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{{short description|Hong Kong businessman}}
'''Henry Fok Ying Tung''' 霍英東, [[pinyin]]: Huò Yīngdōng (born May 10, [[1923]] in Hong Kong. His parents are from Panyu, in what is now part of [[Guangzhou]], [[Guangdong]]). Originally named 霍官泰, he is possibly the most powerful [[Hongkonger]] in the politics of the [[People's Republic of China]]. He has been the vice-chairman of the [[National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]] of PRC since March 1993.
{{EngvarB|date=May 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Huo|Fok]]|Henry Fok|Fok Ying-tung|lang=Hong Kong}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]]
|name = Henry Fok
|honorific_suffix = {{postnom|country=HKG|size=100%|GBM}}
|other_names = 霍英東
|image = Henry Fok.jpg
| office = [[Vice Chairperson of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference|Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]<br/>{{small|(8th, 9th, 10th)}}
| term_start = 13 March 2003
| term_end = 28 October 2006


| 1blankname = Chairman
He was born in Hong Kong, where his father died when he was just seven. He managed to enter [[Queen's College, Hong Kong|The Queen's College]], a top high school in Hong Kong, but he was not able to finish junior high due to the [[Sino-Japanese War|invasion of Japan]] in 1937.
| 1namedata = [[Jia Qinglin]]


| term_start1 = 27 March 1993
After the war, he became a successful businessman. His business involved almost everything, from restaurants to real estate and casinos to petroleum. According to rumors, he was smuggling illegal items, including firearms, into [[Mainland China]] during the [[Korean War]], when the United Nations imposed a trade embargo on the PRC.
| term_end1 = 13 March 1998
| 1blankname1 = Chairman
| 1namedata1 = [[Jia Qinglin]]
| office2 = Delegate to the [[National People's Congress]]<br/>{{small|([[7th National People's Congress|7th]], [[8th National People's Congress|8th]])}}
| term_start2 = March 1988
| term_end2 = March 1998
| constituency2 = [[Guangdong]]
| 1blankname2 = Chairman
| 1namedata2 = [[Wan Li]]<br>[[Qiao Shi]]
| office3 = Member of the [[Standing Committee of the National People's Congress]]<br/>{{small|(7th)}}
| term_start3 = 27 April 1988
| term_end3 = 27 March 1993
| 1blankname3 = Chairman
| 1namedata3 = [[Wan Li]]
|birth_name = 霍官泰<br>Fok Koon Tai
|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1923|5|10}}
|birth_place = [[British Hong Kong]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2006|10|28|1923|5|10}}
|death_place = [[Peking Union Medical College Hospital]], [[Beijing]], [[People's Republic of China|China]]
|resting_place = [[Hong Kong Buddhist Cemetery]]
|spouse={{marriage|Elaine Lui Yin-nei|1943|2006|reason=d}}<br>{{marriage|Elaine Fung Kin-nei|1958|2006|reason=d}}<br>{{marriage|Lam Sook-duen|1968|2006|reason=d}}
| children=10 sons and 3 daughters<br>{{Collapsible list|title = With Lui|[[Timothy Fok|Timothy Fok Tsun-ting]]|[[Ian Fok|Ian Fok Chun-wan]]|Benjamin Fok Chun-yue|Patricia Fok Lai-ping|Nora Fok Lai-lor|Lily Fok Lai-lai}}
{{Collapsible list|title = With Fung|Thomas Fok Man-fong|Nelson Fok Man-bun|Manson Fok|David Fok Hing-yeung}}
{{Collapsible list|title = With Lam|Donald Fok Hin-suen|Danny Fok Hin-kwong|Michael Fok Hin-keung}}
|module = {{Chinese |child=yes|t=霍英東|s=霍英东|p=Huò Yīngdōng|j=Fok3 Jing1 Dung1}}
}}


'''Henry Fok Ying Tung''' {{postnom|country=HKG|GBM}} (10 May 1923 – 28 October 2006) was an entrepreneur and politician in Hong Kong. From 1993 until his death, Fok served as Vice Chairman of the [[National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]. He was one of the Hong Kong's wealthiest persons.
Henry Fok had founded the Fok Ying Tung Foundation in 1984, which is now one of the largest philanthropic organisations in Hong Kong.


