Doing business in China requires good relationships. One of the most important people for our company in China today, and for Janssen in the past, was Mrs.Lian Minjun. Please check out her personal story of sacrificing the biggest part of her career to my father.

I have been a privileged witness to the cooperation between the two provinces for almost 30 years. Working at Hanjiang Pharmaceuticals since 1972, I was a witness of the visit of the first Belgians to Hanzhong in 1980. I was quite impressed: They worked really hard and had loads of experience. We were state-employees. The biggest difference in fact wasn’t their knowledge, but their attitude. This only became really clear when we went to Beerse for training a few years later. We noticed the difference between the two countries. Belgium had motorways, colour TV, gardens, refrigerators, etc. Our admiration for the men who came to China and were willing to live and work in our local conditions was even higher.

In the mid eighties, the Janssen joint venture was formed in Xi’an and because of my knowledge and experience with the whole mebendazole process I was asked by Joos Horsten to remain in Hanzhong and safeguard the further cooperation with Janssen Pharmaceutica. I was not so happy with this situation. I wanted to continue developing my career and I saw most of my former colleagues being part of the success of Xi’an Janssen.

In the late eighties and during the nineties I continued working at Hanjiang Pharmaceuticals and was responsible for the construction of the Hanjiang Plant number 2, which was a copy of Janssen’s chemical plant no. 3 in Geel, Belgium. After completion, it turned out to be the best chemical factory in China and was approved by the Chinese authorities, Janssen Pharmaceutical and the US FDA.

When Joos Horsten set up his own consulting company in the late nineties, he needed someone in China with experience in doing business with foreigners. I became Horsten’s representative in China. For me it was a return to the pioneering days.  I was working on many challenging projects between Belgian and Chinese companies. And today in 2010, two years after Joos Horsten’s unexpected death in 2008, I am proud to be able to continue working with the sons of Joos Horsten.

It is the continuation of the first great moment in this story: When we manufactured the first batch of mebendazole, all of us were incredibly proud. We put it in a test tube, and took a picture of ourselves on the lawn in front of the factory. Chinese and Belgians, shoulder to shoulder. I will never forget this feeling. When many years later, in 2003, I sat at the table with Paul Janssen he still remembered the occasion. He asked me to continue working in the same spirit, because there is always room for improvement. Innovation has been, and still is, the guiding principle for all the years of cooperation.

Note: this text was used for the book published in 2010 at the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the friendship agreement between the provinces of Antwerp and Shaanxi