Interview with Chen Lihua (Former Richest Woman in China, Beijing Jinbao Street Tycoon)

Brief Summary: Her life was a legendary century-long journey from a hutong seamstress to a multi-billionaire businesswoman—relying on shrewd political and business acumen to build a real estate empire on Chang'an Avenue, ultimately using her immense wealth to support her later-life dream of red sandalwood and her love for the 'Tang Monk'.

Interview
Interviewer: Fa Ning

June 28, 2026

Chen Lihua:

Namo Amituofo, disciple Chen Lihua kneels before the Buddha, grateful for the compassion of Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su.

My name is Chen Lihua, and everyone calls me the 'richest woman in China'. To be honest, given my net worth, this title is well-deserved. However, I now share my story with a heart full of remorse.

Throughout my life, although I accumulated vast wealth—wealth that could last for many lifetimes—I do not feel proud of it at all. Especially after arriving in the Western Land of Dharma Nature and truly learning the Buddhist education taught by Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su, I feel deeply ashamed. I know that many things I did were not the Right Way; they truly violated the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way. Therefore, I do not know if I am qualified to say anything to you today, but I will do my best to honestly account for the whole process, now that I have listened to the sutras and heard the Dharma in the Land of Dharma Nature and realised that I was wrong. Only in this way can I make up for a little bit of my remorse!

I am a descendant of the Manchu people, from the same lineage as the Empress Dowager Cixi. Although I can be called an aristocrat, it was a fallen aristocracy, because by the time I was born, the Qing Dynasty had long since perished. I was born in the Summer Palace in Beijing, which was not a common occurrence at the time. Because of my aristocratic status, I was always able to rely on it to earn a living, and it was quite a substantial living at that. Many times, by relying on this status, I could do many things, navigating with ease through various industries or rare opportunities, packaging my identity with various methods that were not exactly bright and shining, and exhausting my efforts to create opportunities for myself to gain wealth. So, there are many things here that are not worth emulating, so I will not say too much about them!

My status and position were not much to look at when I was young. I did not have much education as a child, nor did I accumulate much knowledge; I was just a seamstress. To make a living, I did indeed go to a factory and become a seamstress. Later, my skills improved, and I could repair many things, so I began to build my own repair business, accumulating a little money, but not too much.

Later, I heard news that there were many, many old royal furnishings abandoned in the Forbidden City in Beijing, piled up with no use, and regarded as 'ownerless objects'. When I was learning to repair, I had a very deep understanding of this type of antique cultural relic. It can be said that whatever I touched, I knew at a glance which antiques were valuable, what materials were better, and what items could be sold for a high price; I was clear about all of this. Especially red sandalwood, which was the love of my life; I loved it very much. Therefore, I was also very knowledgeable about this type of material.

By a stroke of luck, and also because of my special status as a fallen aristocrat, I had the opportunity to participate in transporting these antiques or broken items to Hong Kong for auction. I purchased these items at a very low price, and when I arrived in Hong Kong, I repaired and packaged them as very high-end items, and they were indeed very high-end items themselves. So, with my appraisal ability, I was able to categorise them and sell them to the wealthy in Hong Kong, and even to the wealthy all over the world. These precious furnishings allowed me to accumulate huge wealth all at once.

But much of this was achieved through various means and paths to Hong Kong that I had seized. All of this was actually not very bright and shining, and it is not worth your reference. Now I know that everything I did did not truly conform to the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way, and it deviated too far. Although I did not have much education in my life, my brain was very shrewd. I knew what kind of calculations could maximise all my interests, and I knew how to exert my potential—that is, my appraisal ability for these antiques—I exerted them to the extreme, allowing myself to save a big bucket of gold.

Then I started my real estate business in Hong Kong. It is true; in Hong Kong, I gradually accumulated more and more wealth. In the world of real estate, our group was also in its prime under my leadership. Later, I decided to return to Beijing to develop, and in Beijing, I also used many of the connections and relationships I had accumulated before, having the opportunity to have many real estate businesses on the hottest land in Beijing, or the development of clubs, hotels, high-end commodity stores, and so on.

At that time, it was not an easy thing to have such developments near the Forbidden City. And I could always rely on my own means and abilities to calculate and clear the blockages in relationships, obtaining many resources and funding, thereby gaining many opportunities that others could not get. So, I rose step by step, and later I really became the richest woman in China. All of this only officially ended after I left the human world and went to the 'heart-gouging hell' to suffer retribution.

