"The first thing I did after we got married was to support him in his desire to study at the Radio and TV University!"

This loving confession was made by Ms. Li Wei, Liu Yonghao’s wife, to her husband, on Double Seventh Day, or Chinese Valentines. “Now it seems that it was the right choice! I have no regrets!”

Liu Yonghao, born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, in 1951, graduated from the Sichuan Branch of the Open University of China (OUC) in 1979 with a degree in Electronics. He is a senior engineer with and chair of the New Hope Group; chair of New Hope Investments; president of the Hope Group; chair of Sichuan New Hope Agricultural; chair of Shandong Liuhe; chief supervisor of Minsheng Life Insurance; a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC); and deputy director of the CPPCC Economic Committee. On top of that, he was once a member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC, vice-chair of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and vice-president of the China Society for Promotion of the Guangcai Programme. From December 1995 to July 2006, he served as vice-chair of China Minsheng Banking. He was named a "Reform Pioneer" at the conference to celebrate the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up on 18 December, 2018. On 6 April 2020, Liu Yonghao's family wealth, at RMB 105 billion, ranked 70th on the Hurun list of Global Top 100 Entrepreneurs.

Liu Yonghao was born in Chengguan Town, Xinjin County, Sichuan Province, one of a family of seven all supported by his father's salary. After graduating from a technical secondary school, the 17-year-old Liu Yonghao was sent to live and work in Gujia village, Xinjin County, at the outskirts of Chengdu. Despite the poverty and remoteness of the village, it became a valuable life experience for him, tempering his willpower, cultivating his mind, and testing his strength. After nearly five years of working and living there, Liu Yonghao, pursuing his love of learning, was admitted to the OUC’s Sichuan Branch, and after graduating became a teacher in the Sichuan College of Manager Training for Mechanical Industry.

With the advent of the reform and opening up, Liu Yonghao, dissatisfied with the status quo, expressed his resilient and enterprising nature by becoming, with his three brothers, one of the first private entrepreneurs in China, focusing on agriculture. In 1982 he began farming, gradually shifted to the feed industry, and in 1987 developed the first domestic pig feed, an industry he has dominated in China since then. At present, his company, New Hope Group, is involved in businesses ranging from pig-feed production to agricultural science and technology, food processing to financial services. It has nearly 70,000 employees, annual sales of more than RMB 100 billion, and over 600 branches in more than 30 countries and regions. It has been ranked one of the "Top 500 Chinese Enterprises" for 14 consecutive years.

Despite the fierce competition among private entrepreneurs on the Chinese mainland, Liu Yonghao has always been modest while maintaining an ordinary outlook on life along with his keen business acumen and ambition. He is constantly searching for new sources of wealth, daring to take risks and be a forerunner in any field, devoting himself to private entrepreneurship, modern agriculture, modern production and management methods, and private finance; his success in all these areas have gained him extensive praise.

Liu Yonghao is also actively committed to public welfare through his "China Guangcai Programme". His philosophy and achievements have attracted attention not just in China but throughout the world, and he has been named one of the top ten poverty-alleviation activists in China. Recently, responding to government initiatives, he launched the "Targeted Poverty Alleviation 1 + 1" action, which carries out poverty alleviation through industrial development and education. For this he was named a "National Labour Model" and given an award for "Dedication to National Poverty Alleviation ".

Liu Yonghao's achievements are inseparable from the education he received at the OUC, which opened doors and prospects for this young man who once had to collect cinders by the railway, and was desperate to lead his fellow villagers out of poverty. The OUC equipped him with a foundation of knowledge, of analytic methods, and of understanding of national conditions and policies, on the basis of which he bravely took on challenges and made remarkable achievements. These achievements have not kept him from forging ahead, persisting in his belief, and leading the Hope Group toward further brilliance.

By OUC News Network