CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Thursday, December 27, 2018 | 7

years onYEARS ON

Editor’s note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of China’s reform and opening­up policy. China Daily profiles people who experienced or witnessed the important drive.

BORN: Jan 29, 1952, in Hong Kong THE BANKER WHO HELPED EDUCATION: • 1973: Bachelor of social scien­ ces, economics and statistics, University of Hong Kong BUILD GREATER BAY AREA • 1982: Management develop­ ment program, Harvard Busi­ ness School After joining HK government, Antony Leung proposed measures to aid China’s economic revival • 1999: Advanced management program, Harvard Business School By HE SHUSI in Hong Kong [email protected]

Although the Guangdong­Hong Kong­ Macao Greater Bay Area is now economical­ ly developed, that was not the case years ago. Antony Leung Kam­chung remembers a childhood visit to his ancestral home in Guangdong province at age 10, when pover­ ty was a way of life. That part of the Bay Area, across the bor­ der from Hong Kong, became part of the Chinese miracle. Leung contributed to mak­ ing that miracle happen, and made his for­ tune. “I remember going back to my ancestral home in Shunde, now part of Foshan city on Antony the west coast of the Pearl River Estuary,” Leung said. “There was no electricity at Leung home. Kam-chung “We used kerosene lamps for light. I remember using one of those lamps to Hong Kong businessman smoke out the mosquitoes from the netting and former politician on my bed.” Back then, he could have hardly imagined that he would ride out those hard times and then take a wild ride in Asia’s financial mar­ CAREER: kets, and eventually become a leading play­ • 1973­96: Currency trader and er in the industry. regional manager in New York But he did have a small boost of insight and across Asia, Citigroup that helped him through the early days of • 1990­98: Chairman, Hong reform and opening­up, and even during Kong University Grants Com­ the times when Hong Kong’s economy faced mittee uncertainty. • 1996­2001: Head of Greater Antony Leung Kam­chung presents the Hong Kong Top Brand Awards to one of the winners on Jan 17, 2002, as financial sec­ China and the Philippines, Seeing potential amid chaos retary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government. HUO YAN / CHINA DAILY Chase Manhattan Bank (now Right after graduation from University of JPMorgan Chase) Hong Kong in 1973, Leung joined Citibank. to manage the other ‘thieves’.” • 1997­2001: Non­official His instincts for the volatile market led him Leung brought in bold measures that aid­ member, Hong Kong Executive to take charge of the bank’s foreign ed the city’s recovery. There were tax increas­ Council exchange department for Hong Kong and es and sizable cuts to government • 1998­2001: Chairman, Hong East Asia in 1984 at the age of 32. expenditure. Kong Education Commission He became a major player in the market, Among the measures that Leung pro­ • 2000­01: Chairman in Asia­ speculating on the Hong Kong dollar. The posed to Tung was the idea that the city’s Pacific, JPMorgan Chase fluctuations in the market were pretty dra­ infrastructure development should include • 2001­03: Financial secretary, matic. Leung bought low, and could possibly the construction of the Hong Kong­Zhuhai­ Hong Kong be credited with helping to pull the Hong Macao Bridge and the Guangzhou­Shen­ • 2007­14: Senior managing Kong dollar back up again, while making a zhen­Hong Kong Express Rail Link. director and chairman for fortune for Citibank at the same time. “I told Tung that if we didn’t catch up on Greater China, The Blackstone “We weathered the storm and in fact transport links with the Chinese mainland, Group made great profits for the bank,” he wrote in Hong Kong would become an ‘appendix’ to • 2014­present: Chairman and his profile on Citibank’s website. “But we the area. … He immediately got the idea,” CEO, Nan Fung Group were concerned about the worrisome poten­ Leung said. • 2016­present: Co­founder tial of social instability that can come with Leung wanted to explore market poten­ and chairman, New Frontier market volatility. This planted a seed in my tial on the west coast of the Pearl River Estu­ Group heart for my public service later on.” ary so as to open new doors for Hong Kong Leung rose to become the bank’s country and solidify the city’s standing as a financial corporate officer for China in the mid­1980s. and trade hub. It was an era when China’s reform and Leung and his wife, Fu Mingxia, pose with children as love ambassadors of an “We asked a professor at The University of opening­up — the fulcrum of the Chinese international charity organization during a trip to Guizhou province in August Hong Kong to do the research, to learn why economic miracle — began. They were pros­ 2011. XINHUA cities on the east coast of the estuary like I told Tung that if perous times for Hong Kong. Shenzhen and Dongguan were developing we didn’t catch However, it was never smooth all the faster than those on the west coast,” he said. time. Light industries quickly shifted out of “The answer proved to be simple,” Leung up on transport Hong Kong and into Guangdong province, said. “Hong Kong.” The SAR was an all­im­ links with the but the power supply in the province was portant gateway and growth engine for the insufficient to keep it going. whole country after opening­up. Hong Kong Chinese As a result, the central government made also supplied the capital for economic devel­ mainland, Hong power supply development in Guangdong a opment on the Chinese mainland. Kong would priority, and Leung became a major player “Foreign and Hong Kong investors