Yu Pun Hoi

Yu Pun Hoi (Chinese: 于品海, born 1958 in Hong Kong) and commonly known as P.H. Yu, is an entrepreneur in the information technology, cinema, culture and media industries in China. He is the Chairman of the Board and largest shareholder of Nan Hai Corporation Limited (0680.HK) and Sino-i Technology Limited (0250.HK).^[1] Yu is also the founder and chairman of the Tsinghua University Center for US-China Relations (CUSCR),^[2] and the Peking University Chinese Culture Research Center.^[3]

Early life

Yu spent his teenage years in Japan and worked to pay for his education. In 1976, he planned to attend UC-San Diego to pursue studies in journalism and media but did not earn enough money for tuition. He eventually made his way to Canada and studied political economics at the University of Saskatchewan. In 2008, he began to pursue a Ph.D. in Marxism at Peking University.^[4]

IT knowledge

Yu integrates knowledge-based industry models with information technology throughout his business enterprises. He describes IT as the means to achieve varying levels of intelligence, while film and information are the core essence of knowledge. He supports open standards, interoperability of open source and domestic brands to create heterogeneous technology infrastructures.^[5]

Under Yu's leadership, Sino-i Technology holds a leading position in China's IT industry, with 120 branch offices throughout China, more than 8,000 employees, including 2000 dedicated to R&D. It is the leading IT applications service provider (ASP) for domestic enterprises in China, with focus on optimization of technology infrastructures for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to facilitate e-commerce strategies, utilize enterprise software, and advance information access.^[6]

In 1999, Yu established CE Dongli Technology Co., Ltd., an application service provider of technology solutions for more than 250,000 small and medium enterprises in China.^[7] Yu acquired Xinnet in 2003 and Red Flag Chinese 2000 in 2006.^[8] CE Dongli ranks at the top amongst IBM and HP in China's IT services market, and received the top honor as a domestic firm in the outsourcing service market for consecutive years. CE and Xinnet also dominate the market sector for website, web-hosting, and mailbox services in China, where Xinnet is one of the top ten providers in domain name reserve and virtual hosting volume.^[9] As of 2009, Xinnet was the largest registrar of spam domains worldwide.^[10]

On facing the fierce competition in the IT industry, Yu used the concept of man to impart new ways of thinking to his employees at a conference in Beijing. He summed up the different scopes of life in the philosophy of "shi" using five distinct Chinese words 史(shǐ)、势(shì)、市(shì)、事(shì)、士(shì)" . He guided them to appreciate the powerful force of history and knowledge packed in each word, in order to grasp the potential of the overall strategic landscape. He assured them that only when they tackle the issues openly and with ease, cast aside concerns, fears and all distraction, can the true essence of matter and meaning of life come to light.^[11]

Culture and media

Yu began his media venture at the early age of 19, when he started a hand-written Chinese newspaper while finishing his undergraduate studies in Canada.^[12] After returning to Hong Kong, he competed with Rupert Murdoch in a bid to buy the Hong Kong newspaper MingPao in 1991 and lost. However, after Murdoch's deal fell through, Yu eventually took over the helm of this influential newspaper as chairman at the age of 33.^[13]

Yu began to expand his media institution rapidly. He led Ming Pao into North America with a western and eastern Canada edition of the Ming Pao Daily News (Canada). In 1993, Yu launched the Xian Dai Daily newspaper in China, and then acquired Yazhou Zhoukan, a weekly news magazine, from Time Warner. In 1992, he launched the Wuhan Cable TV station in China, which utilized a copper fiber network system that was the most advanced cable TV transmission network in China at the time. While Wuhan Cable broke ground as the first foreign-owned media in China, it also became the last media entity under a foreign ownership.^[14]

Yu has been keen to integrate new technologies with his media ventures, setting in motion content production and digital media business in Chinese language to embrace the next generation communication technology to connect the global Chinese audience. In the early 1990s, before the internet became a global cultural phenomenon, Yu set up the first ISP service in Hong Kong, HKNet, and also gave rise to the first Chinese newspaper website, mingpao.com.^[15]

