Li Zhaoji

Li Zhaoji

Li Zhaoji was born in Daliang, Shunde, Guangdong Province on February 20, 1928. He ranks fourth in his family, so he has the title of "fourth uncle". Hong Kong real estate developer, chairman of Henderson, chairman of China gas and vice chairman of Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. The Li Zhaoji family is one of the four largest families in Hong Kong.

In 1996, Li Zhaoji was rated as the richest man in Asia by Forbes magazine, ranking fourth in the world. This is also the highest ranking of Chinese in the Forbes rich list. In 1997, Li Zhaoji was once again ranked as the richest man in Asia. According to Forbes' Hong Kong rich list released in 2020, Li Zhaoji ranks first with a value of US $30.4 billion. Currently, he is the chairman of Henderson group. He is the chairman and general manager of Hong Kong Henderson Development Co., Ltd. and Henderson real estate Co., Ltd., the chairman and President of Henderson China Group Co., Ltd., the chairman of Hong Kong China Gas Co., Ltd., the vice chairman of Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., Meihua Hotel Enterprise Co., Ltd., Hong Kong Ferry (Group) Co., Ltd. and Bank of East Asia Ltd., vice president of Hong Kong Real Estate Construction Association, Hong Kong affairs consultant, member of Preparatory Committee and Selection Committee of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, honorary president of Hong Kong Shunde Fraternity Association, honorary president of world Shunde Fraternity Association.

On June 02, 2015, the chairman of Henderson real estate, Li Zhaoji, announced his retirement as chairman and managing director of Henderson development. On July 1, he handed over the baton to his youngest son, Li Jiacheng, and arranged for two important ministers, Li Ning and Ou Zhaoji, to assist him. The market believed that it was to pave the way for the succession of Henderson kingdom. In March 2019, it ranked 29th on the Forbes Global list of billionaires in 2019 with a wealth of US $30.1 billion. On May 28, Li Zhaoji resigned as chairman and general manager of Henderson real estate Co., Ltd., member of the nomination committee and Remuneration Committee, and continued to serve as executive director of the company. On February 6, 2020, with a fortune of US $30.4 billion, Li Zhaoji ranked No.1 in the "list of the top 50 richest people in Hong Kong in 2020".

Character experience

Early experience

When Li Zhaoji was born, his father, Mr. Li Jiefu, had owned two stores, tianbaorong gold shop and Yongsheng bank, which were engaged in gold, exchange and foreign currency trading. As soon as he was sensible, Li Zhaoji was sent to a private school to receive education. He was familiar with the four books and five classics, and had a strong interest in reading ancient books. When he was 10 years old, his father also invited Mr. Liang Huimin, a professor of literature at Sun Yat sen University in Guangzhou, to be Li Zhaoji's new teacher. Liang Huimin found that Li Zhaoji was diligent in thinking, so he often put forward some questions in combination with the curriculum to enlighten his thinking.

Once upon a time, after Professor Li finished "knowing and then deciding, deciding and then being able to be quiet, being quiet and then being able to be at ease, being at ease and then being able to worry, and thinking and then being able to get", Mr. Liang asked Li Zhaoji to combine this truth with real life to understand. Soon, young Li Zhaoji combined with the gold shop business he had a lot of contact with to give an old answer: "for example, if a person has only one yuan to do business, he has to buy one yuan goods. It's fun to earn, but even if it's eroded. We should know that when we are comfortable, we will not be at a loss. Only in this way can we be calm in mind and body and not be attacked by evil thoughts. Then we can have a clear mind, calm in mind, calm in nature, and be at ease in mind. At this time, we can deal with things calmly, consider carefully, plan our future career development, and achieve natural achievements. " After hearing this, Mr. Liang Huimin was filled with emotion.

From the age of 6, Li Zhaoji was arranged by his father to study business in the shop. The mother was a little worried that her son was too young to deal with the old guys, but Li Zhaoji soon became his father's right-hand man, smart and resourceful, with excellent mental arithmetic ability.

In the gold shop industry, there is a saying that "beat gold to steal gold, beat silver to steal silver". After entering the shop, Li Zhaoji found that his gold shop also had this problem. He wanted to tell his father the news and ask him to take measures, but the goldsmith was extremely short of talents and could not afford to offend him. Therefore, he was worried that the goldsmith would affect the business of the gold shop after he left. In a dilemma, he decided to learn gold casting technology by himself and no longer be controlled by others.

By the age of 12, Li Zhaoji had mastered the core technology and knowledge of gold viewing, gold melting and gold melting, and soon became the head cabinet of tianbaorong gold shop. He became a child prodigy and gold prodigy in Shunde. His vision of gold identification and gold refining technology were highly praised. He also understood a truth from it: it's better to rely on others than on yourself. To be a boss, you need to have excellent skills.

