A true story

CHINESE CHINESE

A TRUE STORY
THE HONG KONG SWEATER TYCOON

STORY AS TOLD BY WONG Copyright © 2009
WRITTEN BY HANI LAW Copyright © 2009

All copyrights are reserved for the author. The use of any
part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or
otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior
consent of the publisher or writer is an infringement of the
copyright law.

A true story about a young man who left China and went to
Hong Kong in search for a better living after the Communist
Party had taken over China, with only HK$17 in his pocket, and
later became a multi-millionaire businessman. The true names
of all the characters in this biography are replaced by fictitious
names.

CHAPTER 1
After the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, China became a republic in 1911. In the
early periods of the Republic, China was fragmented as warlords disregarded the
central government and exercised virtually complete control over the areas under
their respective influence. President Sun Yat-sen, the Father of Modern China,
who overthrew the imperial government in China, remained a unifying figure until
his death in 1925.

Chiang Kai-shek eventually emerged as the leader of the Kuomintang
(Nationalist Party). However, not only did he have to deal with a nation thoroughly
plundered by Western powers, but he also had to rid China of the warlords who
divided China into a number of spheres of control. At the same time, there was a
strong Communist following in China led by Mao Ze-dong. Although in 1926,
Chiang Kai-shek defeated the Communist army and forced it to make the famous
Long March to Shensi in North-west China, the struggle between Kuomintang
and the Communist Party continued well into the 1930’s.

Richard Wong was born in China in 1928 in a village called Pine
Garden in Guangdong, China. His father died when he was only
three years old. He was brought up by his mother and his
paternal grandmother. When he was about five years old, he
was sent to a village school. There were no tables at the school
and students had to share the top of the cooking stove as a
table for reading and writing.

(These books were read in the village school)

CHAPTER 2
The struggle between the Kuomintang and the Communist party
weakened China tremendously and left the country vulnerable to Japan’s
expansionist ambitions which led to the Japanese invasion of China in
1937. Shortly after the outbreak of the war, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to
collaborate with Mao Ze-dong and his Communist army to fight against
the Japanese, despite their political differences. After the bombing of the
Pearl Harbour by the Japanese, Chiang Kai-shek, received
considerable financial support from the United States of America. No
sooner had the Japanese surrendered in 1945, then the Communists
and the Kuomintang resumed the civil war in China.
Link to video clipping: JAPAN'S INVASION OF CHINA
In 1938 when Wong was at the age 10 years old, misfortune
struck Wong when his village was overrun by the Japanese
army. All the people had to flee from the village to somewhere
which was not under occupation by the devilish Japanese army.
Wong fled with his mother and grandmother who had bound feet
and could not walk fast. After a bit of scuffing on the road
amongst the fleeing crowd, Wong suddenly lost his mother and
grandmother. Although he tried hard to find them, he was
pushed along by the stream of distressed and frightened people
until he found himself in the woods together with around 40
other people. They were all starving as they had not had any
food for over a day. They ate anything that they could lay their
hands on, such as tree leaves. Wong had some too, but spat it
out immediately – because it was bitter. Some people went in
different directions, and only about 10 adults were left behind
with Wong.

After a while, Wong saw smoke coming up from the top of the
hill in the distance. Wong ran towards it and when he reached
the top of the hill, he was completely exhausted and his feet
were very sore. Then he saw a pond. He quickly rushed
towards it and when he reached the pond, he took off his cotton
shoes and submerged his feet in the water. He cleaned the
blood from his feet which had been badly cut after all those
rough walking in the hills. After resting for some time, he
gradually felt that he was in heaven as he could feel only
tranquility and peace around him. He could hear birds twittering
and see butterflies flying about. The sun was shining gently
from above and a cool breeze swept by him. While he was deep
in thought and did not feel his emptiness of his stomach, a monk
suddenly appeared before him and enquired what he was doing
there. He later knew that he was the abbot of the monastery. He
told the monk about the looting of his village by the Japanese
soldiers and also his misfortune of losing his mother and
grandmother on the run. The abbot offered to warm up a bowl of
rice for him, but Wong was so hungry that he would not wait for
the rice to be warmed up. He ate the bowl of cold rice
ferociously. The abbot asked him if he would like to stay in the
monastery to which Wong gratefully agreed. He felt relieved for
a while, although he could not overcome his sorrow for losing
touch with his family.

