In 2020, the Xu Jingren family wealth was 47 billion yuan, which is the "richest man" in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province.
Text | Wang Zhongyun
On the evening of July 12, 2021, the obituary of the death of Xu Jingren, secretary of the party committee, chairman and general manager of the group, was published on the official WeChat public account of Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical Group. The obituary said that Xu Jingren suddenly fell ill during his work and died at 20:39 on July 12, 2021 at the age of 77 after ineffective rescue.
Xu Jing was low-key and introverted before his life, saying less and doing more. So probably a lot of people today don't know much about the name. However, in China's pharmaceutical industry, Xu Jingren is an iconic figure. According to the "Top 100 Pharmaceutical Industry In China List" released by the China Pharmaceutical Industry Information Center, Yangtze River Pharmaceutical, which he founded, occupied the first place for six consecutive years from 2014 to 2016. On various lists in the industry, it is also common to see Yangtze River ranking among the best.
According to the calculation of the Hurun Rich List, the xujingren family wealth in 2020 is 47 billion yuan, which is the "richest man" in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province. "A generation of tyrants" is the evaluation of Xu Jingren by many people in the industry. In addition, because he once made a fortune by relying on Banlan root, he is also known as the "King of Banlan Root".
Now, this old man who has dealt with traditional Chinese medicine for most of his life has passed away in the process of working in Xinjiang, leaving behind his "legend" with Yangtze River Pharmaceutical.
"Small Workshop Pharmaceutical Factory"
On July 7 this year, the Economic Information Daily published an interview with Xu Jingren, which was also regarded as Xu Jingren's last interview with the media. In the interview, quality and innovation are the words that Xu Jingren mentions the most.
If there is no sense of innovation, there may not be Yangtze River Pharmaceutical from the beginning. In 1971, the 26-year-old Xu Jingren was demobilized from the army and assigned to work in the instrument factory in Port Town, Taixing City, Jiangsu Province. This job was considered an "iron rice bowl" at that time, but Xu Jingren only worked for half a year, and then resolutely gave up his stable job and decided to start a business.
He rented a workshop in the instrument factory as a pharmaceutical plant. In the beginning, the entire assets of this "pharmaceutical factory" were 6 bungalows, several large cylinders and extremely rudimentary equipment. The workers in the factory are all fellow villagers pulled by Xu Jingren. In those days, in a small, self-made business like this, it was normal for one person to hold several positions: at first, Xu Jingren was the director of the factory, but also a mason, a builder, and a porter.
In 1972, this small workshop factory was finally put into operation, it was called "Taixing County Port Town Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Pharmaceutical Factory". The first products of the factory were two injections, mentine and bolsterine. Every morning, before dawn, there was a clanging sound near the factory, which was the sound of flat hooks colliding with iron barrels. Because there was no money to buy a water pump, the workers in the factory carried the water themselves.
Today's Yangtze River Pharmaceutical
In 1976, the Port Town Pharmaceutical Factory expanded production, adding new varieties and dosage forms, and expanding the products to three dosage forms, such as injections, tablets and granules.
In 1981, the relevant state departments began to rectify the pharmaceutical market, clearly stipulating that only one pharmaceutical factory could be retained in a county. The port town pharmaceutical factory was included in the list of "closed factories". According to the Times Weekly, Xu Jingren ran around that year and finally successfully merged the pharmaceutical factory into the Taixing factory and hung up the "Taixing Pharmaceutical Factory Port Workshop" sign, thus escaping the disaster.
In 1985, the pharmaceutical factory was officially renamed Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical Factory. In the early stage of the development of the pharmaceutical factory, Xu Jingren went to Anyang Pharmaceutical Factory to study hard and developed the Plate Blue Root Granules. This also laid the groundwork for his later "World War I fame".
"King of Banlangen"
Before the Arrival of the Spring Festival in 1988, the hepatitis A outbreak in Shanghai shocked the whole country. People who have experienced that hepatitis outbreak know that there is an "artifact" that is said to prevent and treat hepatitis A - Banlan Root.
Xie Lijuan, then vice mayor of Shanghai, recalled that although the banlan root may not be very effective, but because of the rumor that "eating chinese medicine banlan root can prevent and treat hepatitis A", "for a time, almost all the banlan roots from all over the country were transported to Shanghai." "Despite rising prices, supply still outstrips demand, and many pharmaceutical companies and sales companies have made a lot of money."
Among them, there are Xu Jingren and his Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Factory. At that time, the factory received a notice: Shanghai applied for rapid support of nearly 4 million packages of plate blue roots. At that time, the monthly output of Banlan root in the Yangtze River was only 50,000 bales.
