Former Hanmu Huatian R&D Chief Joins Skincare Giant Fuerjia

The talent war among research and development executives in China’s cosmetics industry is reaching a fever pitch, with several high-profile moves shaking up the market's top players.

Recently, Liao Feng, the former R&D partner at C-beauty brand PMPM, quietly joined Proya as Deputy Director of its R&D Innovation Center. Meanwhile, Hu Fan, the former R&D head at Uniskin, officially joined classic Chinese cosmetics brand Pechoin as its new R&D lead, succeeding the departed Chief Technology Officer Jiang Ligang.

Adding to this wave of executive reshuffling, Zhang Yexiang, the former R&D Director and CTO of body care brand Hanmu Huatian, has officially joined Fuerjia as its new R&D Director. These concentrated movements of core scientific talent introduce powerful new variables into an already fiercely competitive market.

Why It Matters

For global beauty brands, suppliers, and investors, these executive shifts highlight a critical evolution in the Chinese beauty market. Local players are rapidly moving away from marketing-led growth toward deep, science-backed efficacy and proprietary ingredient development. This talent war underscores how local brands are upgrading their R&D capabilities to capture market share, especially as how AI and social commerce are redefining China's beauty market and driving consumer demand for highly functional products.

From L'Oréal to Hanmu Huatian

Zhang Yexiang brings more than a decade of cosmetics R&D experience to his new role, blending strong academic credentials with deep industrial expertise. He holds a PhD in supramolecular chemistry, a joint degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States and the East China University of Science and Technology.

Upon graduating, Zhang entered the L'Oréal Shanghai R&D Center as a management trainee, eventually rising to the position of Senior Scientist.

He later transitioned to other multinational corporations, serving as the head of skincare and preservative technology at Evonik and as a Senior Scientist at 3M, where he focused on personal care and color cosmetics formulation.

Around 2022, Zhang chose to ride the wave of rising Chinese domestic brands by joining Hanmu Huatian as R&D Director and CTO. During his tenure, his contributions focused heavily on building a robust technical framework and driving product innovation.

Under his leadership, the R&D team established "natural and highly effective" as the core value of their formulation development. He initiated foundational research to develop proprietary, targeted active ingredients to solve specific skin concerns. He also championed "skin-specific care" research, exploring the physiological differences between body and facial skin to deliver precise body care solutions.

Zhang’s efforts played a significant role in structuring Hanmu Huatian’s scientific research system, and the brand's financial performance reflected this progress. According to the prospectus of its parent company, Huawutang, the group has experienced rapid growth: revenues reached 1.199 billion yuan (approx. $165 million USD) in 2023, 1.499 billion yuan (approx. $206 million USD) in 2024, and 1.895 billion yuan (approx. $261 million USD) in the first three quarters of 2025. Net profits also surged, climbing from 20.5 million yuan in 2023 to 125 million yuan (approx. $17.2 million USD) in the first nine months of 2025.

From Hanmu Huatian to Fuerjia

After leaving Hanmu Huatian, Zhang has stepped into his new role at Fuerjia.

This transition marks a fascinating pivot. While Hanmu Huatian is a rising star in botanical-based body care, Fuerjia is a dominant player in China's highly competitive "medical beauty mask" segment—products registered as medical device dressings that are widely popular for post-procedure recovery and sensitive skin. This move represents a shift for Zhang from botanical-focused formulations to medical-grade active ingredients.

Since joining Fuerjia, Zhang has moved quickly to expand the brand's scientific footprint. Fuerjia has already seen concrete research outputs under his leadership. According to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), a patent application titled "A composition containing an NMN supramolecular structure, its preparation method and application" was submitted on May 29, 2026, and officially published on July 21, 2026.

Zhang is listed as a co-inventor alongside Zhang Liguo, Sun Na, and Zhang Jiaheng, the founder and chairman of Shanhai Innovation. This joint patent indicates that Fuerjia is actively leveraging external scientific partnerships to accelerate the application of supramolecular technology to its core ingredients.

According to the patent abstract, the technology utilizes a specific deep eutectic solvent system to increase the transdermal absorption of the core ingredient, NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide), to 3.32 times that of the monomer alone. This effectively addresses a major industry pain point: the transdermal delivery of water-soluble NMN. Additionally, the composition outperforms NMN monomers in both antioxidant and anti-aging dimensions.

Zhang has also stepped forward as the public scientific face of Fuerjia. In June 2026, he made his first official appearance on behalf of the brand at the 7th IFSCC (International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists) Conference. During the event, he delivered a keynote presentation on Fuerjia’s latest research regarding the multi-omics mechanisms of Centella asiatica extract and safe, cell-phospholipid-based penetration-enhancing technologies.

More recently, at the PCT Personal Care Technology Summit in July 2026, Zhang delivered a presentation titled "Cracking the Transdermal Code for Sensitive Skin Anti-Aging: Collaborative Innovation of PDRN Targeted Delivery and Nanosphere Collagen." The presentation combined skin physiology research with Fuerjia's proprietary transdermal delivery systems to present a complete repair and anti-aging solution for sensitive and post-procedure skin, offering a practical scientific roadmap for the industry.

Zhang's transition to Fuerjia marks the beginning of an ambitious new chapter. In the beauty industry, the appointment of a new R&D chief often signals that a brand is preparing to unveil its next generation of technological breakthroughs.