During the Anti Japanese War, the Central Bank of the national government was still active in trading ocean paper, because people thought it could still be used on the day of recovery. It is also for this reason that everyone only likes to keep complete, straight and smooth banknotes, because they will not be damaged until the day of recovery. As a result, the value of residual and dirty coins at the time of trading will drop by 30% to 40%. Because his family is also engaged in paper money business, this problem has also attracted Li Zhaoji's attention.

Later, inspired by the laundry, he invented a new way to change the old money: soak the old money in water, wash the stains with bleaching powder, then apply a layer of protein to make it strong, and then air dry and iron it. He collected it at a discount of 60% to 70%. After quietly cleaning and tidying it up, he exchanged it at a full price. He not only made a lot of profits, but also got the extra business reason: no matter when and where the goods sell well, they must be well packed.

Mr. Li Jiefu also has business in Guangzhou Bay and needs frequent contacts. After seeing that his son has been able to take charge of the overall situation, he simply handed over the two shops in Shunde to Li Zhaoji. Li Zhaoji, a 15-year-old man with a heavy responsibility, also lived up to his high expectations and made his business prosperous. After the defeat of Japan, the currency was extremely devalued. Although Li Zhaoji managed his stores well, seeing the market declining, his father still hoped that he would find another way to show his talents.

To Hong Kong

In 1948, Li Zhaoji, who had been a shopkeeper for four years and had been fully honed, went to Hong Kong alone with 1000 yuan. At that time, there were 20 or 30 Jinpu silver shops in Wenxian East Street, central, Hong Kong, specializing in gold trading, foreign currency exchange, exchange and other businesses. The nature of business was no different from Li Jiefu's Yongsheng bank in Shunde.

When he first arrived in Hong Kong, Li Zhaoji took advantage of his familiarity with currency exchange business to hang up bills in several silver shops and engage in the business of buying and selling foreign exchange and gold. At that time, during the war of liberation, many mainlanders went to Hong Kong, and the foreign exchange business and gold trading business were very prosperous. Li Zhaoji, together with He Xian and others, made a lot of money in the golden war, laying the foundation for his later career.

In the early 1950s, after the liberation of the mainland, Britain quickly recognized China's status and established diplomatic relations. Li realized that Hong Kong would become a bridge between China and the world, so he switched to hardware business and import and export trade, which was very convenient.

Invest in real estate

At that time, Hong Kong's population was growing rapidly, industry and Commerce began to develop, and the housing construction plans of the government and the market could no longer meet the growing demand. Li Zhaoji, who has long believed that physical objects are more valuable than money, decided to march into physical objects (real estate). Later, when Li Zhaoji recalled his life, he said: "when I was seven or eight years old, I often went to my father's shop to eat. I had been influenced by business since I was a child. Later, I worked in Yinzhuang. I deeply realized that no matter legal coins, counterfeit coins, gold yuan coupons, etc., could be turned into waste paper overnight with the change of politics. It made me realize that holding physical objects is the best way to preserve value."

In 1958, Li Zhaoji, Feng Jingxi, Guo Desheng and other eight people formed Yongye company and began to set foot in the real estate business. After the establishment of the company, they launched the method of "layered sale and ten-year installment payment", which is aimed at the middle and lower classes of the public. It has changed the way of real estate management in the past, making the business very hot, and all the buildings built have been sold out.

In 1963, Li Zhaoji, Guo Desheng and Feng Jingxi reorganized Yongye and established Sun Hung Kai enterprises Co., Ltd. Mr. Guo Desheng, who is older and owns 40% of the shares, is the chairman of the group, while Mr. Li Zhaoji, who is the youngest and owns 30% of the shares, is the vice chairman and general manager.

As the general manager, Li Zhaoji is mainly responsible for three things: first, the design of building drawings; second, the purchase of land; third, the sale of buildings. For these three things, he is dedicated to each and every thing, and uses them to train his skills. Li Zhaoji was able to judge whether there was something wrong in the design of the drawing after looking at it, which made his famous university planners feel inferior. He is also very good at buying land. Once, he got the news that Zheng Zongshu, the owner of the old Lijing building in Queen's road, intended to sell the land and had promised to sell it to others. He quickly asked, "who is familiar with Zheng Zongshu?" The left and right people were unable to answer, and were reminded that the other party would sign a sales contract in the law firm tomorrow. Li Zhaoji listened, nodded and said, "that means I still have the night tonight." Sure enough, after many inquiries, he found a way. In the early morning, he called a friend who was familiar with Zheng Zongshu. In a few days, he got the land. In the following years, he always maintained the spirit of identifying goals and perseverance. Li's approach to land acquisition is also different.

In Hong Kong, Henderson rarely participates in the government's land auction, but there are always ways to buy sites with high quality and low price, according to the Chinese business strategy. This is mainly because Li Zhaoji has two magic weapons. The first is the purchase of "type B land exchange certificate". At that time, the Hong Kong government expropriated the agricultural land in the new territories for development purposes by using the land exchange rights and interests certificate to collect the land from the farmers in batches until the government had land to build houses

Chinese PinYin : Li Zhao Ji