An orphan born into a poor family, he rose from working as a cowherd and bottle washer to become a leader in China's dairy industry. Yet, at the peak of his career, he donated his family’s assets and stepped away from the business world to devote himself entirely to philanthropy. In 2004, he founded the Lao Niu Foundation, becoming the first entrepreneur to use stock donations for charity. He was hailed by the media as "the first person in the world to donate stocks." Under his influence, all of his family members have also dedicated themselves to philanthropy, and they have been recognized as "China's Strategic Charity Role Models." By June 2018, his foundation had partnered with 170 institutions and organizations, carrying out 231 charitable projects across 31 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities, and special administrative regions) in China, as well as in the United States, Canada, France, Denmark, Nepal, and Africa. The foundation’s public welfare expenditure reached 1.36 billion yuan. He is committed to exploring a globalized, internationalized approach to philanthropy.

貧困家庭出身的孤兒，從養牛工、洗瓶工躍升至中國乳業領軍人物，卻在年富力強、事業鼎盛期捐贈家族資產、淡出商界，全身心投入公益事業，2004年發起成立老牛基金會。當時，用捐股方式做慈善的企業家中尚屬首例，被媒體譽為「全球捐股第一人」。在他的薰陶下，家族成員全部投身公益，被評為「中國戰略慈善典範」。截至2018年6月底，其基金會已累計與170家機構與組織合作，開展了231個公益慈善項目，遍及中國31個省(自治區/直轄市及特別行政區）以及美國、加拿大、法國、丹麥、尼泊爾、非洲等地，公益支出達13.6億元。致力探索公益全球化、專案國際化的慈善之路。