In the face of the daily orders in front of him, Xu Jingren called on employees to expedite pharmaceuticals and work overtime during the Spring Festival. In the end, 3.85 million packs of plate blue root dry syrup were successfully completed, solving Shanghai's urgent needs.
Xu Jingren "became famous in world war I", thus gaining the title of "King of Banlangen". In that year, the output value of Yangtze River Pharmaceutical exceeded 100 million yuan.
In the next 40 years, Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical has gradually developed from a small workshop factory with only six bungalows to a leading enterprise in China's pharmaceutical industry.
In 2018, the annual revenue of Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical exceeded 80 billion yuan, and in 2019, Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical Group achieved sales, profits and taxes increased by 11.94% and 16.2% respectively year-on-year. According to the data on the revenue list of domestic pharmaceutical companies released in 2020, the revenue of Yangtze River has exceeded 100 billion yuan.
Praise and controversy
In the public eye, in recent years, there are three major events related to Yangtze River Pharmaceutical: the office building shaped like a "palace", the line of fire to support the fight against the epidemic and the "sky-high fine".
Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical Group is headquartered in No. 1, Yangzijiang South Road, Gaogang District, Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, with a total area of more than 2 million square meters. In addition to its large area, the most eye-catching thing is its palace-like office building - yellow glazed tile roof, blue and white stone base, and the "moat" separated from the outside world, which is rare in China.
In addition, at the beginning of 2020, the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in China, Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical immediately responded to the call of the state, resumed work and production at the fastest speed, and fully supported the fight against the epidemic. On January 22, a large truck full of antiviral drugs set off from the headquarters of Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group and traveled to Wuhan City, which was the worst epidemic at that time.
During the Spring Festival, many production lines of Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group were fully powered and produced at full capacity to ensure the supply of medical materials.
However, Yangtze River Pharmaceutical is also not lacking in controversy. On April 15 this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation (hereinafter referred to as the "State Administration for Market Regulation") issued an administrative penalty decision, and Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical was fined 760 million yuan for monopoly.
This is a "sky-high fine" for domestic pharmaceutical companies to be fined for monopoly. The fine of 760 million yuan is 3% of The sales of Yangtze River Pharmaceutical in 2018, and the drugs involved in the case include blue qian oral liquid, Baile Mian capsules, astragalus essence, epastatic tablets, Su huang cough capsules, etc.
The State Administration of Market Regulation said that after investigation, Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical's fixed and limited price monopoly behavior involved a nationwide scope, "fixed and limited price behavior significantly increased product prices, seriously harming the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and social public interests." ”
After the administrative punishment was announced, Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical responded on its official website, saying that it respected the decision, obeyed the supervision, accepted the lessons, and had taken practical measures to carry out comprehensive and in-depth rectification in strict accordance with the requirements.
Who is the successor?
Before Xu Jing's life, he had his own "three noes principle": not to engage in mergers and alliances, not to engage in industries that he was not familiar with, and not to blindly go public.
He was advised to engage in real estate, but he refused on the grounds that he was "unfamiliar". According to him, it is not easy for a person to do one thing well in his lifetime.
As for the refusal to go public, some people think that Xu Jingren is too conservative and old-fashioned, which also leads to the popularity of Yangtze River Pharmaceutical not being particularly high outside the circle. In Xu Jingren's view, the company achieved zero debt operation in 2009, "there may be a break in the capital chain after listing, once this opening is opened, the 7% interest will drag the company down."
Now, the death of this "100 billion medicine king" has left a huge question for the outside world: who will be in charge of Yangtze River Pharmaceutical?
Xu Jingren has a son and a daughter, and his son Xu Haoyu was born in 1972 and is currently the vice chairman and deputy general manager of Yangtze River Pharmaceutical. Xu Haoyu rarely appeared in public before, and after graduation, he entered Yangtze River Pharmaceutical, starting from the most basic sales clerk. According to a number of media reports, Xu Haoyu is currently considered to be the first person to succeed the outside world.
However, in the matter of listing, Xu Haoyu's attitude is different from his father. He believes that for small businesses, the best development opportunities have passed, and now they are more than strength, thinking and capital. For the capital market, small businesses must enter as soon as possible.
In 2015, Xu Haoyu sent the Aiyuan shares founded by one hand to the New Third Board for listing. Founded in 2011, Aiyuan Co., Ltd. is a medical device enterprise integrating scientific research, production and sales, but it was delisted in 2018 only 3 years after listing.
References: Economic Observer, Times Weekly, China News Weekly, Times Post
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