In 2008, Sheng Zhiwen, a Jewish billionaire who has been living in Hong Kong for 42 years, finally joined the Chinese nationality he had in mind, knowing that Chinese nationality is the most difficult nationality in the world to join, and it is very incredible for a foreigner to join Chinese nationality.
Sheng Zhiwen was born in Germany in 1950, his father died when Sheng Zhiwen was very young, Sheng Zhiwen's mother immigrated to Canada with Sheng Zhiwen, the pressure of the mother to support the child alone is very large, Sheng Zhiwen knows that his mother is very difficult, although he was still very small at that time, but he helped his mother, from the age of ten he would go to work part-time every day, in the restaurant to do chores. Gradually turn up some money for household expenses.
While the other children were still growing up with their parents, he was able to achieve economic freedom. And at the age of 16, Sheng Zhiwen also used the money he earned to buy the first car in his life. After graduating from high school, Sheng Zhiwen's choice once again puzzled many of his peers, he gave up the opportunity to go to the university to continue his studies, chose to devote himself to business, in his concept, continuing to study will only delay his pace of making money, in the university for a few years the society does not know what kind of changes to go through, it is better to enter the society earlier to accumulate enough experience and wealth. After having such an idea, Sheng Zhiwen was hired to work in a clothing company, in the clothing company, he worked very hard, and the boss of the company admired him very much, because of his excellent working ability, he was promoted very quickly in the clothing company. Sheng Zhiwen, who was only 19 years old, quickly earned a million US dollars, and with this money, he used his natural keen instincts to do business and came to Hong Kong, China to work hard.
Sheng Zhiwen used his accumulated experience in the apparel industry to start his familiar clothing business in Hong Kong. The 1960s and 1970s is the golden age of Hong Kong's garment industry, and the mainland's domestic manufacturing costs are low, taxes are also low, Sheng Zhiwen took advantage of these natural advantages of Doing business in Hong Kong, founded a clothing company called Colby, the company itself did not produce clothing, the main business model is to take China's domestic clothes at low prices to get hands, and then package, sell high prices to other countries to earn the median difference, in order to obtain profits, such a business model makes Sheng Zhiwen earn a lot of pots. In 2000, Sheng Zhiwen resold Colby Clothing Company to Li & Fung, a listed company in Hong Kong at the time, and successfully cashed out two billion Hong Kong dollars.
Sheng Zhiwen is very good at business, but he will not be satisfied with everything he has in front of him, while making money in Hong Kong, while looking for more opportunities to invest, using the power of money to the maximum, but also in order to be able to get more wealth.
What to do in that era is a business opportunity, although at that time in Hong Kong developed a lot of construction industry, clothing industry, the rapid development after the founding of New China, Sheng Zhiwen deeply experienced, he felt that the bar is a new industry, and in the Chinese entertainment industry is indeed relatively few, people can not only work without leisure, after all, everyone still needs to do relaxation when necessary, in Hong Kong inspected a circle, Sheng Zhiwen did not find anyone to do this business, thinking that this business may be a good business opportunity, What really made him decide to do this industry was because the partner came to Hong Kong to see the clothing, after the party, the partner said that he wanted to relax and relax, but did not find a decent place of leisure and entertainment, the partner complained to Sheng Zhiwen that the facilities here are not as complete as their country, it is really not interesting. With this encouragement from his partners, Sheng Zhiwen strengthened his determination.
He thought of making a different bar, the bar and restaurant together, there is no need to let consumers travel between the two places, but also in order to facilitate their own hosting business partners, he gave his restaurant a more foreign name: "California", at that time in Hong Kong's house prices were already very high, Sheng Zhiwen naturally understood this very well, when the Hong Kong government began to rebuild the city in the central and western districts of Hong Kong. Sheng Zhiwen rented a floor for opening restaurants and bars under the impetus of the policy, during the trial operation, many local youth came here to consume, the situation was very optimistic, with the inflow of these funds, Sheng Zhiwen thought of bringing this building down, so that he did not have to give rent, and he also had a lot of savings in his hands at that time
So he bought the whole building for 32 million Hong Kong dollars. After the building was bought, he made a comprehensive renovation and design of the interior of the building, and the previous office area was all converted into a restaurant by him, and it was also rented out to people who needed to do business, becoming the main property of the building. Under his management, this building on an L-shaped uphill trail in Hong Kong's Central district became a famous attraction in Hong Kong. There are also many customers coming and going.
