How one of China’s biggest military fan sites crossed ranks into e-commerce
Tiexue.net started out as a forum for PLA enthusiasts, but has transformed itself into a multimillion-yuan business making and selling army-style coats and boots – with the armed police among its customers
The words blood and iron conjure up images of the devastation of war. But type them into a Chinese search engine and you are likely to stumble upon a website for military fans that in its 15 years of operation has transformed itself into a multimillion-yuan business.
Tiexue.net – “iron blood” in Putonghua – has moved far beyond its initial purpose of providing an online platform for junmi, or military fans.
Last November, its holding company, Beijing Tiexue Technology, was listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, an over-the-counter exchange saturated with capital-hungry start-ups.
Beyond the forum, which has itself attracted 10 million registered users since 2001, most of the site’s income now comes from its e-commerce offshoot that makes and sells army-style coats and boots. Not only are the clothes snapped up by millions of junmi, it has also become a supplier to the armed police.
During a road show in December, Jiang Lei, 31, Tiexue’s founder and chief executive, set fire to a fleece that he was wearing to show off its heat resistance. It was one of 5,000 fire suits it is producing for the police’s forest protection crew this year – the first armed forces order Tiexue has received.