China's corporate revolutionary
There can be few chief executives operating in the City of London whose path to the top involved a two-year stint as deputy president of the Red Guards Union, Beijing.
Then again, Ying Fang, whose niche investment bank helps Chinese companies list on the London stock market, is hardly your conventional CEO.
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Aged eight, Ms Fang was a promising state-trained athlete. By the age of 12 she was delivering lectures, direct from Mao Zedong's Red Book, in front of 2,000 fellow students and 300 teachers at her Beijing school.
Forty years on, she now jets between London and Beijing with the aim of making a tidy profit for her company, Evolution Securities China. Her life story neatly mirrors the changes that have enveloped China since her birth in 1954.
With no trace of irony, Ms Fang says that the time she spent under China's doctrinaire Communist party in the 1960s and 1970s taught her skills and insights that are now essential to her job of helping Chinese business integrate into the global capitalist system.
Born in Shanghai to a comfortable middle-class family that retained servants, she grew up in Beijing after the family moved there when she was five. "My Mandarin has a thick Beijing accent," she says. "This is an advantage when I deal with officials in Beijing. I speak their language."
Ms Fang recalls that her athletics training - bankrolled by the National Athletic Committee - was akin to "being in the army". She adds: "The 6am starts and the intense training taught me valuable lessons such as discipline, the need to set and achieve targets and not to fear, that I could conquer all."
The urban comforts came to a sudden halt in 1969 when she was sent to study at the Communist Labour University in the rural south-western Chinese backwater of JiangXi. The university was part of a crusade by Mao, the Chinese leader, to force townfolk to rediscover their revolutionary zeal by reconnecting with a peasant ???-lifestyle.
JiangXi had a lasting effect on her view of China. "I never appreciated how poor the masses were," she says. "I realised how spoiled I had been and what it took to make China function."
During most of the 1970s, she worked in Beijing's political and policy unit, which was central to the implementation of Mao's Cultural ???-Revolution.
Her life changed following Deng Xiaoping's arrival in power at the end of the decade. Mao's successor ushered in a more pragmatic brand of socialism, which included encouraging selected nationals from the party elite to go abroad to gain international experience.
In 1980, Ms Fang left to study economics at the State University of New York and followed up with an internship at the World Bank and further study under Charles Goodhart, now a professor at the London School of Economics. As she deepened her career experience, Ms Fang says she began to think increasingly about how she could help Chinese companies bridge the enormous gap between her homeland and the west.
In 1988, armed with a reference from Prof Goodhart, Ms Fang arrived in the UK to work at Barclays Bank as a financial economist. Following a number of China-focused banking jobs, in 2003 Ms Fang set up Evolution Securities China (a joint venture with the UK stock-broker Evolution Group) in anticipation of a growing need for Chinese companies to tap London's capital ???-markets.
In the past year, Ms Fang has brought four such companies on to London's Alternative Investment Market, including Asia Citrus, owner of China's largest orange plantation, and has another three in the pipeline. To date, 36 Chinese companies are listed on Aim.
London attracts small- to mid-cap Chinese companies for several reasons, she says: "To list in Hong Kong requires the bureaucratic approval of China's regulators. Listing in New York involves long legal requirements that cost even the smallest companies around $2m a year.
"London's Aim market is well regulated and without all the paperwork and costs involved elsewhere." But could the Aim pipeline be about to dry up now that Chinese authorities are pressuring local companies to list in Shanghai or Shenzhen, its two stock ex-changes?
She thinks there is more than enough demand to satisfy all markets: "There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Chinese companies, lots of which require vast amounts of capital. So there will be enough listings to keep Shanghai, Nasdaq, Hong Kong and Aim all busy for quite a while."
Further, she believes Aim has a better understanding of sectors such as technology and life sciences. Another company she has helped list in London is China Biodiesel, which turns waste oil into biodiesel fuel.