During his stay in the monastery, Wong learnt Buddhist
teachings from the abbot who also taught him the daily rituals,
i.e. waking up at 5 a.m., learning to chime Buddhist prayers and
looking after and cleaning the alters. Wong had such a good
memory that he could remember anything that he read through
only two or three times. Waking up early in the morning while it
was still dark, he had to walk for about ten minutes to another
temple to do the morning prayers. He told the abbot that he was
scared of the dark. However, the abbot told him that he was not
in the dark because he had two bright lights in his eyes showing
him the way. From that time onwards, Wong was not afraid of
the dark anymore.

Three months having passed by, Wong missed his mother and
grandmother very much and was always wondering whether
they were still alive. Knowing that Wong was home sick, the
abbot sent a servant to the village and looked for Wong’s
mother and grandmother. It was a day’s journey. With Buddha’s
blessings, the servant brought Wong’s mother and his
grandmother to the monastery. As soon as they saw one
another, they were overjoyed with tears. Wong’s mother and
grandmother then stayed in the monastery for the night.

Although Wong’s mother would like to take Wong home but
having regard to the situation at their home village which was
still a war zone. Chinese males were very often captured by the
Japanese and made slaves for the Japanese army. Reluctantly,
she decided to let Wong stay in the monastery until the war was
over. Wong became a Buddhist monk and studied under the
abbot.

Two years later, in 1940 when Wong was at the age of 12 years
old, the situation in Wong’s home village became somewhat
stabilized although it was still under Japanese occupation.
Wong’s mother decided that it was time for Wong to return
home. However, the abbot told her that Wong was such an
intelligent and blessed child that Wong should stay in the
monastery as his disciple. Wong’s mother begged the abbot not
to persuade her to leave her son in the monastery to devote his
life to Buddhism. She said that Wong was her only son and it
was her duty to see that his son would carry the name of his
father to the next generation. The guilt of not letting the family
name continue into the future would be on her even after death.
The abbot then suggested that he would pay for Wong’s
schooling if she would allow Wong to visit him during the
summer holidays. This was settled and when Wong left the
monastery and walked down the hill with his mother, his eyes
were full of tears. He kept turning his head back to look at the
abbot who stood at the doorstep of the monastery until he could
not see him anymore. Wong would never forget that moment of
profound sadness for the rest of his life.

Wong kept his promise and stayed with the abbot during the
following summer holiday, but when Wong visited the abbot in
the next summer, the abbot had passed away. He was utterly
shattered and heartbroken.

CHAPTER 3
In 1944 when Wong was at the age of 16 years old, he left the
village school and applied for admission to a primary school in
town. At the entrance test, he wrote an essay entitled ‘My
experience of the Japanese war’, because the cruelty and
ruthlessness of the Japanese soldiers had left a deep bitter scar
in his innocent mind. He past the test with flying colours.

He was, amongst a few other brighter children in the village,
admitted to Primary six of the primary school in town. As he
joined the school mid-stream, he found it very difficult to catch
up with the high standard of his classmates. He often had to
return to his previous village school to receive extra tuitions from
his former teacher, particularly in arithmetic. He would never
give up as HE HAD A STRONG AMBITION TO LEARN. He
studied there for a year

In 1945 when Wong was at the age of 17 years old, he was
admitted to Pui Ying Secondary School, a prestigious school in
Sun Wui County where some of the teachers were foreigners.
The then Nationalist government started to conscript
compulsorily and upon hearing the news, Wong’s grandmother
immediately arranged with the local authority for Wong to be
exempted from enlisting, by paying 1,000 catties of grains to the
officials. She also arranged for Wong to go to Hong Kong where
he stayed with his uncle. He lived in Hong Kong for several
months and returned to his home town after the surrender of the
Japanese in 1945. Civil war then broke out again between the
Kuomintang and the Communist.
Link to video clipping: CHINA IN REVOLUTION 1911-1949

             CHAPTER 4
In 1949 the Nationalist government was eventually defeated by the Communists,
who had won enthusiastic support of the people. In the same year, Mao Zed-
dong, the leader of the Communist Party, announced the establishment of
People's Republic of China. Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist government
officials fled to Taiwan where he remained President of the Republic of China till
his death in 1975. Chairman Mao declared that China is against imperialism,
feudalism, bureaucracy, and China would struggle for independence. The new
government started reconstruction of the country to fix such problems as
corruption, illiteracy, inflation and low production.