==Biography==
He is now the President of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, the President of the Hong Kong Football Association, and the President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong. He is also the Chairman of Henry Fok Estates Ltd. and the Yau Wing Co. of Hong Kong.
Fok was born on 10 May 1923 in Hong Kong to an ethnic [[Tanka people|Tanka]] family.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenewslens.com/article/10872|title = 白手起家、美女、兄弟鬩牆,所有戲劇元素都到齊:富可敵國的香港霍家傳奇|date = 5 January 2015}}</ref> Fok's father died in a boating accident when he was just seven. He studied at [[Queen's College, Hong Kong|Queen's College]], but was not able to finish junior high due to the [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Japanese invasion]] in 1937. He worked as a labourer during that time while helping to run the family's small boat business.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}}


===Business===
Before the handover of Hong Kong, Henry Fok was a member of the Drafting Committee for the Basic Law of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the vice-chairman of the Preliminary Working Committee of Preparatory Committee of the Hong Kong SAR, and the vice-chairman of the Preparatory Committee of Hong Kong SAR. He was also Standing Committee member of 7th [[National People's Congress]].
After the war, he became a successful businessman. His business interests included restaurants, real estate, casinos and petroleum. Fok reportedly made his first fortune [[Arms trafficking|gun-running]] into [[Mainland China|the mainland]] during the [[Korean War]] in the early 1950s, circumventing a United Nations [[arms embargo]].<ref name=change>{{cite web
|last = Cheng
|first = Jonathan
|title = A life that reflected change
|work = The Standard
|location = Hong Kong
|date = 30 October 2006
|url = http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=30586&sid=10611372&con_type=3&d_str=20061030&sear_year=2006
|access-date = 1 November 2006
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110522024438/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=30586&sid=10611372&con_type=3&d_str=20061030&sear_year=2006
|archive-date = 22 May 2011
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref> Fok vigorously denied weapons trafficking, but admits having violated sanctions by smuggling steel and rubber as well as other items.<ref name=change/>


He was the President of the [[Chinese General Chamber of Commerce]] in Hong Kong, the President of the [[Hong Kong Football Association]], and the President of the [[Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong]]. He was also the Chairman of Henry Fok Estates Ltd and the Yau Wing Co of Hong Kong.
There is speculation says that it was Henry Fok who introduced [[Tung Chee Hwa]] to [[Jiang Zemin]] as a possible candidate of the first [[Hong Kong Chief Executive]].


In the 1980s Fok organized the effort to bail out [[OOCL]] from bankruptcy shortly after its founder [[Tung Chao-yung]] died.<ref>{{Cite web|title=CHINA BANK LINKED TO OOCL BAILOUT {{!}} JOC.com|url=https://www.joc.com/china-bank-linked-oocl-bailout_19970309.html|access-date=2021-12-02|website=www.joc.com}}</ref>
What is known is that it was Henry Fok, who helped Tung Chee Hwa out of his 2million dollar debt. Thereby it cannot be denied that Tung Chee Hwa has a connection to Henry Fok, which allows the latter to 'intervene/advise' if times, or rather Peking, calls for it. Unfortunately, despite being Hong Kong Chinese, Mr Fok has a rather capitalistic, harsh political focus.


Fok developed the Zhongshan Hot Springs Hotel, which had a golf course designed by [[Arnold Palmer]].<ref name=":Chatwin">{{Cite book |last=Chatwin |first=Jonathan |title=The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China's Future |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |year=2024 |isbn=9781350435711}}</ref>{{Rp|page=58}} It was one of the first golf courses built in China since the founding of the People's Republic of China.<ref name=":Chatwin" />{{Rp|page=58}}
Internationally, he's probably more known to finance regular Chinese Chess events. He promised the first foreigner, ever to be a Chinese Chess Master, half a million dollar.


In 2006, Forbes magazine listed Fok as the seventh wealthiest person in Hong Kong and the 181st in the world, with a fortune of US$3.7 billion.
[[Timothy Fok]], [[LegCo|Legislative Council]] member and [[Hong Kong Football Association]] chairman, is a son of Henry Fok.


