In 2021, a movie with the theme of Tianhou Mui Yanfang was released, in the movie, those old buildings in Hong Kong once again returned to the public's attention, and the reproduction of Lee Garden and Lee Stage made many Hong Kong people fall into memory.
Few people know that Mei Yanfang became famous in the first battle on the Causeway Bay Lee Stage and slowly moved to the position of "Queen of Heaven".
Lee Stage Theatre was once the most classic opera house in Hong Kong, in 1994, Lee Stage retained the original classical style, the new design added elements of the French Theater Building, renamed Lee Stage Square.
The Lee Stage Theatre was built by Lee Hysan, the founder of the Lee Hysan family, one of the four major families of the British Rule of Hong Kong period, and the main purpose of the construction at that time was to satisfy The idea of Lee Hysan's mother listening to opera.
As a big businessman in the Period of British Rule in Hong Kong, Li Xishen's ability is on par with Du Yuesheng in Shanghai, and "Du Yuesheng in Shanghai, Li Xishen in Hong Kong" says so.
Li Xishen's life is innumerable, he settled in Hong Kong at the age of 17, and gradually became a rich Tao Bai in Hong Kong, with four wives and fifteen excellent children in his life.
Regrettably, When Heysan died on the streets at the age of 49, the only thing left for posterity was Causeway Bay, which was also part of Lee Stage Plaza.
What exactly did Lihesan's life look like? How did he become a rich Man of Hong Kong? Why is the Ritchie family so prestigious?
01 Became Hong Kong's richest man
Li Xishen is a Guangdong Xinhui but was born in Hawaii, the United States, because of his father Li Liangyi, Li Xishen's father Li Liangyi is a "migrant boy" of Guangdong Xinhui, in order to make money and change the status quo, Li Liangyi decided to follow the gold rush to try it.
At this time, it was the boom period of the mainland to go to the United States to pan for gold, and It was under such conditions that Li Liangyi came to the United States, and Li Liangyi made a lot of money because of the gold panning.
In 1882, Li Liangyi returned to his hometown of Xinhui in Guangdong with his wife and children, but the small city could not realize Li Liangyi's dream of becoming rich, so the family moved to Hong Kong.
In 1840, the first Opium War broke out between China and Britain, which ended with the surrender of the Qing government and the signing of the Treaty of Nanking.
In the Treaty of Nanking, Hong Kong and the Kowloon Peninsula were ceded to Britain, and the British, who had received "fat meat", began a series of plans for Hong Kong, the most important of which was the opium business.
After the Second Opium War, China and Britain signed the Beijing Treaty, and at this point, selling opium and opening tobacco houses became legitimate business.
During his time in Hong Kong, Li Liangyi used his talents and interpersonal connections to create a department store "Li Changlong" and a shop selling men's underwear, at first the business was small, not to make money and not to lose money, in his spare time, Li Liangyi also came into contact with the opium business, but Li Liangyi has always guarded his own acres and three points of land, and his involvement in the opium business is very small.
After following his father to Hong Kong, 17-year-old Lee Hysan studied at Queen's College in Hong Kong, where he was one of the top two students in his class and had the best grades.
After graduation, Li Xishen worked as a teacher and occasionally a part-time translator at Huangren College, and in 1879, at the age of 19, Li Xishen married his fellow villager Huang Lanfang.
Huang Lanfang's father was also a businessman and had a solid family, and Huang Lanfang was also a famous lady at that time, and the combination of the two could be described as a talented woman.
After marriage, Li Xishen worked harder, and the translatable position did not meet Li Xishen's pursuit of life, and the process was boring every day at school and home.
In his values, only starting a business like his father Li Liangyi is the best interpretation of life, so Li Xishen quit his job as a teacher and translator at Huangren College, and consulted with several good friends to decide to put the way to make money in the opium business.
Relying on his daring nature, Li Xishen and a few good friends jointly opened a company specializing in the opium business, and the legalization of the opium trade allowed Li Xishen to navigate the road of opium business with ease.
As a result, Li Xishen also obtained the patent of Yingzhi Hong Kong, monopolized the opium business in Hong Kong, and became the "opium king", which led to the saying of "Shanghai Du Yuesheng, Hong Kong Li Xishen".
Under the protection of the British government, the opium business has been "booming", the demand for opium has also made Lee Hysan's opium business a lot of money, and Hong Kong has also become an opium trade center and an opium transshipment center in a short period of time.
