Female entrepreneur Chen Lihua has passed away at the age of 85. She founded the Chinese Rosewood Museum, and at 49, she joined hands with “Tang Monk” Chi Chongrui.

Ask AI · What spiritual treasures did she leave behind for the world as a self-made woman?

On April 7, Huahua International Group issued a death notice. Ms. Chen Lihua, Honorary Chairman of the Group and Director of the China Zitan Museum, died in Beijing on April 5, 2026 after failing to recover from illness, at the age of 85.

The death notice said: Ms. Chen Lihua lived a brilliant and outstanding life. She founded Huahua International Group with vision and drive, ushering in the company’s remarkable achievements. As a guardian of culture, she devoted her entire life to the protection and inheritance of zitan art, and spared no effort in establishing the China Zitan Museum and its Hengqin branch, making an indelible contribution to promoting China’s excellent traditional culture. The passing of Chen Lihua is a major loss for the business community, the cultural and arts community, and the overseas Chinese community.

Public information shows that Chen Lihua was born in 1941 in Beijing and is of the Manchu ethnic group. In 1981, she went to Hong Kong to engage in real estate investment and founded Huahua International Group. She served as a member of the 8th to 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and as Deputy Director of the 11th and 12th National Committee’s Commission for Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Overseas Chinese; Director of the China Zitan Museum; and Honorary Chairwoman of the Central Committee of the China Democratic Association of Enterprises Friendship Association.

In 2018, Chen Lihua, with assets of 50.5 billion yuan, ranked third on the Hurun list of female entrepreneurs. In 2020, at the age of 79, Chen Lihua, with wealth of 53 billion yuan, made the 《2020 Hurun Global Self-Made Women Entrepreneurs List》 again, ranking sixth.

However, what has made an even deeper impression on people is Chen Lihua’s obsession with and guardianship of zitan—

In 1999, she invested several hundred million yuan to found the China Zitan Museum, the first privately run museum in China dedicated to zitan art. The collection includes nearly 1,000 pieces of fine zitan artworks, including two treasured pieces for the collection—the 32.4-meter-long wood carving 《Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival》 and a 3-meter-tall model of a corner tower of the Forbidden City. It has been reported that she once led her team, using 8 years, to reproduce the 16 city gates and 10 corner towers of old Beijing’s “Nei Jiu Wai Qi” (internal nine and external seven) in a 10:1 proportion using zitan. In 2011, “zitan carving techniques” was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage item. In an interview with the media, Chen Lihua said: “I always feel that we should leave behind something. Rather than leaving money to future generations, it’s better to leave these cultural treasures bequeathed to us by our ancestors to future generations.”

Chen Lihua and Chi Zhongrui’s photo together (Image source: Huashang Daily)

In the public eye, another identity of Chen Lihua has also drawn attention—she is the wife of Chi Zhongrui, the Tang Seng actor in the 86-version of Journey to the West. Their connection began in the winter of 1988. At that time, Chen Lihua was already a business-world legend, while Chi Zhongrui was well known to all for his role as “Tang Seng.” Their shared passion for Peking opera led them to meet in a theater. In 1990, at the age of 49, Chen Lihua and 38-year-old Chi Zhongrui entered marriage together. After they married, Chi Zhongrui withdrew from the entertainment industry to fully support his wife’s career. This marriage drew a great deal of attention, and even details of how the couple treated each other with mutual respect after marriage were reported by the media. They were called the well-recognized “model couple” in Beijing’s cultural circles.

Reporter Huang Shangrun, Morning News · Morning Video

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