A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Time flies, and half a year has passed in the blink of an eye, bringing us to 1969.

Hong Kong's property market has further recovered, with luxury residential properties rising to HK$80-100 per square foot, a year-on-year increase of up to 50%.

一年前（1967年底）的一套6~8万港币的高级住宅，如今已经涨到9~12万港币每套。

In other words, the purchase of properties and land throughout last year (1968) was actually considered bottom-fishing.

In his office, Chen Guangliang was reviewing Cheung Kong Holdings' acquisitions over the past year and a half. There were more than 30 sites, of all sizes, with a total buildable floor area of ​​4 million square feet (approximately 8000 residential units).

This means that the housing supply from 1969 to 1973 was almost sufficient, although some land was purchased in 1969.

As CK Asset Holdings has developed to this point, it no longer engages in excessive 'land reserves'. During each cyclical downturn, it simply buys up land demand for the next upward cycle.

So how should we use such a large amount of cash flow?
Of course, the focus should be on investing in commercial real estate and hotels, and even expanding international business; given the size of CK Asset Holdings, commercial real estate already needs to account for a large proportion.

If all the funds were used to develop Hong Kong's 'real estate development (for sale)', then CK Asset Holdings would have a very monopolistic position—supplying 15% of Hong Kong's residential properties annually, and developing to more than 30%.

This is not what Chen Guangliang wants to see. At most, he hopes Cheung Kong will supply 20% of its residential properties annually. After all, commercial real estate (shopping malls, office buildings) and hotel development are also very important—it's like collecting rent passively!
On New Year's Day.

CK Asset Holdings Limited issued an announcement stating that, effective immediately, Mr. Yan Kuan has stepped down as the Group's General Manager but retains his seat on the Board of Directors; Mr. Chen Wenjie has been appointed as the Group's General Manager and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors.

This news sparked discussion in Hong Kong.

As a Hong Kong-listed company, CK Asset Holdings Limited naturally publishes its financial statements regularly. As a result, CK Asset Holdings Limited is so large that even Hongkong Land can only look up to it.

Cheung Kong's strength comes not only from real estate, but also from its diversified business development.

"Is Mr. Chen Guangliang preparing to retire? Chen Wenjie is his eldest son, who not only serves as the vice chairman of the board but also as the group's general manager. This is clearly a move to take over!"

“It’s also possible that Mr. Chan Kwong-leung’s business is too big, and Chan Man-kit is the eldest son, who is already 36 years old this year, so he is ‘semi-retired’ from Cheung Kong Holdings and is giving Chan Man-kit a final push!”

"A 36-year-old group general manager, I wonder if he can hold onto this vast business empire. Cheung Kong Holdings not only has a huge business in Hong Kong, but also a considerable overseas business. I heard that the Shangri-La Hotel in Sing Tao has a total investment of US$5000 million!"

For a time, some dissenting voices arose.

Little did people know that Chen Guangliang made this decision because Chen Wenjie was not only a top student in business management at Harvard, but also had worked for 15 years and was ready to take charge of Cheung Kong Holdings.

Of course, Chen Guangliang still serves as the group's chairman, and he will still offer guidance to Chen Wenjie on some key issues. However, going forward, he will choose to communicate directly with Chen Wenjie rather than issuing orders in meetings.

Sun Hung Kai Properties.

Looking at the Cheung Kong Group announcement in the Oriental Daily News, Guo Desheng couldn't help but say to his two partners, Li Zhaoji and Feng Jingxi, "I've long heard that the four members of the Chen family are all outstanding individuals, and that the Chen family will likely become even more prosperous. Now it seems that this is indeed the case!"

Li Zhaoji and Feng Jingxi both nodded in agreement.

Fung King-hei said, "The eldest son will inherit Cheung Kong Holdings, the second son will inherit Worldwide Shipping, the third son will inherit Cheung Kong Industries, and the fourth son will inherit Ping An Bank. With Mr. Chan Kwong-leung's guidance behind the scenes, Hong Kong will still belong to the Chan family in the future."

When this is mentioned, everyone feels a sense of overwhelming pressure.

Li Zhaoji said, "It is said that Cheung Kong Holdings has been the biggest buyer of real estate properties this time. It seems that their grasp of the real estate situation is still far superior to ours!"

They bought at rock-bottom prices only when the uproar had subsided, starting in November or December, or even formally intervening in early 1968. Even so, this was already the fastest and boldest reaction from Hong Kong businessmen.

As a result, the property was completely ignored from May 1967.5 to November 1967.11.

Guo Desheng said, "No matter what, our goal remains ambitious. One day we will become a large enterprise like Cheung Kong and Hongkong Land."

"Brother Sheng is right."

After Fung King-hei and Lee Siu-kei left, Kwok Tak-seng looked at the announcement in the newspaper and fell into thought.

Sun Hung Kai Properties, shouldn't his three sons take over in the future? After all, who wouldn't want to build a dynasty like the Chan family?

