He Xiangjian founded Midea Group in 1968, growing a small workshop of 23 residents in Beijiao, Guangdong into one of the world's largest home appliance makers. He stepped down as chairman in 2012, handing operational control to professional manager Fang Hongbo, but remains the company's largest shareholder with a stake of roughly 31 percent, according to Caproasia.

Since retiring from operations, He has devoted himself primarily to philanthropy through the charitable foundation he established, while continuing to benefit financially from Midea's global appliance, robotics and building-technology businesses.

Ownership

He led the 1968 founding of the workshop that became Midea Group, and served as chairman until stepping down in 2012, when Fang Hongbo took over as chairman and president. He retains the largest single shareholding in Midea, at roughly 31 percent, according to Caproasia.

Family & Heirs

He Xiangjian is married with three children. His eldest son, He Jianfeng, was seen as his likely successor but chose in 2002 to start his own venture, Yingfeng Group, instead of taking over Midea's leadership. He Jianfeng served as a Midea Group director for twelve years before not being reappointed to the board in June 2024, according to Caproasia. He Jianfeng chairs the He Foundation, the family's philanthropic vehicle.

In June 2020, five kidnappers armed with explosives broke into He Xiangjian's villa in Foshan and held him hostage; He Jianfeng escaped by swimming across an adjacent river to alert police, who rescued He Xiangjian and arrested the five suspects, according to the South China Morning Post.

Evidence

2011-11-14 - 😈 - Midea loses patent infringement suit to Gree over copied sleep-function technology, fined 2 million yuan

2012-12-03 - 😈 - US Department of Energy fines Midea Corp $4.5 million, the largest penalty in the appliance energy-efficiency program's 37-year history, for noncompliant freezers

2016-11-01 - 😈 - CPSC recalls 3.4 million Midea dehumidifiers after 38 reports of fire / smoke and $4.8 million in property damage

2017-07-25 - 😇 - Pledges $888 million in cash and Midea stock to a charitable trust for poverty alleviation, education, healthcare and elder care

2018-02-07 - 😇 - Tops China's list of 100 philanthropists for the first time after donating 6.8 billion yuan ($1.09 billion) to charity in 2017

2018-12-18 - 😇 - Awarded Reform Pioneer title by the CPC Central Committee and State Council for pioneering township-enterprise restructuring and listing

2019-09-20 - 😇 - Receives 2019 National Poverty Alleviation Dedication Award from the State Council's poverty-alleviation leading group

2020-06-30 - 😇 - Guangdong charity foundation he founded wins Outstanding Contribution award marking the 10th Guangdong Poverty Alleviation Day

2021-05-11 - 😇 - Ranks 2nd on the Hurun China Philanthropy List 2021 with a $970 million donation, largely committed to building the non-profit Heyou International Hospital in his hometown of Foshan

2023-02-15 - 😇 - Midea Group named to Forbes China's 2022 Top 50 Sustainable Development Industrial Enterprises list for green manufacturing and carbon neutrality

2023-05-22 - 😇 - Unveils a 3 billion yuan ($428 million) science foundation to fund AI and climate research in China

2025-06-17 - 😈 - Class action calls Midea's recall of 1.7 million mold-prone window air conditioners inadequate, citing 152 mold reports and 17 confirmed respiratory / allergic cases

2025-06-20 - 😈 - Bureau of Investigative Journalism finds evidence of forced labor from Xinjiang transfer schemes at Midea-owned plants

Analysis

He Xiangjian's record shows a wide gap between his personal philanthropic record and the regulatory and consumer-safety history of the company he founded and still substantially owns. He has personally pledged and donated close to a billion dollars to poverty alleviation, education and elder care, a separate $970 million commitment that ranked him 2nd on the Hurun China Philanthropy List 2021 and largely funded the non-profit Heyou International Hospital in his hometown of Foshan, and a nine-figure science foundation, earning national recognition including the 2018 Reform Pioneer title and a 2019 poverty-alleviation award.

At the same time, Midea has repeatedly run afoul of consumer-safety and energy-efficiency regulators in the US, with a record-setting Department of Energy fine, a multimillion-unit dehumidifier recall tied to fires, and a 2025 window air conditioner recall that a class action called inadequate given confirmed respiratory and allergic reactions. A 2025 investigative report also named Midea among appliance makers whose plants showed evidence of forced labor tied to Xinjiang transfer schemes. He stepped down from daily operations in 2012, but his continued 31 percent ownership stake means he benefits materially from a company whose safety and labor record has drawn sustained scrutiny well after his own retirement from management.

Questions

Does founder-level ownership without operational control still carry accountability for a company's ongoing consumer-safety and labor practices, more than a decade after stepping down as chairman?

How should a substantial, verifiable personal philanthropic record be weighed against unresolved, company-level regulatory and labor findings tied to the same fortune?

Redemption Arc

He Xiangjian's public role shifted markedly after his 2012 retirement from operations, from industrialist to one of China's most prominent individual philanthropists, topping the national philanthropy list in 2018 and funding a dedicated science foundation in 2023. That personal trajectory runs in parallel with, rather than resolving, the recurring consumer-safety and labor issues that have continued to surface at Midea itself through 2025.