New Oriental's Yu Minhong was long revered as a model entrepreneur in China. Can Beijing's ban on his private tutoring business really help China?
In 1994, a year after he launched what would become the world’s largest English-language tutoring company, the New Oriental Education and Technology Group, Yu Minhong was accosted by thieves outside his Beijing apartment, roughed up and forcibly tranquilized. When the lanky teacher came to, his apartment had been ransacked and he was missing two million RMB in cash (about $150,000 at the time). Years later, after the criminals were apprehended, it was discovered that they were responsible for
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Bob Fu's relationship with China has gone through phases. First, he thought money would solve his problems there; then he joined protesters at Tiananmen Square, thinking the politics could change. In the end, he determined, only God could save China, and he's been fighting for religious freedom in China ever since he resettled in Texas. With his nonprofit, ChinaAid, prospering like never before, he says the U.S. is finally catching on.