On 18 July 2022, Mr. Guo Guangchang, Chairman of Fosun International, and his delegation visited Yuyuan in Hamburg, and German lifestyle fashion brand Tom Tailor. He also met and had lunch with Ms. Carola Veit, President of the Hamburg Parliament. Mr. Marco Wiesner, Chief of Protocol of the Hamburg Parliament joined the meeting. 

This is the first time for Mr. Guo and his delegation visiting Yuyuan in Hamburg since the Garden’s reopening to the public in January 2020, in witness of the landmark connecting the friendship between Shanghai and Hamburg once again. In recent years, Yuyuan has become a key venue for the Hamburg municipal government to host China Time events. The Garden is based on the blueprint of the original Yuyuan in Shanghai, made in a 1:0.8 scale, including a pavilion in the center of the lake, and the “Zigzag Bridge”. The original Yuyuan Garden is located in the city center of Shanghai, and the landmark connects the ancient and modern architecture, representing one of the most iconic skylines in Shanghai, China and the world. In 2018, Yuyuan Inc. completed its asset reorganization and became a flagship platform of Fosun’s happiness business sector. Its Yuyuan Garden, after renovation, also became a unique place for shopping and cultural experience in Shanghai. 

 

As one of the cities in the world with the closest relations with Shanghai, Hamburg has been Shanghai’s sister-city for 36 years. The two have been an important bond of economic and cultural cooperation between China and Germany, with fruitful partnerships in trade, ports, technology, urban planning, culture, education, and so on. 

In addition to Yuyuan in Hamburg, Fosun’s business in the city also includes Tom Tailor, an international fashion brand founded in Hamburg in 1962. In 2022, Fosun established the Lifestyle Group, which is based on the core asset of Tom Tailor, through enhancing the brand and leveraging the growth in the Chinese market, it made great strides towards becoming an international fashion lifestyle group with core capability of innovation, and with a view to promoting healthy and green life style. It is expected to accelerate Tom Tailor’s expansion in global market by two-way empowerment of China and overseas.  

As a global innovation-driven consumer group, Fosun has profound industry operations around the world, and started industry operations and investments in Germany years ago. Currently, Fosun has employed nearly 10,000 staff in Germany, more than 90% of whom are local residents. In September 2016, Fosun acquired a German private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser (H&A). Five years later, under the support by Fosun, H&A completed an acquisition to another German private bank Bankhaus Lampe. The two has been merged and renamed to HAL. Fosun has also invested in Koller, who develops and produces lightweight components from intelligent composites, and FFT, a fully integrated solution package provider for the automation industry. Meanwhile, Fosun partnered with BioNTech, a German biotechnology company, to jointly develop the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, playing an active role in building an immune barrier for Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan region.

Ms. Carola Veit welcomed Mr. Guo’s visit to Hamburg and said, “It is the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Germany and China. We hope Yuyuan in Hamberg will continue to serve as a landmark and promote the economic and cultural communications between the two countries. Meanwhile, we look forward to having Fosun strengthen its business development in Germany and in Hamburg, especially in the area of intelligent manufacturing, delivering win-win cooperation between Germany and China.”

Mr. Guo appreciated the continuous supports by the Hamburg government. “I am very delighted to visit Yuyuan and Fosun’s member companies in Hamburg this time. The friendship between Shanghai and Hamburg remains strong and energetic. The demonstration of oriental aesthetics by Yuyuan in Hamburg, fully showcases its importance as a critical platform for tourism and cultural communications between the two cities, and the two countries.” Guo mentioned, “Fosun will continue to utilize its capabilities of globalization, support our companies in Germany, and further benefit our global customers with high-quality products and services worldwide.”