Chinese brothers Tang Wanxin and Tang Wanli were among the world’s most successful tomato farmers. Between 1986 and 2004, they built their tomato company, D’Long International Ltd., into a behemoth on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The conglomerate invested heavily in hundreds of industrial and financial services companies.

Although the Tangs may have been farmers when they started D’Long, they were no ordinary farmers.