A former US diplomat who spent 12 years helping American companies do business in China has turned his expertise and life-long interest in health into his own China business. He markets US supplements in China and exports Chinese gouqi (goji, wolfberries) berries.
Every day Barnes, 55, eats the bright red dried berries, one of the world's most powerful and highly concentrated antioxidants, mixing them with his oatmeal. He is so convinced of the need for high-quality berries from China that he and his Chinese partners have built a new high-tech processing plant in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
The Yinchuan facility is the world's largest and most advanced gouqi juice-processing plant, says Barnes. It also produces dried berries, powder and seed oil, all for export. Gouqi juice will be launched in the China market this month.
The health business is Barnes' latest undertaking in China. He is president of both Xanadu Inc, which he runs with his full-partner wife Qi Haiting, and Ningxia Ruby Goji Co (international operations). He is also the China director of Vita-Tech, a California supplements supplier. Barnes writes articles on nutrition and wellness in English and Chinese.
A native of Portland, Oregon, Barnes holds a master's degree in international business administration and has worked in Asia for many years, helping US companies seize the expanding economic opportunities. As US commercial liaison to the Asian Development Bank in Manila, the Philippines, from 1997 to 2000, he helped US companies bid for ADB projects and advised US officials during the Asian financial crisis.
Barnes came to China in 1987, working as a US diplomat for 12 years, serving in Beijing, Guangzhou (Guangdong Province) and Chengdu (Sichuan Province). He moved to Shanghai two and a half years ago.
"My job was assisting American companies in marketing US products. This included all kinds of products from Boeing aircraft to Nike sports shoes," says Barnes, who was US commercial counselor at the US Embassy in Beijing.
During the early days of market economy reform, Barnes helped companies adjust. He was at the forefront of efforts to preserve China-US trade when bilateral relations reached a low point in 1989. He helped US companies after China joined the World Trade Organization.
While doing volunteer work during in Beijing, Barnes met Qi, a Shanghai teacher at an international primary school. They married, and they are expecting a son this month.
Two and half years ago, Barnes left the foreign service, moved to Shanghai and started his business.
Barnes has always been interested in health and wellness, so the nutrition industry was a natural.
"When starting a business of my own, I wanted it to involve what I care most about," he says. When two of his Chinese friends invited him to join in starting a gouqi products company he was enthusiastic, as the berries have always appealed to him.
In the late 1980s, he noticed the red berries at Chinese banquets and was told they were extremely healthful. "So I began buying dried gouqi at traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) pharmacies and putting them in my oatmeal every morning," says Barnes.
He is interested in the scientific research into China's 5,000-year-old pharmacopia and the medicinal and nutritional value of herbs. Barnes cooks with herbs, adding gouqi berries and ginseng to chicken, for example.
He doesn't boil up TCM herbal potions but chooses herbs for their scientifically proven value. He chooses standardized extracts of herbs that can be taken in capsule or tablet form, such as EGCG extracted from green tea, resveratrol (antioxidant) extracted from hu zhang (knotweed), and gingko biloba. He sometimes buys in bulk and encapsulates his own herbs.
He personally takes US nutritional supplements because Chinese supplements are often several times as costly because of strict government regulation.
"Gouqi berries are extremely good for health because of their high concentration of antioxidants that slow the aging process and prevent chronic disease," says Barnes.
Research shows that regular intake of gouqi can significantly raise the body's levels of serum SOD, the most important antioxidant enzyme made by the body, he says. The berries are also rich in carotenoids that strengthen the eyes and help keep skin youthful.
Though most Chinese are used to making tea with gouqi berries, Barnes believes most Westerners prefer bottled juice for convenience. He and his partners produce fresh juice, dried berries and powder in a modern, hygienic plant using berries from Ningxia where the best berries are grown.
The biggest challenge is to get the fresh berries into the processing plant and make them into pasteurized juice or dry them on the same day they are picked. "Although gouqi is powerfully nutritious, the berries are also extremely fragile and can spoil within hours of being picked," says Barnes. Ruby Goji began rapid processing last September.
Production is principally for export to the US, but Japan, Australia, Canada and Europe are also strong markets.
The US market for gouqi products grew 133 percent last year, according to one report. After the Chinese pet food scandal, the US Food and Drug Administration has made it more difficult to import Chinese food products, especially raw agricultural products like dried gouqi.
For the time being, Barnes and his partners are concentrating on the US juice market where there are no impediments. "With the signing of a US-China Food Safety Agreement in December, we hope it will be easier to export dried gouqi to the US this year," says Barnes.
"As I am preparing to have a son at age 55 with my younger wife, I think I should eat even more gouqi," he says. "When he grows up, I dream of climbing the mountains of my native Oregon with him."
Denny Barnes
Nationality: US
Age: 55
Profession: Entrepreneur in nutrition industry
Description of yourself: Curious, creative, caring.
Favorite place in Shanghai:
West Lake in Hangzhou. I proposed marriage to my wife on the shores of the lake.
Worst experience:
My most terrifying experience was giving a friend's wedding speech before 300 people in Shanghainese dialect. After it was over, however, the wedding was great fun.
Strangest sight:
A former US ambassador eating deep-fried scorpions and drinking bai jiu liquor at a banquet in Shandong Province, smiling broadly with scorpion parts very visible in his teeth.
Life's motto:
Curiosity is not a crime. Don't be afraid to try new experiences, dare to explore the unknown, and don't be embarrassed to ask lots of stupid questions.
Ideal weekend:
Just a little more than one hour by bullet-train ride to Hangzhou. Peaceful strolls along the shores of West Lake. Excellent food and views at the famous Lou Wai Lou restaurant.
Things that could improve Shanghai:
As the industrial center of China, Shanghai faces huge environmental challenges. Many are being addressed, but Shanghainese must think well beyond their borders and protect China's increasingly polluted and threatened watersheds. All of China's pollution flows downstream to Shanghai.
Advice to newcomers:
Shanghai is a very modern, international city, but it's China-lite. I recommend getting out and experiencing the richness of China's 5,000-year-old culture. As Shanghai is a transportation hub, it is easy to travel widely.
(Shanghai Daily January 17, 2008)
