When I was developing the character, Simon Wang, the Chinese billionaire in the book series, I chose certain characteristics from actual Chinese tycoons I know. In the book, Simon Wang is a worldly and successful manaufacturing tycoon with plants throughout the world. The one area he lacks control over is his own family matters that bewilder and sometimes stun him. Raised in poverty, he only has a sixth grade education and worked hard to overcome obstacles and achieve his success. With deep roots to "old China', he is humble, simple and non-asssuming. Liang Wengen is the closest I can think of to Simon Wang. Liang Wengen is the chairman of Sany Group — one of China’s largest construction equipment manufacturers. He is 57 yrs. old and worth $11B. Liang and three other partners founded Sany in 1989 as a small welding materials factory in the Chinese province of Hunan. Since then, the conglomerate has grown into a global operation with five industrial parks in China, four manufacturing bases in the U.S., Germany, India and Brazil, and 24 sales firms around the world.