Changhong Bridge

Sichuan Changhong Electric Co., Ltd., doing business as Changhong () domestically and CHiQ internationally, is a Chinese consumer electronics company based in Mianyang, Sichuan, founded in October 1958. In 2004, 90 percent of the television sets exported from China to the United States were made by Changhong. It was the second-largest manufacturer of televisions in China as of 2010.

History

1950–1999

Changhong emerged from the Changhong Machinery Factory, which was a state-owned large enterprise established in the 1950s. The company, which was part of the 156 key projects that were aided by the Soviet Union, focused on the development and production of airborne fire control radar system.

Changhong Electronics developed during the Third Front campaign to develop basic industry and national defense industry in China's interior in case of invasion by the Soviet Union or United States. Changong Electronics is the best-known electronics manufacturer to arise during the Third Front period.

By mid-1970s, Changhong began manufacturing products for civilian use when demand for military hardware declined, eventually focusing on the television product line. During the next decade, it beefed up its technological capabilities with a series of partnerships with overseas companies such as Panasonic, from which it imported tubes and advanced production lines to drive the volume production of television. It was a major driver in the regional share of television production in inland China rising from 0 to 32% of national production. In 1980, the company already boasted the production of over 10,000 television units annually and by 1988, this number rose to almost a million units. In 1994, the company was listed as a publicly traded company and, a year later, it was recognized as China's largest television manufacturer.

2000–present

In 2001, Changhong reached an agreement with David Ji, the chairman of the American company Apex Digital.Joseph Kahn (November 1, 2005)
"Dispute Leaves U.S. Executive in Chinese Legal Netherworld,"
''The New York Times''. Changhong was at that point China's largest television manufacturer, a supplier majority-owned by the company-town city of Mianyang and the province of Sichuan. The company provided two-thirds of the city of Mianyang's revenue, and Changhong's chairman and managing director Zhao Yong was until late 2004 the city's deputy mayor. Changhong became Apex's largest supplier of DVD players.

On October 23, 2004, as Apex was in a business dispute with Changhong in which the two companies argued over hundreds of millions of dollars, as Ji was in China on a business trip he was arrested by Mianyang police in his hotel room in Shenzhen, China, near Hong Kong, who came from 500 miles away from Shenzhen. Changhong accused Ji of defrauding them through bad checks. He was held in China by Changhong for months without charges. On May 28, 2005, Ji was formally arrested on charges of "financial instrument fraud." In police custody, his conditions improved. In June 2005, Apex acknowledged a $150 million debt, but the debt remained unpaid as Apex said it did not have any money. In August 2005, the police released Ji on restricted bail, without him being indicted.

Since 2004, Changhong's development strategy and operating mechanism system have changed from time to time, and the industrial scale has expanded rapidly, becoming the leading enterprise in the domestic intelligent integration industry layout. It owns four listed companies including Sichuan Changhong, Changhong Meiling, Changhong Huayi and Changhong Jiahua. Changhong has a minimal presence in North America, where as of 2021 it sold TVs through the online retailer Newegg. It markets its brand CHIQ in United States. Another line of products is the manufacturing of nickel–iron batteries.

Leadership

References

External links

Official website

{{Authority control

Companies based in Sichuan
Electronics companies established in 1958
1958 establishments in China
Display technology companies
Electronics companies of China
Chinese brands
1994 initial public offerings