===Political===
[[Category:1923 births|Fok, Ying Tung Henry]]
Before the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, Henry Fok was a member of the [[Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee|Drafting Committee for the Basic Law of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR)]], the vice-chairman of the [[Preliminary Working Committee|Preliminary Working Committee of Preparatory Committee of the Hong Kong SAR]], and the vice-chairman of the [[Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region|Preparatory Committee of Hong Kong SAR]]. He was also Standing Committee member of 7th [[National People's Congress]].
[[category:Politics of Hong Kong|Fok, Ying Tung Henry]] [[category:Hong Kong entrepreneurs|Fok, Ying Tung Henry]]

[[category:Hong Kong politicians|Fok, Ying Tung Henry]]
The press frequently reports that Henry Fok had introduced [[Tung Chee Hwa]] to [[Jiang Zemin]] as a possible candidate of the first [[Hong Kong Chief Executive]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Philip|first=Browning|title=Tung Chee-hwa|url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/tungcheehwa|year=1997}}</ref>
[[Category:Hong Kong members to the CPPCC National Committee of the People's Republic of China|Fok, Ying Tung Henry]]

[[zh:&#38669;&#33521;&#26481;]]
Henry Fok helped Tung Chee Hwa out of a near-bankruptcy of his family's [[Orient Overseas Container Line]] in the 1980s. Because of this relationship, it was often said while Tung was the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that Fok 'intervened/advised' if times, or rather Beijing, called for it.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}}

===Philanthropy===
Henry Fok founded the Fok Ying Tung Foundation in 1984, and it is now one of the largest philanthropic organisations in Hong Kong. Fok founded a high-technology business park in [[Nansha, Guangzhou|Nansha District]], [[Guangzhou]].{{when|date=February 2021}} He is said to have visited the site more than 500 times, and through the Foundation, pledged HK$800&nbsp;million (US$100&nbsp;million) to the [[Hong Kong University of Science and Technology]] in 2005 to support the initiative.<ref name=change/><ref>{{cite web
|title=$800m to Support Strategic Plan and China Initiatives
|date=27 July 2005
|url=http://www.ust.hk/en/pa/e_pa050726-1545.html
|publisher=Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
|access-date=1 November 2006
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008080156/http://www.ust.hk/en/pa/e_pa050726-1545.html
|archive-date=8 October 2006
|url-status=dead
|df=dmy-all
}}</ref>

===Personal===
Fok's wife was Elaine Lui ({{zh|t=呂燕妮|labels=no}}), and he had two [[concubine]]s, Elaine Fung ({{zh|t=馮堅妮|labels=no}}) and Lam Sook-duen ({{zh|t=林淑端|labels=no}}), according to the ''[[Great Qing Legal Code]]'', which remained in force for Chinese people in Hong Kong until 1971. Some forms of [[polygamy]] remained legal in Hong Kong until it was outlawed in 1971.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lewis |first=D. J. |date=April 1983 |title=A Requiem for Chinese Customary Law in Hong Kong |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0020589300040501/type/journal_article |journal=International and Comparative Law Quarterly |language=en |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=347–379 |doi=10.1093/iclqaj/32.2.347 |issn=0020-5893}}</ref> Among Fok's children, the best-known are:
* [[Timothy Fok|Timothy Fok Tsun-ting]] – [[Hong Kong Football Association]] chairman and [[Legislative Council of Hong Kong|Legislative Council]] member.
* [[Ian Fok Chun-wan]] – managing director, Yau Wing Co. Ltd; Director, Fok Ying Tung Foundation Ltd, a former chairman of the [[Chinese General Chamber of Commerce]], whose son was convicted of drug possession in 2005.

Fok had family roots in [[Panyu District]], [[Guangzhou]], Guangdong.

