Robert Wang fled the Chinese civil war at the age of five and came to Hong Kong with nothing. The colony was a harsh place in the 1950s and 1960s. But he was determined to rise to the top -- and through hard work and resolve, he got there. The law firm he founded grew into the city's fifth largest. With the clock ticking towards the hand-over of Hong Kong to China, and no one knowing what the end of British rule would bring, Robert hatched an audacious scheme to safeguard the fortunes of Hong Kong's richest tycoons. He would convince Singapore to take them in. At last, he was walking with kings: dealing one-on-one with the most powerful businessmen and politicians of Hong Kong and South-east Asia. It was an exhilarating experience -- but climbing so high has its dangers. After unwittingly offending the wrong power brokers, he was cast aside and left to defend himself against the damnation of corporate rumours. Robert's rags-to-riches story offers a rare look inside the unimaginably wealthy world of Hong Kong's property tycoons -- men such as Li Ka-shing, Cheng Yu-tung and Lee Shau-kee -- but also, as he tells the tale of four generations of his family, we learn that it is the traditional values of tolerance, filial piety and loyalty which endure.
Robert Wang was born in Ningbo. Shortly after his birth his parents moved to Shanghai by crossing the Hangzhou Bay at the mouth of the Yangtze River and from there eventually emigrated to Hong Kong. He is a solicitor by training and, like many of his clansmen from Ningbo, an entrepreneur at heart. He founded the firm of Robert W.H. Wang & Co., Solicitors & Notaries, in the late 1970s and grew it to be one of Hong Kongs largest, with offices also in Singapore and London. He is an Honorary Fellow of Queen Mary of London University, his alma mater.
Walking the Tycoons' Rope offers a Peeping Tom-like view of Hong Kong's most well-known tycoons and their unlovely world. Shudder-inducing glimpses into familiar personalities, business dealings, family relationships and value systems turn this book - like all well-documented train wrecks - into truly compulsive reading. ... This excellent memoir has enduring social history value. South China Morning Post A cautionary tale of greed and ambition and also a fascinating look back at a Hong Kong that no longer exists - that tantalizing, Westernized city of dreams for mainland immigrants who managed to escape the Spartan world of communism under Mao Zedong. ... Publication could not be more timely, coinciding as it does with a growing resentment among ordinary people toward the tycoon class in Hong Kong, which now has the largest wealth gap in the developed world. Asia Times The insider's guide to understanding Hong Kong's tycoon scene. Hong Kong Tatler A riveting read. -- Sir Run Run Shaw, Founder, Shaw Prize
