Pan Shiyi


Pan Shiyi is a Chinese businessman and the Chairman of SOHO China. He co-founded SOHO China with his wife Zhang Xin in 1995.

Early life

Pan was born in an impoverished rural village in Tianshui, Gansu in western China in 1963. He graduated from the Hebei Technical College of Petroleum Profession in 1982, later working at the former Ministry of Petroleum, until he decided in 1987 to venture to Shenzhen and Hainan to embark upon a career in real estate. In 1992, he co-founded Beijing Vantone Co., Ltd., a developer now listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Between 2016 and 2017 Pan was a Senior Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Personal life

Pan and his wife, Zhang Xin, have been members of the Baháʼí Faith since 2005.
Pan starred as a lonely real estate developer "Li Wenqing" in the 2006 romantic film Aspirin, alongside Mei Ting.