Zhang Xin is one of the world’s most celebrated female entrepreneurs. She is Co-Founder and former CEO of SOHO China, Founder of Closer Media, and Founder and CEO of Closer Properties.
Acclaimed as the “woman who built Beijing”, Xin co-founded SOHO China in 1995 and led the company to become one of the country’s most prolific office property developers with 54 million square feet of prime location, branded developments. As CEO of SOHO China, Xin became internationally renowned for infusing business with innovation and creativity. Her collaborations with top global talents such as Zaha Hadid, Kengo Kuma, and Kohn Pederson Fox, transformed the skylines of China’s largest cities with iconic, avant-garde architecture, while elevating public appreciation of architecture and design. Under Xin’s leadership, SOHO China listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 2007 raising proceeds of $1.9 billion. At the time, it had the distinction of being Asia’s largest commercial real estate IPO.
Xin’s entrepreneurial success has made her a public figure and social media celebrity in China with 10 million followers on Weibo, China’s Twitter, and a sought-after Chinese voice on the international stage. Xin is a Trustee of MoMA, and sits on the Harvard Global Advisory Council, Asia Business Council. She also sits on the board of global streaming platform, production company and film distributor, MUBI. An alumna of the University of Sussex and Cambridge University, she holds an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Sussex and has served as a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Xin established Closer Properties (formally Seven Valleys LLC) in 2008 as a US property investment company. To date, Closer Properties has projects in New York, Boston and Los Angeles.
In 2021, Xin founded Closer Media, a NYC-based film production and financing company. To date, she has led Closer Media to premiere narrative and documentary projects at TIFF in 2023 and Sundance 2025.