Cai Haoyu

**Overview**Media

SJTU Alumni Forum, 2021

## Signature

**Cai Haoyu** (Chinese: 蔡浩宇 *Cài Hàoyǔ*; born 1987) is one of the co-founders and the CEO of Shanghai miHoYo Network Technology Co., Ltd. and Cognosphere Pte., Ltd. (d.b.a. HoYoverse).

Together with his classmates Liu Wei (刘伟) and Luo Yuhao (罗宇皓) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, they formed miHoYo based on their shared interest in technology and ACG (anime, comics, and games) culture.

## Early life and education

Cai first attended Baliqiao Primary School (八里桥小学) in Jinan, Shandong Province. He got exposed to computers at a young age because his parents, Cai Zhili (蔡志理) and Lu Zizhen (卢子真) taught computer science at Jinan Jiaotong Vocational School (济南交通高等专科学校), which later became Shandong Jiaotong University (山东交通学院). When he was five years old, he was managed to access a computer and play games to his mother's surprise. His parents decided to hone his interest in computers by creating systematic exercises for him, and when he was aged seven, his mother bought him a PC-386, which was relatively advanced in the 1990s.

As a child, Cai had a series of achievements: in 1995, he won second place at the National Youth Computer Animation Competition (全国少年计算机动画比赛); in 1996, he was part of the "Top Ten Teenagers of Tianqiao District" (济南市天桥区十佳少年); in 1997, Cai was awarded the Eaglet Medal by the Shandong Provincial Youth Working Committee (山东省少工委); in 1998, his computer animation projects "Alien Messenger" (外星使者) and "Blue-Ear Airship" (蓝耳朵飞船) both won the second prize at the National Children's Computer Animation Competition (全国少年儿童计算机动画比赛). At age eleven, he became part of the first batch of junior academicians of the Chinese Junior Academy of Science (中国少年科学院), and the youngest in the group. Teachers spoke of Cai as a smart and knowledgeable student who could provide multiple solutions to a single problem. Cai later attended Shandong Experimental High School (山东省实验中学).

Hailing from a business-oriented family, he had an interested in doing business since he was a child. While in high school, he "made a fortune" with PHS cordless telephones and sold watches. In college, he opened an account to speculate in stocks, which allowed him to earn more than 300,000 RMB a month. Cai was admitted to Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2005, where he obtained a bachelor's degree (2009) and a master's degree (2013) in Computer Science. His master's thesis was titled "Research of Vigilance Estimation Model Based on Forehead Electro-Oculogram" (基于前额眼电信号的警觉度估计模型研究).

> 最后，感谢我的父母，在长达一年的时间中孜孜不倦的叮嘱我，儿啊要写论文了。可见有我这种非主流的种，也不是件容易事。
> Finally, I would like to thank my parents, who tirelessly reminded me for a whole year, "Son, it's time to write your thesis." It's evident that being a non-mainstream person like me is not an easy task.
>
>

### Family

Cai Zhili (蔡志理) was a professor and postgraduate supervisor at the School of Transportation and Logistics Engineering (交通与物流工程学院) of Shandong Jiaotong University, and had co-authored academic papers on transportation-related systems and technologies.

Cai Ruilin (蔡瑞霖), the father of Cai Zhili and paternal grandfather of Cai Haoyu, was the first president of Shandong Jiaotong University. It began in 1956 when the Ministry of Transport requested to the Shandong Provincial Department of Transportation for assistance in the establishment of Jinan Automobile Machinery School (济南汽车机械学校) the predecessor of Shandong Jiaotong University. Cai, a member of the Communist Party of China, was appointed as the president and made responsible for the school's construction. Cai passed away in 1995.

* *Cai Ruilin: The President Who Perpetuates the Revolutionary Spirit in Red* (September 27, 2021)
* *Approaching the First President: Continuing the Red Bloodline* (March 26, 2023)

## Career

miHoYo's founding members were fans of *Neon Genesis Evangelion*, especially Cai, who would wear an *Evangelion*-themed shirt to work almost every summer. During the early days of the miHoYo studio, he was responsible for overseeing product direction, art, and technology; Liu was responsible for overseeing operations, human resource, and public relations; Luo was responsible for business development, commercialization, numerical growth, and forum. A bit of his work ethic as a director is known when voice actress Lin Su (林簌) described Cai as strict when supervising recording sessions. Geng Kangqi (耿康祁) of *Chinese Business Strategy* (华商韬略) wrote that Cai "tends to think intuitively, is responsible for strategic business decisions, and is meticulous about the management of affairs. Within the company, he means what he says."

