He was born in Shangrao, Jiangxi, China, the son of a poor farmer.
An excellent student, he won a place at Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics aged 15.
[2] On graduation, he was given a job in Beijing to "develop computerized financial software for the State Council's government offices administration".
Aged 24, he resigned and with some classmates started UFSoft with $5500 that they pooled.
[2] As of October 2015, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$2.7 billion.