Marathon enthusiast Yu Liang has always been a frontrunner; this time, he has finally reached the finish line. On January 8, 2026, an official announcement drew the curtain on the exceptionally long corporate career of Yu Liang, a symbolic figure in China's real estate industry. China Vanke Co.,Ltd. announced that Mr. Yu Liang submitted a written resignation report to the Board of Directors of CHINA VANKE on January 8, 2026, applying to resign from his positions as Director and Executive Vice President due to reaching retirement age. Following his resignation from the aforementioned posts, Mr. Yu Liang will no longer hold any position within the company. In June 2017, he formally assumed the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vanke, embarking on a journey of sole leadership amidst bouquets and applause. More than eight years later, this veteran with over 35 years of service chose to depart completely while Vanke was still undergoing a deleveraging process. There was no farewell ceremony, nor the intense public spotlight that accompanied the handover from former Chairman Wang Shi. From stepping down to Executive Vice President in January 2025 to his full retirement now, Yu Liang's "exit" has been protracted and quiet. Born in 1965, Yu Liang has reached the age of 60. Vanke did not comment on his contributions during his tenure, merely stating that his resignation would not affect the normal operation of the Board of Directors or the company's daily business. As the company continues to endure a painful and prolonged downturn, Yu Liang's retirement is also viewed externally as a signal that Vanke has achieved a phased "soft landing." Over the past few years, Yu Liang was often the one issuing warnings to the industry. In 2022, at a Vanke internal annual meeting themed "Dare to Fight to Win," he redefined the phase the real estate sector was entering. Following the "Golden Age" and "Silver Age," he directly proclaimed the "Black Iron Age." From being the first in the industry to raise the slogan "Survive" in 2018, to defining the era of "Management红利" and "earning small money," and later emphasizing "tightening belts" and a "wartime atmosphere," as the property market entered a cyclical downturn, he consistently stressed the need to abandon any illusions. Yu Liang subsequently began implementing self-rescue measures. In December 2023, Vanke sold its equity in several hotel management companies to Banyan Tree Holdings for 480 million yuan. In February 2024, Vanke sold its remaining 50% stake in the prime retail property Shanghai Qibao Vanke Plaza to Link Real Estate Investment Trust for 2.384 billion yuan. Coupled with borrowings exceeding ten billion yuan from its largest shareholder, Shenzhen Metro Group, Vanke trudged arduously along the path of debt resolution. Nevertheless, 2024 still brought Vanke's darkest hour. The company recorded its first-ever annual loss, amounting to 49.478 billion yuan, marking the largest loss since its listing. In early 2025, Shenzhen Metro Group initiated an expansion and restructuring of the management team. Yu Liang resigned as Chairman of the Board and transitioned to the role of Executive Vice President. In February of the same year, key personnel appointments announced by Vanke indicated that Yu Liang would primarily assist the Chairman of the Board, focusing on strategy and macroeconomic research for the real estate sector. Dubbed the "Working Emperor" by the media, his career trajectory almost perfectly mirrors the development history of Vanke. He personally witnessed a real estate developer's sales soar from 3 billion yuan to a scale of 700 billion yuan, and he also experienced the challenges of confronting a debt repayment crisis during the industry's adjustment period. Yu Liang has departed, leaving Vanke with a trek towards a spring whose arrival remains uncertain.
