香港富豪家族準(zhǔn)備交棒

As Robert Kuok completed his memoirs in 2003, he began to have second thoughts. Worried that he had been too critical in parts — especially of some people he felt had cheated him over the years — the Chinese-Malaysian tycoon decided that he needed to “clean up” the manuscript.

2003年，當(dāng)郭鶴年(Robert Kuok)完成他的自傳時(shí)，他開(kāi)始產(chǎn)生疑慮。他擔(dān)心，書(shū)中的某些內(nèi)容批評(píng)太多，特別是對(duì)那些他覺(jué)得多年欺騙他的人，這位馬來(lái)西亞華裔大亨決定，需要“清理”底稿。

“This took time because except for very short spells, I never retired from managing my companies,” Mr Kuok said via email.

郭鶴年通過(guò)電郵說(shuō)：“這很費(fèi)時(shí)，因?yàn)槌艘恍┒虝旱拈g隙，我從未放棄管理我的公司。”

Some people close to Mr Kuok also thought that it was perhaps not the most opportune time for him to publicly criticise the Malaysian government’s “excessive” racial preference policies that discriminate against Chinese and Indian communities.

一些熟悉郭鶴年的人還認(rèn)為，那可能不是他公開(kāi)批評(píng)馬來(lái)西亞“過(guò)度”種族優(yōu)先政策的合適時(shí)機(jī)，這些政策歧視華裔和印度裔社區(qū)。

Fifteen years later, the tycoon’s memoirs are finally out. Published in November, they have indeed stirred up controversy in his native Malaysia, where he once controlled 85 per cent of sugar imports and helped found its national shipping line. As one senior member of the ruling United Malays National Organisation said shortly after publication, “anybody who finds success in Malaysia shouldn’t forget where they came from”.

15年后，這位大亨的自傳終于在去年11月出版。該書(shū)的確在他的出生地馬來(lái)西亞激起了爭(zhēng)議，在馬來(lái)西亞，他曾控制85%的糖進(jìn)口，并幫助創(chuàng)建了該國(guó)的國(guó)家航運(yùn)公司。正如馬來(lái)西亞執(zhí)政黨馬來(lái)民族統(tǒng)一機(jī)構(gòu)(United Malays National Organisation)的一位高官在自傳出版后不久所說(shuō)的，“在馬來(lái)西亞取得成功的任何人都不應(yīng)該忘本”。

Mr Kuok left Malaysia for Singapore before finally settling in Hong Kong in 1979 — a move that he attributes in his memoirs to the then “punitive” tax rates in the two Southeast Asian countries. With a fortune estimated to be worth $14.2bn, the founder of Kerry Holdings, the commodities-to-property group, is now the territory’s sixth-richest person.

當(dāng)年，郭鶴年離開(kāi)馬來(lái)西亞到新加坡發(fā)展，最后于1979年在香港扎根——他在自傳中把此舉歸因于這兩個(gè)東南亞國(guó)家當(dāng)時(shí)的“懲罰性”稅率。這位身價(jià)達(dá)到142億美元的大亨現(xiàn)在是香港第六大富豪，是橫跨大宗商品到房地產(chǎn)業(yè)務(wù)的集團(tuán)嘉里控股(Kerry Holdings)的創(chuàng)始人。

The 94-year-old’s new-found willingness to court such controversy is a sign that, though “still remarkably spry” according to one person who knows him well, he has at least one eye on posterity.

這位94歲的大亨變得愿意面對(duì)爭(zhēng)議表明，盡管據(jù)一位非常了解他的人稱，他“仍然相當(dāng)活躍”，但他至少在一定程度上關(guān)注后世子孫。

Mr Kuok is not alone. Many of Hong Kong’s richest families are preparing for a generational changing of the guard. Unfortunately for the UK colony turned Chinese “special administrative region”, the sons and daughters who will inherit Hong Kong’s biggest fortunes will continue to dominate an economy defined by rent-seeking monopolies.

郭鶴年并不是唯一一個(gè)。很多香港最富有的家族正準(zhǔn)備向下一代交棒。對(duì)于以前是英國(guó)殖民地、現(xiàn)在是中國(guó)“特別行政區(qū)”的香港而言，不幸的是，將繼承香港最多財(cái)富的這些后代們，將繼續(xù)主宰一個(gè)以尋租壟斷為主要特色的經(jīng)濟(jì)體。

Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s most global tycoon, is reportedly preparing to step aside as chairman of CK Hutchison Holdings when he turns 90 in July.

據(jù)報(bào)道，全球意識(shí)最強(qiáng)的香港大亨李嘉誠(chéng)準(zhǔn)備在今年7月年滿90歲時(shí)，卸任長(zhǎng)江和記實(shí)業(yè)(CK Hutchison Holdings)董事長(zhǎng)一職。

Stanley Ho, 96, has been incapacitated by frail health in recent years. The carve-up of SJM Holdings, his transportation, property and Macau gambling empire, has featured Winnie, an estranged sister; 17 children, the most prominent of whom is Pansy, 55, and Angela Leong, 56, his fourth wife.

