The Road to Florida
NewOpen's 13-year push into U.S. education
兵马未动，粮草先行
Before the troops and horses move, the grain and fodder must go first
What began as an obscure school partnership in 2012 has evolved into a Chinese foreign entity gaining foothold in U.S. education infrastructure — through a complex but traceable flow of personnel, capital, and coordination. U.S. education assets have been leveraged in the hopes of building a global education empire aligned with China’s strategic goals. The campaign was as patient as it was audacious.
In Feb 2012, President Obama unveiled an ambitious Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) agenda: recruit and prepare 100,000 STEM teachers, backed by a proposed $1 billion investment.12 This set the stage for the growth of STEM education in the U.S. and ultimately, China.
Early inroads into U.S. education
Bachuan International USA
In Nov 2012, Donghong “Susannah” Liu Johnston (刘东红) formed Bachuan International USA in Washington State where she resided. Its Nature of Business was to “source eductional [sic] resources, including hiring teachers to help high schools in Chongqing”.3
That same year, leadership from Bachuan International School in Chongqing, China visited King’s School near Seattle. President of Bachuan International School was Hou Zhujiu (侯著久) a CCP-member and Party Branch Secretary hired in Jul 2012.
That image is from my previous article. If you haven’t read it yet here’s a link to hop over there.
Washington State collaborations
A Bachuan International school profile4 makes a series of claims:
(DeepL used to translate as I will do for quotes throughout this article)
Substantial investment from NewOpen
Approved by the Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (a Chinese state-sponsored agency)
Certified with the American International Accreditation Association of Schools and Colleges (AIAASC) [unverified]
Collaboration with King’s School in the United States, adopting Washington State’s curriculum, textbooks, teaching team, and evaluation system
A mid-Oct 2012 visit from Principal Hou Zhujiu to King’s School, reaching a consensus on cooperative intentions
Claims of collaboration were echoed in a China Daily piece, a state-run English-language publication:5
Chongqing Bachuan International School cooperates with the prestigious King’s School in Washington D.C [sic King’s School is in Washington State—not D.C.], and offers the same curriculum, teaching materials, and evaluation system. Students are registered in both the Chinese and American schools – and can receive US high school graduation certificates in addition to Chinese high school diplomas.
These activities laid the foundation for what appears to be a coordinated effort to expand their presence in the U.S.
Property purchase
At the end of 2012, a $1.3m property was purchased north of Seattle. Susannah Liu Johnston acted as “Custodian” for the buyer under a Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA)6. The buyer, Zhou Yangqin, is now an adult and has the following connections to NewOpen:
Aug 2023 Director of NewOpen Group, Inc.7
Sep 2023 Incorporator of NewOpen Enterprise and Holdings Corporation8
Feb 2024 Director of NewOpen USA, Inc.9
King’s School
In early 2013, another group from China’s Bachuan International school visited Seattle and King’s School. It’s not surprising since Chongqing and Seattle have been sister cities since 1983.
Photos shared on Weibo1011 show Susannah Liu Johnston along with Zhou Qihua (周启华) in front of the school. Zhou Qihua was a member of the Chinese Communist Party12 and VP of Bachuan International (China).
Later the same year, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was officially launched by President Xi Jinping. NewOpen aligned with BRI early on, as evidenced in a 2018 article13 which states:
“When a company’s products align with national strategies—integrating with initiatives like the Belt and Road, innovation and entrepreneurship, and specialty towns—the advantages become exponential, and development scales accordingly. Five years ago [2013], we followed the China Development Bank in establishing our presence along the Belt and Road.”
Establishing our presence along the Belt and Road. This is the parent company that owns Florida Preparatory Academy.
Building elite connections
In Jan 2015 Chongqing Bachuan International hosted an International Mathematics and Physics Talent Education Seminar. Present were 3 key figures: Feng Zuming, Jerry Pieh, and Liu Xifan.
