Fok Ying-tung and Stanley Ho, two Hong Kong business legends, one from humble backgrounds and the other from a wealthy family, their destinies converge in Hong Kong's business sea, creating different but mutually influencing legends.
Huo Yingdong, formerly known as Huo Guantai, grew up in a poor family, and his family made a living from boat households, and the family took boats as their home. However, fate was not lenient to him, and when he was 7 years old, he lost his two older brothers and his father died of illness, so the family had to abandon the boat and land and move into the slums of Hong Kong. Despite the huge difficulties, Fok Yingdong's mother did not give up and worked hard to support him in school. In 1936, at the age of 13, Fok Ying-tung was admitted to Hong Kong's famous Queen's College, but after the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in 1941, he was forced to suspend his studies. The cruelty of life pushed him to change careers, from blacksmith and riveter to handyman, to car repairer, ship stoker, and even lost a finger while working as a porter at Kai Tak Airport. Eventually, he returned to his family's old business and started a barge business. One summer, Fok Ying-tung organized a group of poor brothers and sisters to go to sea to find a kind of "sea human grass" that could be used for medicine, but they strayed into the Dongsha Islands, were trapped on a deserted island, starved for more than half a year, and finally escaped death by a passing ship.
After the outbreak of the Korean War, Fok Yingdong broke through the "embargo" blockade and transported a large number of supplies, which also made him bear the accusation of "smuggling to make a fortune" in the later period. "For three years, from 1950 to 1953, he started work almost late and night, without stopping a day, communicating and unloading goods during the day, leaving the ship at night, and sleeping only three or four hours a day. Working hard to earn a living. However, this secret experience also angered the Hong Kong authorities and cast a shadow over his livelihood.
Later, Fok Ying-tung eventually devoted himself to the real estate industry and became a post-war Hong Kong real estate tycoon. He creatively launched the sales method of "tiered ** and installment payment", and made a name for himself in the Hong Kong real estate industry in one fell swoop. However, although the rumours of deportation on suspicion of wartime smuggling were eventually resolved by his public statement, he has been cautious about the matter, fearing that he will be caught up in right and wrong again.
Stanley Ho is another legend with a very different background from Fok Ying-tung. He came from a wealthy family. Stanley Ho suffered a huge accident when he was young, due to the failure of speculation, one of his two uncles committed suicide by swallowing a gun, the other committed suicide by taking medicine, his father left Vietnam, and the family property was used to pay off debts, and the family has declined since then. Under the teachings of his mother, Stanley Ho changed his style of being a gentleman and entered Queen's College with excellent grades, and was admitted to the University of Hong Kong. However, his studies were interrupted by Japanese fire, and after fleeing to Macau, he joined CIMB with the help of his cousin, Ho Tung. The Sino-Japanese, and Portuguese joint venture provided transportation for the Japanese army, and Stanley Ho learned useful business knowledge. Not only did he experience the dangers of the sea, but he was almost shot through the skull by a pirate bullet. Due to his outstanding ability, after making several big business, Stanley Ho was promoted to partner of the company, and also received the first million Hong Kong dollars in his life in the company's year-end dividend. It is said that Stanley Ho has an excellent memory and can memorize more than 2,000 ** numbers. After that, he founded the Macau Water and Fire Company and became the kerosene merchant of the Macau Electric Light Company, making huge profits easily. Stanley Ho's experience in Macau has made him a successful builder in Hong Kong, with a good relationship with the company and a reliable and stable income through the project.
Although Stanley Ho has also made a lot of money, he is still a small one compared to Fok Yingdong. As a result, Stanley Ho has a keen desire to make money. Because he married the Portuguese "Macau's No. 1 Beauty" Lai Wanhua, Stanley Ho obtained Portuguese nationality. This became a big advantage for him in the gambling card bidding. So, Ye Han and Ye Deli (that is, Stanley Ho's brother-in-law) found Stanley Ho to join forces to bid. But the strength of Stanley Ho, as well as Ye Han and Ye Deli, is not enough to win. At this time, Stanley Ho found Fok Yingdong, and he needed to use Fok Yingdong's financial resources.
But Fok Yingdong was not interested in this at first, he did not want his family to bear a black name. Then, the clever Stanley Ho came up with a strange trick. He came up with a clever plan to dispel Fok Ying-tung's concerns. This plan is to use the profits for charity and Macao's economic construction in the name of non-profit. The plan shattered Fok Ying-tung's traditional perception and led him to accept the seemingly above board business offer. The cooperation between the two business giants is not only for their own interests, but also to give back to society. To this day, the Fok Ying Tung family is still the majority shareholder of SJM, but rarely involved in business matters.