Ren comes from a family of rural teachers in China. His grandfather was a chef specializing in curing hams, but he died a year before his father finished his studies, which is why he had to abandon them. Ren’s father emigrated to the province of Canton during the Japanese occupation, where he worked as an accounting employee and raised his seven children, of which Ren Zhengfei was the eldest. His mother was a teacher at the local high school.
Ren went to Chongqing University, then joined the Military Research Institute as a military technologist. Due to the well-off condition of his parents, he was not able to enter the Communist Party of China, no matter how much he had made a career in the militia. During that time, Ren was responsible for a large number of technological achievements that were recognized at various levels. For this reason, Ren was selected by the PLA to participate in the National Science Conference in 1978 as a delegate.
In 1982, Ren was forced to leave the military after a large reduction in personnel that impacted 500,000 people on duty. Upon becoming a civilian, Ren moved to the province of Shenzhen to work in the electronics business.
Ren Zhengfei is a former officer of the People’s Liberation Army. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1978 and is a member of the XII National Congress of the Communist Party of China. In addition to his other activities, Ren is responsible for the development of cooperation programs in the interior regions of China.
In 1987, Ren founded Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, a company specialized in the development, production and sales of telecommunications equipment. At present, the company is a key player in the Telecommunications industry, with an annual turnover of 13 billion dollars and more than 70,000 employees in 2007.
In 2004, Ren Zhengfei was selected by the magazine Entrepreneurs of China among the 25 most influential entrepreneurs in the country.2 Time magazine included Ren Zhengfei in its list of the 100 most influential people in 2005.
