Zhang Xin (张欣)

Zhang Xin

Zhang Xin (张欣), the co-chief executive officer of SOHO China Ltd and wife of the Chairman Pan Shiyi (潘石屹), is the seventh richest self-made woman in the world in 2013, with a worth of US$ 3.6 billion, according to Forbes.

Her rags-to-riches story in the property industry reflects the transformation of China and its rising skylines, sprawling modern look and ever-growing desire to be rich.

Born in Beijing, on August 24, 1965, Zhang had a rather poor and unstable childhood. At the age of 14, she moved to Hong Kong with her family, where she worked as a manufacturing labor to cover her tuition fees to study abroad. Approximately five years later, she bought herself an air ticket to London and started taking language courses. She, later, studied economics at the University of Sussex,and then pursued her postgraduate study at the University of Cambridge, from which she graduated in 1992 with a master’s degree in development economics.

Upon graduation, Goldman Sachs and Travelers Group, in Wall Street, employed Zhang. Her highly paid jobs enabled her to enjoy a moderately wealthy life in New York.

In 1994, she returned to the Chinese mainland to seek investment opportunities. It was then that she met with the property investor Pan Shiyi and married him. The couple established SOHO China, one of the country’s largest real estate companies, which owns 56 million square feet in prime developments in Beijing and Shanghai. In 2007, under Zhang’s efforts, SOHO China collected US $1.9 billion for its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Ltd - the largest IPO at that time in the commercial property industry in Asia.

In addition to the landmark skyscrapers in urban areas, Zhang created a community at the foot of the Great Wall with the participation of 12 outstanding Asian architects, including Gary Chang, Shigeru Ban and Cui Kai, in early 2000s. In 2002, the Community Under the Great Wall won an award at La Biennale di Venezia and its model is preserved by the Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou in Paris.

On May 31, 2013, a real estate investing group headed by Zhang became the owner of 40 percent of the General Motors Building,in New York, at a cost of US$700 million–so far, the largest Chinese fixed assets investment in the United States.

It was not very easy for her sons because she and her husband are very high profile, said Zhang, who has two sons, in an interview with CNN.