Zhong Huijuan: From chemistry teacher to China’s richest self-made woman

Zhong Huijuan, the 64-year-old founder of Hansoh Pharmaceutical, became China’s richest self-made woman for the first time in 2025, amassing a staggering $19.8 billion fortune, according to the Hurun Rich List. Her journey did not begin in a university dorm room but in a middle school classroom. And her empire was not built on algorithms or branding, but on the slow, painstaking work of scientific innovation. It’s a story that champions the quiet, deliberate pursuit of excellence in a culture that often rewards the loud and the fast. Zhong’s rise is a refreshing counter-narrative to the myth of the young, reckless founder. She was 34 years old and had spent 13 years as a chemistry teacher before she took the entrepreneurial leap. Her path offers a unique and powerful playbook for leaders, proving that deep expertise, a long-term vision, and a willingness to prioritize substance over speed can be the most powerful assets of all. The 13-year apprenticeship: An educator’s edge Zhong was born in 1961 in Lianyungang, Jiangsu. She was admitted to Xuzhou Normal University — a school with a highly selective 4.7% acceptance rate — to study chemistry and was later assigned to teach at Yan’an Middle School in Lianyungang. During her 13 years on the teaching podium, she wasn’t a CEO, but she was honing the foundations of leadership. The daily practice of breaking down complex subjects, preparing lessons, and patiently nurturing students’ understanding helped her develop systematic thinking and problem-solving skills. This laid a strong groundwork for her future in corporate management and R&D decision-making. As an educator, she learned to value knowledge over hype and understood that real breakthroughs come from consistent effort rather than overnight genius. It was this patience and rigor that enabled her to quickly build teams, train employees, and master the operations of a pharmaceutical company when she took over Hansoh Pharmaceutical. Her years in the classroom were not a prelude to success but the cornerstone of her pharmaceutical empire. The leap at 34: It’s never too late to start In 1995, Zhong Huijuan left her stable and respected teaching position to take over the management of the newly founded Hansoh Pharmaceutical at her husband Sun Piaoyang’s request. At the time, the company had just over a dozen employees, and the pharmaceutical industry was dominated by generics with high technical and market barriers. Zhong faced the daunting task of learning an entirely new industry, building operational systems from scratch, and training a small team to meet strict quality standards. In 1997, Zhong launched the company’s inaugural product, an antibiotic named Meifeng, which achieved sales of 30 million RMB ($4.2 million) that year. Despite limited resources and fierce competition, the product’s success stabilized the company and laid the foundation for Hansoh’s growth into a leading pharmaceutical enterprise. The R&D gamble: Betting on patience in a fast-money world While the quickest path to profit would have been producing generics, Zhong Huijuan chose the more challenging route of innovative drugs. In the early 2000s, she committed 10% of her annual revenue to new drug R&D, and by 2024, R&D spending had reached 2.7 billion RMB ($379.5 million), accounting for 22% of revenue and supporting a robust pipeline of innovative medicines across oncology, central nervous system, metabolic, and autoimmune diseases. This long-term vision reflects her belief that sustainable success comes from creating unique value rather than chasing quick profits. Zhong’s dedication produced extraordinary breakthroughs. Hansoh Pharmaceutical earned international certifications and U.S. FDA approvals and launched multiple original drugs. A particularly notable milestone came in 2013 with the rollout of Xinwei, China’s locally produced version of imatinib, often called a “magic drug” in oncology. Beyond its medical impact, the team priced it as low as one-tenth of the original imported version, making life-saving treatment accessible to far more patients. By the first half of 2025, innovative drug sales accounted for 82.7% of total revenue, becoming Hansoh’s core growth engine. Zhong’s R&D-first strategy proves that in a world obsessed with speed and short-term gains, patience, deep expertise, and long-term investment in innovation can become the ultimate competitive advantage. Lessons for leaders: The patient scientist’s playbook Zhong Huijuan’s story offers valuable insights for leaders across industries: Value deep expertise: Her 13-year teaching career provided her with specialized knowledge in pharmaceuticals, laying a strong foundation for corporate management and R&D decisions. It’s never too late: She started her entrepreneurial journey at 34, proving that experience and wisdom matter more than age. Commit to innovation and long-term investment: By allocating over 22% of revenue to R&D, she prioritized sustainable growth and built a lasting competitive advantage. Focus on social value: By combining innovation with affordability — such as cutting Xinwei’s prices to one-tenth of the original — Hansoh’s strategy reinforces that sustainable business growth and patient access can go hand in hand. The bottom line: The power of substance Zhong’s success is a powerful validation for every leader who has ever chosen the difficult path of creating something new over the easy path of copying what already exists. Her legacy is not just a $19.8 billion fortune and a pharmaceutical empire but the lessons she sends to leaders everywhere: it’s never too late to start, and true value takes time to build. She’s a testament to the fact that the most enduring empires are often built not by the loudest voices, but by the most patient minds.

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Zhong Huijuan: From chemistry teacher to China’s richest self-made woman