Banishing the idea from his mind, Guo Desheng felt that the time was not yet right. In fact, Feng Jingxi and Li Zhaoji also had their own businesses.

On the first day back to work after the New Year, Chen Wenjie's convoy of two cars arrived on time at the Poly Plaza on Pedder Street—the headquarters of Cheung Kong Holdings.

Shortly after, he entered the conference room, where all the group's management and the heads of the five major business segments—real estate, commerce, hotels, retail, and food—were already present.

"Today, I will be chairing the New Year's group meeting!"

Everyone nodded in agreement, realizing that the chairman would likely become the 'pillar of the company' from now on, and that the group would actually be managed by the eldest son.

Chan Man-kit continued, “In the new year, Hong Kong’s economy will see a full recovery, and we should continue to uphold the principle of ‘steady progress without forgetting development, and development without forgetting stability.’ Let’s start with the real estate business. Jason (Luk Hiu-ching), could you tell us about the real estate plans for this year?”

Lu Xiaoqing served as the head of Cheung Kong Property's real estate business even earlier than Chen Wenjie became general manager. He is the eldest son of Lu Yuantai, the former general manager of Poly Construction.

“Okay. During this property crisis, Cheung Kong Holdings has acquired 51 sites over the past year and a half, with a total buildable floor area of ​​approximately 400 million square feet, equivalent to roughly 7000 residential units. This year, we will use profits from property development (for sales purposes) to continue acquiring sites as land reserves. This year, we plan to sell 1500 residential units. At the same time, infrastructure construction for the Discovery Bay project has begun.”

Chen Wenjie nodded. He had already received his father's "guidance": this year (1969), they should continue to use the profits from real estate development to acquire some land, and then next year they would no longer buy residential land as "reserves." His father's idea was to maintain a five-year cycle, starting in 1969 and ending in 1973, with Cheung Kong supplying 1500 to 2000 residential units annually. This would ensure that all the "land" was used up, ready for the next cycle.

At the time, he didn't quite understand why the profit from selling 1500 to 2000 residential units a year was enormous, given that their land costs were low; moreover, Cheung Kong Property Holdings Limited was a diversified company with controllable costs, covering everything from construction to building materials.

With so much profit, what should be done?
My father's idea was to invest in commercial real estate and hotels, and even overseas real estate businesses.

The Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore is one example; next, the Hong Kong government will inevitably auction off prime commercial land in Central, requiring Cheung Kong Holdings to go all out. Chen Wenjie also understands that his father means to give other real estate developers room to survive, otherwise they will truly become an unparalleled behemoth.

“Hong Kong is still too small,” was a phrase my father often said.

Now Chen Wenjie has come to realize that Cheung Kong Group's annual profits simply cannot be fully invested in Hong Kong; it can only be expanded overseas.

Next, Chen Wenjie continued to chair the meeting: "johnny"

Lam Ko-ming, the General Manager of Commercial Real Estate Management at CK Asset Holdings Limited, who was called upon, immediately began his report.

Lin Gaoming is from Guangdong. He joined Cheung Kong Holdings after graduating from university and has been with the company for 19 years, so he is still very young.

“Since last year, Hong Kong’s rental market has been among the first to recover. The occupancy rates of the Cheung Kong Plaza and Paterson Street projects have reached over 98% so far. The Star House building, which was acquired last year, has also been basically leased out. At the current rent, the investment can be recouped in seven years, which is a very good investment.”

If Hongkong Land hadn't resorted to underhanded tactics, insisting on using HK$2000 million in promissory notes as collateral, Fok Ying-tung probably wouldn't have considered turning to Chan Kwong-leung. After all, from the beginning, Fok Ying-tung and others believed that selling to Hongkong Land was the best solution.

After a meeting, Chen Wenjie was officially in charge.

At this time, Chen Guangliang had actually started working at Cheung Kong Holdings, but he arrived late and did not go to the conference room.

A few days later, Chen Wenjie's wife, Zhuang Yuanzhen, gave birth to another son, making it a joyous start to the year for the Chen family.

Chen Wenjie, 36, is already the father of three sons and one daughter.

This led Chen Guangliang and Yan Renmei to speculate that the Chen family's genes predominantly consist of more boys than girls. After all, Chen Guangliang has 11 sons but only four daughters.

That day, Zhuang Yuanzhen and her son returned to the villa from the hospital. Later, her parents, Zhuang Zhujiu and Sheng Aiyi, also came to the villa to see their daughter and nephew.

Zhuang Zhujiu and his wife Sheng Aiyi have one son and one daughter, and their son is working hard in Singapore.

When they were gathered together, Chen Guangliang suddenly said, "I heard there are some discordant voices within Times Pictures?"

Despite his apparent deference to Zhuang Zhujiu and Sheng Aiyi, Chen Guangliang actually had his own people within Era Films.

