"If you have confidence in China, then you buy a stake in Hopewell Industries; If you don't have any confidence in China, you don't want to buy a stake in it. ”
This is the evaluation of Hopewell Industries, a well-known British investment magazine.
What kind of company is Hopewell Holdings? Why does it have such a close relationship with China? All this is because of the behind-the-scenes boss of Hopewell Industry - Hu Yingxiang.
Hu Yingxiang is not as high-profile as Li Ka-shingIn the early years, Hong Kong** commented on him like this: If Hu Yingxiang can seriously engage in his career, then the richest man in Hong Kong must be him.
In this regard, Hu Yingxiang did not respond too much. It wasn't until years later that he explained: ".If I want to make money, I can invest heavily in real estate, I will make a lot of money, but there is no point in that. ”
In order to make your life meaningfulHu Yingxiang donated 100 million yuan to the United States and 50 billion yuan to the mainland. ButBut it was "threatened" by the wealthy group headed by Li Ka-shing in Hong Kong, why is this?
Born in Hong Kong, Hu Yingxiang has deep roots in Chinese mainlandHis ancestral home is in Guangdong. At that time, my grandfather was forced to come to Hong Kong, China to raise pigs because he was too poor.
My grandfather was very attentive, but he only earned enough money to support the family. The real improvement in family conditions began in the generation of his father, Hu Zhong.
When he was a teenager, Hu Zhong became an ordinary taxi driver in order to support his familyBut he himself was very diligent and had a keen sense of business, so he soon became a famous taxi king in Hong Kong.
At the peak of his career, half of the taxis in Hong Kong were his. By the time Hu Yingxiang was born, the family conditions had undergone earth-shaking changes, and Hu Yingxiang at this time was a typical rich second generation.
But it is not easy for ancestors to accumulate wealthHu Zhong has always taught his children to be diligent and thrifty, so Hu Yingxiang is not as arrogant and arrogant as the rich second generation in the traditional sense.
Superior family conditions allowed Hu Yingxiang to receive a good educationWhen he grew up, he entered Princeton University in the United States to major in civil engineering.
After Hu Yingxiang graduated, many American companies sent him invitation letters, hoping that he could stay in the United States to work, but Hu Yingxiang cared about the motherland and chose to return to China for development.
After returning to China, Hu Yingxiang did not inherit his father's family businessInstead, he chose a track he loved, working as a construction engineer for a construction company.
Hu Yingxiang is very low-key, he is even more meticulous in his work, and he has a very harmonious relationship with his colleagues, and no colleague knows that he is the son of Hu Zhong, the king of taxis.
Five years later, Hu Yingxiang, who had a certain amount of savings, came up with the idea of opening a company, and at this time, his father Hu Zhong saw that Hu Yingxiang was developing well in his own track, so he injected him with a small amount of capital.
With the blessing of his father's funds, Hu Yingxiang successfully founded Hopewell Industries
At that time, Hong Kong was in the midst of rapid developmentThere are many companies in Tiandu, but Hu Yingxiang quickly gained a firm foothold in the industry and made a name for himself.
Trained as a construction engineer, he is very strict about qualityGe, he does everything in the company, and he will also emphasize to employees when he holds a meeting: only by understanding can he succeed.
With excellent architectural knowledge, Hu Yingxiang's Hopewell Industry has successfully built the Hopewell Center BuildingThe design of the building was very avant-garde at the timeThe exterior of the building was cylindrical, and the top floor of the building also housed a revolving restaurant that was ahead of its time.
This building has also created a miracle of "building a floor in three days".According to today's level of infrastructure, such a speed is not very superior, but that was in the 70s of the last century, which shows Hu Yingxiang's professional skills.
The safety performance of the Hopewell Centre building is also testedAfter the completion of the building, professionals assessed that the building could withstand a huge storm that would not have been encountered for 500 years.
