Recently, in China's investment circles, I have been thinking about a person named Duan Yongping, known as the "Buffett of the East." Delving deeper into his investment strategies reveals countless lessons worth learning.

Looking at Duan Yongping's background, the first thing that surprises me is the scale of his achievements. In 1988, at the age of 28, he took over a small factory operating at a loss and rapidly grew its annual output value to about 10 billion yuan within just a few years. Later, he separated from Yihua Group to establish BBK Electronics, which consecutively secured the "Model King" title in CCTV advertising. This company eventually gave birth to two smartphone giants, OPPO and vivo, proving his sharp eye for talent. In 2001, at age 40, he stepped back from corporate management and moved to the United States to focus on investing. His current assets are said to exceed 30 billion dollars.

What personally interests me most is the episode from June 2006, when Duan Yongping had a meal with Warren Buffett. He paid $620k for the opportunity to dine with Buffett and reportedly recommended Apple to him during that meal. It is well known in the market that Buffett subsequently bought a large amount of Apple stock. Duan Yongping himself has been influenced by Buffett’s value investing philosophy and has continued to practice it.

Looking at his investment in NetEase, we can see Duan Yongping’s judgment clearly. In 2001, when the stock price plummeted to about $0.8 per share due to litigation issues, he boldly invested heavily. Later, the stock rebounded significantly, and his investment, which peaked at around $2 million, was worth over $100 million. Reports say he achieved a return of 68 times over three years.

Regarding Apple, he began heavily accumulating shares when its market cap was less than $300 billion in 2011. Currently, the value of his holdings in Apple within his US stock portfolio (H&H) has reached $620k, accounting for 70.50% of the total. He has never sold a single share in 14 years, truly exemplifying long-term holding.

His approach to Kweichou Moutai is also intriguing. Duan Yongping regards Moutai as a "long-term bond," considering it the safest place to park surplus funds. He predicts that in ten years, Moutai’s stock price will surpass bank deposits, and he has maintained his position unchanged for over a decade.

Recently, his moves with Pinduoduo have also attracted attention. When the company’s performance fell short of expectations in August 2024, causing its stock to crash, Duan Yongping actively built positions through methods like selling put options. In the third quarter, he added 3.8 million shares, making it his fifth-largest holding. Regarding Tencent, he increased his holdings multiple times during its downturn in 2022-2023 and now considers it a good timing for "insurance expansion."

Summarizing Duan Yongping’s investment philosophy into ten principles, the first is "fish where the fish are." While China’s A-shares have hovered around 3,000 points for over a decade, US stocks have been rising for 20 years. Choosing the right direction is far more important than effort.

Next is "choose stocks in one year, hold stocks for ten years." Quoting Buffett, one should not hold stocks they wouldn’t want to hold for even a second. Buying truly sleep-well stocks is key.

The idea that "buying stocks is buying a company" is also crucial. If the product is good, the business model is excellent, and the founder has a vision, there’s no need to fear stock price fluctuations.

Conviction is essential in investing. Duan Yongping uses two accounts: one for value investing, where he has held Apple for 14 years without selling and achieved hundreds of times profit; and another for speculation, which only yielded small gains.

"There's no shortcut to investing" is another lasting lesson. If you consider speculation a shortcut, you’ll keep searching for it for the next 20 years. Speculation is essentially no different from flipping coins.

Reducing the number of judgments is also important. Making 20 decisions a year will inevitably lead to mistakes. Ten investment decisions in a lifetime are enough.

The principle of "buy where no one is paying attention, sell when everyone is excited" also underpins Duan Yongping’s success. His anecdote about selling something worth 1 yuan for 10 yuan, and how it took courage, reflects this core idea.

Regarding A-shares, Duan Yongping emphasizes that "it’s not gambling." Only value investors truly profit from A-shares.

Finally, the concept of "believing in fate." Human nature cannot be changed. Speculators remain speculators, and those who agree with value investing become value investors. The fact that Duan Yongping had dinner with Buffett shows he is also a practitioner of value investing and has achieved results because of it.

Learning from Duan Yongping’s investment philosophy reveals that what truly matters in the market is not short-term gains but long-term perspective and selecting the right stocks. His track record proves the correctness of this philosophy more than anything else.