Sheng Zhiwen also in some other shops along the street that do not sell stretched out their fists, transformed them one by one into a comprehensive restaurant, the whole block has a new name after the integration, called Lan Guifang, this name sounds very Chinese culture, which also has a great relationship with Sheng Zhiwen likes Chinese and Chinese culture, and although Lan Kwai Fong is Chinese name, it is more focused on the entertainment and leisure places for Westerners. Sheng Zhiwen has also done a lot of additional restaurant operations to add more added value to the restaurant, for example, on Halloween, this place has become a gathering place for Westerners, where they can enjoy happiness and get discounts here. For the young people in Hong Kong, it is also very suitable for them to spend and relax after work. The more guests, the more Sheng Zhiwen earns.
Sheng Zhiwen also has plans to expand his business, he wants to open Lan Kwai Fong to other cities, so that more young people like this place, there are two Lan Kwai Fong in Shanghai to receive local guests. Sheng Zhiwen has a more ambitious goal, he feels that there are many opportunities in the mainland, so in the next step he also wants to open Lan Kwai Fong to Beijing and other cities.
In 2010, Sheng Zhiwen opened Lan Kwai Fong to Chengdu, Chengdu here everyone should hear the name will think of some reputation such as "Tianfu Capital" Chengdu also has a major feature is very inclusive, people living here nightlife is also relatively rich, the overall is a very leisure city, young people's consumption is also very diverse.
Sheng Zhiwen was a business opportunity found when he was on a business trip in Chengdu, and then he began to make investments, and when Lan Kwai Fong was officially operating in Chengdu, he did usher in the patronage of many young people. To this day, because of the land price and company transformation Sheng Zhiwen to the mainland more than a dozen Lan Kwai Fong has been shut down, but he still retains Lan Kwai Fong in Chengdu, for this he also has a blueprint for the future, in the future he intends to carry out joint ventures with the mainland, lan Kwai Fong into an asset-light model to create a unique brand effect, we believe that under his leadership and planning, Lan Kwai Fong will become better and better, will also have its own unique side.
In addition to getting involved in the catering industry, Sheng Zhiwen also has business talents in other fields, such as investment in movies, Sheng Zhiwen does not understand movies, he is a businessman, but for investment he will first look at business opportunities, is there really a market, and then decide whether to invest, he pointed the spearhead at Hollywood movies according to the market situation, Hollywood movies reflect not only western people like to watch, even China is also very fond of Hollywood movies, each release has a good response, So Sheng Zhiwen's investment undoubtedly went to Hollywood movies, and it turned out that he was right this time. He knew that investing in Hollywood movies was a lot of money, but he thought of a way to make a steady profit – pre-sale publicity in advance, test the popularity of the movie in this way, and then sell it according to actual feedback. I have to say that Sheng Zhiwen is really good at risk assessment and explosive model building.
Hong Kong's tourism industry depression period, Sheng Zhiwen and other investors who avoided the same, he became the chairman of Hong Kong Ocean Park, after joining Ocean Park, he thought of the world-famous Disney Amusement Park at that time, so he made Ocean Park also made another "Disney Amusement Park" to do his own theme, in some large-scale activities, Sheng Zhiwen will dress up as a clown to join the theme activities, and interact with people who come to play and consume, there is no boss shelf at all. After the implementation of these ideas of Sheng Zhiwen, it really changed the previous loss of ocean park, brought ocean park back to life, and after his operation, rescued many people employed in ocean park. On the other hand, it also saved the cold situation of Hong Kong's tourism industry attracting foreign tourists to spend, and the Hong Kong government was very grateful to the Jewish businessman for this, and specially awarded him the Grand Bauhinia Medal, a symbol of supreme honor in Hong Kong.
