Xue Manzi
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Xue Charles Bi-Chuen, a Chinese-American investor and prolific micro-blogger. was detained after he was caught with an alleged prostitute in a residential compound in Beijing on Aug. 25, 2013. The police said Xue is facing charges of using prostitutes and possibly even group licentiousness.
Xue, whose Chinese name was "Xue Biqun", and was verified as "Xue Manzi" (薛蛮子) in Sina Weibo, China's most popular Twitter-like service. Xue is renowned for his Weibo posts. Weibo has become a vital channel for Xue to seek out potential investment targets. His account currently has more than 12 million followers, many of whom use the site to send him investment proposals.
Xue was born in 1953 in Guangdong Province. His father was Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, Vice Mayor of Beijing, Vice Minister of the State Economic Commission, and Vice Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee since 1949. Xue attended primary school in Beijing from 1959 to 1965.
In 1968, Xue went to live and work in the countryside in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In 1977, he became an editor in the Culture Relics Publishing House in Beijing. In 1979, he enrolled at the History Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as a postgraduate majoring in China-foreign relations. In 1980, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley in the United States as a postgraduate in China-foreign relations. In 1983, Xue was hired by the German Thyssen Company.
Xue's investment career began with property investment in the U.S., from which he made US$1 million which formed the seed money for his subsequent investments. His legendary achievement was his US$250,000 investment in UTStarcom, which generated US$125 million for him, after the company went public.
With years of business experience, Xue has been described as one of the most successful investors in China. As well as being one of the UTStarcom founders, Xue was former chairman of the board of directors of the Chinese e-commerce network www.8848.com, and former chairman of the board of directors of the Chinese educational institute www.zhzjw.net. His main investment projects include PCPOP, Autohome.com.cn, Snowballfinance.com, and Huayi-media.com. Xue is widely known as China's first angel investor. In November 2008, he won the China Venture Investment Ranking "Best Angel Investor" Prize.
On May 25 2011, Xue announced on his Weibo that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. He said he had a positive attitude to face the disease and hoped to record his experience of fighting cancer through Weibo in order to remind people to pay attention to their health.
On August 25 2013, Xue was detained after he was caught patronizing a prostitute in a residential compound in Beijing. The police, who took the action after receiving a tip from local residents, said Xue is facing charges of using prostitutes and possibly even group licentiousness. The case is currently under investigation.