After the completion of the Hopewell Centre building, Hu Yingxiang became famous in one fell swoop and gained a firm foothold in the Hong Kong industrial field.
In 1972, Hu Yingxiang saw a business opportunity in the real estate field, so he persuaded his father to shrink the taxi industry and gradually move closer to the real estate industry.
With his good business talents, Hu Yingxiang took three years to successfully list Hopewell Industrial, and the company's shares soared from 5 yuan at the beginning to 36 yuan per share.
At the peak of Hu Yingxiang, Li Ka-shing was a sideline role, so Hong Kong ** said "If Hu Yingxiang can seriously engage in his career, he must be the richest man in Hong Kong." ”
Why does Hong Kong ** say that Hu Yingxiang is not seriously engaged in his career? All businessmen are profit-seeking, and after the gradual success of his career, Hu Yingxiang did not choose to inherit the family business, just like back then.
Instead, he chose to develop on a different track, and once again he made an unconventional choice.
In the 70s of the last century, in order to seek faster economic development, mainland ports were gradually opened to the outside world.
At that time, many Hong Kong businessmen took advantage of the trend to come north to the mainland in search of new business opportunitiesHowever, most of the Hong Kong businessmen shook their heads and left after visiting the mainland.
In 1977, Hu Yingxiang was invited to visit the mainland, and many years later recalled this experience"I can't imagine how the mainland can be so poor, the mainland also has a lot of talents, Hong Kong can develop, the mainland will definitely develop! ”
During his month-long inspection in the mainland, Hu Yingxiang went to Guangdong, Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai and other placesSeeing these cities waiting to be developed, Hu Yingxiang made up his mind to help the mainland develop within his ability.
After returning to Hong Kong, Hu Yingxiang began to hand over the work, handing over a lot of the work in the company to the people under his hands, and he spent more time thinking about what to start to help the development of the mainland.
In 1978, the reform and opening up was officially completedAt this time, Hu Yingxiang went north again and came to the mainland, and after this investigation, Hu Yingxiang knew how to help the development of the mainland.
He believes that the reform and opening up of the mainland will surely attract a lot of foreign businessmen to come and investThen it is very important to have a landmark.
So Hu Yingxiang decided to build a five-star hotel in GuangzhouThe hotel is both a local landmark and a host for foreign businessmen.
In order to enhance the reputation of this hotel, Hu Yingxiang returned to Hong KongSpecially called his friends Lee Shau Kee and Cheng Yutong to jointly fund, and the hotel was officially completed in 1984 and named "China Hotel".
This hotel has not only become a landmark building in GuangzhouIt has also become the first foothold for many foreign businessmen to settle in the mainland, and to this day, it is still one of the best five-star hotels in Guangzhou.
Hu Yingxiang's investment was a success, and with the reform and opening up, Chinese mainland has undergone earth-shaking changes, and the hotel has become very popular with foreign businessmen.
However, after ten years of operating the hotel, Hu Yingxiang made a decision that surprised everyone.
Ten years later,Hu Yingxiang's investment in the hotel has been recouped, so he handed over the right to operate the "China Hotel" to the state free of charge.
Hu Yingxiang's move shows that he is resolute in helping the hinterland develop togetherIt also shows that he has taken a very different path from other Hong Kong businessmen.
Why was Hu Yingxiang, who was willing to help the common development of Chinese mainland, "threatened" by Hong Kong's richest group headed by Li Ka-shing?
Because Hu Yingxiang's next move has seriously threatened Li Ka-shing's interests.
Following the success of the investment in "China Hotel".Hu Yingxiang decided to help strengthen infrastructure in Chinese mainland.
As the old saying goes: if you want to get rich, build roads firstSo Hu Yingxiang decided to build a highway between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and many people at that time were opposed to this decision.
Reform and opening up has just begunAll development is in the exploration stage, and ordinary people do not know the development model of big cities, they only know that "land is to be planted".
