Zhejiang Daily’s “Chao News” reports: “No empty promises! Wan’an’s Chen Feng: Only by being a ‘down-to-earth’ person can you outpace the century.”

Editor’s Note: Diankou in Zhuji, an industrial hub that has nurtured five listed companies, is now undergoing a new shift in leadership. A new generation of entrepreneurs is steadily stepping into the spotlight—some are carrying on their families’ businesses while seeking breakthroughs through inheritance, while others have built their empires from scratch, blazing new trails in emerging sectors. Though they boast broader perspectives, they remain steadfast in their commitment to the real economy. From traditional manufacturing to smart manufacturing, from steady, incremental progress to forward-looking strategic planning, each is redefining the spirit of entrepreneurship for a new era in their own unique way. Starting today, the Shaoxing Bureau of Zhejiang Daily Group launches a special feature titled “The New Forces of Diankou,” highlighting the entrepreneurial and innovative journeys of ten members of this new generation.

In this inaugural installment, we sit down with Chen Feng, Chairman of Wan’an Technology and Founding President of the Zhuji New Generation Entrepreneurs Association, to hear him share his pragmatic philosophy of “creating the 1.5th generation.”

On the eve of this year’s Two Sessions, Chen Feng, Chairman of Wan’an Technology, granted a media interview. As a representative of the new generation of entrepreneurs, he shared his reflections on the inheritance and innovation of the real economy. In Chen Feng’s view, whether it is the entrepreneurial spirit of the previous generation or the broader horizons of the younger cohort, at the end of the day, it all comes down to “pragmatism.”

Authenticity! Being sincere in character, pragmatic in action, and wholehearted in pursuing enterprise development—it is precisely this “authenticity” that has given concrete form to his ambitious vision: to build Wan’an into a century-old enterprise.

The pragmatic spirit of “Creating the 1.5th Generation”

When we met Chen Feng, he had just returned from overseas. Born in 1978, this “second-generation entrepreneur” exudes a composure and unwavering confidence that belie his young age. Under his leadership, Wan’an Technology was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2011 and has since grown into an industry leader with a market capitalization of over RMB 10 billion. Yet Chen Feng’s personal life revolves almost entirely around the company: he spends nearly every day there, often returning home only one day a week. He has devoted all his practical energy and expertise to building what he envisions as a world-class component empire.

However, Chen Feng never likes to label himself simply as a “second-generation entrepreneur”; he prefers to describe himself as a “1.5-generation entrepreneur.” “After all, I’ve worked alongside my parents to drive the company’s transformation, so ‘1.5-generation’ is a more fitting term,” he explains.

In 2000, fresh out of university, he chose a path that demanded patience and the ability to endure solitude: becoming an ordinary assembly worker in the Wan’an workshop, responsible for final assembly. Like all frontline workers, he clocked in on time and earned a monthly salary of around 600 to 700 yuan.

Why make such a choice? “Sometimes I feel it’s fate that chooses you, rather than you choosing fate,” Chen Feng says. Having spent his childhood wandering through the factory with his father, Chen Lixiang, he has always felt a deep, innate attachment to this place steeped in the smell of engine oil—and believes he was “born to be a member of Wan’an.” This innate sense of belonging makes the prospect of taking over not a passive inheritance in his eyes, but rather a deliberate and eager commitment.

It took him seven or eight years to climb the ranks—from assembly worker in the workshop to sales representative, then regional sales manager, and finally to international trade in Shanghai. Rather than jumping straight into management, he started at the most entry-level positions and personally walked through every single process at Wan’an.

During his time in the workshop, he mastered every step of the production and operations process, laying a solid foundation—particularly for the marketing field in which he would later excel. It was this experience of working side by side with his parents to drive the company’s transformation that enabled him to both carry forward the entrepreneurial spirit of the older generation and develop a forward-looking, innovative vision.

In the eyes of the people of Wan’an, this “Young General” is not only highly capable but also possesses a down-to-earth tenacity. It is precisely this tenacity that has enabled him, more than two decades later, to stand firmly here today, charting the course for the future of a century-old enterprise.

That Rejection from Twenty Years Ago

In 2025, as mainstream domestic new-energy vehicle manufacturers unveiled their latest models to great acclaim, Wan’an Technology’s core supporting products also came into the public spotlight.

Chen Feng was invited to attend the new-product launch event, a moment many view as a testament to Wan’an’s technological expertise entering a phase of tangible results: in the new-energy vehicle sector, Wan’an’s lightweight products—such as aluminum-alloy fixed calipers and subframes—have become highly sought-after by China’s leading automakers.

What people see is a parts giant that stays firmly in step with the times—yet few realize that this very ability to keep pace stems from a “slow decision” made more than two decades ago, one that was a matter of life and death.

Let’s rewind to 2001. By then, Wan’an had already become the largest manufacturer of air-brake systems in China. Soon after, three industry giants—collectively accounting for nearly three-quarters of the global OEM market—each extended an offer, presenting highly attractive terms for a merger or acquisition—on one condition: Wan’an would have to relinquish its painstakingly cultivated, independent brand.

Accepting a merger and acquisition may bring in capital and technology in the short term, but it also means that Wan’an’s hard-earned national brand will disappear, losing its voice in the industry. Faced with this critical test that would determine the company’s fate, the young Chen Feng and his father made a decision that, viewed in today’s light, was remarkably visionary: they refused to “submit” to the takeover.

“That was the right decision back then,” Chen Feng reflected with deep emotion more than two decades later. At the time, his refusal was not driven by impulsive pride; it stemmed from a profound respect for the real economy. Since there were no shortcuts, the only path was to pursue R&D diligently and relentlessly improve product quality.

