He Xiangjian

A small local workshop became Midea

Midea traces its origin to 1968 in Shunde, where He Xiangjian and 22 other residents founded a modest workshop with 5,000 yuan of capital. The company describes this small pooled start as the beginning of the business that later became Midea. ^[2]

Forbes says He led the group of 23 residents in forming a lid-production workshop and then built Midea into one of the world's largest appliance makers. The fortune therefore arose from developing the operating company over decades rather than receiving an established appliance business through inheritance. ^[1]

Midea says it entered the air-conditioning industry in 1985 and subsequently broadened from a single-product operation into an integrated household-appliance brand. That diversification provides a concrete bridge between the original workshop and the much larger enterprise associated with He's wealth. ^[2]

The founder stepped back after the business reached global scale

He stepped down as chairman of Midea Group in 2012, according to Forbes, marking a transition from founder-led management to successor leadership. The group continued expanding afterward, including taking German robotics company Kuka private in 2022, but those later corporate actions should not be treated as personal wealth created solely by He. ^[1]

The reviewed evidence supports a primarily self-created fortune with an unusually modest starting operation: He helped assemble a small amount of pooled capital, built the company over decades and ultimately relinquished the chairmanship. The sources do not establish the severe personal disadvantage needed to characterize the origin more strongly than that. ^[1][2]