'Red Capitalist' passes away at 89
By Liu Weiling and Joseph Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-10-28 05:41

Former Vice-President Rong Yiren, who played a key role in China's opening-up and economic reforms, died on Wednesday night in Beijing at the age of 89.

Known as the "Red Capitalist," the legendary Rong was the founder of China International Trust and Investment Corp (CITIC) and former chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.

Rong Yiren. [file]

A native of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, Rong was born in 1916 to one of China's most prominent families running textile and flour businesses. His father, Rong Desheng, was one of China's richest persons and well-known entrepreneurs in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Rong Yiren's business career started in the 1930s.

He decided to stay on in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded and handed over his fortune to the government in 1956.

In 1957, he was elected vice-mayor of Shanghai and was conferred the nickname "Red Capitalist" by then vice-premier Chen Yi.

As China embarked on the reform and opening-up policies in the late 1970s, Rong was handpicked by China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to launch CITIC in 1979.

Rong soon built CITIC into the biggest conduit of foreign capital for China, bringing in huge sums of investment from overseas.

It also became a window for China's opening-up and pioneered market-oriented businesses at a time when the country was still under the rigid planned economic system in the 1980s. "If not for his ability and vision in setting up CITIC, the pace of economic development in China would not have been so fast," said Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress Philip Wong.

He added that Rong was a very "mild and easy-going" person.

CITIC's bold steps included floating corporate bonds overseas and introducing financial leasing.

Ng Leung-sing, another Hong Kong deputy to the NPC, called Rong a "role model" because as a capitalist, he was willing to adapt to the national policy by investing his own capital in State enterprises.

CITIC has now grown into a conglomerate with 44 subsidiaries and total assets amounting to 701.4 billion yuan (US$86.6 billion) at the end of last year.

Rong also shared his wisdom when China was drafting a law concerning establishment of Sino-foreign joint ventures in the late 1970s. He proposed abolishing a ceiling on foreign stakes in joint ventures, which was later adopted by the NPC. In 1993, Rong was elected vice-president and served in the post till 1998.

Rong's son Larry Yung, or Rong Zhijian, 63, is chairman of Hong Kong-listed CITIC Pacific Ltd.

(China Daily 10/28/2005 page1)