On April 30, 1928, on the streets of Hong Kong, China, a middle-aged man in a suit was striding towards the Yu Kee Clubhouse with his head held high, ready to attend a banquet.
However, the sudden "bang bang" three gunshots instantly made the originally noisy street as silent as death. Immediately afterward, with screams and cries for help like "ghosts crying wolves", the crowd scattered and fled in all directions, looking for a place to take cover.
Only a man in a suit remained, covered in blood, slumped on the ground, gradually stopping his breathing. At that time, social order was chaotic, and it was not uncommon for private guns to carry guns and kill people on the street, but the people who were assassinated were not those gangsters who were sought revenge by people, but the super-rich Lee Hysan, who owned half of the Causeway Bay property and was as famous as the green gang Du Yuet-sheng.
At the beginning of 1924, during the Chinese New Year heat wave in Hong Kong's business community, a Scottish baron named Jardin attracted everyone's attention. He decided to own a large area of land in Causeway Bay, which is considered to be the core business district and entertainment venue of Hong Kong, with top department stores such as Times Square and World Trade Center, and the highest rents in the world, which once ranked second in the world.
Although the land had not yet been built at the time, its strategic location "west of the north shore of the center of the island" proved its worth. The decision sparked a heated debate in the business community and sparked a strong interest in Jardine and his family.
However, Jardin's saga doesn't stop there. His life was full of adventures and challenges, and his fortune is a story of passion and tenacity.
He was born into an ordinary family, but showed excellent business talent from an early age. He first went to the United States to pan for gold, then returned to Hong Kong to develop, and eventually became a giant in Hong Kong's business community.
His success story has inspired generations of business people, and his name has become an important icon in Hong Kong's business history. However, Jardin's children did not succeed in the business world as much as he did.
They have experienced all kinds of difficulties and setbacks, but they have always adhered to their beliefs and ideals, and in the end, they have also achieved certain achievements. Their stories also show us that success does not happen overnight, but requires a long period of hard work and perseverance.
In Hong Kong's Causeway Bay land ownership auction, many large enterprises have tried their best to raise funds, even at the expense of competing with each other. But in the end, Lee Hysan Lands***, a small real estate company that was only two months old, won the bid for $3.85 million.
And the big boss behind this is obviously self-evident.
Lee Hysan's wealth could not have been achieved without the efforts of his father, Lee Leung Yi's generation. In 1860, in the face of the invasion of the British Empire and the Anglo-French coalition, the Qing ** chose to humiliate and sued for peace, and signed a series of unequal treaties, including the Treaty of Beijing, in order to maintain imperial rule.
During this period, China suffered huge losses, the Old Summer Palace was plundered and burned, a large amount of land was ceded, and the people were forced to pay sky-high indemnities, which were the blood and tears of countless people.
In order to improve his life and pursue a better future, Li Liangyi resolutely joined the wave of overseas immigration. With his family responsibilities, he traveled to the United States alone, began working in gold mines, and later in tobacco factories, and gradually established himself in San Francisco.
Although he had planned to move his family to the United States, the "Chinese Exclusion Movement" broke out in the United States due to the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act. During this period, the Chinese suffered severe discrimination and violent evictions, including "Shiquan City Da**" and so on**.
However, Li Liangyi remained tenacious and insisted on living in a foreign country.
Influenced by the idea of returning to the roots of fallen leaves and safety considerations, Li Liangyi returned to his hometown of Jiangmen in Guangdong Province in 1896 and moved from a remote mountain village to Shuangshui Town, Jialiaofang, Xinhui District.
However, Li Liangyi is not satisfied with the status quo, he pursues a more prosperous life. Therefore, he decided to set his sights on Hong Kong, which is just across the river, where the prosperity and business opportunities attracted him.
