Spending Spring Festival at the Boss’s Home: The Story of Jamo Chemical’s First Foreign Employee

A Bangladeshi Employee's Story at Yichang Jamo Chemical

"I've celebrated Spring Festival at my boss's home two years in a row now, and it feels wonderful."

Sawon skiing in Yichang. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Md Sahadat Hossen Sawon, 27, is from Bangladesh. He graduated from China Three Gorges University in 2023 and joined Yichang Jamo Chemical Co., Ltd., becoming the company's first foreign employee. As Overseas Sales Manager, he handles the company's business with clients in Europe, the United States, and Southeast Asia.

On January 29, 2026, a Hubei Daily reporter visited the company's office at Xinhua Plaza on Zhongnan Road in downtown Yichang. Sawon, in a sharply tailored suit, was at his desk talking with clients.

"Communicating in Chinese is no problem at all," Sawon said. He enrolled at China Three Gorges University in 2019 and threw himself into learning the language. "It was very difficult. I couldn't write, and when I went shopping I could only communicate with simple gestures."

"Several classmates went home because they couldn't get past the language barrier," Sawon said. "Chinese really is difficult. But if you practise — and only once you get past the language barrier — you can truly appreciate the charm of Chinese culture."

Seven years on, his Mandarin has improved enormously, and daily communication is no barrier at all. Together with his fluency in Bengali and English, it lets him take to his work like a duck to water.

His major was chemical materials. He chose Jamo Chemical for his final-year internship and was formally hired after graduation. As the company's first foreign employee, he is mainly responsible for business in Europe, the United States, and Southeast Asia.

Zheng Jianfeng, the company's administration manager, is full of praise for Sawon: "He loves to learn. Whether it's the company's business or the Chinese way of getting along with people, he picks it up very quickly."

Sawon has not been back to Bangladesh since he came to China. His parents and his younger sister are still there; a few years ago, when his sister married, he sent a red envelope, following Chinese custom. Every day he video-calls his family to share the little details of his life in Yichang.

"China has great opportunities for development. As long as you work hard enough, you will get somewhere," Sawon said. "I just want to make every minute and every second here count, and establish myself."

In 2026, he plans to bring his parents and his sister to Yichang, so they can experience the beauty of the Three Gorges.

He has never gone home, yet he has never felt lonely. For two Spring Festivals in a row, Eddy Chen, the company's owner, has invited him to his hometown in Xingshan and treated him as one of the family. Mindful of his religious beliefs as a Bangladeshi, Mr. Eddy arranged the Spring Festival menu so that no pork or similar ingredients were served.

"We ate good food together, went to Zhaojun Village, and I received Chinese red envelopes. It was wonderful." Sawon has come away with so many beautiful memories of Spring Festival.

He has also visited Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Qingdao and many other cities, and has travelled and skied many times in the Yichang counties of Wufeng, Xingshan, Changyang and Zigui. "I really like China — it's so comfortable here." Sawon has quietly resolved to put down roots in China.