最近幾年，96歲的何鴻燊(Stanley Ho)的健康狀況一直不佳。參與他旗下的澳門博彩控股(SJM Holdings)股權(quán)分配的有一直與他不和的妹妹何婉琪(Winnie Ho);17位子女，其中最知名的是55歲的何超瓊(Pansy Ho);以及第四任太太、56歲的梁安琪(Angela Leong)。澳門博彩控股是一家交通、房地產(chǎn)和澳門博彩集團(tuán)。

At Sun Hung Kai and Henderson Land, Hong Kong’s largest property developers, Kwong Siu-hing and Lee Shau-kee, aged 88 and 89 respectively, continue to call the shots.

在香港最大房地產(chǎn)開(kāi)發(fā)商新鴻基(Sun Hung Kai)和恒基兆業(yè)(Henderson Land)，88歲的鄺肖卿(Kwong Siu-hing)和89歲的李兆基(Lee Shau-kee)繼續(xù)掌舵。

The generational transition at Ms Kwong’s empire has been even more of a soap opera than Mr Ho’s. One of Ms Kwong’s three sons was unceremoniously pushed aside while another is serving a five-year prison term for bribing a senior government official.

與何鴻燊相比，鄺肖卿的商業(yè)帝國(guó)的代際交棒甚至更像一部肥皂劇。鄺肖卿的3個(gè)兒子中的一個(gè)被不客氣地晾在一邊，另一個(gè)因行賄政府高官被判5年監(jiān)禁，目前正在服刑。

As the old saying has it, the hardest million dollars you will ever earn is your first million. Hong Kong’s next generation of tycoons never had to earn their first million, let alone their first billion. The city’s property, ports, electricity and supermarket sectors, to name just a few, have been locked up by just eight families.

正如老話所說(shuō)，人生中的第一桶金是最難賺的。香港的下一代大亨從來(lái)不需要賺取他們的第一桶金，更別提他們的第十桶金了。舉幾個(gè)例子，該市的房地產(chǎn)、港口、電力和超市行業(yè)已被8個(gè)家族控制。

Hong Kong’s monopoly madness extends far down the economic food chain to its licensing systems for taxis and public minibuses. The number of taxi licences has not increased since 1994, while those for minibuses has been frozen since 1976. So when the Heritage Foundation proclaims Hong Kong the world’s “freest economy”, as it does year after year, it says more about the conservative US group’s approval of the city’s low tax rates than it does about competitiveness.

香港的壟斷瘋狂延伸至經(jīng)濟(jì)食物鏈的底層，連出租車和公共小巴的牌照體系也不放過(guò)。自1994年以來(lái)，香港出租車牌照數(shù)量一直沒(méi)有增加，公共小型巴士的牌照從1976年起一直被凍結(jié)。因此，當(dāng)美國(guó)傳統(tǒng)基金會(huì)(Heritage Foundation)年復(fù)一年地宣告香港是全球“最自由經(jīng)濟(jì)”時(shí)，它在更大程度上說(shuō)明了這個(gè)保守的美國(guó)機(jī)構(gòu)對(duì)香港低稅率的贊許，而不是競(jìng)爭(zhēng)狀況。

In his memoirs, Mr Kuok rues missing an opportunity on his first trip to Hong Kong to buy land in the city centre at HK$5 a square foot. He did not make that mistake a second time. One of his first decisions after deciding to base himself in the city in the late 1970s was to establish a property development company, although he admits he did not fully appreciate at the time that “as China developed . . . [Hong Kong] rents would soar and soar”.

郭鶴年在自傳中后悔自己沒(méi)有抓住機(jī)會(huì)，在第一次到香港時(shí)以每平方英尺5港元的價(jià)格買下香港市中心的地皮。他沒(méi)有再次犯錯(cuò)。上世紀(jì)70年代末，在他決定落戶香港之后，他的首批決定之一是成立一家房地產(chǎn)開(kāi)發(fā)公司，不過(guò)他承認(rèn)，他當(dāng)時(shí)沒(méi)有完全意識(shí)到，“隨著中國(guó)內(nèi)地的發(fā)展……(香港)租金將持續(xù)飆升”。

Four decades ago, it was indeed difficult to envisage China’s economy taking off as it has. As recently as 2012, only one person on the Chinese mainland was richer than Mr Kuok. Now 14 people are, led by the founders of some of the world’s largest and most innovative internet and ecommerce companies. 40年前，確實(shí)很難想象中國(guó)內(nèi)地經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展如此之快。就在不那么久之前的2012年，中國(guó)內(nèi)地只有一人比郭鶴年更富有。如今，比他富有的中國(guó)內(nèi)地富豪達(dá)到了14位，首當(dāng)其沖的是全球一些最大也最具創(chuàng)新性的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)和電商公司的創(chuàng)始人。

And that, unfortunately, says much about Hong Kong. In terms of entrepreneurial dynamism, the city has changed less in the last 40 years than China has in the past five.

不幸的是，這說(shuō)明了香港的很多問(wèn)題。從創(chuàng)業(yè)活力來(lái)看，香港過(guò)去40年的變化都趕不上中國(guó)內(nèi)地過(guò)去5年的變化。