Zhong Huijan was born and had growned up in Lianyungang, in the province of Jiangsu.

After being graduated in 1982, at the Jiangsu university, she became a chemistry teacher at Yan’an College. It was only a few years later, thanks to her husband, Sun Piaoyang, director of a pharmaceutical company, that Zhong Huijuan saw an opportunity to enter this industry. Indeed, we were in 1995, Sun and an investor decided to create a new company. Zhong took this opportunity and quit teaching to join the project. She quickly took the head of Hansoh Pharmaceutical company.
The company is engaged in R&D and production of pharmaceuticals for diseases of nervous system, cancer, infections and diabetes. It aims to be innovative and focused on research. The manager decided to invest, in the first place, 5% of her turnover and then dedicated more than 10% of revenue as a research budget, a big amount for a pharmaceutical company.
The company started out with 10 employees, but its growth was quite impressive. In 1997, two years after its creation, it achieved $4.5M in sales. A first formulation plant was launched in 2000. In 2002, Hansoh Phamaceutical obtained Chinese certifications for good manufacturing practices. In 2003, the first drug was approved by the US FDA.

Two years later, the company was in the Top 20 of the 2005 Forbes list of Chinese companies with potential.

Between 2008 and 2015, many drugs were approved by international and Chinese authorities, and the company won several awards.
Between 2016 and 2018, development continued with the receipt of many awards and formulation of new drugs. Same year, Zhonf led by funding from Hillhouse Capital Group, one of Asia’s largest capitals. Finally, in 2019, it is a new consecration for Zhong Huijean who leads his company towards IPO at Hong Kong stock exchange. The company was valued at $10.3bn at the time, propelling Zhong Huijuan, a former chemistry professor, momentarily to the 3rd richest woman in China. The leader does not stop there and plans in 2020 nearly 30 drug candidates, including 4 classified as innovative. 
Zhong has been able to gain the support of the Chinese government, she acknowledges that it has played an important role in her success. Indeed, the government has increased the country’s spending in terms of health from $541bn in 2014 to $913bn in 2019. The authorities encourage the arrival of differentiating molecules and tighten the evaluation requirements for old generation generics. In fact, Hansoh Pharmaceutical is one of the few Chinese biotechs to develop its own products rather than generic ones. The company is part of the Beijing Healthy China 30 program. In addition, the company has a manufacturing quality management system that complies with international requirements (China, USA, Japan).
To build this empire, Zhong Huijuan had support of her husband, Sun Piaoyang. Piaoyang is the CEO of Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which he bought in 1990 and has led it to become one of the largest producers of anti-infective and anti-cancer treatments in China. 
Today, the businesswoman lives in Shanghai with her husband.

Together, Zhong and her husband, Sun Piaoyang, are among the world’s richest pharmaceutical families in the world ($41bn). With her daughter, she owns more than 66% of the company. Although she doesn’t give interviews and is discreet about her life, Zhong embodies for many, the Chinese self-made woman.