SOHO China facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
SOHO China
SOHO中国

Head offices of SOHO China
Type	Public
Traded as	SEHK: 410
Industry	Real estate
Founded	1995
Founder	Pan Shiyi Zhang Xin
Headquarters	Beijing, People's Republic of China (de facto) Cayman Islands (Incorporated Office)
Area served	People's Republic of China
Key people	Pan Shiyi (Chairman) Zhang Xin (CEO)
Revenue	RMB2.191 Billion (Fiscal Year Ended 31 December 2020)
Operating income	RMB1.600 Billion (Fiscal Year Ended 31 December 2020)
Net income	RMB543.466 Million (Fiscal Year Ended 31 December 2020)
Total assets	RMB70.704 Billion (Fiscal Year Ended 31 December 2020)
Total equity	RMB37.547 Billion (Fiscal Year Ended 31 December 2020)

SOHO China is a company that builds amazing buildings in China. They mostly create office and shopping centers. They also build some homes and mixed-use buildings. The company was started in 1995 by Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin. The name "SOHO" means "Smart Office, Home Office." This is because the company wanted to combine offices and homes in the same building. This helps people work and live comfortably.

SOHO China builds properties in the main business areas of Beijing and Shanghai. Their buildings are famous for their cool, modern designs. Famous architects like Zaha Hadid and Kengo Kuma have designed buildings for them. SOHO China has built over five million square meters of commercial space. Many of their buildings have won awards for their unique designs.

Fortune magazine has called SOHO China "one of the country's most high-profile real estate firms." The New York Times said it's China's only company focused purely on prime office buildings. In 2012, SOHO China changed its plan. Instead of building to sell, they started building to keep. This means they now own 1.4 million square meters of office space in Beijing and Shanghai. They keep these buildings for long-term investment.

Even though they sold some properties later, Pan Shiyi said SOHO China will keep its main buildings. He noted that changing their plan was tough at first. But by the next year, their rental income went up a lot. This helped their yearly profits grow by 69%. In June 2021, Pan and Zhang agreed to sell a big part of the company to Blackstone.

History of SOHO China

Sanlitun SOHO.

Galaxy SOHO.

Wangjing SOHO has one of the tallest buildings designed by a woman.

Hongqiao SOHO, also known as Sky Soho; designed by Zaha Hadid

Fuxing 3Q in Shanghai

SOHO China was started in 1995 by Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi. Within 10 years, it became the biggest property developer in China. Around 2000, when the internet became popular, many new businesses started. These businesses needed places to work. SOHO China helped by building office spaces for them.

On October 8, 2007, SOHO China offered its shares to the public for the first time. This is called an IPO. They raised US$1.9 billion, which was a huge amount for a private company in China. This allowed them to build even more in Beijing and Shanghai. As of 2019, SOHO China still holds the record for the largest commercial real estate IPO in Asia.

By 2013, CNN reported that SOHO China had 18 major buildings in Beijing. They also had 11 properties in Shanghai. Fortune magazine (China edition) has named SOHO China one of the "Most Admired Companies" in China many times.

Cool Buildings and Projects

The main office of SOHO China is in the Chaowai SOHO building in Chaoyang District, Beijing.

Buildings in Beijing

SOHO China started building in Beijing. They have had a big impact on the city's look. Zhang Xin has even been called "the woman who built Beijing." She and Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid designed many of SOHO's most striking buildings. They are known for "transforming Beijing's skyline." As of 2019, SOHO China still has more projects being built in Beijing.

Commune by the Great Wall

One of SOHO's first big projects was the Commune by the Great Wall. This is a collection of modern buildings and a hotel. It's located near the Badaling section of the Great Wall, a famous tourist spot. In 2002, this project was shown at a famous art show in Venice. Zhang Xin was praised for her "bold personal initiative." The Centre Pompidou in Paris now has a model of the project.

The Commune has private villas designed by 12 famous Asian architects. The idea was to inspire new architects and builders. It's a peaceful place near the Unesco World Heritage Site of the Great Wall. The Commune has a clubhouse and 11 villas. Each villa has a living room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms. Some even have saunas or rooftop areas. It's a popular place for events, weddings, and fashion shows. The furniture inside is also from famous designers.