As the largest shareholder of Shanghai miHoYo Network Technology, Cai controls 41% of its shares; his partners Liu Wei and Luo Yuhao control 22.6% and 21.4%, respectively. Their angel investor, Hangzhou Miyi Investment Co., Ltd. (杭州米艺投资有限公司) has the remaining 15% of the shares.

In May 2022, Cai and his partners entered the annual 500 Rich List published by the financial magazine New Fortune (新财富): Cai's net worth amounts to 55.3 billion RMB, Liu has 30.5 billion, and Luo has 28.8 billion; Song Tao (宋涛) of Hangzhou Miyi Investment has 20.25 billion. Local news labeled Cai as "the richest man in Jinan."

## Reputation

Among Chinese players, he is known by the nickname "Cai Meow" (蔡喵) because of his speech at GameLook Game Open Day in 2014, where he referred to comments made by players in response to criticisms about *Houkai Gakuen 2* on Baidu Tieba forums. He also got associated with the six-character catchphrase, 爱玩玩，不玩滚 *Ài wán wán, bù wán gǔn*, lit. "If you want to play it, play; if you don't want to play it, scram."

>
> 《崩坏学园》是一款二次元的游戏。这里发一段小文字，这上面的文字都来自于百度贴吧。游戏刚上线的时候在贴吧上，有人喷，也有人说游戏好。但凡有人喷，我们发现三楼以后就会出现六字箴言，“爱玩玩，不玩滚”。这是玩家给我们贴的各种段子。我们游戏就是“你妈痹，喵”。我很喜欢这个东西，给这个帖子加精了。
> *Honkai Gakuen* is a two-dimensional game. Here is a short excerpt, all of which is from Baidu Tieba. When the game was first launched and discussed on Baidu Tieba, some people criticized it while others praised it. Whenever someone criticized, we noticed that after the third comment [in the thread], there would be a six-character phrase saying, "If you want to play it, play; if you don't want to play it, scram." These are various jokes and remarks posted by players. Our game is like, "Screw you, meow." I really like this thing, so I highlighted this post.
>
>
> 腾讯：没钱玩你麻痹
> 世纪天成：有钱玩你麻痹
> 网易：有钱没钱都玩你麻痹
> 盛大：你麻痹
> 米忽悠：你麻痹，喵～
> Tencent: No money? Screw you.
> Tiancity: Have money? Screw you.
> NetEase: Whether you have money or not, screw you regardless.
> Shanda: Screw you.
> miHoYo: Screw you, meow~
>
>
>
>

## Trivia

* Cai is featured in "Chinese Little Academicians: Interviews With China's First Batch of 13 Little Academicians, Their Parents and Teachers" (中国小院士：中国首批13名小院士及其父母、老师访谈实录), written by Yu Jiankun (于建坤) and Ding Qinhai (丁琴海), and published by Zhejiang People's Publishing House (浙江人民出版社) in 1999. He was written in Chapter 5, p. 93: "Cai Haoyu and *Alien Messenger*" (蔡浩宇和《外星使者》).
* Cai's preference for wearing *Evangelion*-themed shirts in the summer was mentioned by Liu Wei twice. The first time was in his speech at the 2017 China Game Industry Annual Conference, and the second time was in the "Pursuit of Dreams" interview for the *Honkai Impact 3rd × Neon Genesis Evangelion* collaboration.
	+ In a 2019 interview article by *The Paper*, in which they interviewed Liu Wei, it was said that "in recent years, [Cai] has switched to wearing miHoYo's own branded shirts."
* In *Tears of Themis*, Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei, and Luo Yuhao appear as Howard Syter (蔡昊雨 *Cài Hàoyǔ*), William Lewis (刘炜 *Liú Wěi*), and Ingrid Rosworth (罗羽好 *Luō Yǔhǎo*), respectively. Their names are homonyms of their real-life counterparts'.