Feng Zuming (冯祖名) was faculty at Phillips Exeter Academy, a prestigious boarding school in New Hampshire. He was a Mathematics education expert, International Math Olympiad coach, and was instrumental in getting Mark Zuckerberg into Harvard (Feng was his high school teacher).
Jerry Pieh, who I described in my previous article, was former Headmaster of Milton Academy. He was invited to become the “American Principal” of Bachuan International.
Liu Xifan (刘希凡) was Principal and educator at Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics. He was an International Physics Olympiad coach and was Vice President for Academic Development at Florida Prep.14
All three were featured on NewOpen’s website15 in their Team of International Education experts. You can see the bridges NewOpen was building with elite U.S. schools and faculty. As a result, Bachuan International was China’s first STEAM high school. STEAM is an educational approach that expands on STEM with the addition of Art.
Education Cities
NewOpen had a dual Education + Real Estate focus and it’s around 2016 the real estate branch made inroads into the U.S. market. They dubbed them Education City projects. Here is a NewOpen promotional video if you’re interested in some additional background.
Los Angeles Lifan Tower
Li Zhanhong posted to his Weibo on Apr 29, 2016:
NewOpen’s Los Angeles project was a collaboration with Lifan Group. Lifan originates from the same Chinese town as NewOpen, Chongqing, and is a motorcycle and power equipment manufacturer. There’s an article from Nov 201616 that exclaimed “The Lifans are coming, the Lifans are coming!” detailing their expected re-entry into the U.S. motorcycle market. “Re-entry” because their first attempt went so well. 🙄
The timing is interesting, two Chongqing companies coming together to build a 29-story tower17 in downtown Los Angeles. This architectural rendering18 said “We are thrilled to be delivering the US debut for Lifan Group, an emerging and publicly traded Chinese transportation company.” The building was going to be mixed-use with retail and approximately 300 residential units.
Lifan Tower LLC was incorporated in California on Dec 18, 2015. NewOpen Group, Inc. is listed on the LLC’s 2024 Statement of Information.19
According to a Jul 2016 interview with Li Zhanhong20:
“the downtown Los Angeles Education City project has secured land, completed planning and design, and officially commenced construction.
Li emphasized that establishing NewOpen Education City in Los Angeles is a concrete implementation of the “331 Strategy,” aiming to foster a new era of prosperity in Chinese education—a mission the company embraces.”
Their “331 Strategy” (331布局全球) was:
3 Chinese municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing)
3 overseas regions (Europe, Australia, North America)
into 1 NewOpen Education City
The Los Angeles development never materialized. The property was listed for sale in 2022.21
Irvine Milani
The Irvine NewOpen project was dubbed US Milani and was located at 18831 Von Karman Ave. in Irvine, California. The site was chosen for the extremely close proximity to John Wayne Airport (0.5 miles) and to the University of California, Irvine (2 miles).
This was the architectural rendering.
NewOpen joined with a company called TA Partners for this development, run by Chienshen (Johnny) Lu and Yaojun (Larry) Liu.22
Li Zhanhong posted to his Weibo about the groundbreaking ceremony in Jun 2019.
Chinese Government-supported financial backing
Let me back up the timeline briefly because this is important:
The Chongqing Free Trade Zone (FTZ) formally launched in Apr 2017. There was cooperation between NewOpen and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China [ICBC] in creating an Education Industry Listing and Mergers & Acquisitions Fund [教育产业上市及并购基金]. An initial investment of ¥5 billion RMB23 (~$750 million USD at 2017 rates) with reports of ¥20 billion total investment potential24 (~$3 billion USD at 2017 rates) for the joint establishment of an education industry equity fund “dedicated to acquiring high-quality domestic and international education assets”25.
EB-5/EB-1A Pathway
The Irvine project was specifically positioned as an EB-5 investor immigration real estate development. Chinese nationals could invest in Irvine Milani to become eligible for a U.S. green card.
If you think the people and organizations weren’t already commingled and confusing, hold on to your hats, it gets stickier!
