Ren Zhiqiang
Because of work, I have met Mr. Ren many times.
One time was in Beijing, when I went to receive a news award given by a non-governmental public welfare organization, and Mr. Ren was the presenter. In the dim stage lights, I said to Mr. Ren, "I am a real estate journalist from Nanjing, and I am your fan."
He laughed happily, revealing a mouthful of uneven yellow teeth.
In previous interviews, I rarely saw him laugh so easily. Most of the time, he always had a serious expression, leaning against the sofa in the VIP room with a slight impatience, dealing with the surrounding reporters until the organizers of the conference walked in: "Mr. Ren, the forum is starting," which allowed him to escape from the reporters' siege.
On the forum, he also had a serious expression, effortlessly spouting various data and often launching attacks, saying many truths (which may not have been considered truths at the time). At the beginning, we listened in awe from the audience, thinking that Mr. Ren was really impressive, remembering so many data so clearly. But as we encountered him more times, we gradually got used to it: Mr. Ren's data were mostly tailored to support his argument that housing prices would continue to rise.
Therefore, he was once selected by netizens on Weibo as one of the "Top Ten People Most Wanting to Beat Up" of the year. At that time, he was actually in a situation where he couldn't please anyone: his comments on rising housing prices led to him being criticized by a large number of netizens, while his dissatisfaction with government regulation made him hated by the authorities.
As time went on, more and more people realized that what Mr. Ren said was true.
At one point, his Weibo had reached 37 million followers, making him one of the most influential bloggers at the time. However, such a real estate developer who dared to speak the truth would inevitably face predictable risks once he became an opinion leader.
It was rumored that he, as a "second generation" figure, wrote a long internal article, but the outcome did not change: at the end of February 2016, his Weibo account was permanently cancelled.
A developer who always had a stern face in public, a Weibo influencer who was eventually proven to be telling the truth, finally wrote his own destiny in this way - after his Weibo was shut down, he remained silent for nearly a year. In March 2017, he attended the Economic 50 Forum at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, and when he appeared, his hair had turned completely white overnight.
In my memory, he had this snow-white hair, and after appearing at a few forums, he disappeared again. People could only see him turning into a carpenter in a basement in Beijing, through his friend Pan Shiyi's Weibo, working on his woodworking.
Those who play with wood in Beijing are not ordinary people.
At his woodworking exhibition, he smiled brightly, far from the stern and critical "cannon" image. I remember his most interesting smile, when he met Lin Zhiling in Sanya, that mixture of shyness and excitement, was a rare sight of Mr. Ren.
Indeed, it was a rare sight. Even in Pan Shiyi's Weibo, there was no news of Mr. Ren.
Thank you for the award you gave me. It was a highlight of my life to receive an award from someone who speaks the truth, to another person who speaks the truth.
Hello, Mr. Ren, we are thinking of you right now.