Mao tried to make China a communism society by every means. He promoted
collective farming and nationalized all commercial and industrial activities, which
had been private up until that point. He introduced new socialist policies and
measures in a rapid pace. Lands were stripped from landowners and wealthy
people who were arrested and taken to the streets to be mocked, insulted and
tortured inhumanely simply because they were not poor. Some were made to
kneel on broken glass and some others had needles inserted into their finger
nails in order to extract information on possible hidden assets. People who could
not bear the physical and mental torture committed suicide by jumping into a well
or hanging themselves. Many were executed. Communist comrades often
harassed ordinary people, especially farmers, by knocking at their doors
unannounced, so that they could check on the kind of food they were eating. If
they were having a rich meal or if they had luxurious possessions, they would be
arrested for not contributing all of their wealth to the state.

Wong’s mother and grandmother were taken to the streets once
because they were landowners. They were humiliated publicly
by being thrown stale food leftovers. In October 1950, when
Wong was at the age of 22 years old, a good friend of his, who
was a member of the Communist Party, advised him to go to
Hong Kong. Although his friend did not elaborate on why he had
made such a suggestion to him, Wong sensed that his friend
was aware that there would be political instability in the country.
During that period travelling out of China was restricted. A
person needed to apply for an exit permit in order to leave the
country and he had to get two sponsors to support the
application for the exit permit. Wong kept this piece of precious
advice in his head and waited for an opportunity to go to Hong
Kong.

One day, Wong saw an announcement in Da Gong Newspaper
saying that people might apply for an exit permit to leave the
country. After making some enquiries, he understood that the
process would take up to a year to complete. He immediately
obtained an application form which he took four days to
complete. All the details of his life had to be filled in, from birth to
the moment the form was completed. If the government found
out that the information he had provided was not true, he would
be executed. Three days after submitting the application, Wong
was sent for an interview. He arrived at the office of the local
village leader at 8.30am, and waited until 9.30 am before he
was summonsed to a room, where six people were seated
round him in a circle. Although the seating arrangement and the
whole atmosphere were intimidating and made Wong very
uncomfortable, he stayed calm and answered all the questions
put to him confidently. When asked why he wished to leave the
country, he said in reply,

“I love my country and want to stay. However, I have not been
able to find a job in banks or in the government. I am now
unemployed. Please look at the details of my resume. I am not a
landowner, neither am I rich; I may only be regarded as a well
off peasant. The British suppressed our people in Hong Kong,
and we Chinese should go out there to oppose the British.
Under the standard grading evaluation, I am not a landowner.
Look, I have brought these four books with me, and they are my
guiding light:”

1)      LAND REFORM REGULATION by Liu Shaoqi
土地改革法 – 刘少奇
2)       CULTIVATION OF A COMMUNIST PARTY MEMBER by
Liu Shaoqi
论共产党员的修养 – 刘少奇
3)       PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC DICTATORSHIP by Mao
Zedong
论人民民主专政 - 毛泽东
4)      HOW TO DEAL WITH PEOPLE'S INTERNAL
CONFLICTS - by Mao Zedong
如何正确地处理人民内部矛盾 – 毛泽东

WONG HAD THE INTELLIGENCE AND WIT TO COPE WITH
THE CHALLENGING CIRCUMSTANCES. In fact, what the
officials were looking for was the ‘correctness’ in ideology, and
a ‘clean’ family background. Finally, he was granted the exit visa
to leave for Hong Kong.

At that time restriction was imposed on foreign exchange. The
maximum amount that any person was allowed to take out of the
country was HK$20. At that time all Wong had got with him was
enough local currency to exchange it to HK$17. He immediately
ran home and grabbed a few clothes and took a train to Jiang
Men and then a boat to Hong Kong via Macao.

When he was on board the boat sailing to Macao, he saw a
Chinese soldier questioning another passenger why there was
a number tag attached to a pair of trousers found in his luggage.
The passenger explained to the soldier that the tag came from a
laundry shop. The Chinese soldier did not believe him and
removed the passenger from the boat on suspicion of
espionage – he thought that the number on the trousers might
be the number of a Nationalist army number.

