Zhang Xin
Zhang Xin
running taken people
I am a runner. Last October, there was a marathon here in Beijing. I didn't participate this time, but friends told me that the run wasn't prepared too well. The organizers had only arranged about three hours' worth of food and water supplies. Most people don't finish within three hours, however. Too bad for them - or so it seemed. In fact, however, even those finishing last were perfectly taken care of, particularly during the fourth and fifth hour when demand is highest.
children husband people
We are not very good at this. Our success rests on our international experience and on our ability to read the market. And I contest the notion that you can only succeed in China when you are well-connected. Neither my husband nor I are "princelings" - children of influential people, that is. And yet China has enabled us to succeed.
hard-work years people
China has consistently surprised us. When I returned from the United States many years ago, it was unimaginable that we would end up where we are now. What China has achieved defies all logic. I credit this to the hard work and enterprising spirit of the Chinese people.
country opportunity people
Because people along the route had realized that there was demand and quickly organized supply. That's so Chinese. In a well-organized country like Germany, such a problem may not have arisen in the first place, but in China people immediately recognized an opportunity.
people looks levels
But the higher our standard of living, the higher our levels of education, the further people will look around. And we can see which level of openness other societies enjoy. We are no different - we too want more freedom. The question is: How much freedom will be allowed?
category certainly grew grow hard labelled rich
I find it hard to be labelled in this new 'super-rich' category because we all grew up with very little. The idea that 'to get rich is glorious' is really a new phenomenon. I certainly didn't grow up like that.
camps chinese companies company creative run
Many Chinese companies are run like military camps with military discipline. We do not run a company that way. It does not help the creative process.
enormous
China - if you think about what is the character of China, it's enormous scale. It's bigness.
business
I don't do evening business dinners, and I don't do weekends.
landed ways
Quickly, after I landed in England, I found out ways to get scholarships. England turned out to be a very encouraging place for me.
extra hard high life lunch money normal sons tight until yuan
It's not easy to be my sons because we're very high profile. We try so hard to give them a normal life. I'm very, very tight with them about money. I don't give that money until they ask, 'I need 100 yuan for my lunch card,' and so on. So they never have extra money.
amazing coming cultural generation seized suddenly women
I think women of our generation went through Cultural Revolution, went through hardship, coming from nowhere, and suddenly see China's amazing opportunity. So women just seized the opportunity.
breakfast dinner focused morning religious spend tennis weekends work
I'm very, very focused on my children. In fact, I'm very religious about having breakfast with them every morning, having dinner with them every evening, and spend all the weekends with them that I don't work. So as long as I'm not traveling, I'm always with them and I go to their soccer and tennis matches.
along great hike parental usual
On the weekends, I do the usual parental things, going to the boys' football tournaments or getting out for a hike along the Great Wall.