However, the harm of opium has had a serious impact on the lives of people in Hong Kong and various places, opium is also called big smoke, smokers will gradually become addicted, mentally weak, and some smokers will lose their homes in order to buy opium, and their wives and children will be separated.
Because of this, many merchants preferred to do small business rather than get involved in opium, and the people were extremely dissatisfied with Lihesan's sale of opium.
The plan could not catch up with the changes, the opium business gradually fell to the streets from a big hit, the price drop made the Hong Kong opium companies helpless, and Li XiShen also held a shareholders' meeting to discuss future profit plans because of the sharp decline in opium prices.
Regarding the sharp decline in the price of opium, how the company operates has caused great disagreements among shareholders, who have their own opinions, but most of them support abandoning the opium business and blazing a new trail.
Li Xishen believed that the opium market had a promising future, and after the shareholders' meeting ended with a quarrel, Li Xishen secretly included another opium-based company under his own company, which caused serious dissatisfaction among individual shareholders.
In 1914, the shareholders sued Li Hysan in court for the reason that Li Xi Shen had acquired someone else's opium company, and the court was endlessly argued, and Li Xi Shen spent a lot of money and manpower to win the lawsuit.
In 1918, the four-year "strife war" ended in Li Xishen's victory, and at the same time, the British Government in Hong Kong adopted austerity on the opium business and imposed a ban on the opium business, which was squeezed out of the Hong Kong store at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Li Xishen knew that the opium prohibition order had hindered his own business of making a lot of money, and in order to continue to make high profits in the opium business, Li Xishen explored many ways to change the status quo.
With the help of his friends, Li Xishen learned that although Hong Kong could not continue the opium business, Macau could.
Upon hearing the news, Li Xishen immediately prepared to move the opium business in Hong Kong to Macao, and Li Xishen's opium was also flourishing in Macao, and the business was booming.
Relying on the opium business, the Li Xishen family became rich in an instant, and thus became one of the richest merchants in Hong Kong.
In addition to becoming a wealthy Hong Kong businessman, Li Xishen married his wife Huang Lanfang, and successively took three concubines, and four wives also gave birth to seven sons and eight daughters to Li Xishen.
Perhaps it is really the opium trafficking that harms others and harms himself, and the glory and wealth that Li Xishen has not easily obtained, he has not yet enjoyed a peaceful old age, and his life has stopped at the age of 49.
In 1928, Li Xishen was invited to participate in a banquet held at the Yuji Clubhouse, on the way to the Yuji Clubhouse, Li Xishen was assassinated, shot three times in the body, and died violently on the street, this year, Li Xishen was 49 years old, and his son Li Mingze was still studying outside.
The street quickly dominated the headlines in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong police immediately arrested the murderer, but the scene of Li hysan's death was too chaotic, and the murderer had already escaped without a trace.
In addition, after learning that the murderer escaped in chaos, the Li family immediately issued a reward order, claiming that as long as the murderer who shot the gun could be caught, a reward of 20,000 Hong Kong dollars was offered, but unfortunately, until now, the murderer has not been caught.
02 The successor recreates the glory of the family
Li Xishen's death caused the Li XiShen family to suffer a lot, lost the main heart of the Li family, almost fell to the bottom, fortunately, Li Xi Shen's wife Huang Lanfang came forward in time to stand up to the entire Li Xi Shen family.
Huang Lanfang has been married for many years has always been a low-key affair, but in fact, although Huang Lanfang's ability is far less than that of her husband Li Xishen, it is also enough to support the Li Xishen family.
Moreover, before Li Xishen was violently killed on the street, Li Xishen had already made a will, saying that everything under his name was taken care of by his wife Huang Lanfang.
Huang Lanfang only did two things during the Li Xishen family period, one was to summon the Li family home, and let the eldest son Li Mingze take over Li Xishen's property, while comforting the concubines' mood, maintaining the relationship, and avoiding the disintegration due to property problems.
The second is to assist in the operation of the Liheshen family's property, make plans, and randomly deal with the "tigers" outside.
Huang Lanfang also said: "During this time, the Li family kept a low profile to avoid the outside world from grabbing our small braids and making a big fuss, until all the properties and equity of the Li family were handed over to Li Mingze, and everything returned to its original position." ”
Since then, Huang Lanfang has assisted Li Mingze in managing Li Xishen's industry and company, and slowly transitioned all family properties to Li Mingze.
After limingze, the second generation of the Li family, succeeded him, he immediately issued a new ban prohibiting anyone from the Li family from entering Macau.
The reason for the promulgation of this ban is likely that Li Hysan's death is related to profit, and not stepping into Macau is also for the future of the family.