That evening, Wong arrived at Macao and checked into an inn.
He was told by the receptionist in the inn that he should keep
his room locked at all times and should not come out during the
night even if there were noises outside his room. That night he
heard people knocking at his door and loud noises outside the
inn. He turned off the light and kept himself locked in his room,
though he was very hungry. The next morning, he found out that
the commotion was caused by Nationalist soldiers who had
escaped to Macao after the Communist Party had defeated the
Nationalist Party in Mainland China. They lived on robbery,
looking for food and money everywhere. That morning,
struggling with an empty stomach, Wong took a boat to Hong
Kong. On the boat, he was provided with a bowl of rice with
barbecued pork – wow that was the greatest meal he had ever
had and was on cloud nine.

CHAPTER 5
Link to video clipping: HONG KONG IN THE 50's AND 60's
At long last, in 1950 when Wong was at the age of 22 years old,
HE ARRIVED IN HONG KONG WITH THE SUM OF HK$17 IN
HIS POCKET AND THE THREE BOOKS. He soon found
himself a job working as a delivery boy in Red Mark Garment
Factory in Tai Kok Tsui which produced cotton underwear. His
work included making tea for the staff in the office, cleaning,
delivering goods and documents and doing all sorts of odd jobs.
His wage was HK$25 per month, with a hair-cut allowance of
HK$2 paid twice a month. Food and lodging were provided. His
boss also gave him a bicycle for his delivery and errand duties.
At night he slept on the large work tops that were used for
cutting fabrics. He worked incredibly hard, sometimes up to
11pm. He sent home HK$10 to his mother every month and
saved the rest for his own use.

As he was an ambitious young man, he enrolled in a one-year
course on Small Enterprise Management in an evening institute.
If he had any spare time, he would visit the British Council
Library and the Library of the United States Information Service
to seek guidance from the library staff to enrich his knowledge.
As he had limited understanding of the English knowledge, he
often consulted a librarian in the British Council Library who was
most willing to help him learn English. Wong even spent HK$25
on a tape recorder so that he could learn English whenever he
could. HK$25 was a lot of money at that time and it was his
wage for one whole month. HE HAD EXTRAORDINARY
DETRMINATION AND ENTHUSIASM.

The bus fare from work to the evening institute was 20 cents for
a single journey. Wong paid 10 cents for half of the journey, and
walked the remaining half to the institute in order to save 10
cents. After working for several months with the company, he
was allowed to use the bicycle after work. After finishing the
short course on Small Enterprise Management, he enrolled in
New Method College to study English. In the following year, his
performance earned himself a promotion to apprentice and he
was no longer required to deliver goods.

In 1954, when Wong was at the age of 26 years old, he
completed Form 3 in New Method College Evening School. Not
being content with his current circumstances, he started
planning his future. WONG HAD A VISION. He knew that he
definitely had to develop his career further and improve his
financial position. He then applied for the position of Office
Attendant in the Hong Kong Government, which he thought
might offer him better prospects. Unfortunately, the Hong Kong
Government had just changed the entry qualification for this
position and the minimum qualification required was completion
of Form 5. K was naturally disappointed and this led him to think
that he might need a skill, so that he could get a more
responsible and better paid job. To be a car mechanic dawned
on him, but when he found out that it would take him several
years to qualify as a car mechanic, he opted for something else
as the apprenticeship was too long for him.

After pondering for several options, he selected an accountancy
course at Lap Shun College, which was established and
supported by the Nationalist government in Taiwan. However,
he found it hard to grasp the theories of cost accounting and
other accounting practices and quit. He then joined the
bookkeeping course at the Hong Kong Government Evening
Institute (Wah Sheung) where he studied tax return,
bookkeeping, ledger entry etc.

CHAPTER 6
After he had graduated from the bookkeeping course in 1955
when Wong was at the age 27 years old, he found a job as an
accounting officer in Chung Tsing Pharmaceutical Company.
The owner of the company, apart from trading openly as a
pharmaceutical retailer, also ran a parallel smuggling operation.
Wong was often asked by his boss to deliver penicillin and other
medicines to a pilot working for the Philippine Airline who would
then smuggle the medicines to China. At that time,
pharmaceutical products from Europe and the United States of
America were embargoed from being imported into China. Wong
often met the pilot outside a currency exchange shop at the
airport. When the pilot received the medicines from Wong, he
would check the exchange rate at the currency exchange shop
on the spot, and then handed over to Wong the correct amount
of money in Hong Kong currency to take back to his boss.
Although Wong was the messenger, he did not know what was
actually taking place. Sometimes he was short changed by the
pilot and when he told his boss about it, his boss just brushed
the question away.

