Legend of Xiangjiang Tycoon

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Chen Zengxi was originally from Taishan County, Guangdong Province. Before the war, he studied in Japan and studied civil engineering. His younger brother, Chen Zengtao, graduated from engineering at Shanghai University.

In 1960, the Chen brothers established Hang Lung Co., Ltd. to engage in real estate and construction. Chen Zengxi is known in the circle as "lonely cold". In the early 1970s, the Chen family built a residential building on Bowen Road. All the units on the ground were rented out to tenants, and his family lived in the cellar garage.

Chen's "saving money" has become his "wonderful recipe" for accumulating huge wealth.

Chen Zengxi made his fortune mainly through a land exchange transaction with the Hong Kong government in the early 1960s.

The land acquired by the Chen family is in Ho Man Tin, Kowloon, where he developed "Hang Shun Court" and made a lot of money.

Hang Lung stock was listed in the bull market in 1972, raising more than 200 million Hong Kong dollars.

Hang Lung is one of the Five Tigers of Huazi Real Estate. After more than 20 years, the five tiger generals have become a big hit, and they have successively entered the gold list of tens of billionaires.

Hang Lung's major projects include: jointly building Telford Gardens with 41 residential buildings with Hopewell; buying a factory site in Ngau Tau Kok from Amoy for HK$200 million to build 13 residential buildings.

In 1981, the Chen family won the bid for the subway superstructure project of Admiralty Section 2 and Kornhill, and jointly developed it with several companies. Hang Lung accounted for 39% of the shares, and other shareholders were New World. At the end of 1982, Chen Zengxi announced his withdrawal from the second section of Admiralty.

The low tide of Xiangjiang real estate, Chen secretly praised.

In 1984, Xinhe and other groups re-bid for Admiralty Section 2 to build the Finance Plaza, which was later sold to Benda for HK$1.9 billion. Benda was renamed Benda Center and sold for HK$3.775 billion. Hong Kong dollar resale.

Both deals won a lot of money, Chen Zengxi was surprised.

Chen Zengxi is low-key and secretive, rarely exposed in the media. In 1979, he bought a property at a high price. The reporter asked him if it was worth it?

He replied: "It's worth it." There was no second sentence. Attending the public banquet, Mrs. Chen also sat alone in a corner, keeping silent.

Therefore, although Hang Lung is very famous, the owner of Hang Lung is "unknown". Chen Zengxizi died in 1986,

His younger brother Chen Zengtao is in charge of Hang Lung. In the past two years, Hang Lung has been at the helm of Chen Qizong.

According to Hong Kong's "Letter", in 1993, Chen Qizong ranked last among the top ten richest people. In 1994, it dropped to No. 12. The value of listed companies controlled by the Chen family is 31.2 billion Hong Kong dollars.

According to the materials released by the Hong Kong Chief Secretary's Office, in 1989, the total expenditure of the construction industry was 45.6 billion Hong Kong dollars, accounting for 35.1% of the total fixed capital formation in Hong Kong in the same year, equivalent to 9.3% of the Hong Kong's GDP. There are 2,500 contractors in Hong Kong, and about 230,000 people are employed in the construction industry, accounting for 8.4% of the total employed population in Hong Kong.

Among the many contractors, only 229 are eligible to bid for public works, known as the "big brother" in the construction industry. For example, the time-honored Hsin Cheong Construction Co., Ltd. among Chinese-funded companies, and the rising star Shui On Construction Co., Ltd.

Among the local British-funded companies, Kinmen (Xiangjiang) Co., Ltd. is the largest. Overseas contractors are most active in Japan's Kumagai Gumi Construction Company.

In the decades after the war, Xiangjiang's civil engineering and construction projects of unprecedented scale were carried out on the ground, in the air and at sea, providing a broad space for the development of the construction industry.

At the same time, there are strong players like a forest, and the competition is fierce. All the players from all directions gather in Hong Kong, hoping to get a share of the pie.

It is against this background that Gonghe Company has grown from scratch.

The chairman of Gonghe Lu Xiaopei is famous at home and abroad for undertaking the HSBC Building project of Qia Da.

A considerable part of the older generation of wealthy people in Xiangjiang came from humble backgrounds and had little education.

Lu Xiaopei was born in an aristocratic family, graduated from a prestigious school, and has the blood of an emperor flowing through his body.

"My great-grandfather, Ye Chengzhong, was the richest man in China and the largest hardware dealer in the country. He was also an agent of Mobil and Asia Petroleum. He was richer than Hartung, a British-Jewish tycoon in Shanghai. Unfortunately, his property was wiped out during the war.

My father is a comprador, acting as an agent of Beautiful Country Eggs, the vice chairman of Huaxia Maochang Egg Factory, and a comprador of German Matheson and Flo Matheson.

