Legend of Xiangjiang Tycoon

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Guo Desheng held this cornucopia firmly, and immediately freed up another hand to grab the cash cow—nylon, an emerging industrial product.

He shuttled non-stop between Japan and Taiwan, and obtained the agency rights of several different types of nylon products. This item has an annual turnover of another 10 million Hong Kong dollars.

Guo Desheng is nearly half a century old, and in ordinary people's consciousness, he is approaching the end of his life.

But Mrs. Guo didn't even have such a thought, all he wanted was to be aggressive. Otherwise, Guo Desheng, at least not the real estate giant Guo Desheng.

Feng Jingxi was in the middle age among the Three Musketeers. He was born in 1922 in a small businessman's family in Guangzhou. Feng Jingxi was at odds with his stepmother and did not finish secondary school. At the age of 16, he went to Hong Kong alone. He worked as an apprentice at Peel Dockyard in To Kwa Wan, Kowloon. The daily salary was 13 cents.

In 1941, the Japanese invaded and occupied Hong Kong. Feng Jingxi fled Hong Kong and returned to Guangdong Province. Feng didn't go home, but entered a bank as an apprentice, and later promoted to manager, accountant, exchange currency, buy and sell gold, and even ran a restaurant in partnership with others.

After Hong Kong was recovered, Fung returned to Hong Kong to start a small business with two thousand yuan in his savings. In 1948, he heard that the price of fish fries in Wanwan was high, so he raised funds, borrowed money, and put all his eggs in one basket.

Feng Jingxi spent all his money to buy a boat, loaded fish fry from the Pearl River Delta, hired a boat boss, and set off for the bay. The boat sailed into the high seas, the wind was strong and the waves were high, the boat was pitched and swayed, Feng Jingxi vomited so much that he passed out.

Feng Jingxi woke up and found that more than half of the fish fry were dead, so he hurriedly pumped air with his hand, but more and more fish fry died.

This is my blood and sweat for more than ten years! Feng Jingxi wants to cry but has no tears!

In the same year, Huo Yingdong, another future rich man in Hong Kong, took people to Dongsha Island to fish for seaweed, but also suffered a disastrous failure. They all like to take risks, and the painful lessons have not stopped them from taking risks in the future.

Feng Jingxi, who was already bankrupt, came to Wanwan and fought to the end. He persuaded the owner of the boat to get paid, and he used the boat as a mortgage, and the two partnered in the fruit business.

When the ship full of bananas returned to Hong Kong, the bananas had already turned into a pile of mud.

Feng Jingxi really did everything he could, and was destitute. He had to start as a wage earner, and when the Korean War broke out, he had a small savings on hand.

Feng's made a fortune, but not as rich as Huo's. Fung has kept quiet about the media talking about his Korean War legend.

After the Korean War ended, Feng Jingxi speculated on gold and stocks, but made little gains. He always hoped for a big breakthrough.

Li Zhaoji, the youngest among the Three Musketeers, was born in Shunde, Guangdong Province in 1928.

His father opened a "shop" in the local area. When Li Zhaoji was in private school, he often went to the shop to eat, his eyes were bright, staring at the colorful banknotes coming in and out.

My father got a little success in opening a shop, so he took the business to Yangcheng. After graduating from elementary school, Li Zhaoji went to work as an apprentice in Yinzhuang, set up by his father in Guangzhou, first as a handyman, and later as a shop assistant.

Li Zhaocheng watched the banknotes coming in and out all day long, fascinated by the banknotes. What is the exchange rate between legal markets, counterfeit coins, gold coupons, and bank vouchers issued by banks themselves? How has it changed? The ratio of banknotes is volatile, as if there is a magic hand invisibly manipulating it.

"The banknotes belong to others, and we just earn a little commission." His father instilled common sense in his business.

"I wish I had so many banknotes." Li Zhaoji often thinks so. However, he found that Huaxia's banknotes are becoming less and less valuable. You can buy a liter of rice yesterday, but you may not be able to buy a handful of them in a few days.

"What's the use of banknotes? It's still real." Li Zhaoji felt a sense of distrust towards banknotes.

In 1948, the Li family's bank could not continue to open, so they sold their money and came to Hong Kong.

At this time, it was the wave of "refugees", and the Hong Kong market was in full swing for speculation in foreign exchange and gold. So Li Zhaoji went to the gold bank to place an order and joined the ranks of speculating in foreign exchange and gold.

Hong Kong was short of gold plaques, so Li Zhaoji went to Lisboa, found the wealthy He family, and joined forces with speculators in Macau to speculate in gold, making a lot of money.

In the 1950s, when gold speculation cooled down, Li Zhaoji began to do business. He put change money into goods and rolled them, and the money naturally rolled more and more.

Facing the large bundle of banknotes, Li Zhaoji still had a deep-rooted sense of uncertainty. Li, who later became a real estate giant, recalled:

"When I was seven or eight years old, I often went to my father's shop to eat. I have been familiar with the business since I was a child. Later, I worked in Yinzhuang. Changes turned into waste paper overnight. So, from then on, I knew that silver paper can't represent anything, and only holding on to the real thing is the most reliable and can preserve value."

