In the imperial capital of Beijing, what is the best place to reflect wealth and status?
The Chang'an Club, which is adjacent to Tiananmen Square, must be on the list.
The founder of this club, Chen Lihua, China's first female richest man.
Born in the Summer Palace, the rich woman who is rumored to be a descendant of Cixi also has a more widely known identity - the wife of Chi Chongrui, the elder of Tang in Journey to the West.
Chen Lihua and Tang Elder Chi Chongrui's "amazing marriage" began in 1988.
At that time, Chen Lihua was already a rich woman on the famous zhen side, because she loved Peking Opera, in the Peking Opera House in China, she met Chi Chongrui, who was born in the Peking Opera family and was popular in the north and south of the river because of "Journey to the West".
As soon as the two saw each other, they could sing a wonderful play on the stage, they could talk about the world offstage, and with the middleman a match, the two naturally came together.
But Chen Lihua is more than 11 years older than Chi Chongrui, and she is still divorced, a single mother with 3 children, and gossip quickly found them.
As an artist, Chi Chongrui could not stand the ridicule of "eating soft rice" and "begging for rich people", and he had a retreat from his feelings for himself and Chen Lihua.
At that time, in the relationship between men and women, women were still in a passive position.
But Chen Lihua has been working hard in the mall for many years, not only has the talent to see who is sincere and who is false at a glance, but also has the courage to take the initiative to attack for what he thinks in his heart.
For Chi Chongrui, she fell in love at first sight, and in the later relationship, she knew that it was not only herself who was moved.
But the ensuing gossip made Chi Chongrui begin to deliberately avoid herself, and Chen Lihua decided that no matter whether she could go hand in hand in the end, she would have to fight for herself before she was willing.
So she planned a party, and wrote a love letter in advance, put it in a prominent position, and invited a group of friends to come and visit.
Some of the friends saw the love letter "sharp-eyed" and, under the coaxing of the crowd, opened the letter and read it.
In the letter, Chen Lihua expressed her deep admiration for Chi Chongrui and solemnly proposed that she wanted to stay with him for a lifetime.
Amid the laughter of the crowd, Chi Chongrui understood that Chen Lihua was lowering himself and courting him in public to break the rumors in the outside world that he was "obsessed with rich people" and "big money".
Chi Chongrui was touched and said, "You don't have to do this, we just love each other." ”
Chen Lihua knew that his brave attack did not fail, so he smiled and replied: "People say that they abandon the car to protect the marshal, then I am here to sacrifice myself to save my husband." ”
In 1990, 49-year-old Chen Lihua generously joined hands with 38-year-old Chi Chongrui to enter a happy marriage that is still together in the sensation of the outside world.
I have to say that Chen Lihua can gain the world's attention and envy of the marriage, she is not bound to the world, bold and neat heart, played a key role.
Looking back at Chen Lihua's business legend, she can go from a tailor who dropped out of school to work in a tailor's shop to become a rich woman on the side of the shock, and she is inseparable from her heart.
In 1941, Chen Lihua was born in the Summer Palace, although she was born under the roots of the Imperial City, but in the war years, it was already a great fortune to be able to eat enough.
When she was 8 years old, the war ended and new China was founded, and her family reluctantly sent her to school, and within a few years, her family was really poor, so she had to drop out of school and work everywhere.
Chen Lihua entered the sewing club and became an apprentice, she was not only smart and clever, but also hard-working, and it did not take long to become a teacher, and without hesitation, she set up her own portal, and opened a sewing shop with her pieced wealth.
She is bold by nature, and can talk to anyone when sewing clothes, and after a period of time, she keenly found that many people have furniture in their homes that need to be repaired, but there is no special furniture repair shop at present.
Chen Lihua's mind is active, and after knowing some furniture repair doorways, she resolutely decided to open this furniture repair shop herself.
After the furniture repair shop opened, she paid attention to the furniture business.
In the city of Beijing in the 1960s and 1970s, most of the business transactions were controlled by the state, and although Chen Lihua had no way to directly join them, she never hesitated to learn and understand.
Unexpectedly, in her study and understanding, she quickly found a business opportunity for furniture trading.
Once, Chen Lihua heard that a lot of furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties, in the related movement of the new era, was cleaned up and piled up in the warehouse, and no one wanted it.
At this time, the national cultural relics appraisal standards are not perfect, so these antique furniture is just worthless old furniture in the eyes of most people.
Chen Lihua, after hearing the news, remembered the news she learned about the furniture market, these Ming and Qing Dynasty furniture symbolized old age and feudalism in the mainland, but in Hong Kong, it is an antique in the eyes of collectors, which is quite valuable.