* In 2021, *Honkai Impact 3rd* held a crossover event with *Genshin Impact*, titled "Slime Timeless Garden" (史莱姆永恒菜园), where players can harvest various kinds of cabbages and gain rewards. Among the variants that players can harvest is the CEO Cabbage (总菜).
	+ It is illustrated in a similar style to Liu Wei's bald character: in a business suit but with an cabbage for its head resembling the mascot Ai-chan, and then a Chinese character on the face.
	+ Not only there is a reference to Cai Haoyu's surname, 总菜 *zǒngcài* is also a play on 总裁 *zǒngcái*, which is used to refer to the CEO or president of a company. It is also similar to saying "Boss Cai" (蔡总 *Cài Zǒng*).
	+ The item's description is as follows: "A variety that was named after that man. Even has his baldness. Always exuding an aura of authority." (继承了那个男人「总裁」之名的包菜，连光头也一并继承了。由内而外散发着强者的气息 lit. "The cabbage that inherited the name of the man's "CEO," even inherited the bald head. Exuding the aura of a strong person from the inside out.")
* On May 2, 2023, Shandong-based public account 文渊与周的时空旅行社WeMetareal posted the article "miHoYo: The Eternal Battleground of Capital, Labor, and Aspiration" (米哈游，资本、劳动和初心的永恒修罗场), which was later deleted within the same month. Cai was the subject in the first paragraph:
	+ 中午和朋友在手机上谈起来，米哈游的联合创始人之一的蔡公子，与我们不但同岁，同年上大学，而且还有发小和他是在山东省实验中学的同班同学。蔡公子是交大的才子，后来留在魔都创建米哈游，但家属还在这边，应该是山东交通学院的计算机老师。今年过年躲过高峰期还开着那辆超级拉风和超级号牌的跑车回过济南，几个好友说逮住他那是基本不太可能，但他亲属有做生意的一直和济南这边很多人还有合作。
	At noon, while chatting on the phone with friends, we talked about Cai, one of the co-founders of miHoYo. Not only is he the same age as us and entered university in the same year, but he also had a childhood friend who was his classmate at Shandong Experimental High School. Cai is a talented individual from [Shanghai] Jiao Tong University. Later, he stayed in the Shanghai to establish miHoYo, but his family still resides here, and [one] might be a computer teacher at Shandong Jiaotong University. During this year's Chinese New Year, he managed to avoid the peak travel period and drove back to Jinan with a super cool car and a special license plate. Some friends said it's almost impossible to catch him, but his relatives are engaged in business and have collaborations with many people here in Jinan.

## Notes

1. ↑ In September 2023, Cai Haoyu's position as chairman of the board was taken over by Liu Wei, thus no longer being the legal representative of the company. Article 13 of the Company Law of the People's Republic of China states: "The **chairman of the board**, the executive director or the manager of the company shall act as the **legal representative of a company** pursuant to the articles of association of the company and the same shall be registered according to the law. In the event of any change in the legal representative of the company, formalities shall be carried out for registration change."
2. ↑ 加精 *Jiājīng* is a term referring to a feature on Chinese internet forums where administrators and moderators have the ability to highlight popular or high-quality posts. In some forums, users may need to reach a high membership level in order to view these highlighted posts.
3. ↑ 你麻痹 *Nǐ má bì* is a homonym of the profane expression 你妈痹 *nǐ mā bì*. At a less offensive degree, it means "Screw you."
4. ↑ 米忽悠 is a nickname given to miHoYo by Chinese players where 哈游 *hāyóu* in the company's name is replaced with the internet buzzword 忽悠 *hūyōu*, meaning to trick, deceive, or fool. It was popularized through the comedy skit titled "卖拐" performed by Zhao Benshan (赵本山), Fan Wei (范伟), and Gao Xiumin (高秀敏) at the 2001 CCTV New Year's Gala.