After the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing, Hong Kong became a large international port with prosperous trade and commerce. As a result, Li Liangyi and his family moved to Hong Kong, and rented a store on Queen's Road and Nathan Road respectively, and opened two shops, "Lai Cheong Lung" and "Jinxing", specializing in the wholesale and sales of men's underwear.
Although his life has changed, his original intention was to return to his hometown and return to his roots, and he has done just that.
At the beginning of 1896, Lee Hysan was only 17 years old, and he was already an opium tycoon. With a bright mind and fluent English, he was admitted to Queen's College, where he applied to become a trainee teacher in his spare time.
After graduating, he decided to make his own career and did not return to work in the family business. He first worked in Zhao Rongchang Company, responsible for the north and south lines**, and then jumped to Singapore Shuangdeli Shipping, only 21 years old to become the general manager, really young and promising.
However, as the saying goes, "Where there is a father, there is a son." When Lee Hysan was 10 years old, he was taken to San Francisco alone to take care of the family in place of his eldest brother. He witnessed his father's hard work, which may have given him a deep understanding of business from an early age.
Therefore, his work in the direction of ** and shipping is to accumulate contacts, funds and resources. When everything was ready, he decisively resigned, bought a shipping company and started the business of transporting goods.
Behind the above board business empire, there are unbearable secrets. Much of Lee Hysan's and Lee Leung-yi's success is due to public smoke, the dreaded opium.
According to historical records, as early as 139 BC, opium was introduced to China, and it was once called "A Hibiscus" and "Poppy Poppy". However, in 1792, opium was identified as contraband by Emperor Yongzheng.
However, the ban did not stop the circulation of opium. In order to pursue huge profits, Britain frantically transported opium to China, and even took advantage of the opportunity of Humen to sell cigarettes, opening the closed door of the Qing Dynasty, making its dumping of opium even more unscrupulous.
Opium ** was lucrative and attracted the coveting of a large number of capitalists. According to statistics, in the early 90s of the 19th century, the number of opium smokers in China was as high as 80 million, and this situation formed a vicious circle, which caused great trouble to the lives of ordinary people.
As the main region, opium tax revenue accounts for more than 10% of its total annual tax revenue. After the British seized Hong Kong, this transit point allowed opium to spread even more on the mainland.
In order to obtain more profits, Hong Kong and British ** even directly issued "opium cards", making it easier to sell opium.
Lee Hysan and Lee Leung Yi made a huge fortune in opium**, but with the international crackdown on drugs, they decided to change their business direction and enter the real estate industry to ensure the continued development of their business.
In November 1923, Lee Hysan founded Lee Hysan Land*** to begin his entrepreneurial journey in the real estate industry.
In just two months, Lee Hysan spent 3.8 million yuan and 3.85 million US dollars respectively to buy a large amount of land with cash in his pocket, and became a large landowner in half of Causeway Bay.
He then invested heavily in using the land to build a playground, a luxury restaurant, and the famous high-end theater Lee Stage. It is worth mentioning that Lee Hysan did not take out a penny of loans from the bank, and it was all cash out of his own pocket.
This is enough to show how rich he was at that time. Although it is said that "when a man is rich, he becomes bad", Lee Hysan is not immune.
When he was 19 years old, he married Huang Lanfang, the daughter of a rich family, which can be called a high marriage and a low marriage. However, Huang Lanfang accompanied him and experienced more than 20 years of ups and downs together, but he was unwilling to share his success with her.
He married three aunts and wives, with a total of seven sons and eight daughters. Right or wrong, Lee Hysan's wealth is enviable and he is known as a winner in life.
A sudden tragedy occurred on April 30, 1928, when Lee Hysan was shot and killed in broad daylight at the age of 49. This incident of the blood of the tycoon splashed on the streets shook the whole of Hong Kong.
In order to find out, a large number of people were immediately mobilized to carry out an all-out investigation, and a reward of 20,000 yuan was offered to collect clues from the society. Unfortunately, due to the relatively backward investigation technology of that era, the investigation did not make any progress, and it had to be discontinued.