Ms Fang insists that she is happy to work at the smaller end of the market, in spite of the fact that most global investment banks are pouring resources into the greater China region. "I am a founder CEO and it is more interesting than working for a big investment bank. I have no house view, no restrictions, and take enormous satisfaction in helping Chinese companies restructure."
With the Chinese economy growing at more than 11 per cent a year, Ms Fang en-dorses the government's attempts to cool it down. "Revaluing the renminbi, as some in the US suggest, or raising interest rates, risks destabilising the economy. Changes have to be incremental and sensible if they are to ensure social stability and employment levels.
"There is huge migration to the towns and the local economies have to be functioning well in order to absorb those arriving. I know at first hand the problems that could arise if the situation is mismanaged."
What about the sustain-ability of a system of government that combines political authoritarianism and economic liberalisation?
Ms Fang says: "Economic reforms will naturally affect the political system, and in the long run democracy will emerge. But that will take time, as the legal framework is in its infancy. Democracy is a luxury in a developing country. People need to be educated to make informed choices, and that can only happen if the country has the money to educate its ???-citizens."
And she sees no contradictions in the brand of "communism" currently being practised. Many of the executives she puts in front of western investors, for instance, are card-carrying party members.
"China has made a transition from communism to pragmatic socialism. Make no mistake. Private businessmen understand the need to provide returns to shareholders. But they are also supportive of a modernised ideology that most believe offers the best way for China to develop the economy to make it strong enough to take on the world. It is about patriotism."
She adds: "As Deng ???-Xiaoping said: 'It does not matter if the cat is black or white, so long as it can catch mice.'
从红卫兵到银行家
在
伦敦金融城众多首席执行官中，有担任过两年北京一红卫兵联合会副主席经历的人可能绝无仅有。
因此，方莺很难称得上是一位传统意义上的首席执行官。目前，她领导着一家利基型投资银行，帮助中国公司在伦敦证券市场上市。
8岁时，方莺是一位颇有前途的国家级田径运动员。到12岁时，她就开始站在北京母校的2000多名同学和 300位老师面前，照本宣读《毛主席语录》。