Jianwai SOHO and SOHO Shangdu

By 2004, SOHO was building more projects like Jianwai SOHO and SOHO Shangdu. Jianwai SOHO is a huge complex with homes and shops. It was designed by Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto. Pan Shiyi wanted the best architects to create masterpieces in Beijing.

Around the same time, SOHO worked with an Australian company called Lab Architecture Studio. They designed SOHO Shangdu, a shopping and living complex. It has a unique design with "irregular and upside-down triangles." Pan said that even though these designs cost more, people loved them. Zhang Xin said this building boom was like "incredibly repressed energy" being released in China.

Sanlitun SOHO

Sanlitun SOHO opened in Beijing in 2010. It was designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. It has five shopping malls and nine buildings with offices and apartments. These buildings are grouped around an outdoor courtyard with water features. In 2012, it won an award for Best Commercial Project. It was praised for feeling like a compact neighborhood with its own style.

Galaxy SOHO

Galaxy SOHO is a group of four dome-shaped towers near the Forbidden City. It has open spaces inside and combines shopping with offices. The building was designed by Zaha Hadid and opened in 2012. It won an award in 2013. The New York Times said it looked like "a spaceship just landed in downtown Beijing." Fortune magazine said its "futuristic shape changed an otherwise rectangular skyline."

Wangjing SOHO

Wangjing SOHO is a group of three curvy skyscrapers. They were also designed by Zaha Hadid. They opened in 2014 in Wangjing, a suburb of Beijing. The towers have offices and shops. One of these towers is the third-tallest building designed by a woman in the world. In 2015, it won the Emporis Skyscraper Award, the first time a Chinese skyscraper received this honor.

Leeza SOHO

Leeza SOHO is a Skyscraper in Beijing. SOHO bought the land for it in 2013. The building was designed by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher. It started being built in 2015 and was finished in 2019. Leeza SOHO has a huge twisting atrium in its center. It is 190 metres (623 ft) tall, making it the tallest in the world. The atrium twists 45 degrees to let natural light reach all floors. It's also connected to the Beijing Subway train lines.

Buildings in Shanghai

Shanghai is another main city where SOHO China builds. They started with The Exchange-SOHO in 2008. In 2018, SOHO China announced they sold three of their Shanghai buildings.

Here are some important Shanghai projects:

• SOHO Century Plaza: A 24-story building in Shanghai's business area. SOHO sold it in 2016 for a good profit.
• SOHO Fuxing Plaza: This building has shops and offices. It opened in 2014 and was designed by German and Chinese firms.
• Bund SOHO: This project has buildings in a classical European style. It won an award in 2016. By 2017, almost all of its spaces were rented out.
• Hongkou SOHO: This building has 95,000 square meters of space. It looks like "woven lace" because of its pleated aluminum design. By 2017, it was also almost fully rented.
• Hongqiao SOHO: Also called Sky Soho, this building was designed by Zaha Hadid. It was finished in 2014. It's designed to look like high-speed trains because it's near a big transportation hub.
• Gubei SOHO: This is SOHO China's seventh building in Shanghai. It's a 38-story tower designed by James von Klemperer. The design was inspired by a famous sculpture. It was finished in March 2019. The building is designed to be energy-efficient and has offices and shops. It's also connected to the Shanghai metro.

SOHO 3Q: Shared Offices

In 2015, SOHO China started a new project called SOHO 3Q. This provides shared office spaces for people starting businesses. It's available in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and others. By 2016, they had 12 shared office locations. SOHO China thought of this idea in 2014, like other companies in the sharing economy (like Airbnb and Uber).

Chairman Pan Shiyi announced the SOHO 3Q project in 2015. This idea was meant for many small and medium-sized companies. These companies often don't want to rent office space for a long time. Instead, they prefer to rent for a week, a month, or half a year. The first two SOHO 3Q spaces opened in February 2016. SOHO 3Q became the biggest coworking space in China. It helped other similar spaces grow.

SOHO China Buildings: A Quick Look

Here are some of the tall buildings SOHO China has built:

Giving Back: Philanthropy

The SOHO China Foundation was started in 2005. It handles all of SOHO China's charity work. The Foundation's goal is to help Chinese students from areas that don't have many resources. Their main project is the SOHO China Scholarships. This is a US$100 million program that gives money to Chinese students. It helps them study at top international universities like Harvard and Yale. The Foundation has also supported education programs in poor rural areas in China.

See also

• Real estate in China