Several generations of us are scholars. My father and I both graduated from Shanghai St. John's (University). My father majored in politics and I majored in civil engineering. In those days, graduating from college was not an easy task. "

In 1942, Lu Xiaopei graduated from university, and Lu Xiaopei traveled to the Northwest to work as an engineer on the Longhai Railway.

The harsh climate and living environment made Lu, who lived in the gold and silver nest since he was a child, very well tempered.

At the beginning of 1946, Lu Xiaopei resigned from public office, set up his own business, and formed a construction company with his friend Taiwan, each investing 2 taels of gold as venture capital.

Lu Xiaopei wants to rely on the wealthy family and relatives, and he wants to go out on his own.

At that time, there were many British and American foreign firms in Shanghai, Shanghai, and Beijing. With his fluent English and a diploma from a church university, Lu Xiaopei undertook the business of many British and American foreign firms, repairing their war-damaged commercial buildings, building factories, and building homes. mansion.

These projects are not big, but they give Lu Xiaopei an excellent opportunity to try his hand. He will come to Xiangjiang to open a business in the future, and he is familiar with the construction of Western-style buildings.

In the short three years, the company made a lot of profits, earning a total of 800 taels of gold.

In January 1949, the company's business suddenly declined, so it dissolved itself. Each shareholder received more than 100 taels of gold, among which Lu Xiaopei, the manager, received 150 taels of gold—this was a considerable sum of money at the time.

In 1950, Lu Xiaopei bid farewell to his wife and children, quietly left the house, and came to Xiangjiang alone.

When he arrived in Xiangjiang, he only carried a suitcase and only 5 Hong Kong dollars left in his pocket. The situation in Xiangjiang is bad and chaotic, and many "refugees" live on the streets. No one paid any attention to him, the descendant of King Xuan of Qi, and only regarded him as a war refugee fleeing for his life.

Fortunately, the money at that time was worth (worth) money, a bowl of sand river noodles was less than 10 cents, and a night in a low-end hotel was only 1 Hong Kong dollar.

Lu Xiaopei just kept going, running around looking for a job.

Probably there is no such thing as a unparalleled road. In despair, Lu met a friend he had known from an engineering project. Without regard for face, Lu confided to him about his predicament. A friend lent 500 Hong Kong dollars to Lu Xiaopei so that he could live.

At that time, most people in Shanghai were engaged in textile, shipping, trade and other industries, and few started construction firms.

Lu Xiaopei had to go to work in a construction company run by people from Guangdong Province. Construction supervision is also about interpersonal relationships. The owner is from Guangdong Province, and the site workers are also from Guangdong Province. Lu Xiaopei's Cantonese is not "smart", and misunderstandings often occur, which affect the construction.

But soon Lu Xiaopei's advantages came into play. If the owner is British or Shanghainese, Lu Xiaopei's English and Wu dialects will come in handy.

It didn't take long for Lu's Cantonese work to shine.

Lu Xiaopei skipped a few slots, and every time he jumped, his salary increased. He was quite appreciated by his boss and asked him to supervise large projects.

Lu Xiaopei recalled: "I know all the changes in Xiangjiang's urban architecture after the war. I have personally participated in many projects. However, the real estate developers, construction company owners, and architectural designers who can leave their names are real estate developers, construction company owners, architectural designers, and our construction engineers. Like a land worker, he makes wedding clothes for others.”

Lu Xiaopei dreamed of opening his own business. He never thought of being a real estate developer, but only wanted to open a construction company—the lesson of buying land and houses in Shanghai and Nanjing is too painful!

After more than 10 years of hard work and frugality, he finally had a savings of 130,000 Hong Kong dollars. In 1961, Lu Xiaopei and his wife opened a husband and wife office - Gonghe Construction.

Some people say that Gonghe comes from the homonym of parents-in-law, and the husband-wife file is the father-in-law file. Someone went to ask Lu Xiaopei, and Lu said in Cantonese with a Shanghai accent: "I know, you can do whatever you want."

Lu Xiaopei is responsible for receiving business, buying materials, and supervising construction. His wife manages accounts and does housework.

At first it was a friend who took care of me and asked the company to do some unimportant small projects. Later, someone took the initiative to come to the door.

"Reputation is more important than affection." Lu Xiaopei said with emotion, "At that time, even the construction material dealers were willing to give me materials on credit. This is good for building construction. It doesn't need big capital. Of course, everything depends on each other. trust."

In the first few years of the company, there were only the husband and wife, who kicked everything, and worked for 14 to 15 hours a day.

Lu Xiaopei admits that he is an excellent construction engineer and a poor estimator,

"It can be said that I suffered from 'golden eyes and hot eyes'. Several times, due to engineering calculations and miscalculations, it almost led to bankruptcy."