In 1958, Hong Kong's economy entered the take-off stage, and real estate gradually became a boom. In the past, some not-so-famous Chinese businessmen, such as Huo Yingdong, Liao Baoshan, etc. set foot in real estate, and their business grew bigger and bigger, becoming the rich and powerful upstarts.

One day, Guo Desheng invited his close friends Feng Jingxi and Li Zhaoji to discuss joining the real estate industry.

Real estate is a business that requires huge sums of money at every turn, and the three of them are still small fortunes, and they can only start with a partnership.

Soon, the Three Musketeers and five other shareholders jointly established Yongye Enterprise Co., Ltd. Their first business was to buy a hotel in Sha Tin, and based on this, they proceeded steadily.

Yongye didn't have a piece of land in his hands, so he invested in official land. At that time, the most competitive property company was a British-owned real estate company.

They set their sights on the old site. There are many old buildings in Hong Kong to be demolished, and the old site is easier to get. This kind of land is usually small in size, and big real estate companies dismiss it, but they buy it like a treasure, and their funds are suitable for use in small land.

Over the past few years, although Yongye has not experienced any miracles, he has taken steps one step at a time, and has never made any mistakes.

In 1963, the Three Musketeers withdrew from Yongye and re-registered a company called Sun Hung Kai Enterprises Co., Ltd.

The name of Sun Hung Kai Company, Xin, is taken from Feng Jingxi; Hong, from the Hong character of Guo Desheng Hong Chang He Ji; Ji, from the base character of Li Zhaoji.

Relatives and friends who are familiar with the three people say that Sun Hung Kai was established because of the three sworn brothers of Jinlan and Taoyuan, and some people even call them the three real estate musketeers.

Among the three swordsmen, Guo Desheng is stable and prudent, Feng Jingxi is brave and courageous, and Li Zhaoji is agile and shrewd. Guo Desheng is a highly respected young man who serves as the chairman of the board of directors.

The registered capital of the company is five million Hong Kong dollars, the paid-in capital is three million Hong Kong dollars, and each person invests one million Hong Kong dollars.

Today, the money is only enough for one person to buy a residential unit in the New Territories, and to engage in real estate business, it will make people laugh out loud. Naturally, the value at that time is not what it used to be, but it is still difficult to make a big splash in real estate. They rely on concerted efforts.

The company's office is located on the 3rd floor of No. 16 Stanley Street, with up to 10 employees.

The employees are here to hold jobs, and they don't have much extravagant expectations for this small company. After a long time, the staff found that the three bosses were a group of hard-working Saburos who worked for more than 10 hours a day, even all night long.

Sun Hung Kai's business was just on the right track, and a catastrophe hit the whole of Hong Kong. In 1965, when there was a bank run, Mingde Bank and Guangdong Trust Bank went bankrupt, and Hang Seng Bank survived the catastrophe by "selling itself for refuge".

The banking industry was in crisis, dragging down the entire industry, factories closed down, real estate companies went bankrupt, and so on.

In 1967, a large number of Hong Kong people immigrated abroad, and the real estate market plummeted. The supply exceeded demand, and there was no market for the price. At that time, a detached garden house on Stubbs Road was only worth 600,000 Hong Kong dollars.

Fortunately, Guo Desheng's style of work has always been stable, and he did not expand too much before the crisis broke out. Fortunately, Kwok's zipper and nylon business has accumulated a lot of profits, which are used as working capital for Sun Hung Kai.

During the difficult period from 1965 to 1967, Sun Hung Kai built a total of more than 20 buildings and made a slight profit-compared with its peers who suffered heavy losses, this is already a very good performance.

May storm, and then lead to riots. At that time, there were rumors everywhere, the wave of immigrants was surging, and the land and property were worthless.

Walk? or stay? The Three Musketeers anxiously gathered together to discuss.

"Stay!" The three of them were surprisingly unanimous in their thoughts. Now that no one cares about the land and property, it is a good time to take advantage of the low price.

As a result, there was a dramatic scene. Other owners sold off their sites and properties one after another, and the Three Musketeers wantonly bought in.

By 1968, the situation was stable and real estate was back. The Three Musketeers sold properties at low prices one by one without haste, and built industrial buildings on the site without haste, becoming a dominant force in the industrial building market.

In the 1970s, Sun Hung Kai was undoubtedly a medium-sized real estate company with good performance. The Three Musketeers worked together in the same boat and worked together to achieve this achievement. People are optimistic about Sun Hung Kai, and the real estate market is booming. The Three Musketeers will make great achievements, but there is news that the Three Musketeers parted ways.

In 1970, Feng Jingxi withdrew from the operation of Sun Hung Kai and established another Sun Hung Kai Securities Co., Ltd. A few years later, Li Zhaoji followed the example of Fung and established his own Henderson Land Development Company.

