Yang Bin (born 1961) is a Chinese-Dutch businessman who was formerly listed as the second richest man in China by Forbes

Forbes

Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

 for 2001. He once held assets in the horticulture and real estate industries, owning stakes in the Euro-Asia Agricultural Holdings and Holland Village, China. His fall from grace came in 2002, when he was arrested on charges of tax evasion. He was later sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Early life and career

Born in Nanjing

Nanjing

' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...

, he lost his parents when he was five; he was raised by his grandmother and relatives. Yang Bin was a former officer in the People's Liberation Army Navy

People's Liberation Army Navy

The People's Liberation Army Navy is the naval branch of the People's Liberation Army , the military of the People's Republic of China. Until the early 1990s, the navy performed a subordinate role to the PLA Land Forces. Since then, it has undergone rapid modernisation...

. He later emigrated to the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 in 1987, where he ran a textile business and became a naturalized Dutch citizen. He returned to China in 1995, starting his orchid business in Shenyang

Shenyang

Shenyang , or Mukden , is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Currently holding sub-provincial administrative status, the city was once known as Shengjing or Fengtianfu...

 using modern horticultural techniques learned from the Netherlands.

Later career

In September 2002, North Korea

North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

 chose Yang Bin to govern and lead the economic development of the Sinŭiju Special Administrative Region

Sinuiju Special Administrative Region

Sinŭiju Special Administrative Region was a proposed special administrative region of North Korea, on the border with China. It was established in September 2002 in an area including parts of Sinŭiju and the surrounding area, in an attempt to introduce market economics, and is directly governed as...

. Shortly after his appointment, authorities of the People's Republic of China removed him from his home and placed him on house arrest on 4 October. He was formally arrested on charges of tax evasion in November. Yang Bin was then formally sentenced in July 2003 for 18 years, and was fined for 2.3 million renminbi

Renminbi

The Renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China . Renminbi is legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau. It is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of the PRC...

. Many of the charges were related to the building of Holland Village, a 220-hectare Dutch-themed development project in the suburbs of Shenyang. Included among the charges was the building of properties on land originally acquired for agricultural use.

External links

Euro-Asia Agricultural Holdings delisted from Hong Kong Stock Exchange