At the beginning, Gonghe only got the A-level license issued by the Hong Kong Government Works Bureau, which is not easy. With the A-level license, you can contract projects alone. The limit is for small projects below 1 million Hong Kong dollars. Now the limit is relaxed to 3 million Hong Kong dollars. the following.

After Lu Xiaopei's unremitting efforts, the company's business and scale grew rapidly, and finally obtained the C-class license in the late 1960s.

Class C is the highest level of construction license and can bid for an unlimited number of projects.

At a time when real estate is booming, real estate developers are developing real estate properties on the site, bringing vitality to the construction industry.

The prosperity of the real estate boomed the stock market. In 1972, many Chinese-funded real estate, construction, shipping, industrial, and trading companies went public one after another.

The stock of Gonghe Construction was also listed and traded, and Gonghe became one of the few listed construction companies at that time.

Except for the collapse of Paul Lee's Poly, all other listed construction companies have become giants in the construction industry in the future.

In terms of opportunities, the city of Xiangjiang is changing with each passing day, and several buildings of this type are launched every year.

Lu Xiaopei participated in the bidding, but was defeated because he had no "actual performance" in this area.

Opportunity has come again, and the entire architectural world is excited about it.

In October 1980, HSBC announced that it would demolish the old bank building and build a new building on the original site that would cost billions of Hong Kong dollars.

Baohua, Jinmen, Xinchang, Xiexing, Rui'an and other large construction companies in Xiangjiang heard the news and actively bid for the project.

HSBC Bank is the signature of Xiangjiang, and the construction of HSBC Building is naturally the signature of the construction company that won the bid!

Lu Xiaopei is well aware that in the joint venture of Gonghe Yongbao, Daxin Company holds 50% of the shares. Although it is one of the few listed companies in the construction industry, compared with those big listed companies, Gonghe is still a "little brother", especially without a signboard The building makes HSBC trust.

Lu Xiaopei is over sixty years old and has been working in construction all his life. There are always opportunities, but age is not forgiving. Lu is determined to fight with all his might.

He got his wish, and under the eyes of his peers, he bid for the most expensive construction project in the world and the most popular construction project in Hong Kong.

How can Lu Xiaopei beat the crowd and lead the way? Lu Xiaopei said to the media with pride: "I was able to win the project because of the success of strategic use. In this battle, "Sun Tzu's Art of War" gave me a lot of inspiration."

"Targeted", HSBC has to choose a Xiangjiang and a foreign partner company.

Obviously, foreign companies have strong strength and advanced technology, but foreign companies are not familiar with Xiangjiang's situation, especially not good at managing local construction workers. These shortcomings must be made up by Xiangjiang companies.

HSBC requires foreign companies to join, and pursues the principle of merit-based bidding.

Since HSBC is a British-funded company, it is inevitable that it will not have a good impression of the British.

Lu Xiaopei immediately flew to London to invite the largest wIMPY construction company alliance in the UK.

After returning to Hong Kong, Lu Xiaopei immediately went to HSBC to lobby Taipan Shen Congee.

"Sad soldiers must win", Lu's is not like some bosses, who can't stop talking about the company's brilliant performance, Lu's sincerely said that Gonghe is a small company, so it is impossible to build a famous building like Kangle Building. Lu also pointed out that a small company also has its advantages. It will put all its energy on a project, and the boss can spend time on the site to supervise and manage.

Gonghe and a wIMPY associate company won the bid!

The demolition of the old building began in 1981, and the new building was designed by the famous British modernist master Foster.

The building looks like an oil drilling platform. The entire project is not poured with cement and is composed of huge steel pipes.

The steel elements were prefabricated in the UK and installed on site. The exterior is all made of aluminum plates and glass, and the interior decoration is extremely luxurious and rich.

Gonghe Company is responsible for the on-site construction management of the project.

The project has been done for 5 years, and Gonghe has made a profit of 75 million Hong Kong dollars.

The 42-story HSBC Building, in Xiangjiang, is full of buildings higher than it.

However, no building is more expensive to build than the HSBC Tower - the building cost HK$5.5 billion.

Lu Xiaopei said: "HSBC's construction fee is undoubtedly the most expensive in the world, and it is estimated that no one will catch up in the next 20 years. If I have money, I will do the same, because it has won the voice, and the reputation is priceless. The HSBC Tower has captured the attention of the world."

When Lu Xiaopei and his friends climbed high and looked far away, they often pointed at high-rise buildings.

In Wan Chai, a taller building rises from the ground, which is the 76-storey Central Plaza.

The 70-storey Bank of China Tower only stayed on the main building of the tallest building in Xiangjiang for two years before it was relocated to Central Plaza.

Lu Xiaopei has been in the construction industry for 50 years, and he can be called a veteran.