Honestly, hell is too bitter! When I was in hell, it was very, very bitter, but I knew in my heart that in this life, in order to accumulate this wealth after wealth, to satisfy my ambition little by little, I actually created great karma. For this reason, I pushed many people aside and stepped on many people to have the opportunity to rise all the way up. Because the policies in China at that time were not very clear, it might have been of no benefit to some people. But I just happened to be able to find a glimmer of hope in various gaps, then turn this hope into a business opportunity, and then expand it into the later big map. All of this, under my step-by-step planning, indeed achieved great success.

People in the world cannot understand how a seamstress with no education and no starting point, such a humble status, could suddenly stand out in various attempts and become the richest woman in China. Shame, shame! I don't think my story is exciting enough for everyone to share. Everything I operated was to satisfy people's various physical desires, not to truly help everyone have substantial growth.

To be honest, many people were very jealous of my success, or had various emotions of this kind, and could not understand why I could be like this. Everyone called me a rather terrifying woman, right? Perhaps there were indeed many people who thought so privately, although they dared not show it openly, but they always felt that my background was not worth looking at, and it seemed that there were many mysteries that had not been solved. How did I earn this wealth?

In the end, now that I am in the Western Land of Dharma Nature, looking at these things from the perspective of Buddhism, it can be said that this is my blessing, but it is also my huge karma. This is something that people in the world cannot understand, because I indeed had great blessings in money, which was the blessing obtained from my great wealth giving in my past lives. But this karma was also because I had created great karma myself, which blinded my wisdom and compassion, making me earn bucket after bucket of huge wealth without the ability to distinguish between good and evil. These were all wealth earned through improper means, which is why I gradually moved towards what everyone thinks is an unclear source of wealth.

Although I did not commit illegal acts, I exhausted my mind to calculate, and used various very deep schemes to achieve all success. This is why I fell into the 'heart-gouging hell'; this is a terrifying fact, and it is indeed so. I went to the 'heart-gouging hell' to suffer retribution, and in fact, it was less than two months before I was led by Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su to this Buddha-land, the Western Land of Dharma Nature. I am so lucky! How could I have this blessing to come to such a good place? I have been crying bitterly while listening to the sutras and hearing the Dharma here. I know I did wrong, I know that this heart of mine has been broken, and I also know that my heart is very impure, which is that I used my life's calculations to accomplish many things.

So, for the parts that everyone thinks I did not do according to the Dharma, I must admit that it is indeed so. I also ask everyone to take my life as a mirror and not learn from me. From the time I started selling these old antiques, I was actually already doing smuggling, but it was only because of the cover of people with connections in all parties that I was able to send these very precious things abroad to sell to wealthy merchants in Hong Kong and even the whole world.

These things should have remained in China to become treasures for future generations to appreciate, but I obtained a large amount of wealth by taking the opportunity to sell these things, which is really not glorious. Buying these things at such a low price and then selling them at hundreds or thousands of times the price is really an absurd thing to say.

I used to think this was the benefit given to me by the times and opportunities, my luck, and my good eye. I once thought so. But now looking back, I really dare not. Oh, I have done such things. In fact, anyone who has seen me should know that although I always have a smiling face, my face is still quite distorted, because this heart is already a distorted heart. So for a long time, it has not been truly corrected, let alone the correction of Buddhist education; I have not even truly learned the basic moral value education, so I gradually became the way I was later.

Although I did not worry about food and clothing in my life and lived a very good life, the karma I created was also very large. It is just because the blessings accumulated in my past lives were too great, which also gave me this opportunity to be reborn and tell everyone about my own affairs. Now, if I am to make up for these mistakes, I think I must tell my family, tell all the wealthy people who have connections with me, and all the top people in society, the news that Namo Amituofo resides at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. And because I am still very famous in Beijing and Hong Kong, I hope to pass it to their ears through my own influence, so that everyone knows that everything I did was not the Right Way.

Although from an official point of view, everyone thinks that everything I did was very glorious. I once established the China Red Sandalwood Museum, and many people also think that I am a person who knows how to appreciate and preserve traditional culture. But in fact, this step-by-step journey was just caused by my own interests and hobbies, and it does not mean that everything I operated was truly righteous and pure.

Shame, shame! The first richest woman in China actually used such improper means to obtain the funds along the way. Of course, from a secular point of view, maybe everyone thinks there is nothing wrong with it, thinking that I was just lucky, the timing was good, and I could complete so many huge routines that everyone envied without breaking the law. But in fact, I know in my heart that all of this comes from my heart. My heart, after walking step by step to higher levels, getting more wealth, and accumulating better and better connections, began to expand and become arrogant, so step by step, I taught this heart to be bad.

