Lifan set to ride the reform wave for continued rewards

For Yin Mingshan life turned full circle when Lifan Industry (Group), a homegrown motorcycle maker, become one of the nation's largest non-State-owned automakers and a beacon of China's success through reform and opening-up.

Little did the 80-year old chairman anticipate that the blazing trail he charted for Lifan in Chongqing would serve as a blueprint for the success of private enterprises and entrepreneurship, especially in a country where giant State-owned enterprises ruled the roost. The former book editor turned entrepreneur was last month named in the list of top 100 outstanding private entrepreneurs of the past four decades in China, a ranking released in Beijing by the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.

As the founder of Lifan, one of China's largest car and motorcycle makers, his success story started soon after China embarked on reform and opening up in 1978.