If you can take this batch of old furniture that no one wants for the time being and transport it to Hong Kong to sell, you can undoubtedly make a lot of money, but the risk is not low.
Chen Lihua thought about it several times, she knew that doing anything would be risky, if you don't fight at this time, miss this opportunity, you will definitely regret it.
After making up her mind, she ignored the obstruction of her family, resolutely took out the savings she had saved over the years, and through friendship, she took down this batch of "no one wants" furniture.
Her family is really incomprehensible, and they have complained about her, and they feel that their lives have not improved easily, but she has changed all her worth to the old furniture that people dislike.
After Chen Lihua took down the furniture, she did not have the heart to explain too much to her family, she was busy planning how to transport this batch of furniture to Hong Kong for sale.
Later, after several turns, she finally shipped this batch of old furniture to the Hong Kong market, and the result was as she hoped, the old furniture was quite popular, and the huge difference in profit made her get the first pot of gold in her life.
Since then, Chen Lihua has continued to dare to break through and dare to fight, and with this bucket of gold, she has embarked on the road of struggle of female rich people.
After digging the first pot of gold in Hong Kong, Chen Lihua saw greater business opportunities in Hong Kong.
In the 1980s, the global economic crisis broke out, and the trend of Hong Kong's return to the motherland has gradually become clear.
Many British-funded companies are evacuating Hong Kong, and many Hong Kong's rich are also in a hurry to immigrate, resulting in Hong Kong's economy falling into a downturn.
In economics, it is believed that investors with real vision will always see business opportunities in the market that has fallen all the way.
Chen Lihua is such an investor.
She went from Beijing to Hong Kong, well aware of the importance of Hong Kong to the country, hong Kong's return is a foregone conclusion, and the economy at this time is sluggish, the country will not stand idly by.
So she saw this opportunity, in the case of everyone evacuating, put on the stake, selected a few pieces of land to hoard, and began to enter the real estate.
"Business Travel Is Not a Dream" said: "The secret to getting rich lies in bold innovation and unique vision. ”
From taking down antique furniture to hoarding land to entering real estate, Chen Lihua's vision cannot be described as unique.
After the economic crisis, Hong Kong's economy soon returned to the right track, and the value of the land hoarded by Chan Lihua doubled several times, and her value rose in a flash.
Later, with the same boldness, in Belgium, she saw the opportunity to buy 12 villas at a low price and sell them at a high price, and the original tailor school apprentice turned gorgeously and became a self-made rich woman.
In 1988, Chen Lihua founded Fuhua International Group in Hong Kong, and seeing that the economic development trend of the mainland was very good, she returned to Beijing as a Hong Kong businessman.
At that time, the mainland real estate industry was just budding, chen Lihua had always had a unique vision, and when most investors were still cowering, she generously spent 500 million yuan to win part of the land near Tiananmen Square.
In the future, the famous Chang'an Building will soon be born.
However, after taking the land, because the Asian Games were about to be held, many land approvals were forced to be suspended, and this stop was 4 years long.
Hundreds of millions of dollars were put inside, and the future development was unclear, and it seemed that the risk this time was greater than any investment that Chen Lihua had previously bet on.
Most of the people around her advised her to quickly change the land and lose a little less.
Chen Lihua did not say a word, and always firmly believed in her heart that the land approval could not be approved only temporarily, china's future development trend would only get better and better, and the value of the land under the imperial city was definitely worth her waiting and risking.
In the eyes of everyone or anxious or watching the drama, she waited for the approval of the procedures without hurry, and in the process, she also met Chi Chongrui, and fell in love and married in one go.
In 1992, all the formalities for land approval were completed, and she personally led the workers to the construction of the Chang'an Building for the first time.
After the completion of the building, Chen Lihua has already had a new plan, and the development that an ordinary real estate developer can have, she has undoubtedly achieved.
Next, her business blueprint should be further expanded upwards.
Therefore, on the Chang'an Building she built herself, she founded a top club in the rich circle, the Chang'an Club.
Since its establishment in 1996, the club has become a wealthy place in various countries, showing their identity and expanding their network, and many rich people are proud to have a membership card of the club.
Through the influence of the club, Chen Lihua's Fuhua International Group has become more and more resourceful and her reputation has been rising, and she herself has become a top figure at the end of the Beijing real estate pyramid.
Outside chang'an avenue, Chen Lihua also took a number of eye-catching good land near Wangfujing.
Especially Jinbao Street, nowadays, high-end consumer places such as top clubs, luxury hotels, shopping malls and so on, is considered to be the most cattle luxury car street in the country.