Although ** has not yet been arrested, there is a relatively reliable explanation circulating in the market, perhaps the truth behind this case and the motive for the crime are still an unsolved mystery.
Before his assassination in 1928, the Hong Kong British had cancelled the opium license. As a result, Lee Hysan made a special trip to Macau to apply for a license from Macau. However, all the money that should not be spent has been smashed in, and the formalities have basically been completed.
However, at the last moment, Macau and Portugal suddenly claimed that they were also going to cancel the opium license, which caused Lee Hysan to suffer huge losses. At first, he thought it was a policy change, and he could only bear it silently.
As a result, before he could leave Macau, a new opium company opened with a legal license. Lee Hysan instantly realized that he had been treated unfairly, and he angrily took the matter to court, and won the case.
Therefore, it is widely believed that he was killed because he offended his opponents in the opium business and the Portuguese ** in Macao. After Lee Hysan's death, the Lee family's business was greatly impacted, and the family was also plunged into panic and chaos.
At this critical moment, Huang Lanfang stepped forward, she comforted Lee Hysan's 3 "sisters" and a group of children, and at the same time urgently recalled Lee Mingze to return to China to inherit the family business.
Li Mingze, born in 1905, is the eldest son born to Lee Hysan and his second aunt Zhang Ruilian. He went to England at the age of 12 to study and obtained a master's degree in engineering from the University of Oxford, where he is also the president of the Chinese Students Association in the UK.
He is an all-round talent with high IQ and emotional intelligence, and equal emphasis on theory and practice. The most admirable thing is that Li Mingze is not a businessman who is bent on pursuing profits like his father.
On the contrary, he has a heart for the world and is full of patriotic enthusiasm.
In 1937, after the outbreak of the 77 Incident, he had already helped the family business through the difficulties, but he was not satisfied with this. He resolutely left everything behind, returned to the mainland, and joined the ranks of the anti-Japanese salvation.
He served as the captain of the Hainan Island Brigade of the Red Cross and the secretary of the Guangzhou Municipal Government, and later went to Chongqing to actively support the work of the rear of the Anti-Japanese War and made no small contributions.
By chance, he learned that the Kuomintang had a plan to arrest ***, and told the prime minister the news in time, and finally helped the prime minister get out of danger smoothly.
Therefore, when Li Mingze returned to the mainland with his wife in his later years, he was personally received by ***. In 1945, with the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Li Mingze returned to Hong Kong and re-assumed the responsibility of the family business.
He resolutely gave up the illegal business, completely laundered the family business, and gradually expanded the operation of banking, telecommunications, shipping, petroleum, semiconductors and other projects, truly realizing that "the blue is better than the blue".
He always adhered to the belief of "country first, small family second", not only solved the flood and famine crisis in Hong Kong in the fifties and sixties, but also devoted himself to the cause of love, and donated money to build a large number of facilities for Guangdong Province.
He even enlisted foreign capital to build the Garden Hotel, one of the first five-star hotels in Guangzhou. In his later years, he devoted himself to the economic construction of the mainland, and held a spring dinner party every year out of his own pocket, inviting well-known businessmen at home and abroad to personally attract investment for the mainland.
After his death, his wife also continued to hold the Spring Dinner Party. In the Li family, the most famous is Lee Hysan's third son Li Xiaohe, who is the "eldest son" born to Huang Lanfang.
Born in Oxford, he served as China's diplomatic adviser and representative to the United Nations, and after returning to China, he also ran the family business and founded Hong Kong Television Broadcasting***, and is known as the founder of China TVB.
Among his descendants, the most outstanding is his youngest daughter, Lydhui, who is the first Chinese-American member of the House of Lords of the Canadian Parliament. There are many children and grandchildren of the Li family, and it is difficult to describe the specific circumstances of the others one by one.
But there is no doubt that the Li family is a prominent family with a long history.