In 2008, Sheng Zhiwen gave up Canadian citizenship and chose Chinese nationality, for each country, having a businessman settle in nationality is equivalent to improving the country's economic status, so many countries are unwilling to give up attracting foreign businessmen to settle in, the United States once sent an invitation to Sheng Zhiwen, hoping that Sheng Zhiwen could join the United States nationality, but Sheng Zhiwen refused, and instead joined the Chinese nationality, Chinese nationality is very difficult to join, Sheng Zhiwen's decision his family is also very incomprehensible, But he gave up his ideas without hindrance, and it took him nearly a year to convince his family to agree to Chinese citizenship. Many media reporters, especially foreign reporters, also interviewed Sheng Zhiwen on purpose, asking why he joined the Chinese nationality and gave up the nationality of the United States and Canada.
And from a practical point of view, wouldn't it be better to become a U.S. and Canadian citizen? But Sheng Zhiwen's answer made them dumbfounded, he said: "I was born in Germany, and I lived in the United States and Canada when I was a child, but my favorite country in my heart is still China, living in China for most of my life, I have developed a deep affection for China, I have never felt that I am a foreigner, I feel that I am a Chinese."
If I had to use a figurative metaphor, I might be a white-shelled egg, but when you peel off the shell, you will find that my heart is yellow, that is a Chinese heart. In the face of some foreign journalists hoping that Sheng Zhiwen can say some bad things about China, Sheng Zhiwen will say every time: "China is developing very well now, and it will be better in the future, and I believe that under the leadership of the Chinese government, Hong Kong will develop better and better in the future." Such an answer made these uneasy and kind foreign journalists very embarrassed, but they did not have much to say, but they thought that Sheng Zhiwen was too crazy, and in their cognition, China could not develop so well.
And Sheng Zhiwen did not make any explanations for these evaluations, nor did he theorize with them, he only trusted his intuition.
In 1997, on the night of Hong Kong's return to China, Sheng Zhiwen's Lan Kwai Fong also stayed up all night, which gathered a lot of foreigners, and they have always been in a state of optimism for Hong Kong's return to China. And constantly in the bar to express their own ideas, but also ask everyone to express their own opinions, Sheng Zhiwen is also on the scene, for everyone's disapproval, Sheng Zhiwen has issued a different voice, he has been repeating: "No, no." ”
He was already in Hong Kong in the early 1970s, and he knew more than many people about the cultural atmosphere and political status quo of hong Kong as an outsider, and he had confidence in Hong Kong and great confidence in Deng Xiaoping's "one country, two systems", so he was very convinced that although after the return of Hong Kong, many people in Hong Kong would be more confused, but this was only for a while, and it would not last long. After the return of Hong Kong, he also found that Lan Kwai Fong had received some foreigners before, but now there will be many Chinese, which is also a kind of leap forward.
As a businessman Sheng Zhiwen has the wisdom of doing business, after having wealth, he does not forget to use his ability to help people in need, after the tsunami in Phuket, many people in the local area were displaced, at that time Sheng Zhiwen was dealing with business matters there, he also had a lot of industries in the local area, seeing that the situation was very urgent, he did not choose to return to China like most people but stayed in the local area to help refugees through the difficulties. In 2021, henan had a huge flood, and Sheng Zhiwen donated 10 million yuan to Henan through its subsidiary Wynn Macau as disaster relief funds.
Sheng Zhiwen is really using his own actions to prove his love for China and his sincere heart for this land! As he himself put it--- "I have never regretted joining Chinese nationality, and as a Chinese I am proud." "As a native, we also welcome this foreigner to join our family of 1.4 billion people and work together for China's future development!"