But before the renovation of Jinbao Street, there were more than 2500 ordinary citizens, living here, and most of the houses were old and dilapidated.
The work of demolition and transformation is not simple, especially the resettlement of thousands of citizens, which discouraged many investors at that time.
But Chen Lihua never knew "difficulty" and "fear", and after taking down this street with a wave of her hand, it took only 28 days to efficiently solve the work of demolition and relocation of residents.
People in the circle could not believe it, and they all learned from her, saying that there was only one secret: "Money suffers, people can't suffer losses." ”
She proudly met the demands of the demolition households, and the demolition households cooperated to relocate as soon as possible, so that the transformation of the neighborhood was on the right track as soon as possible.
To meet the requirements of the demolition households, it seems that she will suffer losses, but only with the cooperation of the demolition households, she can make more money more efficiently.
In 2008, the renovation of Jinbao Street was completed, and Chen Lihua's business empire became more and more powerful, allowing her to sit firmly on the throne of China's first female richest woman.
Since then, no one has not admired Chen Lihua's boldness, which is a vision that is rare for boys.
In 2012, Chen Lihua was listed in Time Magazine, the world's top 100 most influential people.
The weekly magazine commented on her, writing that Chen Lihua's success stemmed from her understanding of people, her dedication to education and the arts, and her commitment to philanthropy.
In the business empire, the queen who killed all sides was also a businessman who worked hard to feed back in the development of the country.
In 1998, when floods broke out in Hubei, Chen Lihua immediately donated materials to the disaster area and invested millions of dollars to support disaster relief;
In the 2010 Yushu earthquake, she also donated money and materials for the first time;
In the 2021 Henan flood, at the age of 80, she joined hands with Chi Chongrui to donate tens of millions of dollars...
In addition, since the 1990s, Chen Lihua has been funding the development of education, sports, public security and other undertakings for several years.
And these, she never preached.
The only thing she preached was the Rosewood Museum she had built for the Forbidden City.
Chen Lihua once said in an interview: "Although I am a businessman, all my funds should be placed on rosewood for the country, and if I don't do something in life, it is equal to nothing." ”
As early as 1999, Chen Lihua took out 200 million yuan to build the world's only rosewood museum in Beijing.
This time, she didn't invest for the purpose of making money.
On the one hand, her husband Chi Chongrui is quite interested in rosewood; on the other hand, Chen Lihua was born in the Summer Palace and has a deep affection for rosewood relics.
So she built this museum, with Chi Chongrui as the deputy director, not only to create a husband and wife common cause, but also to satisfy the nostalgia of childhood objects in her heart.
And this nostalgia is also what she wants to make, a return to the motherland.
In 2008, Chen Lihua proposed to restore the 16 old city gates of the old Beijing "inner nine outside seven" according to the ratio of 1:10 using rosewood and dark wood.
To this end, she and Chi Chongrui personally went to Burma and the Indian jungle to buy rosewood, and on the way, they were chased by horse bees and besieged by pythons, but the couple never flinched.
After painstakingly preparing materials and no sample paper at the old city gate, Chen Lihua discussed with the workers day and night, proofread the drawings, and completed this "big project" that could not be realized with 10 years and painstaking efforts.
When the restored old city gate was on display, the experts of the Palace Museum were amazed and lamented that the world knew that Chen Lihua would make money, but they did not know that she could still create old things that were destroyed by time.
After that, Chen Lihua got the approval slips for entering and leaving the Forbidden City warehouse, and almost copied the wooden utensils of the Forbidden City.
The hundreds of pieces of rosewood furniture displayed in the museum have rejuvenated the essence of the national essence that has aged in the past years in another way.
As the rosewood museum became more and more famous, Chen Lihua publicly stressed that the China rosewood museum is not its own, but belongs to the Forbidden City.
As she said, if you don't do something in life, it is equivalent to nothing.
With her agility and courage, she went from being an apprentice dropout to becoming the richest man from scratch; she also faced the worldly short stream and was not afraid to attack, winning the love of the "Elder Tang" coveted by the king, the fairy, and the goblin; when Ronghua returned, she did not hesitate to donate the art in her heart to history.
Chen Lihua always said that in doing business, we must stand tall and see far.
Her legendary life is also the same, no matter when, she can always seize the opportunity, dare to break through, dare to fight, dare to pay.
And the legend she wrote with a "dare" word continues to this day.
. END .
【Wen | Purple Dust Quiet Snow】
Edit | Daniel Lee]
【Typography | Drizzle】