===Death===
On 28 October 2006, Fok died at the age of 83 at the [[Peking Union Medical College]] in Beijing, where he was being treated for cancer. He had been diagnosed with [[lymphoma]] in 1984 and the cancer had reappeared in 2004. His body was flown back to Hong Kong for a traditional funeral in accordance with his wishes. Fok was one of the first Hong Kongers to have his casket draped in the [[Flag of the People's Republic of China|Chinese national flag]] since the handover (the others being [[T. K. Ann]] and [[Wong Ker-lee]]).<ref>{{cite web
|last=Cheng
|first=Jonathan
|title=Flag honor as Henry Fok comes home for final time
|work=The Standard
|location=Hong Kong
|date=1 November 2006
|url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=30751&sid=10640184&con_type=1&d_str=20061101&sear_year=2006
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522071211/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=30751&sid=10640184&con_type=1&d_str=20061101&sear_year=2006
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=22 May 2011
|access-date=1 November 2006
}}</ref> He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Reform Pioneer.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201812/19/WS5c198872a3107d4c3a00184c.html|title=Henry Fok Ying-tung: The man who helped build a stronger China - Chinadaily.com.cn|last=Li|first=Joseph|website=China Daily|access-date=2019-10-25}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
*[https://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/SZFW.html short bios at Forbes]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110522024438/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=30586&sid=10611372&con_type=3&d_str=20061030&sear_year=2006 Commentary in The Standard on Henry Fok's life]

{{CPPCC Vice-Chairpersons}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fok, Henry}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:Businesspeople in the oil industry]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in China]]
[[Category:Deaths from lymphoma]]
[[Category:Hong Kong billionaires]]
[[Category:Hong Kong casino industry businesspeople]]
[[Category:Hong Kong businesspeople]]
[[Category:Members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]
[[Category:Hong Kong philanthropists]]
[[Category:Hong Kong real estate businesspeople]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Medal]]
[[Category:Delegates to the National People's Congress from Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Members of the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region]]
[[Category:Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee members]]
[[Category:Hong Kong Affairs Advisors]]
[[Category:20th-century philanthropists]]
[[Category:Alumni of Queen's College, Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Tanka people]]
[[Category:Arms trafficking]]
[[Category:Smugglers]]

Latest revision as of 15:41, 29 November 2024

Henry Fok
Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
(8th, 9th, 10th)
In office
13 March 2003 – 28 October 2006
ChairmanJia Qinglin
In office
27 March 1993 – 13 March 1998
ChairmanJia Qinglin
Delegate to the National People's Congress
(7th, 8th)
In office
March 1988 – March 1998
ChairmanWan Li
Qiao Shi
ConstituencyGuangdong
Member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
(7th)
In office
27 April 1988 – 27 March 1993
ChairmanWan Li
Personal details
Born
霍官泰
Fok Koon Tai

(1923-05-10)10 May 1923
British Hong Kong
Died28 October 2006(2006-10-28) (aged 83)
Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China
Resting placeHong Kong Buddhist Cemetery
Spouse(s)
Elaine Lui Yin-nei
(m. 1943; died 2006)

Elaine Fung Kin-nei
(m. 1958; died 2006)

Lam Sook-duen
(m. 1968; died 2006)
Children10 sons and 3 daughters
With Lui
With Fung
  • Thomas Fok Man-fong
  • Nelson Fok Man-bun
  • Manson Fok
  • David Fok Hing-yeung
With Lam
  • Donald Fok Hin-suen
  • Danny Fok Hin-kwong
  • Michael Fok Hin-keung
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese霍英東
Simplified Chinese霍英东
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHuò Yīngdōng
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingFok3 Jing1 Dung1

Henry Fok Ying Tung GBM (10 May 1923 – 28 October 2006) was an entrepreneur and politician in Hong Kong. From 1993 until his death, Fok served as Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He was one of the Hong Kong's wealthiest persons.

Biography

[edit]

Fok was born on 10 May 1923 in Hong Kong to an ethnic Tanka family.[1] Fok's father died in a boating accident when he was just seven. He studied at Queen's College, but was not able to finish junior high due to the Japanese invasion in 1937. He worked as a labourer during that time while helping to run the family's small boat business.[citation needed]

Business

[edit]

After the war, he became a successful businessman. His business interests included restaurants, real estate, casinos and petroleum. Fok reportedly made his first fortune gun-running into the mainland during the Korean War in the early 1950s, circumventing a United Nations arms embargo.[2] Fok vigorously denied weapons trafficking, but admits having violated sanctions by smuggling steel and rubber as well as other items.[2]

He was the President of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, the President of the Hong Kong Football Association, and the President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong. He was also the Chairman of Henry Fok Estates Ltd and the Yau Wing Co of Hong Kong.