The industry is booming, and there are a lot of discussions: "People can suffer, but they can't share wealth." "The family business is big, and the profits are big. Even brothers, it's not fair." It’s booming, but it’s divided. It’s like an old saying: if a man does not do it for himself, he will be destroyed by heaven and earth.”

One mountain cannot contain two tigers, let alone three tigers? The Three Musketeers are not idle people, they are all people with royal ambitions.

Their partnership is an expedient measure for the poor and weak, rather than a lifelong ambition. It is reasonable for the three of them to be together, if there is a conflict.

To the admiration of the industry, until today, some of them have passed away, some are still alive, and they have not revealed any inside information about the "friction".

In 1976, Feng Jingxi talked to reporters about the reasons for the breakup of the three people. Whether it is credible or not, this is the only information disclosed by the trio.

Feng Jingxi said: "The group has already taken shape, and everyone has started to divide their responsibilities. I am in charge of finance and investment, while the other two are in charge of real estate development. We found that if the business is too concentrated, it is really difficult for everyone to take care of each other. Therefore, we decided to Securities and real estate are separated and each seeks development, but they are still a family in spirit and share weal and woe...”

In 1972, the old company changed its name and registered as Sun Hung Kai Property Development Co., Ltd., officially showing its real estate banner. The registered capital increased from HK$5 million to HK$300 million. The three major shareholders are still Guo Desheng, Feng Jingxi, and Li Zhaoji.

In September, the stock of Sun Hung Kai Properties was listed. The original plan was to raise 100 million Hong Kong dollars. Shareholders were optimistic about the stock of Sun Hung Kai Properties, and the result was a fundraising of 1 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Afterwards, the market value of Sun Hung Kai Properties’ stock continued to rise, and Feng Jingxi and Li Zhaoji sold their stocks to cash in while they were high, and the cash they obtained was injected into their respective companies. The complete economic independence of the Three Musketeers has become a reality.

In April 1973, the stock market plummeted. In the big stock market crash, the stock price of Sun Hung Kai Properties fell heavily. It goes without saying that Guo Desheng lost a lot, but he thought it was a temporary phenomenon. Instead, he poured a lot of money into buying shares of Sun Hung Kai Properties at a low price. In this way, Guo Desheng firmly controls Sun Hung Kai Properties.

At the beginning of 1970, Feng Jingxi established Sun Hung Kai Securities Company. When the stock market was booming, securities companies sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and the competition was fierce.

The stock market is impermanent, and securities companies rise and fall quickly. Sun Hung Kai Securities has always been the leader in the industry, with a net profit of 212.2 million Hong Kong dollars in 1980, and is responsible for trading 1/3 of the total stock transactions in Hong Kong.

In 1970, Feng Jingxi also established Sun Hung Kai Finance Company to carry out various businesses such as exchange and deposits. After more than 10 years of development, Feng Jingxi applied for a banking license and changed the financial company into a bank.

"Since the establishment of Sun Hung Kai Finance Co., Ltd. in 1970, we have continued to grow. As of the end of last year, Sun Hung Kai Finance's total customer deposits exceeded HK$3.1 billion, and its total assets reached more than HK$4.2 billion. These figures have laid a solid foundation for Sun Hung Kai Bank. foundation. In order to coordinate administrative work more efficiently, Sun Hung Kai Bank Central District Headquarters Building will open in the third quarter of this year..”

In 1979, Feng Jingxi established Sun Hung Kai Insurance Company.

Securities, banking, insurance, Feng Jingxi realized his dream of a financial kingdom. In addition, the Fung Group also controls Huaxia Enterprise Co., Ltd., Sun Hung Kai Yili Commodities Company, and New King Fung Development Company.

Feng Jingxi actively develops international cooperation. The international companies that have cooperated with Sun Hung Kai include: American Asia Stock Company, Elion Commodities Company, Merrill Lynch Securities Company, Citibank~www.wuxiaspot.com~French Tanita Group, General Insurance Group. His group became a hub for international finance.

The stock market is unpredictable. In the 1973 stock market crash, Feng Jingxi lost 400 million Hong Kong dollars within 3 days.

Feng Jingxi was not discouraged, regained his glory, and his business was booming again.

In the second year after the establishment of Sun Hung Kai Bank, Hong Kong was hit by a turmoil, and there was a wave of bank runs, and Chinese banks fell into desperation one after another.

Striving to survive, Feng Jingxi asked for help from the French Tanita. He paid the price of 50% of the equity, and also gave up the throne of the head of the bank.

Since Feng Jingxi broke up with Guo and Li, he has suffered two major setbacks. There is nothing wrong with his decision-making and management, which can only be explained as his bad luck.

Feng Jingxi is a person who dares to challenge fate, he will never admit defeat, just like when he went to Taiwan to sell fish fry and bananas when he was young. In just over a year, he mobilized funds to repurchase 25% of Sun Hung Kai's shares and became the largest shareholder again.

In order to seek asylum from a major international bank, he reached an agreement with Arab Bank to give up 15% of the bank's equity, making Sun Hung Kai Bank the bank's bridgehead in the Far East.