If the land is built into a highway for traffic, how will they live? And at that time, cars were not yet popular, and the probability of seeing cars on the road was also very low, so was it too risky to build a highway in this situation?
In this way, Hu Yingxiang began to build a highway under pressure from all directions. 1In 997, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway was officially opened to traffic, and the construction of this expressway strengthened the connection between the two places to the greatest extent and injected new vitality into the economic development of Guangzhou.
After the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway was repaid, Hu Yingxiang still handed over the right to operate the expressway to the state free of charge. Since then, all the infrastructure projects he has participated in have been developed in accordance with this model, and after returning the capital, he handed over the management rights to the state free of charge.
Nowadays it symbolizes *** tightness,The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which has common economic development, was also built with Hu Yingxiang's participation.
In 1983, Hu Yingxiang officially proposed the idea of building the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, but who knew that this idea made him threatened by the richest man in Hong Kong.
Once the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is successfully built, it will mean a bridge for the common development of the two sides of the strait, in addition to waterways, there will also be land transportation.
But Li Ka-shing controls half of Hong Kong's docks, and in this case, if Hu Yingxiang completes the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, it will also mean that Li Ka-shing's water transportation will be affected.
Therefore, whenHuo Jianning, one of Li Ka-shing's henchmen, publicly bombarded Hu Yinxiang, saying: "Hu Yingxiang should leave a way for others to live while making money himself, and he can't force others to death!" ”
But Hu Yingxiang was determined to build the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao BridgeSo in 2002, he found his friends Lee Shau-kee and Zheng Yutong, and together with the gambling king, he decided to complete the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in a private form.
But the chaebol is too powerful, so this work has to be shelvedIt was not until 2009 that the project was restarted after a multi-faceted assessment that the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge was of great significance to promoting the common prosperity and development of the two sides of the strait.
On the day of the official completion of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the bridge engineer specially invited Hu Yingxiang to visitHu Yingxiang stood on the 55-kilometer-long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge with mixed feelings, and his 35-year-old wish was finally fulfilled at this moment.
Why is Hu Yingxiang so persistent in helping the development of the mainland? It all stems from childhood experiences.
When Hu Yingxiang was young, he often listened to his parents and grandfather tell stories about the mainlandAlthough he has never been to the mainland, he has an infinite yearning for the mainland, and he feels very cordial.
Later, due to social security problems in Hong Kong, Hu Yingxiang and his mother were forced to return to their hometown in Guangzhou for refugeThey have not been home for many years, but they have been warmly welcomed by their neighbors, and it is with the help of their neighbors that they have spent the most panicked time.
In his later years, Hu Yingxiang said in an interview that the reason why he spared no effort to help the development of the hinterland was because he did not forget to dig wells.
If Hong Kong is a clear spring, then the industrious and simple people in the interior are well diggersThe sweet spring attracts countless passers-by, and the spring has become famous, and when the spring is successful, it can give back to the former well diggers.
According to rough estimates, Hu Yingxiang's investment in the mainland in recent years has amounted to more than 50 billion yuanIt can be said that Hu Yingxiang is an out-and-out "red businessman", but this "red businessman" has been controversial because of his donation of 100 million yuan to his alma mater in the United States.
In order to thank his alma mater for his training, Hu Yingxiang decided to donate 100 million yuan to Princeton UniversityMany people said that they couldn't understand this, and Hu Yingxiang explained it like this:I am where I am today because of the cultivation of my alma mater.
Hu Yingxiang invested in the mainland to help the development of the mainlandIt is the embodiment of the draught and the person who does not forget to dig the well; After becoming famous, he donated 100 million yuan to his alma mater, which is also a reflection of the draught and the person who did not forget to dig the well.
Hu Yingxiang's patriotic beliefs deserve our respect, but what makes us respect even more is his gratitude that he keeps in his heart all the time. We will not forget the grace of our alma mater, but also the grace of the motherland.