As the daughter of late Wang Yung-ching, Taiwan's petrochemical industrial giant and one of Taiwan's wealthiest people, HTC Co-founder and chairman Cher Wang in her early days, bearing the burdens imposed on her by external and familial reputational pressures, fought with all her might with the world; but following her life renewal, she is content to hide under the rock of God’s protection, to fully live out herself, and to live a life that glorifies God.
Growing up in a wealthy and well-known family, Wang has never hid under the umbrella of the family business; she started a legendary new page in Taiwanese high-tech world with her partners and claims that her success is all God’s grace; known by the world to be “the wealthiest woman in Taiwan” who is always in simple athletic attire, she does not chase after brand names, and is very content in being simple and free.
When speaking about the hardships during the developmental stages of her career and about the miraculous blessings that stem from God’s guidance and protection, Wang’s eyes always radiate with joy and excitement. She created the Taiwanese “small risk, big gains” miracle of VIA Technologies and is co-founder of tech giant HTC Corporations, one of the top three smart-phone and tablet provider in the world, besides Samsung and Apple.
The path of faith
Cher Wang, sporting shoulder-length straight hair and small-framed spectacles, is very people-friendly. When speaking of her experience in search for faith, she replied in her usual mono-toned, straight-forward manner. She has never been afraid to discuss the ups and downs and struggles from within, “I followed my family in my belief in God and attended Sunday school and Sunday services. I got baptized at 13 years old, because I was touched during a retreat, but did not continue in the pursuit of faith. I left alone to the United States for education when I was 15 or 16 years old, and you could say that I gradually left God.” She said bashfully, “I might have gone to church on Sundays, but I was mostly late, or left early, and I mostly made up stories. I knew that I needed to pray before bed, that it was important to study the scriptures, but I never seriously read the Bible through even once. You could say that my life was not really transformed.”
“However, God never gave up on me,” Wang said gratefully. “God loves everyone through His special way. I often thank Him in my prayers, because He loves me so much. He used Himself to bring me back to follow Him.” Testifying on how God has guided her and changed her many times, she raised her voice suddenly, “In this path of faith, He has let me experience a little bit of blessings at first, then gave me some trials and tribulations, and then let me experience His miraculous guidance and works; in these ups and downs/gives and takes, my faith has gradually grown. And on this day, the bigger the trials, the stronger my faith becomes and the greater the joy that comes after experiencing God. I know how intricate His intentions are and feel that I need to grasp onto His words every day,” she said firmly.
The “First Encounter” with God
Boarding alone in the United States at a tender age and without much help, Wang learnt to be independent and became the straight-forward person that she is under western influence. She admitted that she was full of vigor during her youth, and strived to get to the bottom of things in every aspect, without letting go, thus gaining herself descriptions such as being “pushy, fierce” at that time. Maybe it was her strong and unyielding nature that made her unable to be free under the unseen pressures imposed on her by the outside world and by herself. This pressure enabled her to try her best in the technology business and to demand strongly of herself to reach for the sky and create a future on her own; however, the result of this enormous pressure had made her as tight as the chord of a bow and gave her insomnia for days. She tried using various methods to relax, including getting up at night to read, walk, and memorize poems from the Tang and Song dynasties. However, nothing worked, and she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Wang called her Christian sister for help. While her sister fervently prayed for her, she asked her to also pray for herself. She promised God that if God lets her sleep, she would read one chapter of the Bible. However, no effect came of a few prayers, and Wang got mad at God; her sister reminded her that she should fulfill her promise to God first. One night, around 3 am, she opened up the Bible and read Psalms. She came to a verse that said, “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in”, and she gradually fell asleep.
This is the first time that Wang has ever experienced God’s truth and healing. From that night forward, she persisted in reading the Bible for two hours every night, and not only did she sleep sweetly every night, but also finished reading through the Bible once. “This is my first encounter with God’s presence and healing, and substantially felt the closeness of God to me,” she said.
God’s presence and healing again
What followed were necessities that stemmed from Cher’s career, which brought her to the United States once more. Prior to this, she had invited business partner Chen Wen-chi to attend Sunday service with her at Bread of Life Church, but she was still at a low point in her life. During this trip, she had the opportunity to attend the local Sunday service. When she entered the church, her normally reserved self, unexpectedly, started to cry continuously during the singing of hymns. Wang felt that she could gradually accept the sermons and started reading spiritual books and listening to spiritually themed tapes, which deepened her faith.
Meanwhile, Wang’s career started to grow exponentially. VIA Technologies had been established for some time, and during the organization of a company sports event, her past ailment surfaced again during her training for the event (she was an avid jogger). Because of a herniated spinal disc affecting the nerves, she had unbearable pain that woke her even in her sleep. She faced a dilemma of whether or not to accept surgical treatment.
Then, Wang thought of a sermon she once heard in a pastor’s tape that said, “When we praise God from the bottom of our hearts, the Angels and Lord of heaven will surely fight for us.” She then started to pray from her heart, “My Lord, I praise you. You have allowed such an event to happen to me, surely you have a plan, and may I follow your plans.” The wrenching pain suddenly disappeared while she let go of everything and started praising. She could not describe how she felt at that moment, but only knew that the pain disappeared immediately and was healed completely.
“From that point on, I felt that I could pray to Him for everything,” she said sincerely. “I try my best to ask for God’s guidance in everything, and try to pray and practice spirituality everyday. Managing VIA until this day, I feel that if I can only maintain a pure heart, accept God’s word and put it into practice, then I would be able to experience God’s amazing grace and blessings.” She said without hesitation, “This is the blessing that God gives to mankind, purely grace, and one that every one of us can receive!”
Surely, in many crucial moments and career decisions, she has experienced God’s miraculous guidance. During her journey with her partners at VIA, Wang has faced many perils and turning points while experiencing God’s miraculous protection. These events further strengthened Wang and her partners’ determination to completely offer the company to God. Even so, they had their struggles and were conscious of how the world viewed them with peculiar sights and/or negative opinions; however, God inspired them through prayers, “I surpass everything greatly!”
Thus, Wang and her partners held on to this pure spirit of God and decided without fear to do something monumental in the company’s public trading party: they not only invited Rev. Shen-Chu Chow from Taiwan’s Bread of Life Church to lead the prayers, but also publically announced that VIA belongs to the Lord, for the purpose of glorifying God and as a complete offering to God. Following this event, they prayed together for God’s guidance on trials concerning sales, development, and/or business decisions.
Especially during the times of peril when their chief competitor Intel Corporation brought a patent lawsuit against them, when they watched their clients leave their company one after another, when invoices were cancelled one after another, and when contracted business partners wanted to back away from VIA, Cher, who was on the verge of giving up, called her sister and another Christian friend to pray for the company.
“This was too miraculous, amazing!” She could not suppress her excitement and said gratefully, “On the following morning, the decision-maker at our key partner corporation changed his mind and wrote us to advice that he would be behind VIA no matter what. When I met with him again afterwards, I asked him why he changed his mind, and he said he did not know. He only said that he felt it was a right thing to do!”
“I thanked God, for He knew that our faith was insufficient, and thus He used His miracles to encourage us drop by drop!” Wang said.
Since then, Wang became even more determined to spread the knowledge of God and to glorify God in the entrepreneur world. Apart from the annual thanksgiving and worship testimonial banquet, she would testify of the power of the gospel in her life through her day to day business management practices and interactions with her company’s employees.
[Editor's note: Carol Lee translated the article.]
