Yang Guoqiang family

One of Asia’s richest families primarily operates through their real estate development company, Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd. Founded in 1992 by farmer-turned-real-estate-tycoon, Yang Guoqiang. The company rose to prominence and commercial success during China’s reformation period of economic and cultural development in the early 2000s.
Yang Guoqiang served as sole Chairman of Country Garden until 2018, when his daughter, Yang Huiyan was appointed co-chair, tasked with running the company along with her father. Considered the richest woman in China with wealth estimated at $23.6 billion, Yang Huiyan owns a 57 per cent stake in the company she first joined in 2005 after graduating from Ohio State University, and the death of her older brother. Yang’s sister Ziyang also sits on Country Garden’s board of directors.
Believers in giving back through philanthropy and education, the Yang family established Bright Scholar Education Holdings, which is the largest operator of international and bilingual K-12 schools in China. Yang Huiyan serves as chair, and her aunt, Yang Meirong holds a stake in the company that went public in 2017. The family has also been staunch supporters of the Guangzhou Foundation for Justice and Courage, the Guangdong Youth Development Foundation, and Sun Yat-sen University.