Chen Lihua (; born 1941), rendered Chan Laiwa in

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

, is the founder and chairman of Fuwah International Group, one of

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

's largest commercial property developers. In 2014,

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

ranked her as the 10th richest mainland Chinese, the richest woman in China, and one of only 19 female billionaires in the world who did not inherit their billionaire status. In 2015,

touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is ofte ...

entrepreneur Zhou Qunfei surpassed Chen as China's richest woman. Chen is the founder and curator of the China Red Sandalwood Museum.

Early life

Chen Lihua was born in 1941 in the

Summer Palace The Summer Palace () is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing dynasty. Inside includes Longevity Hill () Kunming Lake and Seventeen Hole Bridge. It covers an expanse of , three-quarte ...

, China. She is a descendant of a noble Manchu family of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

. When the Manchu

collapsed, her family lost their estates and became poor.

Rise from poverty

Poverty forced Chen to leave high school and started her own furniture repair business. In the early 1980s, Chen moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

and continue her business of buying and re-selling furniture. Her business in Hong Kong was successful enough that she accumulated enough money to buy 12 villas. In the late 1980s, she moved back to Beijing to expand her real estate business. She founded Fuwah International Group in the early 1990s. Though its predominant business is real estate, the company also has a diverse portfolio in the fields of agriculture, tourism, electronics, hospitality and red sandalwood art production, etc. In recent years, Chen has handed over daily management of her ventures to her son, preferring to concentrate on her museum instead.

Cultural contributions and philanthropy

She founded the China Red Sandalwood Museum in 1999, where she invested 20 Billion Yuan. The museum covers an area of 25,000 square meters. She attributed her love of red sandalwood from the childhood years she spent in

, where furnishings are made of the timber. She has also donated sandalwood works to museums around the world.Rich in Kindness
/ref> Chen is also known for her social responsibility and philanthropy. Fu Wah donated 130 million yuan for disaster relief in 2005 and 265 million yuan in 2004.

Personal life

Chen is married to Chinese actor Chi Zhongrui. She has one son and two daughters. She now resides in her Chinese Red Sandalwood Museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Lihua Businesspeople from Beijing 1941 births Living people Billionaires from Beijing Female billionaires Manchu people