China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd., founded by Liu Zhongtian, was forced to delist from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on April 13.
Liu was a 14-year-old school dropout from rural China who borrowed 200 yuan (approx. $29) to start a business and eventually became known as Asia’s “aluminum tycoon.” He was the wealthiest man in Northeast China at one time.
Liu experienced all the ups and downs of the ever-changing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during his career trajectory over the past three decades.
In the early 1980s, when China’s planned economy reached a dead end, the CCP started reforms toward a market economy by implementing a dual-track price system. Many businessmen who knew how to work with officials could buy goods at a fixed low price and sell them at the market price, which resulted in China’s oligarchy getting rich overnight. However, China’s economy became chaotic, and that era was marked by collusion between government officials and business sectors….