Person
He Xiangjian
Founder of Midea Group, which he started in 1968; he handed the chairmanship to Fang Hongbo in 2012 and was named a "Pioneer of Reform" by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council in 2018.
Background
He Xiangjian is the founder of Midea. According to Midea’s 2017 letter to shareholders, in 1968 He Xiangjian, longing for a better life, planted the seed of founding the Midea enterprise; over the following fifty years, Midea started as a small township workshop and gradually developed into a technology group with businesses in consumer appliances, HVAC, robotics and automation systems, and intelligent supply chain (logistics). According to an interview with Fang Hongbo published by Forbes China in 2024, Midea entered the home appliance industry in 1980, starting with the production of electric fans; it first diversified horizontally and vertically within the home appliance industry chain, gradually entering categories such as air conditioners, refrigerators, rice cookers, water heaters, microwave ovens and dishwashers, while also entering core components such as motors and compressors. According to the same interview, Midea’s globalisation can be traced back as early as 1985, when He Xiangjian put forward the strategy of “not competing with domestic peers for the market, but going abroad to compete for the world”, marking the start of Midea’s active expansion into overseas markets.
In 2012, the 70-year-old He Xiangjian handed the chairmanship of Midea to the 45-year-old Fang Hongbo. According to an account by Qin Shuo, He Xiangjian once said, “My greatest achievement was discovering Fang Hongbo.” In 2018, He Xiangjian was awarded the title of “Reform Pioneer” by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council; according to Midea’s 2018 letter to shareholders, this honour echoed Midea’s fifty-year history of keeping pace with the changes of the times since its founding.
On the 50th anniversary of He Xiangjian’s founding of the Midea enterprise, Midea achieved revenue of 241.919 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of 17.284 billion yuan in 2017; in 2018 it achieved total operating revenue of 261.82 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of 20.231 billion yuan, ranking 323rd on that year’s Fortune Global 500 list.
Last updated 18 October 2026