Disruptors
Those who traverse cycles understand the weight of time.
Yu Minhong
“Find hope in despair, and life will eventually be brilliant.”
The true character of an entrepreneur can best be seen through the ups and downs of the industry. The path traveled by Yu Minhong and New Oriental is a benchmark narrative about responsibility, dignity and rebirth in Chinese business. When the trend of the industry suddenly changed, the core business returned to zero, and the market value of hundreds of billions disappeared, he did not choose to escape or give up the bottom line, but took on everything with the most decisive attitude. In his sixties...
Yu Minhong
ACF Cover Figure · Business Maverick | Yu Minhong: Holding the Bottom Line Amid Collapse, Opening New Paths in Desperation
Cover Figure · Business Maverick | Issue No. 004 — ACF-NXZ-2026
Between industry rises and falls, an entrepreneur's true character is most clearly revealed. The path Yu Minhong and New Oriental walked is a benchmark narrative in Chinese business about responsibility, dignity, and rebirth. When industry winds shifted, core business collapsed to zero, hundred-billion market cap evaporated — he chose neither escape nor abandoning principles. Instead, with the most decisive posture, he bore everything and set out again in his sixties, transforming a corporate crisis into a maverick journey that earned the entire society's respect.
I. Era's Rise and Fall: From Education Benchmark to Sudden Industry Shift
After leaving Peking University and starting with a small classroom, Yu Minhong spent twenty-plus years building New Oriental into a landmark brand in China's private education. With mature teaching systems, nationwide networks, and stable faculty and services, New Oriental listed on both NYSE and HKEX, covering the country with market cap briefly exceeding 100 billion — becoming several generations' shared educational memory.
In 2021, the "Double Reduction" policy landed. K-12 subject tutoring entered intense regulation. Overnight, over a thousand learning centers nationwide ceased operations. Massive lease terminations, over 60,000 employees needing proper placement, prepaid tuition requiring full refunds per regulations. Stock price dropped over 90% within a year; market cap drastically shrank. No transition, no buffer, no room for trial and error.
Nearly everyone assumed this education giant would shrink, split, or exit. Yu Minhong could have chosen graceful retirement. But business trajectories are often completely rewritten by a founder's choices.
II. Bottom-Line Choices: Bearing Crisis with Responsibility, Preserving Dignity with Integrity
Facing tight funding, maturing debts, refund pressure, and employee placement — Yu Minhong made three critical decisions: First, unconditionally refund all student tuition in full — no thresholds, no delays, no cost-shifting. Second, pay all employees full wages, legal compensation, and severance, protecting every employee's rights. Third, donate nearly 80,000 complete sets of brand-new desks and chairs from nationwide campuses to rural schools, letting educational resources continue circulating in another form.
To honor these commitments, New Oriental coordinated nearly 20 billion RMB for refunds, salaries, lease terminations, and debt handling. During near-total business suspension with extreme cash flow strain, Yu Minhong personally guaranteed everything with his reputation and corporate assets — no blame-shifting, no evasion, no lying flat.
These seemingly simple actions became one of the most representative responsibility cases in Chinese business history. They proved: businesses can shrink due to era changes, can redirect due to cycles — but integrity cannot be lost, bottom lines cannot be broken, and reverence for users and employees cannot waver.
III. Difficult Transformation: From Podium to Livestream, Starting Over at Sixty
After completing all winding-down work and holding the responsibility bottom line, Yu Minhong led the team in a difficult transformation. Quality education, cultural tourism, philanthropy, agricultural products, livestream e-commerce — multiple directions explored one by one. After rounds of trial and error, the focus ultimately landed on livestream e-commerce, with Oriental Selection (Dongfang Zhenxuan) stepping forward.
The difficulty of restarting far exceeded outside imagination. A group of educators who had spent years at podiums suddenly entered livestream selling — no existing traffic, no proven playbook, and unwilling to use exaggerated marketing. Initial viewership stayed low; outside doubts proliferated.
Yu Minhong personally led the team, participating in every link from product selection, quality control, supply chain building to content refinement. He insisted on content-driven, knowledge-driven, sincerity-driven selling: discussing origins and farming when selling agricultural products, reading and growth when selling books, practicality and quality for daily items. No sensationalism, no anxiety-creation, no exaggerated claims.
In mid-2022, Oriental Selection broke through with its unique content style and solid user trust. Single-session sales exceeded 100 million. Followers climbed to tens of millions in a short period. A comeback with no miracles, no shortcuts — entirely earned through persistence and sincerity.
IV. Rebirth Logic: From Enterprise Self-Rescue to Long-Term Value
Oriental Selection's breakthrough didn't lead to reckless expansion. Yu Minhong knew the truly lasting path is deep cultivation and pragmatism. The platform continued deep-diving into agricultural product supply chains, supporting rural revitalization. Strict quality control and after-sales service kept user trust first. Continued education philanthropy investment maintained New Oriental's enduring educational ethos.
From hundred-billion market cap collapse to rebirth in livestream e-commerce; from education industry godfather to new-farmer host; from bearing enormous pressure to driving industrial development and employment growth — Yu Minhong proved through complete transformation: true long-termism is not rigidly holding one business, but finding new possibilities within rules, holding unchanging values amid era changes.
V. Maverick Lessons: True Strength Is Not Losing Ethos in the Valley
Yu Minhong and New Oriental's experience offers a clear, powerful lesson: industries have cycles, markets fluctuate, eras change — but an entrepreneur's responsibility, enterprise integrity, and long-termism are always the most core forces for weathering storms.
Failure isn't frightening. Falling isn't frightening. Being in extremity isn't frightening. What's truly frightening is losing the will to take responsibility, abandoning bottom lines, discarding integrity, and losing the courage to start again.
A true business maverick is never someone who sails smoothly — but one who, amid industry collapse, at the valley floor, under pressure, still chooses to hold the bottom line, bear responsibility, respect rules, and work hands-on.
Era can change a track, but cannot erase persistence. Storms can shake a ship, but cannot destroy a determined heart.
Follow
Scan to follow for more stories
Cover ArchiveArchive
View archive file →Every cover publication is registered and kept in the ACF Cover Archive. The code is permanent.
Not Everyone Makes the Cover
Asia Cover Figure · Influencing Those Who Influence