In 2001, Lifan was ranked ninth in the A-League, and the following year it was sixth. By virtue of the complex algorithm developed by our Football Association - i.e., the 2002 ranking multiplied by 0.5 plus the 2003 ranking - Lifan was in a favorable position to make a run at the Chinese Super League.
However, there are unpredictable winds and clouds, in 2003 Lifan's performance turned sharply downward, in the last generation of the last round of the A League, but also faced with "the only way to lose can be promoted to the Chinese Super League," the severe test.
At that time, in addition to Shaanxi and Bayi, who were already confirmed to be out of the Chinese Super League, the other spot would be between Tianjin and Chongqing. For Chongqing to advance to the Chinese Super League, they had to fulfill the conditions that Tianjin would not defeat title favorites Shanghai Shenhua on the road and lose to Qingdao themselves at home.
As a result, Qingdao will overtake Tianjin in terms of CSL qualification points, with Qingdao moving up and Tianjin moving down. As a result, Qingdao will move up and Tianjin will drop. Chongqing will then be able to take advantage of this situation to overtake Tianjin. Although Chongqing has no control over Tianjin's final away match against Shanghai, Chongqing will have to lose this match against Qingdao first.
But it was a crazy time, and Shanghai Shenhua, aiming for the title, "accidentally" lost 1-2 to Tianjin, and the final "losing to enter the Chinese Super League" problem did not happen.
At the end of 2003, Yin Mingshan bought Yunnan Hongta's Super League shell for 38 million dollars, Lifan "shell rebirth", became the first year of the Super League team.
However, they are not having a good time in the Premier League.
From 2004-2006, Yin Mingshan invested nearly 30 million per year, but due to the team's youth training is difficult to produce good seedlings, and did not bring in good internal and external assistance, three consecutive years at the bottom of the table, and escaped two years of relegation Lifan in the 2006 Super League resumed the elevation of the only relegation of the team in that year.
Despite the relegation, Yin Mingshan's investment in the team was not drastically reduced, with about 25 million invested in each of 2007 and 2008. 2008 saw Lifan's miraculous return to the Chinese Super League as the second best team in the Central League under Wei Xin's leadership.
Lifan is back in the Chinese Super League, Yin Mingshan raised the investment to 30 million, but it still can't change the team's fate of relegation. Lifan, known as the "Lifter", took advantage of the 2010 anti-gambling campaign to return to the Chinese Super League.
In 2010, Yin Mingshan increased the investment to 50 million, but due to the team's own lack of strength, it ranked second last in the league and was relegated again. This was Lifan's fourth relegation in seven years.
The impact of this relegation on Lifan was huge. As a result of Lifan's lackluster performance, the Chongqing Municipal Government, led by the Chongqing Sports Bureau, set up the Chongqing Football Salon (Chongqing FC), and many of the resources originally belonging to Lifan were tilted to the new team. The most notable example is that Lifan's home stadium was forced to move away from the Olympic Sports Center to Yongchuan and Fuling.
It was then that Yoon had the idea of transferring the team. He invested around $30 million a year for the next few years.
At the end of 2013, Chongqing FC Salon closed.In 2014, Yin Mingshan increased his investment, splashing 70 million, and Lifan succeeded in another Super League run.
Also in 2014, Lifan Group began to engage in strategic transformation, large-scale investment in new energy cars. Due to economic considerations, Yin Mingshan decided to transfer Lifan Salon.
At the end of 2014, Yin Mingshan transferred the salon to a company called Beijing Huaxia Guorui at a "cabbage price" of 10 million (only 2 million was actually paid).
Yin Mingshan has only one intention, to keep the team in Chongqing.
But as the true nature of this shell company was revealed, the Chinese Football Association eventually called off the transfer and Yin Mingshan took back ownership of the salon.
In early 2015, Yin Mingshan appeared on CCTV's Dialogue with Wang Jianlin, and for the first time, he also talked about why he transferred the salon.