This heart is no longer the heart of the pure and simple seamstress at that time, but the heart of a real estate tycoon, a big master with many industries, whether it is hotels, boutiques, or club industries. What I thought about was how to expand and expand, how to get better and better, and I never stopped. Now it seems that I consider this wealth of mine to be ill-gotten gains.

I am also very ashamed that I have accumulated such rich wealth, but the amount used for charity is so small. I left most of my inheritance to my husband and children, and did not really spread it out for many people to enjoy. So I am here to advise everyone who knows me, especially my husband and children who inherited my rich inheritance, I hope you can see this letter. Everything I said below is true, it is indeed so, without any fabrication. I carry this heart of remorse, hoping to get an opportunity to make up for my sins.

If you can know about the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia, you must know that this is a precious land of the world. Why do I say so? I have now come to a Buddha-land called the Western Land of Dharma Nature, let me introduce it to everyone. It is a Buddha-land established by Practitioner Su, who realised his true nature and attained Buddhahood in the human world, with the help of Namo Amituofo.

To all Chinese people, or my husband and children, you may not truly have faith in the Buddha, nor do you understand this point, nor do you know that the Buddha can truly establish a Buddha-land. As long as someone can truly let go of all body, mind, and the world, and recite only one phrase, "Namo Amituofo," to the very end, with the body and mind in a state of complete emptiness, one can reach the state of Awakening. When there is not a shred of selfishness, and not even a single thought, that is the true illumination of the great thousand worlds. It is just like Practitioner Su, with no-self and no-thought. With a heart dedicated to all beings, and the Ultimate Vows made after attaining Buddhahood, one can evoke the help of Namo Amituofo to establish such a Dharma-Nature Land, which is a spiritual Buddha-land. The Buddha can lead immeasurable and boundless beings to this Dharma-Nature Land that has absolutely no boundaries, where every person has their own lotus, and under the illumination of the Buddha-light, they are purified. All of this is possible only because Practitioner Su has attained Awakening and Buddhahood in the human world. Perhaps this sounds very strange or absurd to you, and you are unable to understand it, but that does not matter. Your wife and mother has now been sitting peacefully in this Western Land of Dharma Nature for quite some time, I estimate about a month now. I am living a very, very good life here. This is because Practitioner Su’s vows are as vast and boundless as the Buddha’s, which is why he can establish a boundless world. Every day, many, many beings are saved through Chao Du and sent to the Western Land of Dharma Nature. Yet, this place will never be full; it remains so pure and dignified. In this place, I listen to sutras and hear the Dharma, and I have learned so much about the truth of the universe—things I could never have imagined. I never expected that Practitioner Su, through the skills of one person attaining Awakening and Buddhahood, could possess such skills, could have immeasurable and boundless Dharma Bodies, and could save all beings to come to this place. This unique experience makes me feel deeply moved, very grateful, and also very astonished. Compared to myself, who spent a lifetime paying a painful price for my greed and selfishness, Practitioner Su is so magnanimous and broad-minded. Practitioner Su was able to give away all the wealth he accumulated as a female business owner of a jewellery store. He wanted nothing, converted all of it into money, and then made offerings to many people, teaching them Buddhist education, helping them correct their ways, and even helping them remove the spirit realm beings from within their bodies. Such fortunate people can only be seen today at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. They are truly the luckiest group of children in the whole world, able to receive direct teachings from Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su every day, learning the true Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way, so that they will not walk down a biased path. Only in this place can one see the Buddha and have the opportunity to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. This is because Practitioner Su’s

Today, Practitioner Su also mentioned the establishment of the "Namo Amituofo billboard," and I felt very joyful in my heart. If there is an opportunity, I must also tell my family members that they must come to create this billboard; it is truly very, very important. With the Namo Amituofo billboard, we can save immeasurable and boundless beings in the spiritual realms, because this billboard is blessed by the Buddha, and the light it radiates can attract many beings from the spiritual realms to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia to receive Chao Du.

This billboard has already played a significant role in many countries around the world, but in China, because there are many regulations, although billboards have been established, their scale is not large, and they are unable to save more beings.

If I have this opportunity, and my family members see this letter of mine and are willing to contribute, I think that even with the many restrictions in China, they should establish a super-large Namo Amituofo billboard in Hong Kong! The restrictions in this regard in Hong Kong are not as strict as in mainland China, so I think all of this is still feasible. I hope everyone will find an opportunity to learn about all of this, and also help me, Chen Lihua, to dissolve some of the karma I have created in the past. I am begging you, I am pleading with you! Please let me do something to dissolve my karma and reduce my sins.

Gratitude to Namo Amituofo, gratitude to Practitioner Su.

Namo Amituofo

Chen Lihua