40年后的今天，她经常乘飞机往返于伦敦和北京之间，旨在为她的公司―― 英国益华证券(Evolution Securities China) 赚取可观的利润。自她1954年出生以来，方莺的人生旅程，恰恰反映出中国发生的巨大变化。
共产主义教育的影响
方莺表示，上世纪60年代到70年代，中国共产党奉行教条主义，那段岁月让她学会了很多技巧和洞察力。现在，这种能力对她帮助中国企业融入全球资本主义体系不可或缺。说这番话时，她丝毫没有讽刺的意味。
方莺出生在上海一个条件优越的中产家庭，当时家里还雇有佣人。她5岁时，全家搬到北京，方莺便在那里长大。“我的普通话带有浓重的北京口音，”她说道。 “在我与北京的官员们打交道时，这是一种优势。我可以讲他们的语言。”
在回忆她的田径训练时，方莺说，那就像“在军队里”一样。中国田径训练由国家体委 (National Athletic Committee)提供资金。她还补充说：“训练早上6点就开始了。高强度的训练让我学到了许多宝贵的东西，比如自制、无畏，需要设定并达到目标，以及我能够征服一切。”
到1969年，城市的舒适生活戛然而。方莺被派到共产主义劳动大学学习。这所大学位于中国南部的落后农村地区江西省，是中国领导人毛泽东再教育运动的一部分，旨在通过将城市人下放到农村，感受贫下中农的生活方式，重新找回他们的革命热情。
江西对她对中国的认识有着持久的影响。“以前，我从未意识到人民群众有多穷。”她说道。“我认识到，自己以前如何被娇惯，并意识到要让中国运转起来靠什么。”
在70年代的大部分时间里，方莺在北京一个文革小组工作，这种政策部门在执行毛泽东文化大革命的任务中占有重要地位。
资本主义再教育
70 年代末邓小平掌权后，方莺的生活发生了变化。邓小平奉行更加务实的社会主义，包括鼓励经挑选的党内精英出国学习国际经验。
1980年，方莺离开中国，到纽约州立大学(State University of New York) 学习经济学，随后到世界银行(World Bank)实习，后来师从查尔斯?古德哈特 (Charles Goodhart)。古德哈特现在是伦敦政治经济学院(London School of Economics)的教授。方莺说，随着职业经历丰富，她逐渐开始思考，如何帮助中国公司跨越中国与西方国家之间的鸿沟。
1988年，方莺带着古德哈特教授的推荐信，到英国巴克莱银行(Barclays Bank)工作，担任金融经济师。历任多个专注于中国的银行业务职位后，方莺预感到中国公司进入伦敦资本市场的需求将日益增加，于是在2003年（与英国证券公司 Evolution Group合资）成立了益华证券。
去年，方莺把四家中国公司带到伦敦的另类投资市场(Alternative Investment Market)上市，其中包括中国最大柑橘种植园的所有者亚洲果业(Asia Citrus)。此外，另有三家公司正处于上市进程中。迄今，已有36家中国公司在伦敦另类投资市场上市。
吸引中国企业上市
伦敦吸引中小盘中国企业的原因有好几个，方莺说：“要想在香港上市，需要得到中国官僚监管机构的批准。而在纽约上市，法律规定非常繁琐，即便是最小的公司，每年也要花费大约200万美元。”
“伦敦另类投资市场监管得力，也不需其它地方涉及的书面工作和成本。”中国政府正推动本土公司到沪深这两个证券交易所上市。这样一来，还会有中国公司来伦敦另类投资市场上市吗？
方莺认为，中国企业上市的需求充裕，足以满足所有市场的要求： “即便没有几百万家，也有几十万家中国公司，其中许多需要巨额资本。因此会有足够多的新股上市，使上海、纳斯达克(Nasdaq)、香港和另类投资市场都忙活好一阵。”
此外，方莺认为另类投资市场更理解科技和生命科学等产业。在她协助上市的中国企业中，有一家公司是中国生物柴油 (China Biodiesel)，该公司的业务是把废油转化成生物柴油燃料。
方莺强调，尽管大多数全球投行把资源投入大中华地区，她乐于从事较小一点的利基市场。“我是创始人兼首席执行官，这比为一家大投行效力更有趣。我不提供机构观点，没有限制，而且从帮助中国公司重组的过程中获得巨大的满足感。”
鉴于目前中国经济的年增长率超过11%，方莺支持政府给经济降温的措施。“像美国的一些人建议的一样将人民币升值，或者提高利率，都有令经济不稳的风险。要想确保社会稳定和就业水平，变革必须是循序渐进而理性的。”
“大量人口正迁往城镇，为了吸收这部分新进人群，地方经济必须运转良好。我切身了解情况处置失当会引发的种种问题。”
一个集政治威权与经济自由化于一身的政府体制，它的可持续能力如何呢？
方莺表示：“经济改革会自然地影响政治体制，长期来看，民主将会出现。但这需要时间，因为法律框架还处于襁褓期。对于一个发展中国家而言，民主政治是个奢侈品。人们需要接受教育以做出有依据的选择，而这只有在国家有钱教育其国民的情况下才能发生。”
此外，她认为目前正在实践的“共产主义”类型并不存在矛盾。比如，她带到西方投资者面前的首席执行官中，许多人是典型的党员。
“中国完成了从共产主义向务实社会主义的转变。这一点不要搞错。私营企业家明白需要向股东提供回报。但他们也支持一个现代化的意识形态，多数人认为这种意识形态为中国提供了发展经济的最佳道路，使它足够强大，能够傲立于世界。这是爱国主义问题。”
她补充道：“正如邓小平说的：‘不管黑猫白猫，抓住老鼠就是好猫。’”
