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LI YING SITS down at the table and smiles. Her black hair hangs in little bangs, reminiscent of the Mad Men character Peggy Olson. First impressions mark her down as a slightly prim housewife but the eyes give her away – they crinkle at the edges knowingly. She engages with questions she wants to answer and bats away the rest. She doesn’t smoke, and doesn’t touch her sparkling water. It’s a damp Shanghai evening and we are taking shelter at an excruciatingly funky bar in a boutique hotel on the South Bund. However, she rebuffs the waiter’s suggestion of a glass of wine or some nibbles. Her facade never drops – this, behind the prim hair and penny-round glasses, is a formidable woman.
Li is one of a new generation of Chinese investors. She juggles a personal life (a husband, a son and a social life) with a full-time job – she won’t say what exactly but it is something to do with banking. And when she’s not doing that she dashes around mainland China looking for new, high-growth investment opportunities in which to channel capital from her $140 million private equity fund.
