Shining Group was established in 1976 and gained recognition for conducting hiking and mountain climbing activities in Caoling in its early stages. Shining Group President Mr. Lai Cheng-I began bringing classmates to his home in the mountain village of Caoling and showing them around when he was in high school. When he refurbished the family’s old three-section house into a hotel for his classmates, the response was positive. The house became the chosen destination for his classmates during summer and winter vacations and Caoling grew into a fountainhead of guest houses in Taiwan.

In 1980, Shining Group ventured from the tourism business into construction and development, and established Shining Construction Company. The company caters to people who seek new styles of housing and has never built a home smaller than 40 pings. Projects from past years include: Shining Garden Mansion, Shining Science Building, Shining France, Shining Hyatt, Shining Lijing, Shining Lichi, Shining Yunding (Cloud Top) and Shining Great Nature. These activities have made Shining the leading name in Taichung’s housing market. For 28 years, Mr Lai has led Shining Group to make giant strides in construction, tourism, communications, human resources, banking and agriculture. Today, the organization has over 1,200 employees and

annual revenues of over NT$18 billion. Within the next 10 years, Shining Group plans to reach its goal of opening 30 new resorts by building nine hotels of equal calibre to The Lalu in other scenic areas in Taiwan and investing in 10 resorts in mainland China and other locations overseas. In addition to leading the Shining Group, Mr Lai is also the director of Taichung Construction Union, the director of Taichung Commercial Association, and a member of the Executive Yuan Tourism Development Committee.

Mr Lai is dedicated to supporting local public welfare projects and his efforts are visible in the development of the five large dream projects, such as the Taichung Science-Based Industrial Park, Shuinan Airport’s move to Qingquangang Air Base, elevation of Taichung city to special municipality status under the direct jurisdiction of the Executive Yuan, the building of large conference and exhibition centres, and the moving of the capital city to Taichung. He seeks to connect Taichung to the global community and make it an international city on par with Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong.