ASIAN GODFATHERS : MONEY AND POWER IN HONG KONG AND SOUTHEAST ASIA PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Joe Studwell | 328 pages | 18 Sep 2008 | Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802143914 | English | New York, United States Asian Godfathers : Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia PDF Book You never even get a feel for the individual differences between them. Instead came the expanded, but largely impotent, Legislative Council Legco. In running family businesses they demand total obedience from relatives and use a variety of tactics to secure it. She regretted this. It is worth remembering how the old private banks that dominated international finance in London and New York at the end of the nineteenth century — Warburg, Rothschild, Morgan and others — did not even put nameplates outside their headquarters. Make an offer:. Where cold analysis of the success of men like Lee Yuan Kew, Robert Kuok and Henry Fok finds its roots in their cosmopolitan-ness — their ability to work in different languages and cultures — they themselves have sought a monocultural explanation. Show details. Henry Fok sidelined his eldest son Timothy in favor of his sibling Ian. The baton of global growth is in the process of passing to the east. Chinese tycoons, as we shall see, already had a solid position in what was a closely rigged real estate market. Get to Know Us. See details for delivery est. Seller Inventory BZE But the people who really suffered were shopkeepers, small businessmen and laborers, not the godfather class. Add to Basket. According to managers of Hong Kong newspapers, anything Mr Li takes serious exception to translates into curtailment of advertising expenditure by his companies. The patriarch is always king. Cast of characters. Henry Fok, who died in , and Stanley Ho both took several wives — polygamy was not outlawed in Hong Kong until the Marriage Reform Ordinance of Or vast losses accumulated on gaming trips to Australia and the US. Buy It Now. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. He is author of The China Dream. Other Popular Editions of the Same Title. Asian Godfathers is a riveting and illuminating book that lifts the curtain on a world of staggering secrecy and hypocrisy, and reveals--for the first time--who the leaders of one of the planet's most important and tumultuous markets really are, why they got to the top, and how they keep themselves there. Please follow the detailed Help center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders. Actual experience in the past hundred years points to a four-generation sequence, in which the first generation establishes a kernel of capital that a second generation, with improved ties to political power, leverages into a serious fortune. Li businesses stopped advertising with Next magazine and its sister publication Apple Daily after investigations into the circumstances surrounding the death of his wife. Asian Godfathers : Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia Writer This is almost invariably presented as a reflection of Asian and Chinese culture, not least by the tycoons themselves. For now the struggle goes on, leaving some curious impressions. And it is only since the Asian financial crisis that there has been the beginning of a movement of shareholder activism in the region. Really important description of how crony capitalism wrecks economies and the hardworking laborers that live in them. Studwell has spent fifteen years as a reporter in the region and uses his unprecedented access to paint intimate and revealing portraits of the godfathers--who they really are and how they make, build, and maintain their fortunes. As a result, there are no global brands. The real, secret profligacy of the tycoon fraternity is their high-stakes gambling. Some of those who know the Christian tycoons are cynical about their religious beliefs, but this does not answer the question as to why a substantial section of the tycoon fraternity is drawn to evangelical religion. The domestic economies of Southeast Asia are far too closely controlled by governments to make such a thing likely. Will be reading a lot more on certain places and people thanks to this experience. After half a mile, however, the billionaire heir ordered the cab to stop and ushered the party into an entrance to the London Underground. Skip to main content. Freight charges, for instance, might be increased to divert earnings into shipping, which is an offshore, tax-free activity. It's an olig Really important description of how crony capitalism wrecks economies and the hardworking laborers that live in them. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses. At their peak, eight of the world's two dozen richest men were Southeast Asian, but their names would not be familiar to most regular readers of The Wall Street Journal. May 08, Edwin Setiadi rated it really liked it Shelves: indonesia , business , history , current-affairs. Godfathers are also keen to telegraph useful messages to employees and service providers. He concludes that it is systems, not people that make a country rich, with efficient political and social institutions being the key to prosperity rather than the empty but fashionable idea of "Asian values". But this was not the norm in more settled political climes. Without a Marcos or a Suharto to shake things up, Asian godfathers are not the products of great social mobility. No ratings or reviews yet No ratings or reviews yet. It doesn't seem to matter in SE Asia what type of government is involved. Li is ready for a massage. A complex mythology surrounds these billionaires - one that informs views on Asian business, culture, and economics. This book represents lots of facts in the economy in Asia: political games, private banks, cash flows, and secretive alliances. If bank fraud on Wall Street left Mark Baum for anyone who has seen the Big Short frothing, the political manoeuvring and financial deception by the select few at the expense of the rest of SEA's population read: taxpayers and shareholders make Wall Street's investment bankers look like schoolboys; all a byproduct of opaque, broken poli A unfortunate case study of what happens when manipulated democracies and concession-based economies take precedence over a free market and true competition. Book Description Grove Press, Quotes from Asian Godfathers Feb 08, Grigory rated it it was amazing Shelves: asia , business , xxi-century , far-east , economics , development , journalism , xx-century. Language: English. Asian Godfathers : Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia Reviews But Kwek also owned a lot of assets, especially real estate, in Singapore, and Lee Kuan Yew was not in the business of forcible expropriation. Henry Fok sidelined his eldest son Timothy in favor of his sibling Ian. That is the question Joe Studwell, author of the acclaimed book The China Dream , answers in this incisive behind-the-scenes exploration of the outsize figures behind the veil. How to be a godfather 2 Core cash flow. Some of the links in this post may no longer work correctly. Their work was discredited by so-called informed opinion that land reform anyway does not work despite best efforts, the rural poor are too stupid to farm their own farms, and at any rate it is too late if it does work. Seller Inventory AAC New paperback Quantity available: 5. But as parts of the British establishment spurned him because of his huge smuggling operations in the Korean War, and Beijing rewarded him with monopoly trading concessions for the same activity, he was reborn as a rabid Chinese nationalist. To a lesser extent still in continental Europe. Local newspaper editors were told to leave stories about collaboration with the enemy alone. You get that in America. Be the first to write a review. He saved a few pounds by riding the train to the airport. Henry Fok, who died in , and Stanley Ho both took several wives — polygamy was not outlawed in Hong Kong until the Marriage Reform Ordinance of Others, like the rougher-at-the-edges smuggler and speculator Kwek Hong Png, were less palatable. Something that further confuses the popular image of the tycoons is their reputation for thrift. You never get a sense of who these people are, what they're like. Selected bibliography. Observing the same tendency in Thailand, where. Save on Nonfiction Trending price is based on prices over last 90 days. Kwek can be even more secretive than his cousin. The author lays out his "intentions" in a 30 page intro that's unreadable styrofoam. Hong Kong and Southeast Asia are home to five hundred million people, yet their economies are dominated by only fifty families whose interests range from banking to real estate, shipping to sugar, gambling to lumber. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we do not use a simple average. New other. See details for delivery est. The main office of J. The history of Asian godfathers has always been one of men who could adjust their identities in chameleon fashion. Racial ghettoisation was sustained, not least because the rising political star of the s, Mahathir Mohamad, saw it as all but inevitable. Colonialism required this. The final component of the standard godfather make-up is secrecy. Books Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip. Younger sons are less likely to disappear when they know they are not necessarily out of the running to become the big boss. Buy It Now. But the unbridled, unquestioned power of the patriarch is a corrupting influence on family relationships. Customers who bought this item also bought.