Yan Lan

Yan Lan (born January 17, 1957, in Beijing) is a Franco-Chinese lawyer, investment banker and writer who is best known for directing the Chinese activities of the U.S.-based Lazard asset management firm, and for authoring a memoir on her family's experience of China's Cultural Revolution.[1]

Early life

An only child, Lan was born in a family that was part China's ruling class.[2] At first bourgeois and Protestant, her family joined communism in the 1930s.[3] Yan Lan was close to Deng Xiaoping, with whom she vacationed as a child.[4][1]

The trauma of the Cultural Revolution

Lan has said her experience of China's Cultural Revolution was "like a nightmare".[5]

Her paternal grandfather, Yan Baohang, is a hero of the Second Sino-Japanese War.[3] He informed the USSR of the imminent launch of Operation Barbarossa.[6] In November 1967, during the Cultural Revolution, despite his status as a senior official of the Communist Party, he was accused of revisionism and of spying for the Soviet Union and placed under house arrest. He died in detention a few months later.[7]

Her father, Yan Mingfu, was an official interpreter of Russian for Mao Zedong, notably in his discussions with Nikita Khrushchev.[3][4] Arrested in 1966, he was imprisoned at the Qincheng Prison[8] and beaten during the Cultural Revolution.

Her mother, Wu Keliang, is a diplomat and an interpreter of Italian.[7][4] Described by her daughter as a determined intellectual, she was assigned to a labor camp for re-education,[3] and joined by her daughter in March 1969.[7] She educated her daughter to have a "boyish character" and introduced her to French literature, including Balzac, Maupassant and Victor Hugo.

Studies

With the death of Mao and the end of the Cultural Revolution, the Yan family reintegrated Chinese society and regained its prominent status.[3] Lan entered the Beijing Foreign Studies University[9] in 1977, where she studied French. She then attended Peking University, where she graduated with a master's degree in 1984.[10] In 1988, she obtained a doctorate in interstate arbitration law from the Graduate Institute of International Studies[9] in Geneva,[3][7] which dedicated to her a place in its Hall of Inspiring Stories. She then became an associate researcher at Harvard University.[11] In 1994, she was admitted to the Paris Bar Association.[10]

Banking career

She joined the law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel as a business lawyer in 1991, and became head of its Chinese branch in 1998.[2][7] She then became the firm's first female partner.[3]

In 2011, she created and managed Lazard's office for Greater China (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan), where she specialized in mergers and acquisitions.[12] In particular, she advised large French companies such as Areva and Saint-Gobain for their Chinese activities.[6][13] In 2019, Lazard appointed her vice chairman of investment banking / chairman and CEO of Greater China.[4][14]

Author's career

In 2017, she published The House of Yan at Allary Éditions. The book was published in English by HarperCollins in 2020.[15] It is an autobiography in which she tells the story of her family and, simultaneously, that of China.[1][16]

Recognition

In 2012, she was awarded the Legion of Honor for having "contributed to building bridges between France and China, in the economic and legal fields, through her action within the Gide cabinet, but also in the cultural field."[17] In 2018, The House of Yan won the Simone Veil literary award.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b c Preston, Diana (2020-03-06). "Review | An elite Chinese family, ensnared in the Cultural Revolution". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  2. ^ a b Valerin, Arnaud (2017-10-20). "Yan Lan, le yin et le yuan" [Yan Lan: Yin and Yang]. Libération (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Alaniou, Bénédicte; Cazes, Séverine (2017-10-21). "Yan Lan : elle ouvre la porte du marché chinois" [Yan Lan: she opens the door to the Chinese market]. Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  4. ^ a b c d Lemaître, Frédéric (2019-08-03). "Yan Lan, banquière française, chinoise de cœur" [Yan Lan, French banker, Chinese at heart]. Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  5. ^ Leymarie, Jean (2017-10-06). "Yan Lan : "J'ai vécu la Révolution culturelle comme un cauchemar"" [Yan Lan: "I experienced the Cultural Revolution as a nightmare"] (podcast). Franceinfo (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  6. ^ a b Branche, Philippe (2018-04-04). "Yan Lan, La Banquière Au Cœur De L'Histoire Chinoise" [Yan Lan, The Banker At The Heart Of Chinese History]. Forbes France (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  7. ^ a b c d e Barret, Anne-Laure (4 November 2017). "Yan Lan, la banquière d'une Chine nouvelle" [Yan Lan, the banker of a new China]. Le Journal du Dimanche (in French). Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  8. ^ Moinet, Paul Henri (2017-10-19). "Yan, une famille chinoise presque comme les autres: Le Rouge et le Noir version chinoise" [Yan, a Chinese family almost like the others: The Red and the Black Chinese version]. Le Nouvel Économiste (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  9. ^ a b Croubalian, Mélanie (2020-06-21). "En nouvelle diffusion - Yan Lan, banquière, femme d'affaires et auteure "Chez les Yan" Ed. Allary" [In new broadcast - Yan Lan, banker, businesswoman and author "Chez les Yan" Ed. Allary] (podcast). Radio Télévision Suisse (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  10. ^ a b "Témoins de la Réforme et de l'Ouverture---YAN Lan" [Witnesses of Reform and Opening---YAN Lan]. Radio Chine International (in French). 14 November 2008. Archived from the original on 2020-07-26. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  11. ^ Grazia, Maria (2017-11-06). "De Mao à la banque Lazard : l'itinéraire incroyable de Yan Lan, business woman la plus célèbre de Chine" [From Mao to Lazard Bank: the incredible journey of Yan Lan, China's most famous businesswoman]. Madame Figaro (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  12. ^ "Lazard Hires Yan Lan to Lead Greater China Investment Banking". Business Wire. 2011-03-15. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  13. ^ Falletti, Sébastien (2016-06-04). "Cette femme détient les clés de la Chine" [This woman holds the keys to China]. Le Point (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  14. ^ "Lan Yan". Lazard. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  15. ^ Lan, Yan (2020-01-28). "The House of Yan: A Family at the Heart of a Century in Chinese History". Harper Academic. Translated by Sam Taylor. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  16. ^ "The House of Yan | A thoughtful, astute narrative that helps Western readers understand the rise of the new China from the ashes of terror". Kirkus Reviews. 2019-09-28. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  17. ^ "Remise de la Légion d'honneur à Mme Yan Lan par Mme l'Ambassadeur" [Presentation of the Legion of Honor to Ms. Yan Lan by the Ambassador]. French embassy in Peking (in French). Archived from the original on 2019-08-03. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  18. ^ "Yan Lan, lauréate du prix Simone Veil 2018 pour Chez les Yan" [Yan Lan, winner of the 2018 Simone Veil Prize for Chez les Yan]. ActuaLitté (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-21.