## External links

* Cai Haoyu on BCMI Laboratory
* Hugh Tsai on ClubhouseDB
* Hugh Tsai on Facebook
* Hugh Tsai on Gravatar
* Hugh Tsai on LinkedIn
* hughchy on Mufu Tianwen Forum
* 独立游戏开发者蔡 on Sina Weibo (defunct)
* Cai Haoyu on WordPress (defunct)
* hughchy on Xueqiu
* hughchy on Youku
* 蔡浩宇 on Zhihu (active only in 2016)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "中国少年科学院首批小院士". *Sina News*. Archived from the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
2. ↑ "历史沿革". *Shandong Jiaotong University*. Archived from the original on May 8, 2023. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
3. ↑ "中国手机游戏翘楚 米哈游《原神》缔造者蔡浩宇的家教\_上海交大\_因势利导\_手风琴". *yimasm.com*. Archived from the original on February 27, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "553亿元！“85后”济南小伙蔡浩宇身价逼近李彦". *Tencent*. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
5. ↑ "原来蔡浩宇（米哈游）这么牛B的吗！！！". *Bilibili*. Archived from the original on August 7, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
6. ↑ "全国中小学电脑制作活动获奖者名单". *chsi.com.cn*. Archived from the original on November 22, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
7. ↑ "我校高考连年奏凯歌－记05年我校高考录取情况(不完全统计)". *sdshiyan.jinan.cn*. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
8. ↑ "别人家的孩子太优秀！这些“85后”正踏上IPO征途". *nbd.com.cn*. Archived from the original on February 22, 2019. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
9. ↑ "“野蛮生长”米哈游：济南小伙在上海创业，身价直逼李彦宏". *Economic Daily*. Archived from the original on September 12, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
10. ↑ "Hugh Tsai". *LinkedIn*. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
11. ↑ "Research of Vigilance Estimation Model Based on Forehead Electrooculogram". *China National Knowledge Infrastructure*. Archived from the original on May 27, 2023. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
12. ↑ "山东交通学院教授、硕士生导师蔡志理介绍". *Shandong Jiaotong University*. Archived from the original on May 8, 2023. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
13. ↑ "蔡志理". *Shandong Jiaotong University*. Archived from the original on May 8, 2023. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
14. ↑ "走近首任校长 赓续红色血脉". *Shandong Jiaotong University*. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
15. ↑ '"Honkai Impact 3rd x Neon Genesis Evangelion" Interview - "Pursuit of Dreams"'. *YouTube*. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
16. ↑ "向上生长的民企｜米哈游总裁：做出好游戏需要耐心和匠心". *The Paper*. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
17. ↑ "上海二次元往事5 米哈游/斯凯和《崩坏学园》、《原神》". *Tencent*. Archived from the original on August 2, 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
18. ↑ "miHoYo – Rare speech given by co-founder of Genshin Impact studio". *MMO Culture*. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
19. ↑ "被米哈游相中，上海新生代配音力量，专访奇响天外创始人林簌". *Sohu*. Archived from the original on August 7, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
20. ↑ "这3个后生，比马化腾、张一鸣还狠". *The Paper*. Archived from the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
21. ↑ "上海米哈游网络科技股份有限公司". *Tianyancha*. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
22. ↑ "2022新财富500富人榜（搜索版）". *Sina Finance*. (Archived from the original on August 7, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
23. ↑ "仅靠一款游戏，85后CEO身价553亿，登顶“济南首富”！". *NetEase Hao*. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
24. ↑ "《原神》作者蔡浩宇被称“济南首富” 87年的他身价逼近李彦宏". *Baidu Baike*. Archived from the original on August 7, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
25. ↑ "为什么蔡浩宇的外号叫“蔡喵”". *wo.cc*. Archived from the original on February 28, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
26. ↑ "特价~特价~中国小院士9787213019722于建坤、丁琴海 著". *孔夫子旧书网*. Archived from the original on May 27, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
27. ↑ "“13位普通家庭的孩子如何跳出应试重围成为中国首批小院士？”". *Bilibili*. Archived from the original on May 9, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
28. ↑ "【未名人物】". *Sina Weibo*. Archived from the original on March 18, 2023. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
29. ↑ "【主线第五章相关角色CV公开】" *Sina Weibo*. Archived from the original on March 18, 2023. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
30. ↑ Slime Timeless Garden. *Facebook*. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
31. ↑ "预告 | 包菜入侵异世界！「史莱姆永恒菜园」活动". *Weixin*. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
32. ↑ All Slime-Cabbage Unlocked & Translation | Honkai Impact 崩坏3. *YouTube*. Retrieved March 21, 2023.