Yu Minhong,who is dubbed “the Godfather of English Training in China”, is the co-founder and the CEO of New Oriental Education and Technology Group, which is the first English training school to go public on the New York Stock Exchange.

Born into a family of a carpenter and a farmer, he was not expected to make great fortune or became a household name. After his second failure in the National Higher Education Entrance Examination, which is a make-or-break examination for Chinese high school students, his parents lost their hope in him. But he was clung to his belief that he could realize his dream, so he took the exam for the third time. Fortunately, his score were high enough to win a dream place in Peking University, which is a top high education institution. In the university where there were talented students from all over the world, he made a lot of good friends, among who, Wang Qiang and Xu Xiaoping became his business partners when set up New Oriental.

Last decade witnessed the rapid development of the company, which has beaches almost in every big cities in China. New Oriental, which is a pioneer in English training industry, has transformed boring  lectures into inspiring funny talk shows. Yu is the person who developed this approach, which never fails.

The mottoof Yu Minhong and New Oriental, which was cited from Martin Luther King’s Speech, “hew a stone of hope out of the mountain of despair and you can make your life a splendid one”, has inspired many Chinese English learners to pursue their dreams.