On May 26th, the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University released an obituary announcing the passing of Yin Yanliang, a distinguished entrepreneur, renowned philanthropist, and the founding chairman of the school's board of directors. He died in Taipei on May 26th, 2026, at the age of 76.

Born in Taipei in August 1950 with ancestral roots in Rizhao, Shandong, Yin Yanliang was the son of Yin Shutian, who had long been established in the textile industry and founded the Runtek Enterprise. Upon reaching adulthood, Yin Yanliang took over the family's textile business. He successfully led Runtek's transformation from a traditional construction company into a major diversified conglomerate in Taiwan, expanding its operations into construction, finance, retail, biotechnology, and other sectors, thereby building a diverse business portfolio.

For the general public in mainland China, however, the name Yin Yanliang might be less familiar. Yet, the supermarket chain he founded, RT-Mart, is a well-known national retail brand, earning Yin Yanliang the title "Father of RT-Mart."

In the 1990s, Yin Yanliang was a pioneer in entering the mainland China market, becoming one of the earliest prominent Taiwanese entrepreneurs to invest heavily there. In 1996, he formally established the RT-Mart hypermarket system. The first mainland store opened in Shanghai in 1997, followed by a rapid nationwide expansion of branded outlets. In 2000, RT-Mart entered into a strategic partnership with France's Auchan Group, jointly establishing Sun Art Retail Group, which operates both the "RT-Mart" and "Auchan" brands. In 2011, Sun Art Retail, RT-Mart's parent company, was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Its share price once reached a high of HK$13.4, with a peak market capitalization of HK$127.8 billion, and it was once hailed as the "most profitable supermarket" in China.

At that time, foreign retail giants like Carrefour and Walmart were dominant players in the supermarket market. RT-Mart carved out a differentiated localization path by focusing on a comprehensive one-stop shopping experience, a consumer-friendly and value-for-money pricing system, and well-developed convenient supporting services. It quickly expanded into major cities across the country. Industry insiders view RT-Mart's development model as not only propelling the domestic chain retail industry into a new phase of standardization and scale but also cementing the consumer memories of generations of Chinese people. Furthermore, it became a benchmark for deep economic and trade integration between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

With the rise of e-commerce, physical supermarkets faced transformation challenges, and significant changes occurred in RT-Mart's ownership structure.

In November 2017, Alibaba, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Taobao China Holding Limited, acquired a 36.16% stake in Sun Art Retail for HK$22.4 billion. In October 2020, Alibaba invested an additional HK$27.957 billion, increasing its stake to 72%, bringing its total investment in Sun Art Retail to HK$50.357 billion. Yin Yanliang himself gradually withdrew from the management of RT-Mart.

In January 2025, the Alibaba-affiliated entities sold their stake in RT-Mart to DCP Capital.

Currently, RT-Mart operates 462 hypermarkets, 34 medium-sized supermarkets, and 6 M Membership stores. It entered Henan province in 2011, opening its first store on Longhai Road in Zhengzhou, followed by several other outlets. After industry shifts and store adjustments, RT-Mart now operates only 3 stores in Henan, located in Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, and Jiyuan.