This “pragmatic” strength is evident in Wan’an’s steadfast, long-term commitment to innovation. More than a decade ago, when steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire were still largely unexplored in the commercial-vehicle sector, Chen Feng insisted on “treating what was relevant ten years ago as something we must be prepared for today,” and accordingly laid out a strategic roadmap. To master electronic-control technology, Wan’an’s engineers even traveled all the way to Heihe in Heilongjiang Province, conducting extreme-cold road tests on ice at temperatures below minus 30 degrees Celsius—driving for over 60 hours and collecting more than 900 data samples—just to identify and validate those 27 critical test metrics.

It is precisely this unwavering commitment that has enabled Wan’an to accumulate strength over the years and now shine on the cutting-edge new-energy-vehicle stage. Ensuring product quality is not a matter of choice—it is a non-negotiable imperative. It is the answer to this “must-answer” question that has allowed Wan’an to navigate economic cycles and to squarely address the fundamental, “real-world” inquiry posed two decades ago.

The “Conflict” Business Philosophy of Two Generations

Chen Feng’s “pragmatism” is not a rigid, unchanging conservatism; rather, it is a dynamic equilibrium—how, as a member of the new generation of entrepreneurs, can one forge a path of “pursuing innovation and change” while upholding the founding generation’s guiding principle of “achieving success through stability”?

In Diankou, Chen Lixiang, the founder of Wan’an, is renowned as a “tech-oriented leader.” With more than four decades of dedicated expertise in automotive components, he adheres to the principle of “pushing products to the absolute limit.” As he once put it: “Back in their day, they lacked everything—capital, talent, and state-of-the-art equipment—but what they never lacked was resilience and an unwavering commitment to perseverance.” To this day, that entrepreneurial spirit—rooted in humble beginnings with mud on one’s boots—remains deeply embedded in Wan’an’s corporate DNA.

Yet Chen Feng is acutely aware that the times have changed. “In our parents’ generation, as long as you delivered a high-quality product, the market would come knocking. Today, however, the industry is awash with excess capacity, technological innovation is accelerating at an ever-faster pace, and the passenger-vehicle segment is becoming increasingly concentrated among the leading OEMs. If component suppliers fail to keep pace with these top-tier automakers, their room for survival will shrink rapidly.” This fundamental difference in perception is bound to create friction between the two generations.

In fact, such clashes are far from uncommon in the succession process between Chen Feng and his elder brother, Chen Jiang. In the early days, when Chen Jiang proposed overseas M&A and the acquisition of cutting-edge technologies, their father, Chen Lixiang, and the board of directors were initially quite lukewarm. From the perspective of the tech-savvy older generation, the right path was to focus on building solid, reliable products; capital-driven initiatives often seemed overly abstract and impractical. Chen Lixiang even regarded partnering with an international giant like Sweden’s Haldex on EMB electro-mechanical braking as nothing short of a pipe dream. Yet Chen Jiang refused to give up. He completely overhauled the conventional negotiation approach, starting instead with products that both sides foresaw as promising in the future—and in the end, this strategy paved the way for the collaboration.

Today, the father has not only enshrined “practical capital operations” as a guiding principle for the group’s development, but Wan’an’s cutting-edge initiatives—such as EMBs, in-wheel motors, and wireless charging—have also begun to bear fruit.

Chen Feng, too, is embodying “the pursuit of change” in his own way. His “follow the core customers” strategy enabled the rapid establishment of a Central China production base in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone—going from initial feasibility studies to final contract signing in just one month. This pace and decisiveness stand in stark contrast to the more cautious, step-by-step approach favored by his predecessors. Yet he insists that this is no reckless rush; rather, it stems from a clear-eyed assessment of shifting industry dynamics: “In the future, the complete-vehicle market will become even more concentrated among the leading players, so we must run side by side with the top-tier OEMs.”

In Chen Feng’s view, the difference between the two generations boils down to “aligned goals but different approaches.” While his parents’ generation sought to master and deepen their core business—just as he is now focused on chassis control systems—his parents emphasized steady, prudent growth. By contrast, he has built a “5+N” capability framework: five core business groups that provide a solid foundation, coupled with forward-looking investments in cutting-edge areas such as EMBs, in-wheel motors, and key components for humanoid robots—infusing steady progress with the driving force of innovation.

Father Chen Lixiang often says, “The passing of the torch from one generation to the next should both carry forward the past and open up the future—constantly striving to surpass it.” Chen Feng has taken these words to heart. He understands that true inheritance does not mean simply replicating his father’s methods; rather, it means staying true to the core value of “pragmatism” while interpreting it in ways that are relevant to our times. His father’s steady, reliable approach is “pragmatic,” and his own drive for change is equally “pragmatic”: genuinely adapting to market shifts and genuinely planning for the future.

Thus, when the outside world sees that Wan’an has forged deep partnerships with China’s leading automakers in the new-energy vehicle sector, Chen Feng understands that this very drive for change is, in fact, the most profound embodiment of his predecessors’ guiding principle of “focusing on the core business.” As he puts it: “As long as we stay laser-focused on our core business and refine and perfect our products, our company can still find its footing in today’s fiercely competitive landscape.” This shared conviction between two generations is precisely what gives Wan’an the steadfastness to navigate economic cycles.

In this era of profound uncertainty, Chen Feng has, through his pragmatic approach to learning and practice, established a clear and reliable path for Wan’an Technology’s development. It is a journey that begins at the ground level and leads straight into the future—just as every screw he tightened in the workshop back then was firm and resolute.