Hata Norio: first holder of PRC’s Permanent Residence Certificate

Witnessing China’s reform

Now 80 years old, Hata Norio still has high aspirations. In 2004, after he retired as the managing director of the Shanghai Shinmei Electric Company, which he started with just 150 employees and now has over 3,000, with a ten times larger plant area, Hata Norio began his new journey.

A kind of chemical formulation good for industrial injection and molding caught his attention and he set up Billion Bright, which has now operated for over ten years and is approved by multiple companies both in Shanghai and in other parts of China.

This has also been a trend in Shanghai lately. Traditional manufacturing is gradually dwindling while new high-tech industry becomes the pillar. Another development trend is the transformation into “smart factories”.