"When I made a profit of more than $300 million, take $30 million, small thing, but now when I make only $400 or $500 million, the burden is heavy if I have to take $200 or $300 million. It's not that I don't like soccer anymore, it's not that I hate soccer, it's really that I don't feel like my abilities are commensurate."
In order to keep the team and at the same time let the team have a good home in the future, Yin Mingshan put in a great effort in 2015, investing more than 100 million for the whole year. 2016, the total investment of the salon was more than 120 million, half of which was funded by Yin Mingshan, and the team finally ranked eighth in the Chinese Super League, and successfully relegated.
After that, Wuhan Jinsheng Group entered the ownership, acquired 90% of the shares of Lifan Salon, the salon was renamed Chongqing Jinsheng Lifan Football Salon.
Yoon, who took home $540 million, stepped back but still retained a 10 percent stake in the salon, he said:
"I'm going to have to inform on Chungking City."
In 17 years, Yin Mingshan has dropped 840 million for Chongqing soccer.
"It's been 17 years of ups and downs, but it's always held up. In particular, I've seen that the number of people who love soccer here go from a handful to a majority, and from watching in general to burning with passion, and I think that's the best reward for me."
At the time of investing in soccer, Yoon was 62 years old.
In 1979, at the age of 41, Yin Mingshan ended his 18-year-long labor reform, after which he worked as an English teacher and a publisher, and later earned his first bucket of gold by successfully distributing a series of penny books for middle school students.
In 1992, at the age of 54, Yin Mingshan started his motorcycle manufacturing career, which later became "Lifan Motorcycle".
In 2000, Lifan Motorcycle became the No.1 seller in the country with the production and sales of 1.84 million engines and sales revenue of 3.85 billion yuan, surpassing brands such as Jialing and Construction.
Yin Mingshan, 62, made the 2000 Forbes list of the 50 richest people in China with a net worth of 550 million yuan.
In 2003, Lifan entered the automobile field and began to build cars. In November 2010, Lifan Auto became the first private car company listed on the A-share market.
After the listing, 72-year-old Yoon said:
"Fan Jin went crazy after he won the lottery, I won't, I'll be calmer."
That year, Yin became the "richest man in Chongqing" with a fortune of more than 11 billion dollars.
Soon after the "richest" halo, Lifan began to fall behind on the road to building cars.
In 2016, the "Lifan new energy vehicle subsidy scandal", 2017, 2018, 2019, Lifan shares for three consecutive years of deductible net profit is negative, 2019 deductible net profit is a huge loss of nearly 4.4 billion yuan.
In 2020 Lifan situation worse, debt, August 2021 Lifan Group bankruptcy reorganization, Geely's car Li Shufu finally became the de facto controller, Yin Mingshan can finally "retirement".
On the day he retired from the Lifan salon, Yin said:
"I have not left Chongqing for 79 years. In Chongqing, I have changed from a poor man to a boss, from a grassroots in Chongqing to a civilized citizen of the city. I love this local area very much, and I am happy to make some contributions to Chongqing's economic construction, culture and education. Also because I love soccer, I grew up loving soccer, playing soccer, kicking soccer, so I invested in soccer in my old age. Soccer has given me a lot, gave me a robust body, my virtual age of 80 years old, how to see are not yet hunchbacked well, this is all thanks to the gift of soccer."
"When I took over soccer, Chongqing soccer was A-A, the equivalent of the Chinese Super League, and now when I hand over the reins, it's still the Chinese Super League, and I haven't let the city down."
He said he originally wanted to leave the soccer salon in the hands of his family, but the kids weren't interested.
"I am indeed older, originally intended to hand over the soccer piece to the family, but children's interests are often different from their parents, so I do not force them to do what they like to do, for example, my son is more interested in car racing, he went to do that just go to do it, I do not force them. If my family is as obsessed as I am, then I will continue to do it."
In the last three years, three Chinese Super League team closing exit, stop operating, "stock reform" has become many Chinese soccer salon "life straw".
Chongqing Two Rivers Athletics announced the closing day, talking about the salon's share reform, Yin Mingshan said:
"Nobody told me that from the beginning to the end!"
