Hui Ka Yan

Early life

Hui Ka Yan was born from a rural family in Jutaigang Village, Gaoxian Township, Taikang County, Henan, on 9 October 1958. His father is a retired soldier who participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War in the 1930s and 1940s. After the establishment of the communist state, he became a warehouseman in his home village. Hui's mother died of sepsis when he was 8 months old. He was raised by his paternal grandmother. After high school he worked in a cement product factory for a few days and then worked for two years at home. He was the production team leader. After resuming the college entrance examination in 1978, Hui was accepted to Wuhan Institute of Iron and Steel (now Wuhan University of Science and Technology) serving as commissary in charge of hygiene in his class.

Personal life

Hui married Ding Yumei (丁玉梅), whom he met at the Wuyang Iron and Steel Company (舞阳钢铁公司). The couple have two children and live in Guangzhou.

Career

As a fresh graduate in 1982, Hui was assigned to the heat-treatment shop of Wuyang Iron and Steel Company (舞阳钢铁公司), becoming its associate director in 1983 and director in 1985. Hui served as director for seven years there. After resigning in 1992, he moved to Shenzhen, the newly founded special economic zone in southeast China's Guangdong province. He was accepted by a trading company named Zhongda (中达). One year later, he became president of its branch office, named Quanda (全达). On 1 October 1994, Hui moved to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, to establish the Guangzhou Pengda Industrial Co., Ltd. (广州鹏达实业有限公司). In March 1997 he founded the Evergrande Group, becoming its chairman. Hui is the owner of Guangzhou Evergrande football club, one of China's most successful football clubs. At its peak of 2017, his fortune is thought to have been $45.3 billion, putting him third on Forbes' 2020 list of the richest Chinese billionaires. However, from 2017 to 2020 his networth reportedly wealth was estimated to have dropped by more than $20 billion to $21.8 billion primarily due to mounting debts exacerbated by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hurun China Rich List of October 2021 estimated his personal fortune to be around $11.3 billion in autumn 2021.

In 2008, Hui became a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, the top political advisory body in China. He was promoted to CPPCC National Committee's Standing Committee in 2013, and actively participated in the conventions since then. He attended the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2021. In November 2022, he skipped a Standing Committee meeting due to the crisis at Evergrande, and was told not to attend the annual meeting of the CPPCC in March 2023.