US-China tech war: who is the ‘virtuous’ man Xi Jinping says is a model for other businesspeople?
- Learn from Zhang Jian, Xi says at a museum founded by the Qing dynasty entrepreneur
- Trip comes as China tries to accelerate hi-tech development and sustain economic growth
It also comes after the Chinese leader highlighted the need for entrepreneurs to be loyal to the party.
On a trip to a Nantong in the eastern province of Jiangsu on Thursday afternoon, Xi described the late entrepreneur Zhang Jian – also known as Chang Chien – as a model for others, according to state news agency Xinhua.
“He was a virtuous man from a previous era and a model for Chinese entrepreneurs,” Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.
He made the comments at Nantong Museum, which Zhang founded in 1905.
Zhang founded some of China’s earliest light industries including a cotton mill and a conglomerate to develop the port of Nantong and was briefly a commerce minister in the early days of the Republic of China. He was best known for promoting the idea that businesses could be used to save the country.