[1][2] Fang is the son of a former peasant farmer who rose to a senior administrative post in the People's Liberation Army.
[3] After graduation, he was assigned a job in Henan Province's Economy and Trade Bureau, where he became close friends with Wang Qishan.
Fang convinced Wang to establish China International Capital Corporation, a joint venture with Morgan Stanley, in 1995.
[5] In 2005, he brokered a deal that would allow the entry of Goldman Sachs into China by establishing a securities joint venture with Fang as chairman.
[6][7] In 2007, he set up Hopu Investment Management with Dominic Ho, former head of KPMG China, and former Goldman Sachs banker Richard Ong, and with help from Singapore's sovereign fund Temasek Holdings.