projects in China.

These are among the wide-ranging listings recently found on Beimei.com, a fledgling Hawaii-based Web site that hopes to bring American and Chinese entrepreneurs together.

Beimei, which is pronounced "bay-may" and means "North America" in Mandarin, hopes to serve as an electronic bulletin board, allowing companies in the United States and China to communicate directly.

"We eliminate the language barrier," said Jeff Liu, a Chinese immigrant who maintains close ties with his native Beijing. "A Chinese auto repair shop can go on the site and look for products in the United States."

Companies from either side of the ocean can register at the site for free, posting the names of their companies and contact information, translated into Mandarin Chinese.

The service bypasses third parties -- government or private intermediaries -- that have hampered or slowed trade with China, Liu said.

Still in its infancy, Beimei hopes to turn a profit by charging $100 to post additional Web pages and 30 cents a word for special translation services. Basic company listings and translation services are free.

With about 200 listings in 26 categories so far, Beimei is barely off the ground. The site this week was under construction with only basic information available about planned services.

But Liu, chief executive at Beimei, hopes to have the site fully operational in about two weeks and says he sees huge potential.

"China has more than 8.9 million computers online -- many of them used by more than one person -- and users are key business contacts," he said.

The number of computers hooked up to the Internet is projected to reach 30 million by the end of this year, he added.

Liu notes a 15 percent annual growth of Chinese exports to the United States and imports of $140 million. With trade barriers relaxing, these figures can only grow, he said.

"China is really a developing country," he said. "There are lots of business opportunities."