{"id":16,"date":"2019-02-15T10:30:55","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T00:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/alumni-stories\/?p=16"},"modified":"2020-09-23T14:28:25","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T04:58:25","slug":"junling-liu-chinas-cyber-prince","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/alumni-stories\/2019\/02\/15\/junling-liu-chinas-cyber-prince\/","title":{"rendered":"Junling Liu – China\u2019s cyber prince"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nThere were no toys, little medicine and some days no food, but Junling Liu insists an impoverished childhood was the best present his parents could ever give him.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Perhaps it was the lack of food, or perhaps the unfolding future of hard winters and dry summers \u2013 whatever the reason, Mr Liu wanted out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way to get out of that life was to get through matriculation and go to university. So that\u2019s what I did,\u201d Mr Liu said.<\/p>\n

It was at Flinders University where he earned his Bachelor of Teaching degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs someone who was educated in China, we used to be taught what to think, not how to think, and studying at Flinders liberated my mind quite a bit.<\/p>\n

After completing his degree, Mr Liu worked in the outback town of Cleve. A few years teaching in Adelaide followed, but a nagging desire for greater challenges took him back to Flinders.<\/p>\n

He completed his MBA in international business management, Mr Liu before taking a junior role at Lucent Technologies in Singapore. Within four years he was running an Asia-Pacific business unit. A series of roles with multinationals followed and before long he was ensconced behind the President\u2019s desk at Dell China.<\/p>\n

It was on a long flight in between business meetings after reading the inflight magazine that Mr Liu was struck by a new idea. The idea \u2013 selling groceries online to Chinese consumers \u2013 became Mr Liu\u2019s first company, YiHaoDian \u2013 No.1 Store in English.<\/p>\n

Mr Liu and his partner later sold the online grocery company to Wal-mart and he set up 111.com.cn as a side business in 2012. It is already the biggest online drugstore in China.<\/p>\n

Talent, creativity and persistence may have made him an icon in online retailing, but Mr Liu rushes to credit the people who have helped him find his way \u2013 and never forgets where his life began.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents taught me how to strive for a better life and when you set yourself a goal, you put 100 per cent of yourself into it,\u201d Mr Liu said.<\/p>\n