The daughter rose in the East

摘要

Dong mingzhu is the most visible face of female enterprise in China. The 64-year-old boss of Gree, the world's biggest maker of air-conditioners, is everywhere: in television ads, on billboards and, last year, in two places at once—jaywalking in the city of Ningbo while at Gree's headquarters in Zhuhai (police cameras mistakenly captured her visage plastered on a bus). Ms Dong joined Gree as a door-to-door saleswoman in 1990, as a widow with an eight-year-old son. In 2012 she became its chairwoman. Although Gree has state roots, Ms Dong acts like a high-profile entrepreneur. Her life was the subject of a TV drama, and she has written two popular memoirs. Her steely, unglamorous image (a confessed penchant for skirts notwithstanding) inspires young women. Matters of gender bore her. Asked about her rise in a country run by men, she responds: "Men or women, few are up to the challenge."