Zhang Xin (simplified Chinese: ??; traditional Chinese: ??; pinyin: Zh?ng X?n, born 1965) is a Chinese billionaire businesswoman. She is the co-founder and CEO of SOHO China.
As of 2014, Zhang is listed as the 62nd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.
As one of China's best known female entrepreneurs, Zhang has an online following of over 10 million on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
Zhang and her husband Pan Shiyi founded the SOHO China Foundation in 2005 as a philanthropic organization to engage in education focused initiatives to alleviate poverty. In July 2014, the Foundation announced the SOHO China Scholarships a $100 million initiative to endow financial aid scholarships at leading international universities.
Video Zhang Xin (businesswoman)
Early life and education
In the 1950s, Zhang Xin's parents, second generation Burmese Chinese, left Burma and immigrated to China. There, they worked as translators at the Foreign Languages Press. They separated during the Cultural Revolution.
Born in Beijing in 1965, Zhang Xin moved to Hong Kong at the age of 14 with her mother and lived in a room just big enough for two bunk beds. To save for an education abroad, she worked for five years in small factories that made garment and electronic products.
By 19, she had saved enough for airfare to London and supporting herself for English study at secretarial school. Later, she studied economics at the University of Sussex. In 1992, she graduated with a master's degree in development economics from Cambridge University. In 2013, Zhang received an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, the University of Sussex.
Maps Zhang Xin (businesswoman)
Career
Upon graduation, she was hired by Goldman Sachs and started working for the investment bank in Hong Kong. She returned to her hometown, Beijing. She co-founded Hongshi (meaning Red Stone), which became SOHO China, with her husband Pan Shiyi in 1995.
The couple was described by The Times as "China's most visible and flamboyant property tycoons".
Zhang has received international awards for her role as an architectural patron in China and as an entrepreneur. She was awarded a special prize at the 8th la Biennale di Venezia for Commune by the Great Wall, a private collection of architecture featuring the works of twelve Asian architects, now a hotel. In 2008, she was listed among Forbes magazine's "World's Most Powerful Women". In 2009, Zhang was included among Forbes' "Top Ten Billionaire Women We Admire" and Financial Times' "Top 50 Women in World Business". In 2011, Zhang Xin was named among "The International Power 50" of the "Most Powerful Women" by Fortune magazine, and was again recognized as one of "World's Most Powerful Women" by Forbes.
Zhang is a member and young global leader of World Economic Forum, Davos, a member of the global board of advisors of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a board member of the Harvard Global Advisory Council. She served as a trustee to the China Institute in America from 2005 to 2010, and was recognized by the China Institute with a Blue Cloud Award in 2010.
Personal life
Zhang Xin and her husband, Pan Shiyi, are members of the Bahá'í Faith . She also made a cameo appearance as a Chinese merchant in the 2010 film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
References
See Also
- Gillet, Kit. "ZHANG XIN" (Archive). China International Business (CIB). January 2010 issue, January 19, 2010.
External links
- "China's Billionaire Builder," Bloomberg Markets Magazine, 11 August 2010
- "How Religion Changes a Chinese Billionaire Developer," The Wall Street Journal, 6 March 2011
- Zhang Xin on Charlie Rose
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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