Rong Desheng

Rong Desheng — founder profiled in the Chinese Founder Ledger — is documented as follows: younger of the two Rong brothers, responsible for management and technical development of the family's flour and textile empire; assumed full leadership after 1938 and refused to sell the business to Japanese interests during wartime pressure. The profile is grounded in the 2 sources indexed for this founder.

Rong Desheng's role is documented as: co-founder; took sole control of the Rong business empire after brother Rong Zongjing's death in 1938 Deceased July 29, 1952, per Wikipedia (research date: 2026-08-23).

Rong Desheng entered employment at the Shanghai Tongshun Bank in 1890, then co-founded a small flour mill in Wuxi with his brother in 1902 using savings from their banking business.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, after his brother's 1938 death, Rong Desheng took control of the business empire and, despite severe financial pressure and threats to his life, refused to sell the enterprise to Japanese interests.

In the chaotic aftermath of the war, Rong Desheng was kidnapped twice by gangsters reportedly backed by corrupt Kuomintang-linked officials seeking to extort money from him.

After the 1949 founding of the People's Republic of China, Rong Desheng chose to stay on the mainland and cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party rather than relocate his assets, and received favorable treatment as a result; his son Rong Yiren later became PRC Vice President in the 1990s.

Assumed sole leadership of the family's flour-and-textile empire after his brother Rong Zongjing's death in 1938.

Refused Japanese demands to sell or cede control of the Rong enterprises despite financial pressure and personal threats.

The Rong enterprise survived the war under Chinese family control rather than being sold to Japanese interests, per Wikipedia's biography.

Chose to remain on the Chinese mainland and cooperate with the incoming Communist government after 1949 rather than emigrate with capital to Hong Kong or Taiwan.

Rong Desheng and his family received favorable treatment from the new PRC government; his son Rong Yiren went on to become Vice President of the People's Republic of China in the 1990s.