Lu family

The Lu family is one of China’ wealthiest due to their ownership of The Wanxiang Group, China’s largest auto parts manufacturer. The family business was founded by patriarch Lu Guanqiu in 1969 and a manufacturer of small agricultural machines. From those humble beginnings, Lu Guanqiu built it into an international empire which earned more than $11.31 billion in 2018. Lu was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, in 1945 into a relatively poor family. He dropped and took up the ironsmith craft at the age of 15. As an adult, Lu had diversified interests beyond being an industrialist. He taught at the post-secondary level at Zhejiang University in their EMBA program. He was also elected to the State Congress on more than one occasion. At the time of his death in October 2017, he was listed as the wealthiest man in his home province of Zhejiang with an estimated fortune of $5.7 billion. Lu’s son, Lu Weiding, succeed him and serves as the current CEO of The Wanxiang Group. Prior to his ascension to the top position at Wanxiang, he served as a Director at GreatPoint Energy until 2018. Lu Weiding’s brother-n-law Ni Pin runs the American division based out of Chicago.