In 1994, Yu founded the first 24-hour global Chinese language news network, Chinese Television Network (CTN), which included the Chong-Tian News channel and Dadi Entertainment channel. On February 19, 1997, Yu personally led the network's worldwide exclusive report on the death of China's leader Deng Xiaoping. CTN broke the news live on February 20, 1997 at 1;18 am Beijing Time, which was confirmed by the Xinhua news agency more than an hour later at 2:30am.^[16]

After three years, CTN generated a loss of 100 million dollars for Yu. He eventually sold the network to a member of the Koo family in Taiwan in 1997.^[17] CTN was later renamed as Chung T'ien Television (CTi TV).

Even though his investments in television led to huge losses, his investments in digital cinema theaters and movie production have been successful in China. His company, Dadi Media, focuses on Chinese cultural, historical, and artistic film productions, including Confucius, Electric Shadows, Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanjing, and Echoes of the Rainbow, which won the Hong Kong Oscars and a Crystal Bear for the Best Film in the Berlin International Film Festival 2010.

The award winning biopic based on the ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius, opened in 2010 with a record breaking 2,500 copies, virtually every theatre in China. It faced an uphill battle in the box office against the 3D Hollywood epic Avatar, but promoted a new wave of cross-cultural dialogue as this illustrious philosopher’s life story and teachings swept through box offices worldwide.^[18]

In 2006, Yu began to invest in digital cinema theaters from the first to third tier cities throughout China. As of February 2011, Dadi Media has 88 digital cinemas in operations (359 screens), with expansion plans of 12 cinemas (62 screens) set to open, and 20 cinemas ( 98 screens) under construction. In 2010, Dadi recorded a box office growth of 172%.^[19]

In 2009, Yu acquired the US-based Duowei News website (dwnews.com).The Economist reported in February, 2012 that while Yu said Duowei is "a very small business", its business of reporting Chinese politics is, however, only going to get bigger.^[20]

Academic activities

In 2008, Yu founded the Tsinghua University Center for US-China Relations, which he chairs. He has participated in many international roundtable conferences and Track II dialogues, including National Committee on American Foreign Policy Conference on the prospects for Taiwan Strait Relations^[21]，Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies China Forum;^[22] and the recent annual China-U.S. Senior Officials Training session at the Tsinghua University, where he led a discussion on the role of media and ideology in US-China relations, with US officials from the Department of State, Defense, Homeland Security and the Navy.^[23]

In 2010, at Peking University, Yu founded the Chinese Culture Research Center, whose mission is to promote contemporary Chinese cultural innovation and construct a modern Sinology.^[24]

Published articles

• American Foreign Policy Interests: Ten Challenges for China's New Leader^[25]
• American Foreign Policy Interests: What Kind of Leader Will Xi Jinping Be?^[26]
• China Forum Quarterly: We Need a New Understanding of World Politics^[27]
• China Forum Quarterly: Changes in Northeast Asia and South Sea Situations and the International Position of China—A New Perspective on Sino-US Strategic Balance^[28]
• China Forum Quarterly: An Essay on the 90th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party—The Basic Four Elements of the Rise of the CPC^[29]
• China Forum Quarterly: An Unjust War—Libya,^[30]
• China Forum Quarterly: Hu Shi and His Liberalism^[31]
• China Forum Quarterly: An Alternative View To Political Reform^[32]
• 《中国经济》: 2006年中国经济的丰收年^[33]
• 《中国经济》: 认识市场规律 建立高效政府^[34]
• 《中国经济》:次贷危机^[35]
• 环球时报: 格林斯潘：从高手到巫师^[36]
• 《中国科技纵横•知识》: 知识与开放^[37]
• 《中国科技纵横•知识》:寻找现代乌托邦^[38]
• 《中国科技纵横•知识》: 知识和资本^[39]
• 《中国科技纵横•知识》: 知识和生命^[40]

References

External links

• P.H. Yu's profile at Nan Hai Corporation Limited
• P.H. Yu's profile at Sino-i Technology Limited
• Tsinghua University Center for US-China Relations
• Interview with Nancy Merrill
• Dadi Media in the news