Liu Yiqian (, pronounced , born 1963) is a Chinese billionaire investor and art collector. An

autodidact Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodi ...

who formerly worked as a taxi driver, he has built his fortune since the mid-1980s by investing in

stock trading In finance, a trade is an exchange of a security such as stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, derivatives or any valuable financial instrument for "cash". Such a financial transaction is usually done by participants of an exchange such as a ...

, real estate

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by Mediahuis NRC. It is widely regarded as a newspaper of record in the country. History was first published on 1 October 1970 after a merger of the Amst ...

, Oscar Garschagen on Chinese museums and collectors of art. Page C4 10 juli 2014 and

pharmaceuticals Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

Biography

Born in 1963 into a working-class family in Shanghai, Liu Yiqian dropped out of school at the age of 14, in order to help his mother to sell handbags on the street. Then he became a taxi driver in Shanghai for two years in the mid-1980s, before making his fortune in the 1990s as part of the new rich who emerged after China's reform and

opening-up policy Reform and opening-up ( zh, s=改革开放, p=Gǎigé kāifàng), also known as the Chinese economic reform or Chinese economic miracle, refers to a variety of microeconomic reform, economic reforms termed socialism with Chinese characteristics ...

. He bought shares, paying around 160 yuan ($30) a share, of a Chinese company which became one of the first to list on the stock exchange as China began developing its capital markets. As a consequence, in just two years, the share price jumped to over 10,000 yuan. Liu increased his fortune by touring the major cities to buy up shares in state-owned enterprises from their market economy from unaware employees before these enterprises listed. He met his wife Wang Wei as he was a taxi driver in Shanghai, after Liu saw a photograph of Wang at a mutual friend's place. They have three daughters and one son.

Business

Liu is chairman of Sunline Group, a Shanghai-based investment company. As of 2010, the value of his real estate properties have increased to 10 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) over the past 19 years. In 2004, Liu established the companies Tianping Auto Insurance and Guohua Life Insurance. In April 2013, Tianping formed a joint venture with

AXA Axa S.A. is a French multinational insurance corporation headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It also provides investment management and other financial services via its subsidiaries. As of 2024, it is the fourth largest financi ...

. According to

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

, as of July 2015, Liu has a net worth of US$1.37 billion. He ranked as the 163rd wealthiest individual in China and 1,533rd wealthiest in the world.

Art collecting

In April 2014, Liu paid HK$281.24 million (US$36.3 million) for a 500-year-old

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

doucai ''Doucai'' () is a technique in painting Chinese porcelain, where parts of the design, and some outlines of the rest, are painted in underglaze blue, and the piece is then ceramic glaze, glazed and fired. The rest of the design is then added in o ...

'' chicken cup. In March 2015, he paid HK$348 million (US$45 million) for a 600-year-old embroidered silk thangka (tapestry) that was commissioned by the

Yongle Emperor The Yongle Emperor (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Chengzu of Ming, personal name Zhu Di, was the third List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 142 ...

of the Ming dynasty. It was a record high price for a Chinese work of art sold by an international auction house. Later that month, he bought an antique Tibetan bronze yogi sitting in the lotus position at an auction at Sotheby's in New York. In April 2015, he paid US$14.7 million for a

Guan ware Guan ware or Kuan ware () is one of the Five Famous Kilns of Song dynasty China, making high-status stonewares, whose surface decoration relied heavily on crackled glaze, randomly crazed by a network of crack lines in the glaze. ''Guan'' mean ...

vase from the

Southern Song The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, ending ...

dynasty. In November 2015, he bought Italian painter

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (; ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern art, modern style characterized by a surre ...

's ''

Nu couché ''Nu couché'' (also known in English as ''Red Nude'' or ''Reclining Nude'') is a 1917 oil on canvas painting by the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. It is one of his most widely reproduced and exhibited paintings. Painting The painting is one ...

(1917–18)'', a widely known painting of a reclining nude woman, for US$170.4 million, the second-highest price for an artwork at auction, in a volatile sale at Christie's in New York. He paid for the painting with his

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Centurion card The American Express Centurion Card, colloquially known as the Black Card, is a charge card issued by American Express. It is reserved for the company's wealthiest clients who meet certain net worth, credit quality, and spending requirements on ...

Long Museum

Liu and his wife Wang Wei founded the Long Museum, with two locations in Shanghai.Long Museum website
About Long Museum
/ref> In 2016, a third location was opened in Chongqing and a Wuhan branch is scheduled for 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Yiqian 1963 births Businesspeople from Shanghai Living people Billionaires from Shanghai Chinese art collectors Chinese company founders Chinese investors Museum founders Chinese businesspeople in real estate