Shanghai honors Amorepacific China president with Magnolia Silver Award

Fifty expats from 15 countries were recently presented with the Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award in recognition of their contributions to the city’s development.

Two of them are from Jiading District, including Youngmin Hwang, president of Amorepacific China.

Hwang, who is from South Korea, began working for the Amorepacific Group in 1999. Since then, he has forged strong bonds with China. He has overseen the group’s operational strategy, strategic innovation and business expansion in the Chinese market. He has actively promoted exchanges and collaboration between China and South Korea in economics, trade, culture, sustainable development, and cosmetics technology and regulations to achieve mutual benefit and win-win outcomes for both nations.

In 2000, Amorepacific relocated to Jiading’s Malu Town. After 20 years of expansion, it has successfully developed three entirely foreign-owned firms in Malu and progressively set up a comprehensive base, Amorepacific Beauty Campus Shanghai, which covers a site area of 92,000 square meters.

The site integrates production, research, and distribution in China. Its second phase was expanded and opened in 2018, where Amorepacific soon moved its China headquarters.

Under Hwang’s guidance, Amorepacific China successfully introduced brands such as Sulwhasoo, Laneige, innisfree, Mamonde, Ryo and Mise-en-scene to the Chinese market, with Sulwhasoo, Laneige and innisfree becoming well-known trademarks in China.

Amorepacific’s companies have been named to the list of “Top 100 Foreign-Invested Enterprises Contributing to Tax Revenue in Shanghai” for multiple years in a row, helping Jiading’s economy grow.

Hwang actively leverages Shanghai’s status as Amorepacific China’s headquarters, promoting strategic reforms and business innovations in production innovation, brand creation, digital transformation and sustainable development.

For the past six years, Amorepacific has participated in the China International Import Expo.

Hwang also led the company’s active participation in industry dialogues, providing suggestions and proposals for the revision of the “Cosmetics Supervision and Management Regulations” as well as the legislation and implementation of the “Regulations on the Innovative Development of the Cosmetics Industry in Shanghai Pudong New Area.”

He has spearheaded the promotion of various sustainable development initiatives through China-ROK collaboration.

He integrates advanced South Korean technological concepts with Chinese business methods to encourage the adoption of pledges such as carbon neutrality, plastic reduction, sustainable products and corporate social responsibility.

In 2020, Amorepacific’s Shanghai production base received the national designation of “Green Factory.”

In 2021, the Shanghai industrial base reached 100 percent green energy utilization by combining photovoltaic power generation and the purchase of international green certifications.

Hwang is also very committed to philanthropy. In social, natural, and cultural domains, he has led the company in making contributions to society, such as the university student psychological care project “AMORE Youth” and the conservation of water resources.

These initiatives have benefited many university students and intangible cultural heritage projects in the city.

“I am very grateful to the Shanghai Municipal Government for bestowing me with this honor. This is a tremendous encouragement for both myself and the entire company, and it will also inspire us to continue adhering to the development direction of ‘being rooted in Shanghai and radiating across the country,’ promoting the business development of Amorepacific in the Chinese market and bringing continuous beauty value to consumers.

“We will also continue to contribute to the construction of Shanghai’s urban and economic development,” Hwang said.