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| Li Ka-shing |
Mr
Li Ka-shing is the Chairman of
Cheung
Kong (Holdings) Limited and Hutchison Whampoa Limited.
Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited is the flagship of the Cheung
Kong Group which has business operations in 53 countries around
the world and employs about 260,000 staff. In Hong Kong alone,
the Group includes eight listed companies with a combined
market capitalization of approximately HKD725 billion (30
November 2011). Hutchison Whampoa Limited is a Fortune Global
500 company.
Mr Li was born in 1928 in Chiu Chow, a coastal city in the
southeastern part of China. Mr Li was forced to quit school
when he was 12 and fled to Hong Kong with his family to avoid
the perils of war. Shortly thereafter, his father suffered
from tuberculosis and passed away in Hong Kong. Before he
was 15, Mr Li had to shoulder the responsibility of providing
for his family and found a job in a plastics trading company
where he labored 16 hours a day. By 1950, his hard work, prudence
and his pursuit of excellence had enabled him to start his
own company, Cheung Kong Industries. From manufacturing plastics,
Mr Li led and developed his company into a leading real estate
investment company in Hong Kong that was listed on the Hong
Kong Stock Exchange in 1972. Cheung Kong continued to expand
by acquiring Hutchison Whampoa and Hongkong Electric Holdings
Limited (renamed
Power
Assets Holdings Limited) in 1979 and 1985 respectively.
Based in Hong Kong, the Cheung Kong Group's businesses encompass
such diverse areas as property development and investment,
real estate agency and estate management, hotels, telecommunications
and e-commerce, finance and investments, retail, ports and
related services, energy, infrastructure projects and materials,
media, and biotechnology. Mr Li is a strong believer in synergy—the
power of combined efforts. This belief is reflected in his
naming his company Cheung Kong Holdings after the Yangtze
River that flows through China, a great river that aggregates
countless streams and tributaries. The Times in the United
Kingdom and Ernst & Young UK jointly named Mr Li as the
Entrepreneur of the Millennium at the turn of the century.
Mr Li believes that anyone can serve society, but only someone
with a giving heart can propel social progress. This is key
to creating a positive virtuous cycle in society. Mr Li established
the
Li Ka
Shing Foundation (LKSF) in 1980 to enhance the impact
of philanthropy through three strategic objectives: 1) nurture
a culture of giving; 2) support education reform initiatives
that encourage long-term thinking, empowerment, creativity,
open-mindedness and constructive engagement with a focus on
positive and sustainable change; and 3) help advance medical
research and services. To date, the Foundation has granted
over HKD12.5 billion to these investments.
Mr Li also founded
Shantou
University in 1981 in Shantou, China, to engineer reforms
in China's education system. Shantou University has nine colleges
including a medical college with five affiliated hospitals.
With students enrolling from all parts of China, the university
has 7,500 undergraduate and 1,500 graduate students.
In
recognition
of his philanthropic efforts and his contributions to society,
Mr Li has received Honorary Doctorates from the University
of Cambridge, the University of Calgary in Canada, Peking
University, and the University of Hong Kong, among others.
Mr Li, a Justice of the Peace, has also received the Grand
Officer of the Order Vasco Nunez de Balboa from Panama, The
Commander in the Leopold Order from Belgium, Knight (Commander
of the Order) of the British Empire, the Grand Bauhinia Medal
of Hong Kong, and the Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur
from the French Government.
Mr Li has two sons. The elder son, Victor, now serves as
Managing Director and Deputy Chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings)
Limited, Deputy Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Limited, and
Chairman of Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited and
CK Life Sciences international (Holdings) Inc. Mr Li's younger
son, Richard, is Chairman of PCCW, one of Asia's leading information
technology and telecommunications companies.
ប្រភព http://www.hutchison-whampoa.com
