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Dong Mingzhu
Chinese businesswoman (born 1954) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dong Mingzhu (Chinese: 董明珠; pinyin: Dǒng Míngzhū; born August 1954) is a Chinese businesswoman who serves as Chairwoman and President of Gree Electric.[1]
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Early life
Dong Mingzhu was born the youngest of seven children in a working-class family in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu province, in August 1954.[2] When she was a child, she wanted to be a soldier.[2] Dong graduated from a specialized institute in Wuhu, Anhui in 1975, with a degree in Statistics. After graduation, Dong got an administrative job at local government chemistry laboratory in Nanjing for 15 years.[2][3]
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Career
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In 1990, at age 36, recently widowed Dong left her three-year-old son to his grandmother and quit her job at the government research facility in order to move to the more economically developed Shenzhen in Guangdong province and to find a new job, but moved to Zhuhai soon.[2]
Joining Haley (Gree Electric's predecessor) as a salesperson, she worked for four years as an air-conditioner saleswoman.[2] "Sent to a poor province, Anhui, she produced one-eighth of Gree’s annual sales, catching the attention of Zhu Jianghong, Gree’s first general manager, now chairman of the board."[2] By 1994, she was become the company's head of sales; by 1996, its deputy president; by 2001, its president; and by 2012, it's chairwoman.[2][1]
According to the New York Times, "Gree had income in the first three quarters of 2010 of 44.3 billion renminbi, or $6.7 billion, and net profit of 2.9 billion renminbi." According to Fortune, "Gree Electric's company stock has risen 2300% during her stay and Dong has become a legend in China."[4] Under her leadership, Gree Electric developed solar energy, China's smartphone market, robotic technology, recycled treatment centers nationwide, and acquired electric car maker Yinlong in March 2016.[2][5]
In March 2019, she applied a cut on value-added taxes to reach more competitive prices and aim for an aggressive international development despite the US-China trade war going on.[6]
In 2021, Fortune ranked Dong the seventh most powerful international women in the world.[7]
According to Forbes, "Fiscal 2023 was Gree's best year to date, with profits of $4.1 billion, which it attributed to innovation efforts. In its first-ever ESG report, Gree said it owns 44 "internationally leading" technologies, of which 41 are related to green energy."[1]
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Politics
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Dong was a member of the 10th, 11th, and 12th National People's Congress.[8] She is a member of the China Democratic National Construction Association, as well as a member of the 10th Executive Committee of All-china Women's Federation.[2][8] Dong currently "holds senior positions in a dozen industry, women's and charity organizations, and has taught university business classes."[2]
In 2011, Dong said, “Everyone should learn Chinese. China has so much to contribute to the world. If Gree is going to globalize, I always tell my colleagues, globalization should take place in Chinese.”[2] She later clarified her remarks, saying, "“We all have to stop thinking that our own country is better than someone else’s. That’s no good.”[2]
In 2023 Dong "was reported by local media to have said that her company’s 13,000 research and development personnel did not include a single overseas returnee, and consisted entirely of local graduates. Back then, she did not cite espionage concerns, instead championing the cause that Chinese schools were capable of developing talent."[9]
In April 2025, Dong said the company would not hire any Chinese who had been educated overseas, since “There are spies among overseas returnees, and I don’t know who is and who isn’t.”[9] A Straits Times article said "the comment and ensuing uproar point to the mixed attitudes confronting some Chinese who have returned home after spending time abroad."[9] Alfred Wu of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy "noted that Ms Dong’s remarks reflect a broader caution within China towards foreign countries – one that has been exacerbated by an ongoing national security drive."[9] On the other hand, Beijing News, a media outlet owned by China's Communist Party, called Mingzhu's remarks “a departure from common sense,” “especially offensive” and an “affront” to overseas returnees.[9]
Prizes
- 2015: 4th most powerful woman in Asia-Pacific by Fortune magazine[4]
- 2013: "Woman in the Mix" for business by Forbes Asia[10]
Personal life
Dong married soon after graduating from university, but was widowed when her son turned two years old.[2] Her husband died of illness in 1984. Her son nicknamed "Dongdong" (东东). She never remarried.[2] The New York Times called her "one of the toughest businesswomen in China."[2]
In 2018, law enforcement in Ningbo mistakenly accused Dong of jaywalking because her face was featured in an advertisement on the side of a bus and inaccurately flagged by a facial recognition system.[11]
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Published work
- Regretless Pursuit, 2006, which was made into a television series on China Central Television.[12][13][14]
References
External links
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