RAGS TO RICHES.docVIP

RAGS TO RICHESZhou Qunfei， Chairwoman of Lens Technology， is expected to become the richest woman in China with the upcoming IPO of her company， which primarily supplies firms such as Apple and Samsung with protective screen glass， among other products.Zhou’s life embodies the classic rags-to-riches story. She was born in 1970 in a small village in central China’s Hunan Province and started working as a factory girl in Shenzhen-based Berne Optical in her 20s. She left Berne and founded Lens in 2003 in Shenzhen， and four years later relocated the business to her native province. Now， Lens and Berne occupy the top two positions within the ranks of major screen glass suppliers of top-level mobile brands in China.Zhou holds approximately 90 percent of the stake of Lens Technology， based in Liuyang， a share reportedly worth 46.6 billion yuan （$7.52 billion）.Online Drug SalesCaijing Magazine March 2Although e-commerce is thriving in China， online pharmacies are developing slowly owing to strict government controls. Notably， the online sales of prescription medicine are forbidden. The situation is about to change as it was reported earlier this year that authorities were planning to open up online sales of prescription medicine in the near future. If the policy is finally put in place， e-commerce giants such as Alibaba and JD.com will be able to wrest sales from hospitals.However， the reality is that hospitals have long held a predominant position in the area of pharmaceutical sales in China. The majority of patients buy medicine from the same hospital in which they have had a consultation. They tend to drop in at pharmacy stores only occasionally to purchase over-the-counter medication. Drug sales account for over 45 percent of the income of public hospitals in China， far exceeding the international average of 15 percent.Although health authorities require hospitals to permit freedom of choice for patients with regard to where they buy medicine， hospitals have been able t