Zhang Xin
Her youthful demeanour is deceptive, for behind Beijing property developer Zhang Xin s pretty smile hides the vision, drive and determination of a tough businesswoman. As co-CEO of SOHO China Ltd, a property development company she set up in 1995 with co-founder and husband Pan Shiyi, the 39-year-old Zhang leads the entrepreneurial trend towards modernising China but in its own, culturally distinctive way.
SOHO China the name is an acronym of small office, home office earned revenues of US$405 million in 2003, its phenomenal success the result of ambitious projects such as the Commune by the Great Wall at Shuiguan, a complex of 12 villas, each designed by a different Asian architect, that won Zhang an award at the 2002 Venice Biennale for her bold, personal initiative .Elegant and sophisticated, with a rare blend of financial acumen and international style, Zhang s story is a classic rags-to-riches one: born in Beijing to Burmese and Chinese parents, she emigrated to Hong Kong in the 1980s with her mother, grew up in hardship and in her teens found herself working in stitching clothes and assembling toys in local factories. But Zhang dreamed of much more, studied passionately, and finally earned the opportunity to study in the United Kingdom.
Seizing her chance, she graduated from Sussex University, gained a master s degree in development economics from Cambridge, and by the 1990s was working for companies like ING Baring and Goldman Sachs in New York and Hong Kong. But Zhang had a master plan, and relocated to Beijing to realise her ambitions. Today she is among China s wealthiest women, with SOHO China s attractive, innovative architecture scoring a major hit with locals and international observers alike.
The SOHO New Town Project was a breakthrough in design, showcasing Zhang s vision: to provide both residential and commercial facilities in one stylish complex not for the super-rich elite, but for small, ambitious entrepreneurs . . . China s future movers and shakers, if you will.
Wherever there is ugliness and messiness, that is the place we can make a difference, says Zhang. Her company s current major project, Jianwai SOHO, proves the point: a 20-tower residential/commercial project (plus four villas) on a large swathe of land opposite the China World Trade Center, when completed it will boast 400 street stores, 20 rooftop gardens and 16 walking lanes, as well as providing room for 50,000 people to live and lead active, productive lives.
If a future Chinese business leader or innovator emerges from one of SOHO China s projects, no one should be surprised. Zhang s vision could be a far-reaching one.