Emergence In 2013, China Entrepreneur magazine published an article titled "Wang Shi's A-Side, Yu Liang's B-Side." At a time when market speculation about Wang Shi's successor was rampant, the article compared the two men to the "A and B sides" of Vanke, representing sensibility and rationality, idealism and realism, respectively. After graduating from the Department of International Economics at Peking University in 1988, Yu Liang briefly worked at Shenzhen Foreign Trade Group. In 1990, at the age of 25, he officially joined Vanke. He was very sensitive to being labeled as having a "finance background." "Mentioning finance implies being utilitarian, short-sighted, and realistic. Am I not idealistic enough?" Yu Liang once said, "Without the support of ideals, I wouldn't have made it this far." Recalling his interview in 1990, his first impression of Wang Shi was that he was "idealistic and strictly self-disciplined." He candidly admitted that Wang Shi had a profound spiritual influence on him. Shenzhen at that time was brimming with opportunities. Wang Shi, then 39, had built Vanke into a highly diversified conglomerate involved in retail department stores, scientific and educational instruments, distilled water production, and more. In his early days at the company, Yu Liang was assigned to the Securities Affairs Department, working on securities and investment-related matters and assisting in preparations for the company's listing. In 1991, Vanke successfully listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, becoming one of the earliest batch of listed companies. In 1993, when Vanke planned to issue B-shares, raising 450 million Hong Kong dollars, Yu Liang was one of the key drivers, which brought him into Wang Shi's purview. In 1994, a battle for control erupted in the capital markets over Vanke. Yu Liang, then General Manager of Vanke's financial advisory company, was deeply involved in the capital operations, assisting management in consolidating control. It was also in this year that he joined Vanke's Board of Directors. In 1999, Yu Liang was appointed as Executive Vice General Manager and Chief Financial Officer. Subsequently, in 2001, he officially took over as General Manager, at a time when Vanke's sales were approximately 3 billion yuan. "Vanke had many talented people back then; there were plenty more ideal candidates than Yu Liang," remarked Yin Xiangwu, a seasoned Shenzhen real estate insider. Wang Shi's first successor as General Manager in 1999, Yao Mumin, had "a temperament and personality just like another Wang Shi," but his tenure in the position was brief. Yin Xiangwu believes Wang Shi chose Yu Liang primarily because he was steady and, secondly, because he was methodical. During this period, Yu Liang rarely found himself in the spotlight. According to media reports, when he took over as General Manager, many were unconvinced, questioning why someone without a professional background was chosen. When Yu Liang received the "Economic Person of the Year" award in 2012, Wang Shi, in an interview with CCTV, addressed this question, essentially stating that Yu Liang had assisted him in accomplishing many major tasks, and only he truly understood Yu Liang's capabilities. "I believe Wang Shi's choice of me was appropriate, and I am also very confident," Yu Liang said. His confidence stemmed from practical experience. From sales of around 3 billion yuan when he took over, to Vanke becoming the first real estate company in China to exceed 100 billion yuan in sales in 2010, Yu Liang's contribution was undeniably significant.
The 100-Billion-Yuan Plan When Yu Liang first took office as General Manager of Vanke in 2001, he was ambitious – initially with a "10-Billion-Yuan Plan," aiming to propel Vanke into the 10-billion-yuan club within five years. Even he himself did not anticipate that, fueled by the arrival of real estate's "Golden Age," this seemingly ambitious plan would be achieved ahead of schedule – by 2004, Vanke's annual sales had grown to 9.16 billion yuan, effectively placing it within the 10-billion-yuan scale. Consequently, that year Yu Liang conceived a bolder idea: achieving 100 billion yuan in sales for Vanke within a decade. This seemed incredible at the time, with many considering him overly aggressive. After all, Vanke was perceived by the industry and media as facing growth risks – their land acquisition methods were very limited, rarely obtaining plots through means other than public auctions, and their revenue had long been overly reliant on the Pearl River Delta region. However, Yu Liang, with his financial background, promptly introduced his own strategy – increasing the emphasis on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and accelerating inventory turnover efficiency. Regarding M&A, he established three screening criteria: prioritize targets with high-quality land reserves (prime locations, reasonable plot ratios), clear financial status (no hidden debts), and teams possessing local operational capabilities. Vanke also did not restrict itself to one-time cash payments; they designed models such as "cash + equity" and "project cooperation profit-sharing," which greatly enhanced flexibility in M&A, alleviating internal funding pressure while simultaneously locking in the core teams of the acquired companies. In March 2005, Vanke acquired a portion of the equity in projects located in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and other markets from Zhejiang Narada Group for 1.858 billion yuan. This transaction set a record at the time for the largest single M&A deal in China's domestic real estate industry and allowed Vanke to leverage the opportunity to enter the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai market. In 2006, it further acquired a 60% stake in Beijing Chaoyang Vanke Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. for 390 million yuan, strengthening its footprint in the Beijing market. Vanke's M&A activities blossomed nationwide. In 2006 alone, it acquired 22 real estate companies, enabling Vanke to rapidly penetrate key property markets and decisively shed its "Pearl River Delta dependency." In terms of accelerating the operating cycle, Yu Liang introduced in 2008 what could be considered a textbook-level model: "5986" – commence construction within 5 months of land acquisition, begin presales within 9 months, ensure ordinary residential properties account for over 80% of projects, and achieve a sales rate of 60% in the first month of presales. This rapid turnover strategy successfully safeguarded Vanke's revenue scale during the downturn caused by the global financial crisis that year. Many media outlets praised his approach, believing it accurately identified the core market contradiction, used operational metrics to enforce "cash flow discipline" within the organization, and shifted competition among developers from "land banking for appreciation" to "capital efficiency." Bolstered by aggressive M&A and high turnover, Yu Liang's once-deemed radical "100-Billion-Yuan Plan" was also completed ahead of schedule. In 2010, Vanke announced sales exceeding 108.16 billion yuan, becoming the first Chinese real estate developer to join the 100-billion-yuan club, achieving this feat in less than six years since Yu Liang proposed the plan.
