霍英東

繁體中文

霍英東（1923–2006），廣東番禺人，蜑家艇戶出身。1930年一場風災奪去兩名兄長，父親其後病逝，母親帶他上岸，一家住灣仔石水渠街；他十二歲考入皇仁書院，日軍攻港後被迫停學，靠做苦力維生。戰後他在鵝頸橋開雜貨鋪，韓戰期間（1950–1953）組織船隊突破聯合國禁運、向內地運送戰略物資，因而遭港英政府長期非難，卻換來北京的信任，被稱為「紅頂巨賈」。1953年他創辦霍興業堂置業，在灣仔、銅鑼灣發展住宅，首創「樓花」預售制度，令沉寂的樓市活躍起來，其後帶頭成立香港地產建設商會並出任首任會長。1961年他與何鴻燊、葉德利、葉漢合組財團投得澳門賭牌，翌年成立澳門旅遊娛樂公司，並成為最大股東。他作風親北京，旗下尖沙咀星光行一度被斷水、斷電、斷電話線，租戶紛紛退租，最終被迫賤售予置地。改革開放後他率先投資內地，1983年建成廣州白天鵝賓館，並創立體育基金推動中國重返國際體壇。1993年他當選全國政協副主席，2006年在北京逝世。

English

Henry Fok Ying-tung (1923–2006) was born to a Tanka boat-dwelling family from Panyu, Guangdong. A typhoon in 1930 killed two of his brothers and his father died soon after, leaving his mother to raise the family ashore in a tenement on Stone Nullah Lane in Wan Chai. He won a place at Queen's College, but the Japanese invasion forced him out of school into manual labour. After the war he ran a general store at Bowrington Bridge, and during the Korean War (1950–53) he organised a fleet that ran the United Nations embargo to supply strategic goods to the mainland — an act that brought lasting hostility from the colonial government but earned him Beijing's trust and the label 'red-capped tycoon'. In 1953 he founded Fok Hing Yip Tong, building flats in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay and pioneering the pre-sale of uncompleted flats, which revived the property market; he later led the founding of the Hong Kong Real Estate Developers Association as its first chairman. In 1961 he and the syndicate of Stanley Ho, Teddy Yip and Yip Hon won Macau's gaming monopoly, and the following year Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau was formed with Fok as the largest shareholder. His pro-Beijing stance brought sanctions: Star House in Tsim Sha Tsui had its water, power and telephone lines cut and tenants deserted it, forcing a cheap sale to Jardine's Hongkong Land. After reform and opening he was among the first to invest on the mainland, completing the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou in 1983, and his sports foundation helped bring China back into international sport. He was elected a Vice-Chairman of the CPPCC in 1993 and died in Beijing in 2006.