They're among Beijing's highest-profile property developers, but Pan Shiyi and his wife, Zhang Xin, are surprisingly grounded people. Through their company, Soho China, they have given the capital a much-needed infusion of artistry in its architecture. At the same time, they're stoking a debate about culture and quality of life in a nation where many are fresh from the struggle for daily survival.
Ten years ago, many people in China were still dirt-poor, Pan says. 'The debate was about whether we should continue with the planned economy or shift to a market economy. I was a firm believer that the market economy could bring food to people in China.'
It certainly has for Pan. He was born in 1963 in Gansu, one of China's poorest provinces. A graduate of the Beijing Petroleum Institute, he went to work in the oil ministry. In 1987, as the economy was liberalised, Pan moved to a job in property development. Within a few years he was building his own projects and, in 1995, he began developing them with his new wife.
Zhang was based in Hong Kong when she met Pan. It was her second time living in the city. She first came to Hong Kong as a 14-year-old, making zippers in a Tai Kok Tsui factory during the day and going to school at night. She left five years later to attend the University of Sussex in England and then Cambridge, where she majored in economics. After graduating, she returned to Hong Kong and into a more lucrative line of work.
'I started at Barings; I was there for only a few days,' she says. 'When I turned up I realised the whole team had been headhunted by Goldman Sachs, so I joined them.'
But Zhang was eager to return to the mainland. She'd left in 1980, when the country was in the throes of transformation into a capitalist economy. 'All the intellectuals were engaged in the debate about what to do, the direction of the country. I was outside all that time, but I was always seeking opportunities to go back,' she says.