Incense Ball

Heung Chik-kau, was a native of Dongguan, Guangdong. He was a prominent figure in the Hong Kong stock market from the 1970s to 1990s and former chairman of the listed company Tai Shing (later sold to Leung Pak-to and renamed Peregrine Investments, now merged into BNP Paribas, i.e. BNP Peregrine). He was particularly skilled in macro forecasting. For example, after the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, he predicted that limitations on Hong Kong land supply would drive property investments. He earned the nicknames “the Maverick of the Stock Market” and “Hero Heung.”

Biography

Heung Chik-kau studied at Wah Ying College in Foshan and graduated in 1946. He began working at Tai Shing Textile Factory, and in 1961, he started his real estate career by founding Tai Shing Properties Limited.

Though hardworking, Heung Chik-kau also enjoyed life. His mansion, known as “The Genesis,” located at 23 Severn Road on Victoria Peak (nicknamed the "Glass House"), was one of Hong Kong’s iconic residences and sold for HK$540 million in 1996. He was also a regular patron of the famous restaurant “Fook Lam Moon” (then known as “Fook Kee”). He once owned the license plate number “7” with no prefix letters, which he purchased in 1989 for HK$4.8 million.

Due to his pessimism about the future following the Tiananmen Square Incident, Heung left Hong Kong and emigrated to Singapore. In November 2003, he passed away from heart disease in Singapore at the age of 76.

Heung’s fourth son, Heung Lap-chi, is the senior disciple of Wu Kwong-yu, the current head of the Hong Kong Chin Woo Wu Family Taiji Martial Arts Association.