Li Zhanhong, President of NewOpen, was also Executive Director for Chongqing Megaway26 [重庆美加华教育信息咨询服务有限公司], a firm providing immigration, study abroad, and overseas investment services to Chinese nationals. Megaway isn’t tangential, at least two Megaway employees, Niu Sizhe “Tony” (钮思哲) and Zhang Hangtian (张航天), had direct connections to Florida Prep.
Both Florida Prep27 and Irvine Milani28 were marketed on Megaway’s website. They even showcased Li Zhanhong’s record breaking EB-1A green card approval - in just 3 days - as a success story.29
Claims of Money Laundering
TA Partners was involved in a wide range of defaults30 and lawsuits on their various projects. I don’t want to go too far down that path in this article, however, I do want to highlight allegations related to NewOpen in one of the court cases.
Wang & Gao Family Trust v. TA Partners LLC (1:24-cv-02446) was a RICO case in the U.S. District Court, N.D. GA. NewOpen Group was one of the Defendants. The complaint *alleges* (emphasis mine):31
pg 17: Newopen Group Inc. is subject to the personal jurisdiction of this Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1367 as it is the recipient of fraudulently transferred funds belonging to the Plaintiff.
pg 21: Recognition of the unlawful nature and proof of the TA Partners/Giant Tiger Enterprise’s criminal intent is illustrated by the lengths the participants went to launder and conceal the stolen funds, such as evidenced by Johnny Lu and Larry Liu transferring laundered funds to one of its affiliated entities, Newopen, in the approximate amount of $2,000,000.
pg 33: A diagram (highlights mine) includes NewOpen as a recipient in an alleged flow of misappropriated investor funds. Of specific concern are allegations of “pure money laundering” related to the Irvine Milani development.
Note: This lawsuit was dismissed on Aug 28, 202532 and the allegations remain unproven.
Full circle
Now we come back around to Susannah Liu Johnston. 2012 incorporator of Bachuan International USA in Washington State. 2012 “Custodian” of a property held in trust for a minor who later became involved in NewOpen entities. Present at 2017 FPA Development Planning Seminar in China33 (see photo above). In 2023 she gave a presentation at Bachuan Middle School in China about the differences between Chinese and American children and studying in the United States. An article about the event34 made some striking claims about her background, the truth of which I’ve been unable to verify: She “served for years at the U.S. Immigration Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration”.
She’s been PCEO and Head of School at Florida Prep since 2023. The same cell phone number she used to incorporate Bachuan International USA in 2012 is currently used to collect tuition on Florida Prep’s website.
Questions
My previous article ended with 7 vital questions. I’ll add a few more questions here:
Has a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review been completed for Florida Prep?
New Hampshire Department of Justice recently evaluated a Chinese-linked business in Nashua that is 87 miles from a Military Base35. NH DOJ stated a “CFIUS review of the Nongfu Spring transaction thus would have been advisable in the context of the Nashua property’s proximity to Joint Base Cape Cod”.
Florida Prep is 11 miles from a sensitive Space Force Base.
Given the multi-billion ¥ fund for “international education assets”, did any money flow to Florida Prep or other U.S. assets and was it reviewed by U.S. regulators?
Considering the extensive number of Sister City relationships between the U.S. and China, do local U.S. governments vet K-12 school visits for potential foreign influence?
Washington Office of the Secretary of State, Corporations & Charities Division, https://ccfs.sos.wa.gov, BACHUAN INTERNATIONAL USA, INC. reinstatement filed 11/25/2014
Snohomish County Government, Search Recorded Documents, https://snohomishcountywa.gov/5840/Search-Recorded-Documents, Recording Number 201212310935
California Secretary of State. Business Entity Search: Corporation No. 3939411, https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business
California Secretary of State. Business Entity Search: Corporation No. 5908617, https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business
California Secretary of State. Business Entity Search: Corporation No. 4022039, https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business
California Secretary of State, Business Search, LIFAN TOWER LLC (201535210439), https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business