Pillar of community falls from his perch

Wang Fengyou, the chairman of the Yilishen Tianxi Group who is in custody for allegedly instigating social unrest, took a long and winding road to become the 'King of Ants'.

Born into a poor farmer's family in a small village in Fushun , Liaoning , the 45-year-old made a living after finishing middle school by opening a tofu shop.

He tried to plant trees for timber for Fushun coal mines, only to find that trees did not grow quickly enough in the frozen north to meet supply. He then tried his luck opening an ice-cream factory in Yingkou , planting crabapple trees in Gaixian, and selling pork in Dalian , but each failed.

In 1993, Wang took his savings and went to Guangzhou to open a taxi company with 15 cars, one of which he drove himself. Five years later, he sold his company for his first bucket of gold and went back to Shenyang to open Shenyang Dingxi Technology, on which he built his ant empire.

He started a joint venture with a Hong Kong connection he made in Guangzhou and established the Yilishen Tianxi Group in 1999. The group comprised nine companies and had interests in health products and property. Wang ran it for eight years on hype, connections, and what appeared to be an irresistible offer - deposit 10,000 yuan to get a box of ants, then give them food and water until they died, when the firm would pick them up. After 14 months, depositors were promised 13,250 yuan, with an annual rate of return as high as 32.5 per cent.

The seemingly easy and safe deal attracted 1.1 million ant breeders in Liaoning, many of them farmers and laid-off workers. The firm published a catalogue with scores of letters from grateful breeders. Wang even said being an ant breeder was to 'get yourself a good job at home'.

Wang made a reputation for himself as a philanthropist and entrepreneur. He donated more than 10 million yuan over the years, for which he won a number of public honours.