During his employment with the pharmaceutical company, Wong
slept in a folding bed in the corridor in the shop at night. Meagre
meals were provided by the company, and he was constantly
hungry. His working hours were from 8am to 9pm and got only
one day off a month. Life was hard.
In 1958, as China was getting increasingly distant from Moscow, she strived to be
more independent and launched the Great Leap Forward. The idea was to
mobilize the peasant masses to increase crop production by collectivizing the
farms and use the excess labor to produce steel. What ended up was the
greatest man-made famine in human history. From 1958 to 1960, poor planning
and bad management managed to starve 30 million people to death in China.
The government blamed it on "bad weather."
After working at Chung Tsing Pharmaceutical Company for
three years, and seeing that advancement opportunities were
limited, Wong looked for employment elsewhere and advertised
himself for a job. The boss tried to retain him and when it came
to no success, he forfeited Wong’s bonus amounting to a few
hundred dollars, which was at that time a substantial amount of
money.

CHAPTER 7
In 1958 when Wong was at the age of 30 years old, he was able
to find another job as an accountant in a garment company,
called YM Factory, in Sau Mau Ping. It was a small factory, with
only about 10 workers occupying about 900 sq ft. The factory
manager was the brother-in-law of the boss and Wong believed
that the factory manager got the job not because of his
competence but because of his relationship with the boss.
Stitching was subcontracted to another manufacturer called
Uncle 7. Very often, Uncle 7 did not deliver the goods on time
and on one occasion; there was a huge back log. The boss was
furious because if the sweaters were not finished in time for the
shipment date, he might have to pay compensation and future
orders would be cancelled as a consequence. The boss sought
advice from Wong. Wong said that the bottleneck was with
uncle 7. He also pointed out that his brother-in-law was not
monitoring the process diligently and had tolerated Uncle 7
despite repeated slippage. Wong proposed to his boss that if he
were given a chance to manage the factory, he would turn
around the situation and guarantee that future goods would be
shipped out on time. The boss agreed.

Without wasting any time, Wong invited Uncle 7 to tea. Uncle 7
had already guessed what Wong wanted to speak to him about.
Uncle 7 was the sole subcontractor for YM Factory, and as he
was the sole subcontractor, he thought he was holding a trump
card. When K gave him an ultimatum that he should have all the
goods delivered on time, Uncle 7 was not happy although he did
not say much during the meeting.

However, when Wong went back to the factory the following
morning, he was shocked to find that Uncle 7 had returned all
the sweaters, unstitched. They were piling at the factory
entrance. Wong knew right away that that was the result of his
meeting with Uncle 7 the previous day. WONG WAS SMART
AND ASTUTE AND WAS NOT AFRAID TO TAKE RISK.
Wong thought for a little while and then decided to take all the
sweaters in a large van to Kennedy Town where there were
many housewives who supplemented their household income
by working at home. He banged a gong, and called out “HK$5
per dozen for same day delivery to Sau Mau Ping.” The wage
that he was offering in Kennedy Town was twice the amount
that he paid to Uncle 7. His strategy was either he would lose
an order worth HK$100,000 and this customer in the future, or
he would still be able to make the delivery on time, but with a
very low margin. With much confidence, hard work and strive,
Wong succeeded in getting over the crisis. From that time
onwards, Uncle 7 knew that YM Factory would not solely rely on
him and would never hold it to ransom again.

Wong was later promoted to the Factory Manager, the boss’s
brother-in-law, returned to his home village in China. As Wong
was not proficient in English, he hired a secretary to assist him
in dealing with overseas buyers and correspondence from
abroad.

In 1961 when Wong was at the age of 33 years old, there was a
financial crisis in Hong Kong resulting in a run in the Canton
Trust Bank and the Hang Seng Bank. Banking facilities for YM
Factory from six banks were withdrawn and pressure was
mounting on the boss to pay back his debts. He denied
complete liability and told the creditors that the debts had been
raised by Wong. Although Wong had been very loyal to his
boss, he had no alternative at this point but to defend himself by
advising the creditors that he was not an authorized signatory
for the company. Wong recommended to his boss that the best
solution was that the company should wind up.

By this time, Wong’s reputation has flourished in the garment
trade. He was well-known for his outstanding entrepreneurship
and management skill and his passion of his work. Furthermore
he was very hard working. Lots of other garment companies had
offered Wong jobs with good compensation packages, but he
turned them all down. Why? The reason was Wong was a man
of principle and believed that it was morally wrong for him to
work for a competitor of his boss.

