10 Things You Didn’t Know about Fu Liquan
Fu Liquan is a Chinese billionaire. He is a self-made man who made his fortune through one of China’s biggest surveillance companies. What Are 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Fu Liquan?
1. Fu Is His Family Name
Fu Liquan is in Chinese name order, meaning that Fu is his family name. There are some Chinese family names that consist of more than one syllables. However, such names have always been very rare. Furthermore, they have become rarer in recent centuries because of people changing their multi-syllable family names to something similar but simpler in nature.
2. Liquan Is His Personal Name
Since Fu is his family name, this means that Liquan is his personal name. It is interesting to note that Chinese name-givers have a lot of freedom when it comes to name-giving, meaning that there is incredible variation among Chinese personal names. However, that isn’t to say that there are no rules whatsoever. For instance, it used to be very popular for Chinese families to give all of the members of the same generation names that shared a character, though this particular practice has seen little use in more recent times.
3. Lives in Hangzhou
Nowadays, Fu lives in Hangzhou, which has been one of the most notable cities in China for centuries and centuries. To a considerable extent, this was because of its status as the southern terminal of the Grand Canal that connects the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. However, there are other characteristics that cause Hangzhou to stand out as well. For example, the city’s natural landmarks have combined with its cultural sites to make it a popular tourist destination. Likewise, its coastal location means that it has benefited much from the Chinese economic boom.
4. Has a Very Strong Connection to Zhejiang
Fu’s residence in Hangzhou is an excellent example of his strong connection with Zhejiang province, seeing as how Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang province. That can sound rather strange to people who know some Chinese because the “zhou” in Hangzhou can be translated to mean something along the lines of “province.” However, Hangzhou is one of a number of Chinese cities such as Guangzhou and Fuzhou that have taken on the names of the areas that they administered. In any case, Zhejiang province can be considered a center of Chinese capitalism, which in turn, can be considered a continuation of its prosperity in earlier times.
5. Studied in Zhejiang Province
Speaking of which, Fu received his education in Zhejiang province. Initially, he studied radio engineering at Zhejiang Shuren University, which is what led to his first job. Later, he went to Zhejiang University so that he could pick up an EMBA, which refers to a MBA program tailored for a professional with a busy schedule but is nonetheless interested in rising even further. Something that should make it no surprise to learn that the “E” stands for “executive.”
6. Got Started At a Time of Economic Liberalization
Fu got started at a time of economic liberalization in China, meaning the late 1980s and the early 1990s. This doesn’t mean that his successes were unearned. However, it does mean that he is very much part of the wave of Chinese entrepreneurs who managed to make their fortunes in that time. In Fu’s case, he started out by setting up a factory for electrical equipment. However, it wasn’t too long before he cast his gaze on something riskier and thus more potentially rewarding.
7. He Got His Initial Funding From His Friends and Family Members
As the story goes, Fu got the initial funding for this bigger project from his friends and family members. In particular, he and his wife sold most of their property in order to come up with sufficient funds, which was further padded out by contributions from the people who knew them.
This isn’t an uncommon choice for start-ups anywhere in the world. However, one can’t help but wonder whether necessity played an important role in their choice as well. Simply put, it takes time to set up institutions that can provide funding for entrepreneurs even on a local level.
Since China’s economic liberalization was still relatively recent in those times, it seems safe to say that funding from such sources wasn’t as readily available as it would have been in, say, the United States of the same time period.
8. His Wife Is on the Board of Directors
In the present time, Fu’s wife Chen Ailing is still involved with his company as a member of the Board of Directors. Some people might wonder about her family name being different from his. However, there is nothing special about that because under normal circumstances.
Chinese women don’t take on the family names of their husbands when they get married. Theoretically, it is possible for a Chinese couple to share the same family name because both of them were born with it. In practice, that is very uncommon because people with the same family name are seen as distant relatives of one another to some extent, meaning that such a relationship would have incestuous undertones even if the two aren’t actually related.
9. Believes in Innovation and Brand Development
Fu has his eyes set on making his company capable of competing on the global level. To achieve this, he is putting a strong emphasis on two things, with one being innovation and the other being brand development. The first makes sense because tech is such a fast-changing industry, meaning that a non-innovator can never hope to compete at the forefront of the race. The second makes sense because it doesn’t matter how good a product might be if the product maker can’t convince people to buy it.
10. Runs a Company that Likes Modular Designs
Interestingly, Fu’s company is apparently very interested in modular designs for both software and hardware. This is important because modular designs make it easier for systems to be integrated with one another, which in turn, makes it easier for organizations to scale up and scale down their operations. Suffice to say that flexibility is a very attractive trait in an ever-changing world.
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