Wives and concubines are in groups, children and grandchildren are full of halls, the main heart died unexpectedly, and the interior must be torn apart by the division of inheritance, but the Li family broke the original thinking.
Under the personal maintenance of Huang Lanfang, the Li family did not make a big fuss over the division of the inheritance, and the Li family did not decline due to the violent death of Li Xishen, on the contrary, the Li family gradually became one of the few big families in Hong Kong, a rich merchant.
After Li Mingze took over the Li family, he has always been in charge of social affairs, and the company is managed by his younger brother, Li Mingze is outside, and his younger brother is inside, which avoids both the imbalance of brothers and sisters and the internal chaos, which also lays the foundation for the second glory of the Li Hysan family.
In order to reach the peak of glory, Li Mingze led the Lee family to expand the scope of the industry for a time, after the 60s, Li Jia participated in digging mountains and reclaiming the sea, at the same time, participating in the telephone communication industry, according to the data, after li jia joined the telephone communication industry, the number of telephones in Hong Kong soared, with nine times more profits, Li jia also actively participated in social basic services, such as gas supply.
There is a famous tunnel between Hong Kong and the Kowloon Peninsula called the Hung Hom Undersea Tunnel, which spans Victoria Harbour and is the largest tunnel in the world.
At that time, the participants in this tunnel were beneficial, which also created the conditions for Lijia to become one of the richest merchants in Hong Kong.
In addition to his status as a wealthy businessman, Lee Ming-taek was also a patriot, and in the 1970s, Lee Ming-taek visited China many times and funded the education cause in his hometown, and he also led a Hong Kong trade group to West Africa to study.
In fact, Li Mingze is not Huang Lanfang's son, he is the child of the concubine Zhang Ruilian, Huang Lanfang's son Li Xiaohe did not inherit Li Xishen's business, and his ability was vividly displayed in the cultural industry.
In 1967, The Hong Kong Television Broadcasting Company Limited, founded by Lee Hyo Ho and several partners, was formally established, with Lee Hyo Wo as the first chairman, referred to as TVB for short.
Since then, Hong Kong TVB has been popular in the cultural industry, leaping into the world's "famous company", his wife Lu Yanqun is also a famous celebrity in TVB, and her hands and feet are elegant.
03 Causeway Bay Land King
Lee Ming Ze continued to grow and develop the Lee family on the basis of his father Li Hysan, that is, based on the most important "thing" that Lee Hysan left to his descendants, Causeway Bay.
After the opium business fire, Li Xishen began to make money across industries, including the real estate industry.
In 1923, Li Xishen took a picture of the land in Causeway Bay, although Causeway Bay was still a wasteland at this time, but it was definitely a good place to grow opium, Li Xishen thought of this place and immediately contacted Jardine Matheson & Co., the two sides hit it off, Li Xishen successfully bought his favorite land for 3.8 million Hong Kong dollars.
In the face of events, Lee was prepared to plant his own pillar industry opium on this wasteland, but gave up because the British Government banned the opium business.
After the Second World War, the land of Causeway Bay was covered with houses in Lee Hysan, and Causeway Bay became the most prosperous area in Hong Kong.
Renting a house in Causeway Bay costs 200,000 yuan per square meter, and the house price is on an equal footing with Tokyo in Japan and Paris in France, and Li Xishen also makes a lot of money because of rent.
Regarding the building in Causeway Bay, Lee Hysan adheres to the principle of only renting and not selling, occupying half of the real estate in Causeway Bay, and these properties in Causeway Bay are worth 45 billion yuan, providing support for the future generations of Lee Hysan to maintain the Lee family.
Li Hysan's eldest son, Lee Ming-taek, led the Lee Hysan family to continue to get involved in the real estate industry, on the basis of which the Lee Hysan family occupied half the sky in Causeway Bay.
In 1981, Li Xishen's grandson Li Dingchang was also the third generation of li xishen's head of the succession, Li Dingchang succeeded to the throne and established Xishen Xingye Co., Ltd., which controlled 100 billion assets and owned dozens of shopping malls and buildings, including the Lee Stage Plaza, the famous AIA Center, and the Xinning Building.
In 1993, Lee Ding Chang invested heavily in the reconstruction of Lee Garden, which is now the most popular shopping mall building.
The Lee family is still one of the few wealthy merchants in Hong Kong, although Li Xishen grew the Lee family with opium, but under the leadership of Lee Ming-taek, the Lee family has long since departed from the trajectory of opium and prospered to this day.