Exit Strong growth did not cause Yu Liang and Vanke to become blindly aggressive; on the contrary, among leading developers, Vanke was one of the first to exhibit "sobriety." In 2012, Yu Liang was the first to propose internally at Vanke that the industry was about to enter a "Silver Age." "The real estate industry has passed its most golden period, but it is certainly not the Titanic about to hit an iceberg. However, the era where everyone could simply bend down and pick up gold is over; the real estate industry has entered the Silver Age," Yu Liang stated. In reality, Vanke's revenue was still growing rapidly. In the first three quarters of 2014, the company's sales reached 149.06 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16%. Many within the industry considered Yu Liang's remarks "alarmist." But Yu Liang had indeed detected signals of an impending market downturn: the easing of purchase restrictions in multiple locations, relaxed criteria for defining first-home purchases, declines in both national commercial housing sales value and sales area, while the inventory area awaiting digestion was surging... Confronted with these market changes, he initiated Vanke's transformation. The company shifted its focus away from solely residential development, investing heavily in a "City配套 Service Provider" strategy, with commercial properties, logistics, and long-term rental apartments being key areas of focus for Vanke at that time. The transformation brought new growth. In 2017, Vanke's sales exceeded 500 billion yuan. During the same year's board reelection, Wang Shi stepped down, and Yu Liang was elected Chairman of the Board, becoming the true helmsman of Vanke. Yet, Yu Liang remained persistently pessimistic. At the following year's Vanke autumn meeting, he had three large characters displayed on the backdrop: "Survive." After that meeting, Vanke began divesting a large number of non-core businesses and implemented a performance evaluation system prioritizing cash flow above all else. At the time, few took Yu Liang's words seriously. Some peers privately mocked his actions as too deliberate: "Like a student who scores high but still complains the test was difficult." However, it was also challenging for Vanke to slow down abruptly from its sprint-like pace. The 2021 financial report showed a 45.7% year-on-year decrease in net profit. Yu Liang publicly apologized to shareholders and forfeited his entire bonus. The following year, he proclaimed the "Black Iron Age." This time, no one thought he was being alarmist. To save itself, Vanke implemented a series of "wartime" strategies – contracting the balance sheet, reducing debt scale, accelerating asset disposals and sales collection to optimize the financial structure. Concurrently, Vanke internally advocated for austerity. In 2024, Yu Liang even proposed voluntarily reducing his salary to a pre-tax monthly amount of 10,000 yuan. Yet these measures failed to revitalize Vanke. In 2024, the company recorded its first annual loss since listing, a staggering 49.478 billion yuan. Yu Liang offered little further explanation. In 2025, he resigned as Chairman of the Board. At that year's shareholders' meeting, sitting beside the new Chairman Huang Liping, he "restrainedly" expressed his outlook for the market: "With the continuous implementation of policies and the gradual realization of reasonable housing demand, the real estate industry is expected to gradually emerge from the adjustment cycle and move towards a new stage of stable development." This was his final public appearance. Yu Liang is a marathon enthusiast. In almost every annual "Vanke Marathon," he was a frontrunner. This time, the "frontrunner" Yu Liang has finally reached the finish line.
Comments