Sheng Aiyi immediately said, "Actually, it's because Raymond Chow and his group always create cliques. I always felt they had ulterior motives!"

When her husband was at Era Films, he could keep those people in check. Now that her husband focuses his main energy on TVB, Sheng Aiyi has become the de facto head of Era Films.

Chen Guangliang immediately said, "Your son has no intention of taking over Times Pictures, so what's the point of fighting for power? Besides, you're getting old, so fight less and give the opportunities to the younger generation."

Sheng Aiyi knew that her father-in-law was criticizing her. When she was young, she dared to argue with Chen Guangliang, but now she wouldn't dare at all.

Zhuang Zhujiu decisively said, "Then how about promoting Zou Wenhuai to CEO and appointing Tang Jiaxuan as head of real estate business? Aiyi should also take a good rest. I should actually step down as chairman of the board. Do you have any candidates?"

Chan Kwong-leung said, "The chairman of the board can let him go back to a less demanding role. You can continue to do part-time work, and you can also focus on TVB. After all, all of Hong Kong's entertainment comes from TVB!"

"it is good"

Sheng Aiyi finally couldn't hold back any longer: "Do you think I want to meddle so much? You let your four sons each take over a company, and you don't let them get involved in Times Pictures. We didn't like Yuan Rui getting involved in the entertainment industry from the beginning either, which made him angry and run away to Singapore. If Times Pictures continues like this, won't it become 'someone else's' business?"

What she meant was, if the Chen family doesn't want it, and the Zhuang family doesn't want it either, what will happen to this company in the future?
Chen Guangliang stated directly, "No, as long as I'm still around, Era Films will remain an important piece in my strategy. This has nothing to do with profit; it's the cornerstone of Hong Kong's future cultural industry. Of course, I still hope you'll serve as a director and take care of Mengyi in the future!"

Sheng Aiyi understood now; this was to prepare a dowry for her daughter. She immediately said, "No problem, as long as Mengyi is interested in it!"

The Chen family has always controlled 60% of the shares in Times Pictures, which is proof that they have never relinquished their control. On the contrary, Sheng Aiyi and Zhuang Zhujiu, in order to support their son's business in Singapore, have reduced their shareholding to 20% and have cashed out 2%.

Chen Guangliang then said, "Zhu Jiu, convene a board meeting of Times Pictures recently to make some personnel adjustments. Also, issue a batch of new shares at 60% of the market price to Zou Wenhuai, Tang Jiaxuan, He Guanchang, and others. This is their welfare compensation, which can also be considered as an incentive for senior management. We must stabilize the production and distribution business!"

In recent years, Shaw Brothers films have gradually risen to prominence, showing signs of becoming equal to Era Films. This is mainly due to Run Run Shaw's gradual rise to power, while Era Films had held its dominant position for far too long.

Zhuang Zhujiu nodded and said, "Then, as the major shareholder, you need to send someone to make this proposal, otherwise it's against the rules!"

"Yes, Ping An Investment will arrange for them to attend!"

Then, Chen Guangliang added, "Given that Times Pictures' dominant position has been too long and is now showing signs of weakening, Times Pictures needs new blood. During my time in the United States, I discovered a Chinese martial artist who has a lot of influence. You can ask Raymond Chow to go to the United States to invite this martial artist named Bruce Lee and have him arrange for the world to learn about Chinese Kung Fu through films. Raymond Chow is the professional in terms of the specific methods."

When Li Hanxiang was persuaded by Run Run Shaw to leave, Times Film Company used legal means to make it impossible for him to stay in Hong Kong, and Li Hanxiang was forced to move to Taiwan.

This can also be considered one of Run Run Shaw's methods.

If Raymond Chow were to leave now, wouldn't that mean Era Films would be repeating the mistakes of its predecessor, Shaw Brothers, which was clearly not what Chen Guangliang wanted to see? Therefore, let Bruce Lee take over.

Zhuang Zhujiu then realized that this busy man still cared about Times Pictures.

First, a series of actions were taken to stabilize Raymond Chow and others, preventing them from becoming the next Li Hanxiang; after all, Raymond Chow and others were at most dissatisfied with their income, and issuing new shares and selling them cheaply to Raymond Chow and others was equivalent to making them shareholders in disguise.

"clear"

Chen Guangliang said, "That's not all! In the future, if we want to attract talent, such as Li Hanxiang and Bruce Lee, who have their own skills and box office appeal, we must allow them to set up their own companies and cooperate with us. It's similar to the satellite company system in Hollywood, otherwise we will be eliminated. So you need to communicate this point with Raymond Chow in the future!"

Zhuang Zhujiu nodded and said, "Indeed. Li Hanxiang's departure was nothing more than a matter of fame and fortune, which is why he was swayed by Run Run Shaw. I've made a note of it; we'll make arrangements in the 1970s!"

"Feasible" (End of Chapter)