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Yu Minhong, or Michael Yu (Simplified Chinese: 俞敏洪; born 15 October 1962 in Jiangyin, Jiangsu); founder and current CEO of New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (Simplified Chinese: 新东方教育科技集团), and a member of the central committee of China Democratic League. Yu Minhong is considered as one of the twenty-five people that has had the greatest impact on China in the twentieth century. As the owner of one of the largest private educational services in China, Yu is known as the "richest teacher in China" and "Godfather of English Training".

Yu had overcame many obstacles in his life, including childhood poverty, two failures of the university qualification exam, one-year delay of sickness in university, and several refusals of oversea studying visas. Although Yu did not have a chance to study abroad and fulfill his American Dream, he made up his mind to become an English teacher and help Chinese students to learn English so that they could follow their own dreams.

In 1993, Yu founded New Oriental Education and Technology Group. Although the first year started with a class of only 30 students, New Oriental has grown to become China's largest private education service provider. Approximately 70% of Chinese students who are studying in the United States and Canada now have taken English classes in New Oriental. In addition, the online education section, which was developed in year 2003, has attracted more than 2 million registered users. New Oriental was the first private education company in China that listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Some give Yu Minhong the moniker of "the most successful teacher ever". But Yu says he is "still far from being successful". Yu has a greater ambition rather than to be merely wealthy and famous. "My biggest dream is to found a private university, and for it to be one of China's top educational institutions after 40-50 years of development. When applying for higher education, my dream is for the best high school graduates to take my university into consideration, along with the likes of Tsinghua University and Beijing University."

== Early life ==

Yu Minhong was born in a rural family. Yu helped his father to do farm-work in his childhood. In rural areas of China, many children cannot attend schools because of poverty, but Yu's mother always encouraged him to go to school. When Yu was in his last year of high school, he had two choices: go back and work as a farmer, or take the university qualification exam to pursue further education. For most children in rural families, going to universities seemed like a dream. Yu always wanted to go out of his hometown and experience what he hadn't experienced before. Thus Yu took the exam, and unsurprisingly, he failed because of the lack of knowledge in rural area. In the following year, he tried and failed once more. "I was extremely upset. Most rural students would give up after failing the university entrance exam twice. I also decided to quit, although I still imagined myself going to university." said Yu. Yu was not defeated by the second failure. His effort finally paid off when he was admitted to one of the best universities in China - Beijing University. For Yu Minhong, this was only the first of his miracles.

When Yu first entered Beijing University, he was placed in a class for sub-standard students, because he couldn't speak standard Chinese. Yu found himself a poor student, both financially and academically. In his freshman year, he caught pneumonia and had to take a year off. These experiences had a negative impact on Yu's school life.However Yu took a lot of time in libraries, reading books. In the four-year university life, he had read a lot of books, philosophy,social,literature etc. These books had a positive influence on Yu's university life and helped him a lot in the future. After graduation in 1985, most of Yu's classmates went abroad for further education, Yu began to apply for US universities while teaching English in Beijing University. After three years, Yu was accepted by a university in US. However, he was refused several times of visa. At that time, Yu decided to teach Chinese students English and help them to study abroad.

== New Oriental ==

As a provider of private educational services in China, New Oriental is currently the largest comprehensive educational company in China. The business of New Oriental includes pre-school education, general courses for students of various age levels, online education, overseas study consulting, and textbook publishing. New Oriental was the first Chinese educational institution to enter the New York Stock Exchange in the United States in 2006.According to statistics, there were about 15,000,000 students who had studied in New Oriental by 2011. And the company values 64.23 billion Yuan by the evaluation.

=== Foundation ===

New Oriental School was established on November 16, 1993 by Yu Minhong at Beijing University. Yu Minhong was the only English teacher at that time. As the enrollment at New Oriental School grew larger, Yu Minhong could no longer handle the business by himself. He visited the United States and tried to persuade his former classmates to work with him. One of them, Wang Qiang was a master`s degree graduate from the State University of New York and was also known as a "master in oral English training". "I took Yu Minhong to Princeton University to show him around the campus. To my surprise, almost every Chinese student recognized him. They would call him 'Teacher Yu'. I was amazed to see how famous he was." Said Wang Qiang.

=== Development ===

With the support and talents of his overseas friends who returned to China, Yu Minhong reconstructed the New Oriental School into the New Oriental Education and Technology Group. It is now the largest private educational enterprise in China, it had built 53 short-time language educational schools, 47 book stores, and 500 learning centers in 48 cities in China in May 2011.. Considering his initial business started with a tutor class of 30 students, Yu created his second miracle.

== Personal Timeline ==

1962，born in Jiangyin，Jiangsu，China

1978, gradated from Jiangyin Xiagang Middle School

1978-1979, failed both University Entrance Exam

1980, passed the University Entrance Exam and entered Beijing University

1985, graduated from the university and stay as a teacher

1991, left school due to violating school rules

1993, established the New Oriental School

2000, Create New Oriental website with Lenovo

2001, established the New Oriental Education and Technology Group

2006, New Oriental Education and Technology Group entered the New York Stock Exchange in the United States

== Personal Motto ==

Yu Minhong's words always inspire Chinese students. Some of his words become motto of students. In one of Yu's famous speeches, he stated the mission of New Oriental.

“Hew a stone of hope out of a mountain of despair and you can make your life a splendid one.” ''In the beginning, there were no roads in the world; only as people began traveling did roads come into being. Successful roads are formed not when people roam aimlessly, but when they are headed in the same direction. The same is true for New Oriental; it was formed as people gathered to study. And like a successful road, it did not achieve its success by chance. People who shared dreams and aspirations worked together to forge an exciting trail. The road ahead will be even longer and more arduous, because our goals are even grander. But with a clear mission, dedicated hearts and the pioneering spirit that has driven us from the beginning, we're certain that our strength, wisdom, and energy will enable us to write a new page in the records of China's educational undertaking.

“Spirit of a tree”

''There are two kinds of person's lifestyle. The first one is to live as grass. Although you are alive and grow up every year. After all, you are grass. You absorb the rain and sun, you cannot become stronger. People can step on you without any guit though you are painful, because you are not taking seriously. So each of us should live as a tree. When you grow into a towering tree, you will be seen by people far away. They will want to approach you since you can give them a piece of shade under the hot sun. Your life itself is a beautiful scene. You are always useful for people, either you are alive or you are dead. This is what Yu Minhong wants university students to be in their lives.

Michael Minhong Yu

Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of New Oriental Education & Technology Group