Yue-Kong Pao

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Sir Yue-Kong Pao CBE JP (Chinese: 包玉剛; pinyin: Bāo Yùgāng; 10 November 1918 — 23 September 1991), was the founder of Hong Kong's Worldwide Shipping Group which in the 20 years from purchasing its first used ship in 1955 became by far the largest shipping company in the world with over 20 million tonnes deadweight (DWT). Anticipating the seriousness of the shipping downturn starting in the late 1970s, he drastically reduced his fleet. He was therefore able to pay off associated debt and raise cash to diversify his interests, notably through the purchase of a controlling stake in The Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company Limited (now known as Wharf (Holdings)) and later Wheelock Marden, giving exposure to Hong Kong real estate, shipping terminals, retail, ferries, and trams. He was noted for his unmatched access to leaders in both the commercial and political arenas and was equally at ease with Western political leaders and the Chinese leadership in the run-up to Hong Kong's handover to China on 1 July 1997 (for example Margaret Thatcher wrote the foreword to his biography published in 1990 and he was appointed a vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee planning Hong Kong's constitution after 1997). He was also a generous philanthropist notably in educational projects (helping set up universities, libraries, and scholarship schemes). After his death in 1991 his corporate legacy was continued by his family.