In the 1980s Fok organized the effort to bail out OOCL from bankruptcy shortly after its founder Tung Chao-yung died.[3]

Fok developed the Zhongshan Hot Springs Hotel, which had a golf course designed by Arnold Palmer.[4]: 58  It was one of the first golf courses built in China since the founding of the People's Republic of China.[4]: 58 

In 2006, Forbes magazine listed Fok as the seventh wealthiest person in Hong Kong and the 181st in the world, with a fortune of US$3.7 billion.

Political

[edit]

Before the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, Henry Fok was a member of the Drafting Committee for the Basic Law of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the vice-chairman of the Preliminary Working Committee of Preparatory Committee of the Hong Kong SAR, and the vice-chairman of the Preparatory Committee of Hong Kong SAR. He was also Standing Committee member of 7th National People's Congress.

The press frequently reports that Henry Fok had introduced Tung Chee Hwa to Jiang Zemin as a possible candidate of the first Hong Kong Chief Executive.[5]

Henry Fok helped Tung Chee Hwa out of a near-bankruptcy of his family's Orient Overseas Container Line in the 1980s. Because of this relationship, it was often said while Tung was the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that Fok 'intervened/advised' if times, or rather Beijing, called for it.[citation needed]

Philanthropy

[edit]

Henry Fok founded the Fok Ying Tung Foundation in 1984, and it is now one of the largest philanthropic organisations in Hong Kong. Fok founded a high-technology business park in Nansha District, Guangzhou.[when?] He is said to have visited the site more than 500 times, and through the Foundation, pledged HK$800 million (US$100 million) to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2005 to support the initiative.[2][6]

Personal

[edit]

Fok's wife was Elaine Lui (呂燕妮), and he had two concubines, Elaine Fung (馮堅妮) and Lam Sook-duen (林淑端), according to the Great Qing Legal Code, which remained in force for Chinese people in Hong Kong until 1971. Some forms of polygamy remained legal in Hong Kong until it was outlawed in 1971.[7] Among Fok's children, the best-known are:

Fok had family roots in Panyu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong.

Death

[edit]

On 28 October 2006, Fok died at the age of 83 at the Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, where he was being treated for cancer. He had been diagnosed with lymphoma in 1984 and the cancer had reappeared in 2004. His body was flown back to Hong Kong for a traditional funeral in accordance with his wishes. Fok was one of the first Hong Kongers to have his casket draped in the Chinese national flag since the handover (the others being T. K. Ann and Wong Ker-lee).[8] He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Reform Pioneer.[9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "白手起家、美女、兄弟鬩牆,所有戲劇元素都到齊:富可敵國的香港霍家傳奇". 5 January 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Cheng, Jonathan (30 October 2006). "A life that reflected change". The Standard. Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  3. ^ "CHINA BANK LINKED TO OOCL BAILOUT | JOC.com". www.joc.com. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b Chatwin, Jonathan (2024). The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China's Future. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350435711.
  5. ^ Philip, Browning (1997). "Tung Chee-hwa".
  6. ^ "$800m to Support Strategic Plan and China Initiatives". Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 27 July 2005. Archived from the original on 8 October 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  7. ^ Lewis, D. J. (April 1983). "A Requiem for Chinese Customary Law in Hong Kong". International and Comparative Law Quarterly. 32 (2): 347–379. doi:10.1093/iclqaj/32.2.347. ISSN 0020-5893.
  8. ^ Cheng, Jonathan (1 November 2006). "Flag honor as Henry Fok comes home for final time". The Standard. Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  9. ^ Li, Joseph. "Henry Fok Ying-tung: The man who helped build a stronger China - Chinadaily.com.cn". China Daily. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
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