The story of Chung Ju Yung, the founder of Hyundai, illustrates how relentless perseverance, unwavering belief in oneself, and a commitment to continuous improvement can transform humble beginnings into a global industrial empire, inspiring resilience and ambition in the face of adversity.
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Welcome my friends. What if I told you
the man who created Hyundai, one of the
biggest car companies in the world,
once worked on muddy fields with no shoes,
shoes,
never went to college and was so poor he
couldn't afford a train ticket. So he
ran 120 km on foot just to chase a
dream. This is not a motivational
speech. This is not fiction. This is real.
real.
Today you will hear the story of a boy.
A boy who had nothing and built everything.
everything.
A boy who had no money, no education, no
power, but had one thing that changed
his life. A decision to never stop
trying. But why should you listen to
this story?
Because this is not just about business.
This story will teach you how to fight
when life hits you hard. How to believe
when nobody believes in you. How to
stand alone when the world shuts the
door. And yes, this story will also
improve your English. How? Because you
are not just watching English. You are
feeling it. You are living inside a
story. That's the secret to fluency. Not
grammar books, not boring vocabulary
lists, but real stories with real
emotion told in easy, clear, and
powerful English. So listen closely
because this video might not just teach
you English, it might change your life.
Now, let's begin the story of the man
who started it all. Part one, the boy
who had nothing.
Let's go back. The year is 1915.
We're in a small poor village in North
Korea. Yes, before Korea was divided. A
boy named Chung Juyong is born into a
family of farmers. They grow rice. They
live in a straw roof house. They eat
simple food. Sometimes not enough. He is
the eldest son in the family. That means
he must help at the field everyday. No
shoes, no toys, no time to dream. From
age seven, he carries water, cuts grass
for cows, and helps plant rice. His
father is strict and believes in one
rule. Work hard, don't dream. A farmer's
son must become a farmer. But little
Chung was different. Even as a child, he
wanted more. He would stare at the
mountains and think, "Is this all there
is to life?" When he was around 14 years
old, he had a dream.
He wanted to study, go to school, learn
math, become a teacher.
So one day he secretly left home and
walked miles to enroll in a school. But
his father found out and in anger he
dragged him back to the farm. "Stop
dreaming," his father said. "Dreams
don't feed hungry mouths." This was the
first time life told him. Stay small.
But something inside Chong refused. A
few years later, he tried again. He left
home with only a little money and a big
dream. This time, he wanted to go to the
city, Soul. But he didn't have enough
for a train ticket. So, what did he do?
He ran. Yes.
120 km on foot. No phone, no food, just
the belief that there's more beyond
those rice fields. When he reached
Seoul, he found a job at a construction
site. He worked with bricks and cement
from sunrise to sunset. His hands bled.
His back hurt. But every night, he told himself,
himself,
"One day I will not just build houses. I
will build something much, much bigger."
After months of hard work, he saved
enough money to start something small.
With a partner, he opened a tiny rice
shop. It was his first taste of
business. But one day, his partner stole
all the money and disappeared. He lost
everything. Many people would have gone
back to the village, but not Chung. He
wiped his tears and said, "Money can be
taken, but not my fire, not my vision."
He started over from zero again. Over
the next few years, he worked any job he
could find. Carrying bricks, delivering
salt, fixing bicycles, cleaning shoes.
He watched, he listened, he learned. Not
from books, but from life. Slowly, he
understood how business works, how
people think, how to earn respect, not
just money. Finally, in the 1940s, Chung
opened a small construction business. He
built roads and repaired bridges. Even
the government started noticing his
work. And then World War II ended. Korea
was in pieces, broken, divided. But
Chung saw opportunity. Where others saw
ruins, he saw future roads. Part two.
Building from ashes. The birth of
Hyundai. We ended part one with Chong Ju
Yong opening a small construction
business. But let's not move too fast
because the world he was stepping into,
Korea in the 1940s, was not a world full
of hope. It was a country that had just
been freed from Japanese control after
decades of occupation. But freedom
didn't feel like freedom. The country
was broken, poor, ruined. No proper
roads, no clean water, no big companies,
no system. Korea was like a body with a
heartbeat but no bones. But where others
saw nothing, Chung Juyong saw
possibility. He believed if the country
is broken, then we must rebuild it. We
the people must become the builders.
Step one. In 1946, when he was around 31
years old, he officially started his
company. He named it Hyundai, which
means modern in Korean. Think about
that. A man who grew up in the rice
fields barefoot without education,
started a company called Modern.
He didn't just want to build roads. He
wanted to build the future.
At first, Hyundai was just a small
construction firm. They built roads,
bridges, repair buildings, mostly small
jobs, but his mindset was always
different. Most people would say, "We're
too small to take big projects." But
Chung said, "We are small because we
never take big projects." He started
bidding for bigger jobs. He took risks.
He hired people smarter than him. and he
watched everything like a hawk. He
didn't sit in an office. He visited
construction sites himself. He talked to
workers. He checked every stone, every
brick. He believed if you build
something, it must be strong enough to
carry the future.
The Korean War. In 1950, the Korean War
began. North versus south. Brother
against brother. Cities burned.
Thousands died. For many businesses, it
was the end. But for Chung Juyong,
it was the beginning of something
massive. He didn't run. He didn't shut
down Hyundai. He looked at the
destruction and thought, "The country
will need roads again. The country will
need buildings again, and I will be the
one to build them."
He started working with the South Korean
government, helping to rebuild key infrastructure.
infrastructure.
His workers were not just laborers.
They were rebuilding their own homeland.
This made Hyundai stronger, not just as
a company, but as a name. People began
to trust the name Hyundai
because when everyone was afraid,
Hyundai kept moving.
One of the most famous and powerful
moments in Chung's life came in the
1960s when the South Korean government
gave him a challenge.
We need a bridge built over the Han
River. Can you do it?
Now, here's the truth. Hyundai had never
built a bridge before. Other companies
laughed. They said, "He doesn't even
have an engineering degree. He's not a
bridge builder. He's just a construction
guy. But Chung said, "If we keep saying
we can't, we'll never learn how to do
it." So he took the project. He gathered
a team, hired engineers, studied every
blueprint, visited bridges around the
world, and then he started building.
Every day he stood by the river
watching, planning, correcting.
And after only four months, the Han
River Bridge was completed. The same
people who laughed at him now stood in silence.
silence.
Because a rice farmer's son had just
built one of Korea's most important bridges.
bridges.
This wasn't just a bridge. This was a
symbol, a message to the world. South
Korea is rising, and Hyundai is helping
it rise. After the bridge, Hyundai's
reputation exploded. The government
began trusting him more. He was given
highways to build, dams, ports,
shipyards. But Chung wasn't satisfied
because deep down he still remembered
being a poor boy with no shoes. He
wanted more than just money. He wanted transformation.
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