were in the country’s first entry into project most attracted to the locales within three become an finance. He successfully assembled funds hours of Hong Kong,” he added. ‘appendix’ to the for building the Shajiao B Power Station in Leung also had the concept of the Bay Dongguan, Guangdong. Area in mind. During his time as a senior area. … He “Citibank was doing project finance Citibank executive, Leung had been going to immediately got around the world,” he said. “Before opening­ New York every year since the 1970s, and he up, China’s institutionalized system had no thought the lifestyle in Hong Kong should the idea.” need for the type of financing in use almost be similar to that in other metropolises, like Antony Leung Kam- everywhere else. Manhattan in the New York Bay area. chung, Chairman and “The government always made its own Most people work in Manhattan, but live CEO, Nan Fung Group investment in infrastructure. After opening­ Leung attends a charity event to promote collection of edible surplus food in Hong in the suburbs of New Jersey or Long Island, up, the government took note of what was Kong on Dec 7 last year. TAN DAMING / CHINA NEWS SERVICE where housing conditions are better. being done to finance massive infrastruc­ “Then I thought, Hong Kong should be Online ture projects elsewhere.” the same,” he said. “Hong Kong has only See more by Due to the demand for electricity to fuel know what the handover would mean. Money not a priority about 1,000 square kilometers of land area. scanning the economic growth in Guangdong, Leung Some packed up and left, seeking a future By 2001, Hong Kong was still groping its Our suburbs should be the surrounding are­ code. considered project financing for the power elsewhere. way through a shaky start as a special as in the delta, including the west … So we station a safe bet. As a leading partner of a However, Leung chose to stay, though he administrative region. In 1998, just a year needed the bridge and the high­speed rail.” consortium of several foreign banks, Citi­ could have moved on with his career at Citi­ after its return to China, Asia was hit by a Tung put forward Leung’s two proposals bank arranged the loan. bank. major financial crisis. in his policy addresses in 2001 and 2003. The consortium gathered hundreds of “Many people were worried about wheth­ Hong Kong’s economy faced serious Soon, the central government supported the millions of dollars. Shajiao B, the second er the ‘one country, two systems’ would financial hurdles, and unemployment ran ideas. Both projects became a reality, and phase of the Shajiao power complex, went work, and whether the political transition high. Amid the chaos around him, Leung went into operation this year — the 40th into operation in 1987. would be smooth,” he said. “I thought if giv­ took the biggest risk of his life. He gave up an anniversary of reform and opening­up. The complex today is the largest fossil fuel en the chance to participate, I should go for annual salary at JPMorgan of more than “The only thing I didn’t foresee was that it power station in South China. It was the it.” HK$20 million ($2.56 million), and became would take over 15 years to finish the pro­ principal engine driving industrial develop­ Leung left Citibank after 23 years and the Hong Kong SAR’s second financial secre­ jects,” Leung said. “I think Hong Kong ment in the Pearl River Delta during the ear­ went to work for Chase Manhattan Bank, tary. The salary for that post was around should learn the reasons for that, or we will ly days of reform and opening­up. which is now known as JPMorgan Chase. HK$4 million a year. be too slow to catch up to the current state of “I felt very good,” Leung said. “You know, He returned to Hong Kong, the city where “The money one man can spend is limited development.” back then the country lacked almost every­ he grew up, after his stint in Singapore. … so money wasn’t part of my thinking,” Leung attributes his successes in financial thing. It’s a really good infrastructure “Looking back, I think it was a good deci­ Leung told local media at the time. “My con­ world to being Chinese in a city well acquaint­ project, which largely improved productivi­ sion, and a good opportunity,” he said. sideration was whether I could serve Hong ed with the ways of the rest of the world. ty and people’s lives in the delta area.” “I was fortunate to have assisted Tung Kong … and make a difference.” He said Hong Kong’s pathway to success is Chee­hwa in his successful bid to become Leung became the first cabinet secretary to learn everything possible about the moth­ Going against the trend the special administrative region’s first in the new administration without a back­ erland, while enhancing Hong Kong’s tradi­ In 1996, Leung oversaw Citibank’s private chief executive. When he took office, I was ground in politics or the civil service. tional ties. He said that message applies banking operations across Asia from Singa­ asked to join his Executive Council as a He remembers people saying to him: “It especially to the city’s youth, who should pore. non­official member. The council was the takes a thief to catch a thief.” Leung smiled keep “an open mind” about the future. That was the year before Hong Kong’s SAR’s top policy advisory body. I had a interpreting the comment to mean, “Hong Then the Belt and Road Initiative, which scheduled return to the motherland. Part of chance to make some impact on the city’s Kong now has somebody with years of solid complements the development of the Bay the population was jittery as they did not development.” front line experience in the financial world Area, will offer untold opportunities, he said.