Susan: The Chinese Woman Who Was Received by a Foreign President and Mines Stone on the Pamir Plateau

The mining area on the Pamir Plateau sits at an altitude of over 3,000 meters.

The wind cuts straight across the face, sharp and biting. Walking just a little faster leaves people breathless. The sound of machines echoes loudly through the vast mountains, yet instead of feeling lively, it feels isolated.

This place is far from the nearest city. Supplies, transportation, maintenance—any issue in any step is magnified by the plateau. The temperature difference between day and night is extreme. The sun during the day can make people dizzy, and once night falls, the cold presses in. Many people who come here for the first time struggle even to sleep.

When Susan first stood here, she did not feel a surge of heroic ambition. She knew clearly that this was not a place where mistakes could be made. Once a decision was taken, every consequence would be paid for in reality, one by one.

The mine has been developed bit by bit under these conditions. From 2018 to today, more than eight years have passed.

Susan has continued her search for mining opportunities in Tajikistan without stopping. Every month, she flies from Guangzhou to Tajikistan. Few would have imagined that a Chinese woman would mine stone in this place.

Susan, whose Chinese name is Chen Yanli, is the founder of Guangzhou PFM IMP. & EXP. CO., LTD (PFM). Her company is located in the International Design Capital building in Baiyun District, Guangzhou. PFM focuses on top-tier overseas interior projects, large-scale public buildings, artistic luxury residences, palaces, and villas.

The Qatar National Security Building, modern villas in Doha, the Tajikistan National Stadium, the residence of the Vice President of Chechnya—these are all representative projects of PFM.

Qatar National Security Building

Modern Luxury Villas in Doha

Chechnya Presidential Villa

Tajikstan Dushanbe National Stadium

After nearly twenty years of entrepreneurship, Susan's clients span 117 countries worldwide. In 2015, she was received by the President of Tajikistan. Remarkably, she not only mines stone overseas but also built a national stadium for Tajikistan. What is the story behind her journey?

Story Series 01

A Freshman Who Chased an American Professor
“As long as there is an opportunity, I will seize it.”

Susan was born in 1980 in a rural village in Jieshou, Anhui Province. Her family was poor, and from a young age she wanted to rise above her circumstances.

Her family was steeped in a strong preference for sons over daughters. Her father sighed at her birth and even discussed giving her away or exchanging her with relatives for a boy.

Although her mother was a farmer and illiterate, she could not bear to give up her first child. A year later, Susan’s younger brother was born. As a child, Susan was breastfed for only two or three months before it stopped, as her mother needed to feed her brother.

As a child, she would eagerly look forward to the days when the village held its market fair. Yet most of the time, what followed was deep disappointment — more often than not, only her younger brother was taken along.

She was always determined to prove herself, and studying was the only way she knew how. Although English education in that era only began in middle school with the alphabet, Susan's English stood out, driven by an intense passion for the language.

She longed to step beyond the village — to change the fate of rural life, and to change her own fate of being overlooked.

At university, she majored in architectural engineering. The school had one American foreign teacher, but he only taught third-year students.
As a freshman, Susan sought out the foreign teacher every day. She practiced spoken English with him whenever possible and often asked whether he needed any help. Once, when the teacher fell ill, she even accompanied him to the hospital.

“As long as there was an opportunity, I had to seize it,” Susan said. He was the only foreign teacher at the school, and she was determined to master English.

Susan developed fluent English, which later laid a solid foundation for her career in international trade.

Story Series 02

Her First Pot of Gold

She Went to Israel to Promote Marble Tiles Door to Door

In 2006, after resigning from a foreign trade company, 26-year-old Susan began her entrepreneurial journey, focusing primarily on marble trading.

At that time, she was dating an Israeli man. On one occasion, she traveled to Israel and asked her boyfriend to take her to a local building materials market. Holding a piece of mosaic tile in her hands, Susan stood in the market and promoted it directly to potential customers.

By chance, an Israeli client left his contact information. Three months later, when he planned to visit China for the Canton Fair, he thought of asking Susan to take him to visit factories.

Susan took him to visit factories and enthusiastically introduced mosaic products in detail. Eventually, the client placed an order worth USD 30,000—Susan’s very first order. As the client required a letter of credit, Susan needed to register a company, and thus Guangzhou PFM IMP. & EXP. CO., LTD. was established.

Remarkably, Susan did not have the money to pay a deposit to the factory, yet the factory owner was willing to trust her and ship the goods first, making the deal possible. This became Susan's first capital accumulation—an order came before the company itself.

Encouraged by this success, Susan proactively contacted other clients she knew, hoping they would place orders with her. She promised better quality and more competitive prices. However, that time, things went wrong.

It turned out that the factory’s packaging was inadequate, and the samples arrived broken. The client was very upset, and Susan felt deeply embarrassed.

After repeatedly asking for another chance, Susan persuaded the client to trust her once more. This time, she went directly to the factory and stayed there for two full days and nights, personally overseeing production and packaging.

Exhausted at night, she pushed together several chairs and fell asleep beside the production line. The workers felt sorry for her and suggested she stay at a hotel at night and return in the morning. Susan refused, knowing that her mind would not be at ease if she left the factory. When the second batch of samples was delivered, the client was very satisfied and began placing long-term orders with Susan.

At that time, Susan spent all the money she earned not on clothes or handbags, but on one thing only—making her showroom more beautiful, improving her company’s space, and investing in better talent. Her business continued to grow as a result.

Story Series 03

Her Connection with Tajikistan Began During Pregnancy

Six Months Pregnant, She Worked Until 3 a.m.

By 2015, Susan’s company PFM had grown considerably, with an expanding sales team and business covering more than 100 countries worldwide.

One day, a salesperson told her, “Boss, a client is coming tonight to negotiate prices.”At around 9 p.m., Susan—more than six months pregnant—stayed at the office to wait for the client.

Susan received several guests from Tajikistan. During the discussion, she noticed issues with the pricing of the exterior wall for their construction project. The structure did not require solid stone; if it were solid, the entire facade would be unable to bear the load and could collapse.

With a background in architectural engineering, Susan was highly familiar with construction materials and techniques. She proactively pointed out the issue and proposed a new solution that reduced the overall cost by more than 10%. The clients found Susan highly professional and trusted her judgment. In addition to finalizing the exterior wall design, they asked whether she could also provide interior solutions.

The clients found Susan highly professional and trusted her judgment. In addition to finalizing the exterior wall design, they asked whether she could also provide interior solutions. As the client planned to build a spa facility, Susan recommended mosaic materials, which were lightweight, easy to transport, and cost-effective. She offered multiple design options. With many samples on display at her company, Susan guided the clients through them one by one, explaining the applications and design solutions in detail.

Before they realized it, the discussion had stretched from after 9 p.m. until 3:30 a.m. The clients were all men, and they deeply admired Susan's dedication and professionalism. Afterward, the clients commented, “This woman is remarkable. She has never been pampered and treats her work with extreme seriousness. She is someone worth learning from.”

Six months pregnant, Susan not only completed this project order, but the client also requested PFM to handle installation and later entrusted the company with villa renovation projects.

No one knew at the time that this was only the beginning of Susan’s connection with Tajikistan—nor did Susan know that she would later influence and help drive the development of the country’s mining industry.

I hope more women quarry owners will join the conversation, so we can explore these questions together.