Looking back on the past, he said: "I may be the builder who made the most mistakes in Hong Kong. Except for the HSBC business, the others can be said to be just mistakes. 10 of them almost led to bankruptcy, but I managed to save the day every time. In the end And success alone is the result of adaptation and the help of friends. In my construction career, I have argued with people no less than 10 times. I can’t be too kind in this industry, otherwise greedy people will bully you and even refuse to pay. "

The biggest dispute Lu Xiaopei got involved in was Bao Yugang. They are all members of the Shanghai Gang. Because of this, Shang Gonghe's outstanding reputation is even more impressive. The landing ship king Bao Shi asked Lu Shi to undertake the building project of the Harbor City.

Unexpectedly, they fought a lawsuit for the construction of Harbor City.

The two sides were aggressive and refused to give in to each other, claiming to ask the other party to compensate 200 million Hong Kong dollars.

If Lu Xiaopei loses, Gonghe will go bankrupt. land

Regardless of wealth and power, the Lu family is not far behind the business giant Bao, but the Lu family defeated this giant.

The lawsuit was settled out of court, and Bao Yugang paid compensation.

The amount of compensation is kept secret by both parties.

Lu Xiaopei photocopied a copy of the indemnity check, and took it out to appreciate it when he was free, and entertained himself.

Lu Xiaopei is now semi-retired, and the family business is mainly managed by his son Lu Gongzheng.

Lu Gongzheng graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Manchester in the UK. He is smart and hardworking, and is quite appreciated by the master.

Lu Xiaopei hopes that her son Yu's career will be bigger than him. Lu said: "My father and I both graduated from Shanghai St. John's University, and my son drinks foreign water, so he should be better than us."

Lu Xiaopei is a rich man with great personality. He said that his life was like a fairy, a tiger and a dog.

When you are happy, you have to be like a god; when you are angry, you have to be like a tiger. When you are a construction supervisor, you have to be majestic and unyielding. After passing the acceptance and receiving the money, I will go to live as a fairy.

Lu Xiaopei likes to play "sand crab". He played it from the age of 7 to his 70s. At the age of 60, he finally realized the secret of sand crab.

He once wrote two sand crab songs, one of which said: "The opponent's temper must be known, lure the enemy to go deep, attack the enemy, don't create a stalemate, and avoid being killed for no reason.

If there is any doubt about the strength of the opponent, it is better to avoid it. "The song has no rhythm, but it contains a lot of mystery. It can be regarded as the wonderful use of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" in the battle of sand crabs.

Lu Xiaopei also has a big hobby. She likes to "chat" (chat) with the beautiful girl Tian Niu.

The Lu family is not like some palace magnates, who try their best to maintain the reputation of "a gentleman of integrity", and only oneself knows what is going on in private.

Lu made no secret of his hobby, and asked the reporter to write about it.

However, he asked the reporter not to use too much Spring and Autumn brushwork, lest the old wife be jealous.

Mr. He Wenxiang who interviewed him sighed: "If his ancestor's foundation can be preserved to this day, he must be a romantic emperor!"

I don't know old age is coming. The Lu family is not like some palace magnates, who try their best to maintain the reputation of "a gentleman of integrity", and only oneself knows what is going on in private. Lu made no secret of his hobby, and asked the reporter to write about it.

However, he asked the reporter not to use too much Spring and Autumn brushwork, lest the old wife be jealous.

Mr. He Wenxiang who interviewed him sighed: "If his ancestor's foundation can be preserved to this day, he must be a romantic emperor!"

Lu Xiaopei realized it in 1988. He said that he was really stupid and stupid, so he announced that he would no longer do construction, and changed to real estate business~www.wuxiaspot.com~ What he has seen and heard for decades, in Xiangjiang, With the same smart investment, the same capital, and the same energy, there is a world of difference between real estate and non-real estate!

Lu Xiaopei hated himself for realizing it too late. He said, "I should have switched to real estate early on, but it was because I was stupid. I switched too late and made a lot less money."

When the reporter asked him about his plans after retirement, Lu Xiaopei said enthusiastically, "I want to train 20,000 construction talents for Xiangjiang. My money is earned in Xiangjiang, so I should make some contributions to Xiangjiang."

Gonghe holds 58% of the shares of Dah Sing Company. In 1990, Lu Xiaopei privatized Dah Sing and purchased individual shares at a market value of 165 Hong Kong dollars per share, involving a capital of 700 million Hong Kong dollars. From this "big money", people estimate that Lu Xiaopei has assets of 800 to 1 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Lu Xiaopei smiled and said: "How can I have so much money? It should be only 400 million, no, 300 million is right, and please specify that it is all property, not cash, otherwise I will mark the participation (kidnapping), no Money redemption is a big deal."

Lu Xiaopei's remarks about standard reference (kidnapping) are not groundless.

His Shanghai fellow, business friend, real estate tycoon Wang Degui is being kidnapped by robbers. Hong Kong and Kowloon were shaken, and wealthy businessmen were afraid of revealing their wealth and becoming the prey of bandits.