Speaking of top hotels in Guangzhou, we have to mention the White Swan Hotel. The White Swan Hotel was once a bright pearl of luxury hotels in China, and has made great contributions to China's economic development and tourism development. When it comes to the White Swan Hotel, it is natural to mention Huo Yingdong.
In 1978, Fok Yingdong took a delegation from Hong Kong to Beijing, and that year Zhang Guiyi, the manager of China Travel Service in Guangdong Province, proposed to Fok Yingdong that he hoped that Fok Yingdong would come to Guangzhou to invest in tourism. Lu Xuzhang, director of the Tourism Bureau, rushed to Guangzhou to meet with Fok Ying Tung, who hoped that Fok Ying Tung could take the lead in building a 1,000-room hotel in Guangzhou or Beijing.
Many people may not understand how urgently there was a shortage of top hotels in our country at that time. Bao Yugang, the king of the ship, returned to the mainland to invest, and every time he went to Beijing, he encountered the problem of not having enough hotels to stay. Later, Bao Yugang's daughter Bao Peiqing recalled that when they went to Beijing, sometimes the hotel was not enough to stay, they had to go to Tianjin or Xi'an to stay for a few days, and when the Beijing hotel was available, they could go to Beijing. In fact, such a problem not only plagued Beijing at that time, but also plagued other first-tier cities.
After 1978, China should implement reform and opening up, attract others to invest in China, if there is no hotel, how can foreign investors come to China to invest in construction. Soon, Huo Yingdong decided to invest in the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou to build the first Sino-foreign joint venture five-star hotel in New China.
In fact, it was not only that, but the whole plan was very large at that time. At that time, many Hong Kong businessmen in Beijing promised that Fok Yingdong and Peng Guozhen would invest in the White Swan Hotel together. In addition, led by Hu Yingxiang, together with Li Ka-shing, Li Shau-kee, Guo Desheng and Feng Jingxi, invested in the construction of China Hotel.
In addition, Lee Shau Kee, Ye Han, Kwok Tak Shing, Lee Ming-taek and Huang Qiujian invested in the Garden Hotel. These three hotels not only have a huge impact on Guangzhou, but also on the history of China's hotel industry and the history of China's tourism industry. The China Grand Hotel was invested 2 billion yuan by the five richest people, and it took only 5 years to recover the cost, and then donated to the mainland free of charge.
The place where the China Hotel was built at that time was opposite the Canton Fair, which also played a huge role in the development of the Canton Fair. In addition, the Garden Hotel has been the best hotel in Guangzhou and the best hotel in China for a long time. Whether it is the Garden Hotel or the China Hotel, it is inseparable from the contribution of one person, that is, Lee Shau Kee.
Nowadays, when it comes to Lee Shau Kee, many people will even say that he is Xu Ziqi's father-in-law. In fact, Lee Shau Kee can be said to have made great contributions to the development of China's economy and education. Although Lee Shau Kee is not as good as Fok Ying Tung, his contributions are also few people can compare.
In fact, Lee Shau Kee and Fok Ying Tung can be said to be friends who have been friends for life. In 2006, Fok Ying-tung died, and Lee Shau Kee also personally supported Fok Ying-tung. According to some statistics, since 1982, Lee Shau Kee has donated more than 400 yuan to the education industry in the mainland.
After 1978, Lee Shau Kee began to donate funds to run schools in the mainland, and in his hometown of Shunde, Lee Shau Kee donated 80 million yuan to build Lee Shau Kee Middle School. In addition, Lee Shau Kee donated 1.1 billion yuan to universities in Hong Kong before 2005 and 2007 alone.
In addition, lee shau kee donated 100 million yuan to Cambridge University in 2008, and then in 2009 Lee shau kee donated another 400 million yuan to Peking University and Tsinghua University.
In addition to his contributions to education, Lee shau Kee donated 300 million yuan in 2009 to train 1 million farmers in China. In addition, Lee Shau Kee has donated more than 14 million yuan to build more than 6,000 water cellars in Ningxia.
In the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, Lee Shau Kee donated more than 400 million yuan, he first donated more than 100 million, and then added more than 300 million yuan. In the same year, the Beijing Olympic Games were held, and Lee Shau Kee donated 100 million yuan to the Beijing Water Cube. In addition, Lee Shau Kee has also set up a Shangshan Fund, which plans to donate 10 billion yuan in the mainland to gradually solve the problem of water shortage in the northwest of the mainland.
In 2011, Lee Shau Kee donated another 100 million yuan to Tsinghua University to help Tsinghua University build the Lee Shau Kee Science and Technology Building. In 2015, Lee Shau Kee donated a 10-acre plot of land in Hong Kong to help Po Leung Kuk build a 1,600 low-cost youth apartment project.
In addition, in terms of medical treatment, Lee Shau Kee also made a lot of contributions, he once donated 1 billion yuan to build Sha Tin Yan On Hospital in Hong Kong. Since 1978, Lee Shau Kee has followed in the footsteps of his friend Fok Ying Tung and actively invested in the mainland. The Henderson Center, which Lee Shau Kee built in Beijing, was once known as one of the top ten buildings in Beijing. Over the past 30 years, Lee Shau Kee has invested more than 100 billion yuan in the mainland, which can be said to have made great contributions to the economic development of the mainland.
Lee Shau Kee is low-key and his life style is very simple. Lee Shau Kee still does not ride in luxury cars such as Rolls Royce, and the house he lives in is also rented. Like Li Ka-shing, Lee Shau Kee's personal wealth is greatly underestimated. Lee Shau Kee's assets of at least several hundred billion are invisible.
If you count the real wealth, Lee Shau Kee can be said to be the real richest man in China. Who is richer, Lee Shau Kee or Lee Ka Shing? At least Lee Shau Kee once created a peak that Li Ka-shing did not reach. In 1996, Lee Shau Kee became the fourth richest man in the world.
However, after 1997, Lee Shau Kee gradually concealed his assets. Today, Henderson Land, which is controlled by Lee Shau Kee alone, has at least nearly 200 billion assets hidden. Henderson Land's net assets are as high as more than 300 billion, but the company's market value is only more than 150 billion, which can be said to be greatly undervalued.
Henderson Group is also the controlling shareholder of many companies such as Hong Kong Ferry, Miramar Hotel and China Gas. Lee Shau Kee's wealth is definitely greatly undervalued. 11 years ago, Lee Shau Kee once spent 1.8 billion yuan to buy a piece of land on the top of Hong Kong Hill, and then Lee Shau Kee built three villas on this land, the entire huge project, has not been completed so far, a total of this project, Lee Shau Kee will spend at least 5 billion yuan of funds, which also shows Lee Shau Kee's wealth.
However, Lee Shau Kee built these mansions not for himself, because Lee Shau Kee is 93 years old, and the house has not yet been completed, even if it is built, Lee Shau Kee can still enjoy a few years. Lee Shau Kee is only for his own descendants, because now the third generation of the Lee Shau Kee family is thriving, so Lee Shau Kee's original house is not enough to live, so he spent a huge amount of money to build these three villas. Lee Shau Kee is definitely a vastly underrated generation of business legends.