In the middle of all these troubles, Wong was approached by BJ
Knitters which offered him a very responsible position in the
firm. BJ Knitters was one of the biggest knitting factories in
Hong Kong in those days. Although Wong found the terms
offered very attractive, he told BJ Knitters that he would accept
the new job only when his boss was not in the same business
as his. Wong did not want to be disloyal to his boss and also
believed that it was unethical to compete with him. However, not
too long later, YM Factory was wound up and he accepted an
appointment as a Manager in BJ Knitters.

                                        CHAPTER 8
After joining BJ Knitters Co in 1964 and when Wong was at the
age of 36 years old, he met his future wife, Mary, who worked
as a correspondent/typist in another department in BJ Knitters
Manufacturing Company. The factory had a space of 90,000 sq
ft, and was situated in San Po Kong. Wong was the only staff
member who was provided with a company car, a Wolseley
saloon, in cream and grey. In those days, it was quite flashy for
people to have a car going about. Business was prospering
under Wong’s leadership and entrepreneurship. Export volume
soared year by year, and BJ Knitters Manufacturing Company
carried most of the premium and prestigious bands all over the
world.
The Great Leap Forward in China ended in failure. Mao Zedong treated any
person who criticized the Great Leap Forward and his other socialist measures
as a capitalist, and labelled him a rightist. He attacked ferociously all the
academics and those who dare express any dissenting voice. Thus conflict inside
the ranks of the Chinese Communist Party was beginning to emerge. Mao
Zedong then mobilized the masses to uproot all Chinese traditional values so as
to confront the opposing factions within the Community Party and to have
stranglehold of the country. His movement soon led to one of the darkest periods
in China’s history - the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976.
Wong was going steady with Mary, and as their relationship
became closer, Mary did not consider it a good idea if both of
them continued to work in the same company. As Wong was
occupying a very senior position, it would be much easier for
Mary to seek employment elsewhere. Mary resigned from BJ
Knitters Co and joined the American Merchandising
Corporation. They married in 1967 when Wong was at the age
39 years old. Their first daughter was born in 1968.

In 1969 when Wong was at the age of 41 years old, a friend of
his invited him to have tea in the Hilton Hotel, which has now
been demolished to make way for the Cheung Kong Centre in
Queen’s Road Central. His friend introduced Wong to a man in
his 70s. This elderly gentleman was the owner of a very
successful manufacturing enterprise which produced shirts,
including ‘Aleo’ shirts. The brand ‘Aleo’ was a very well-known
and popular brand in Hong Kong in those days. He asked Wong
directly and without any fuss how much it would cost to start up
a sweater factory. Wong said in reply that the capital investment
would be between HK$500,000 and HK$600,000. Without any
hesitation, he said to Wong, “I will let you have HK$1million to
start up a factory.” During those days, an average office worker
earned about HK$350 per month. Wong found this offer too
sudden and asked for one week to consider it. His request was
declined and instead, he was given only three days to give a
response. On the third day, Wong was invited to meet the
“Aleo” shirt man again. He told Wong that he had spoken to his
boss, Joe, who had agreed to release him so that Wong could
work for him. He handed Wong a cheque for HK$1million and
Wong would receive 10% profit sharing if he was to go on
board. Subsequently, Wong found out that this “Aleo” shirt man
had a very high standing in the garment industry and
commanded lots of respects from amongst his contemporaries.
The reason why he tried desperately to hire Wong was because
Wong had been introduced to him by many of his customers
overseas. Customers would switch their suppliers to him if
Wong worked for his company.

CHAPTER 9
In the same year, Wong set up MB Manufacturing Company,
with a capital of HK$1 million for the “Aleo” shirt man. Within a
year Wong managed to capture orders from Sears, JP Penny,
Macy’s, AMC, and many others. Soon afterwards, Sears
showed an interest in acquiring MB Manufacturing Company,
and insisted on retaining Wong as the one in charge. Sears
proposed that Wong would receive a salary of $1,700 per
month, which would be frozen for the next three years. Wong
did not consider the offer favourable and instead counter-
proposed that he be allowed to receive merchandise rebate
from the customers, with 51% of the rebate going to the
company and the rest going to his own pocket on top of his
salary. The due diligence lasted for several months and finally
MB Manufacturing Co withdrew from the acquisition offer
because the United States had started imposing quotas on
Hong Kong exports to America.

