Tiens Group (, from ) is a Chinese multinational

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...

and

multi-level marketing Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called network marketing or pyramid selling, is a controversial marketing strategy for the sale of products or services in which the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling th ...

company headquartered in

Tianjin, China Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popula ...

. The company also operates a manufacturing facility in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

History

Tiens Group was founded in 1995 by Li Jinyuan. Tiens entered the international market in 1997. The company's initial product offerings included traditional Chinese medicinal products, calcium tablets, and

instant coffee Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enables people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to coffee solids in powdered or crystallized form and stirring. Instant coffee solids (also called sol ...

. In 2008, they reported having 12 million MLM distributors worldwide, including more than 40,000 in Germany, and 40 million customers, mostly in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, with approximately 60,000 in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

."Goldjunge aus Tianjin"
–

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...

, Nr. 37, 4 September 2008 In 2014, they reported having 200,000 distributors in Uganda. The company also has market partners in Indonesia, Hungary and Kazakhstan. In May 2015, the company sent 6,400 employees on a four-day tour of France. While in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, they set a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for the longest "human-made phrase".

Controversy

United States

In September 2016, the FDA issued an advisory letter warning them that their claim of treating or preventing "asthma, cancer, rheumatism, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, myocardial infarction, stroke, sexually transmitted diseases (e.g., herpes), cerebral embolism, and dementia" violates the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. As of December 2022, the FDA still lists Tiens products among "Products Illegally Marketed for Serious Diseases". These include TIENS Super Calcium with Lecithin, TIENS Selenium Supplement, TIENS Natto Ginkgo, TIENS Cell Rejuvenation Yi Kang, TIENS Cordyceps, and TIENS Wei Kang Vitality.

Bangladesh

Tiens has been the subject of controversy in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, where the company is known as Tianshi ( bn, তিয়ানশি). According to local news reports, many people in Bangladesh who invested in Tianshi lost their money, and they claimed that the products were ineffective and priced 4 to 20 times higher than comparable products from well known retailers. In 2015, the

Government of Bangladesh The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Con ...

banned all types of domestic and foreign MLM trade in Bangladesh including Tiens. Between 2017 and 2018, the company secretly left the country after embezzling hundreds of

crores A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

taka The Bangladeshi taka ( bn, টাকা, sign: , code: BDT, short form: Tk) is the currency of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. In Unicode, it is encoded at . Issuance of bank notes 10 and larger is controlled by Bangladesh Bank, while ...

from consumers.

Uganda

According to an article in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

, the company's "food supplements" are being touted as cures for everything from cancer and HIV to hernias, tumors, and appendicitis. The report claims that the company is a

pyramid scheme A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products. As recruiting multiplies, recruiting becomes quickly im ...

, where most of the money is generated from joining fees of new recruits.

Pakistan

In November 2008,

Jamia Darul Uloom, Karachi Darul Uloom Karachi ( ur, دارالعلوم کراچی) is a Madrasa in Karachi, Pakistan. It was founded by Muhammad Shafi Deobandi in June 1951 at Nanak Wara and later on it transferred to Korangi, Karachi, on March 17, 1957. It continues t ...

, a seminary headed by the

Grand Mufti The Grand Mufti (also called Chief Mufti, State Mufti and Supreme Mufti) is the head of regional muftis, Islamic jurisconsults, of a state. The office originated in the early modern era in the Ottoman empire and has been later adopted in a num ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, issued a

Fatwa A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...

to the effect that the marketing scheme of Tiens is not permissible. On 3 November 2011, another fatwa was issued about a fake fatwa that was circulating without signatures or stamps, claiming that Jamia Darul Uloom has retracted its previous reservations, and now considers it permissible. The fatwa stated that this is a fake, and the original fatwa has not been altered. M. Mahmood suggested that perhaps the original fatwa was based on a misunderstanding of the economic workings of Tiens, and provided more detailed information about how the multi-level marketing scheme works. He asked for a review of the original fatwa, and on 28 November 2011, a fatwa further reconfirmed that the new facts presented do not substantially change the original decision.

References

Dagne Tarle Tars- Food Engineering Group(Ethio-Tiens Group)

External links

Official website of the Tiens Group
{{Multi-level marketing 1995 establishments in China Chinese brands Companies based in Tianjin Conglomerate companies established in 1995 Companies formerly listed on NYSE American Conglomerate companies of China Multinational companies headquartered in China Multi-level marketing companies Pharmaceutical companies of China