Now, when it comes to China's richest man and his consortium family, people may think of Zhong Jing, who "sold water" to become the richest man, Ma Yun, who created China's largest e-commerce platform, or a big family headed by Li Ka-shing. The first two were individuals, but Li Ka-shing formed a large consortium family headed by himself.
Therefore, many people say that Li Ka-shing's family is absolutely invincible, and Li Ka-shing's wealth exposed to the rich list alone exceeds 200 billion yuan, which is only the tip of the iceberg of his wealth. After all, Li Ka-shing is famous for loving Tibet and wealth, coupled with his decades of overseas layout, his wealth is undoubtedly amazing, and it can definitely be called China's top rich family.
In fact, in addition to the Li Ka-shing family, there are several more famous families in China, and some of them are also very rich and powerful, including the Rong family. The Rong family is not only a veritable first family, but also a top consortium recognized globally. Many people may wonder why the Rong family is so rich, but it is almost invisible on the rich list?
What many people don't know is that three generations of the Rong family have been listed as the richest people in China, and their financial resources are obvious, they rely on industrial prosperity, the family has a long history, and even witnessed the glorious history of the modern development of China and even the world. As early as the end of the Qing Dynasty, the founder of the Rong family, the richest man in the Qing Dynasty, monopolized the flour industry and the textile industry.
Since modern times, the three generations of the Rong family have made great contributions to China's economic development. The first generation of the Rong family, Rong Desheng. Born in 1875 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, his ancestor Rong Qiqi was one of the 72 disciples of Confucius. Rong Desheng went to private school at the age of 9 and worked as an apprentice at Tongshun Qianzhuang in Shanghai at the age of 15 to learn to settle accounts. During the war years, he started from scratch and started out as a small money bank. Since then, with the gradual strengthening of funds, there is also a foundation for creating an industry.
In 1901, at the age of 26, Rong Desheng and his brother founded the "Baoxing" flour mill. Since April 1915, the brothers have established nine textile factories in Shanghai, Wuxi, Hankou and other places. In the eight years from 1914 to 1922, the Rongjia flour industry developed rapidly, accounting for 29% of the total flour production in the country at that time, which was not only unique in China, but also very rare in the history of world industrial development.
By 1931, the Rong family owned 12 flour mills and 9 spinning mills. Together with his elder brother Zong Jing, he was known as the "King of Flour" and the "King of Cotton Yarn", and became one of the largest industrialists in Chinese capital. During this period, war broke out, and Rong Desheng categorically refused the Japanese army's request for acquisition, and stubbornly survived the chaotic world.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Tianyuan Industrial Company was established in Wuxi, and Tianyuan Hemp Textile Factory and Open Source Machine Factory were also founded. On July 29, 1952, Rong Desheng died of illness in his hometown of Wuxi at the age of 77, and the company he founded was also taken over by his fourth son, Rong Yiren, and continued to develop.
In the second generation, due to the large number of children, several brothers traveled overseas in order to revitalize the family, and achieved good results. As a result, Rongjia's industry covers many overseas countries such as the United States, Australia, and Brazil. In addition to the flour and textile industries, Rong Yiren also entered the pharmaceutical and freight industries on a large scale. As a result, the Rong family developed rapidly, and Rong Yiren became the richest man in China.
However, what is shocking is that in 1956, at the peak of Rong Yiren's career, after careful consideration, Rong Yiren took the lead in proposing to implement public-private partnerships for his industries, making outstanding contributions to the industrial revitalization of New China. Rong Yiren himself, also known as the "red capitalist", set an example for other rich people and was highly praised by the state.
In 1979, in order to explore the road of international economic cooperation, CITIC Group was established, Rong Yiren was the first president, under his leadership, the company's business spread throughout various fields, with banking, trading companies, legal, accounting firms and other functions, including loans, import and export trade, consulting, international bidding agency and other services. At the end of 1986, Rong Yiren was also named one of the world's 50 well-known entrepreneurs in the Magazine of the United States, and he was also the first domestic entrepreneur to rank among the world's well-known entrepreneurs after the founding of the People's Republic of China. In 2005, Rong Yiren died at the age of 89.
As the third generation heir of the Rong family, Rong Zhijian has taken over the CITIC Group from his father since 1987, opening a new chapter. As the only son in the family, Rong Zhijian has been influenced by the business environment since he was a child, and at the age of 39, Rong Zhijian came to Hong Kong alone to expand his career, and the business was prosperous, accumulating a lot of wealth in just a few years. After earning the first pot of gold, he began to show his fists.
Under the leadership of Rong Zhijian, CITIC was domineering, and once competed head-on with Li Ka-shing, Guo Henian and others, and finally won hengchang enterprises as desired. You know, this old enterprise once occupied 40% of Hong Kong's automobile market, which is a big fat meat in the eyes of capital. Rong Zhijian won Hengchang and became famous in a battle.
However, "people have lost their feet, horses have lost their hooves", in 2009, Rong Zhijian resigned because of the failure of investment in Australian real estate projects. But for the Rong family, in addition to CITIC Group, the family has other areas of business, and its total assets exceed 10 trillion yuan, and now Rong Zhijian is also the chairman of Longyuan Enterprise Company.
Although Rong Zhijian left CITIC, his three children also had children working for CITIC. Rong Zhijian's eldest son, Rong Ming, was born in Sichuan but lived in Beijing since childhood. Because he was brought up by his grandfather Rong Yiren, his life was as low-key as his grandfather. After finishing college in Beijing, he went abroad to study, and after returning from studying abroad, he has been helping his father run the company. He has been a director of CITIC Pacific since 2000 and is also an executive director today.
Rong Zhijian's only daughter, Rong Mingfang, was born in Beijing in 1972. Like his brother, he returned from Harvard University and worked at CITIC Pacific. He is currently a Director of the Finance Department of CITIC Pacific Group and the Vice Chairman of CITIC Pacific Information Technology Co., Ltd. Rong Zhijian's youngest son, Rong Mingdi, was born in 1983 and also works for CITIC Pacific. Generations of the Rong family have been planned and visionary in business.
For the Rong family, it has now developed to the fifth generation, and the Rong family is also able to produce people, and the Rong family does not show the mountains and dew, and has its industry all over the world. In this regard, the Rong family also successfully broke the curse of being rich for no more than three generations, and the family wealth also accumulated more and more.