By 1972 and when Wong was at the age of 43 years old, he
was very well-known in the garment business in Hong Kong. He
had established a very trustworthy and solid business
relationship with many overseas customers. After he had
repeatedly been encouraged by his friends and customers to
start a new knitting factory of his own, he put together all his
savings, a total of HK$35,000, and raised 10% share equity
from a friend Biu to establish his own business. He also
received HK$30,000 from a former employee of YM Factory as
part of the investment. Wong used to allow this former
employee of YM Factory to leave early from work to study at an
evening school, despite objections from the boss. After
completing his secondary education in the evening school, he
worked in the Ruby Restaurant, a job offering better prospects.
He started low but later reached very senior levels in the
restaurant group. This former employee of YM Factory was
grateful to Wong because he was given a chance to pursue his
education while he was working for him.

After much preparation, the big day came. A new knitting factory
was set up in San Po Kong. Wong named this company SUN
TIN KNITTERS COMPANY. Although Wong was doing well,
there were ups and downs. There was one incident about which
Wong could never forget. Owing to one late shipment, the letter
of credit in question expired, thus causing Wong some cash
flow problems. Outside debts and workers’ wages were also
mounting up. He could not borrow from banks any more as he
had no capital assets. Wong tried to borrow from his friends to
get over this financial crisis, but he knew that no individuals
would lend large sums of money to him. Wong devised a very
ingenious plan in order to tie himself over the predicament. He
separated his friends into three groups. He borrowed from his
friends in group A, and then settled the debts in two months by
borrowing from the friends in group B. He paid back the friends
in group B also in two months by borrowing from his friends in
group C who would be paid back when his overall financial
situation improved. Through this ‘phased borrowing’, he
managed to clear all his debts within one year. Wong had the
INTELLIGENT, PERSEVERING and was COMMITTED.

A new policy was later introduced by United States which
imposed quotas for the import of garments. Any new knitting
factory wishing to export to the United States and did not have
any or enough quotas for export needed to purchase them.
Therefore there was a great demand in the market for quotas.
Prices for the quota for exporting sweaters to the Untied States
soared from HK$1 per dozen to HK$10 per dozen within a
matter of several years. With his long history in the sweater
business, Wong had in hand more than enough quotas for his
export business. Business had expanded so much that Wong
had to move the 3,000 sq ft. factory to a new factory in Lai Chi
Kok which had a floor area of 8,000 sq ft.

By that time, Wong had bought a luxurious apartment of 1,400
sq ft. in Waterloo Road for his family of three children, the last
one being a boy.

CHAPTER 10
In 1978, China started opening up trade with the West.
In 1979 when Wong was at the age of 46 years old, the British
government initiated talks with China over the future of Hong
Kong after 1997. This was only three years after the Cultural
Revolution in China and most people in Hong Kong were
worried about living under a Communist authoritarian regime if
Britain abandoned Hong Kong. Under this cloud of political
uncertainty and the threat of being ruled by unpredictable
dictatorship, many people in Hong Kong started planning
emigration. Wong visited USA, Australia and Canada with his
family, and finally it was unanimously agreed by all family
members that Toronto would be their new home.

In 1982 when Wong was at the age of 49 years old, he applied
for immigration to Canada as an entrepreneur. His proposed
enterprise was a hand-knit sweater factory which on the one
hand would provide job opportunities for scores of people but
on the other required very little capital investment.

In 1983 when Wong was the age of 50 years old, the whole
family landed in Toronto.

In 1984 when Wong was at the age of 51 years old, he closed
down the factory in Hong Kong but carried on trading in selling
the quotas which he had acquired (quotas were renewed
annually). This lasted for more than 20 years and Wong had
gained substantial revenue out of it.

After settling down in Toronto, Wong had once invested in over
20 properties and he and his wife, opened a fashion boutique to
keep themselves occupied.

Wong is now 81 years old (in 2009) and is enjoying life to the
fullest by listening to classical music, reading Chinese classics,
and frequently globe trotting with his wife. His three children are
now married and have their own families. Wong had made
substantial donations for building schools in rural China.
Although Wong was physically not in China, he believed that his
heart stays in his home country.

Wong’s comments on China in 2009
Economy had to come first before democracy. People have to
be controlled in a certain way as China is a vast country.

                THE END

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