Page 14 - Sphere No.14 (Jul 2005)

FEW MEMORIES ARE AS VIVID. Though a year has passed,
the experience and the emotions are as true today as they were
that rainy afternoon in China. Perhaps they are even more
poignant now, with time, as they are placed beside a handful of
similar experiences that have taken place since, so genuine and
consistent that they cut to the heart of a trained journalist – a
heart conditioned to be sceptical.
For most Americans, Li Ka-shing is something of an enigma.
Unlike Gates, Buffet and Branson – businessmen whose
exploits are detailed on the nightly news and whose strategies
find their way into bestselling books – Mr Li lives a quiet life,
despite the global reach of his empire. And in so doing he
opens the door to speculation and even a bit of mystery.
Long before we met, he had been described to me as the inspi-
ration for the tycoon antagonist to Agent 007, a man whose
wealth and power could threaten not only nations, but the world.
Then he invited me in. It began with breakfast and a smile. I
was taken by how attentive he was to those around him. His
voice was gentle, and he was as gracious with staff as he was
with visitors. As we sat in the upper offices of the Cheung Kong
Center, grey clouds rolling against the windows, I was taken by
his warmth and reminded of a scene I had read in a book about
Tolstoy. The passage was written by his secretary who had taken
ill and was overcome when Tolstoy began to take care of him:
“As he left the room to get my tea, I savoured the unreality, the
touching absurdity, of my situation. Here was the greatest
author of the West, Leo Tolstoy, fetching tea for me, his new
secretary, nearly sixty years his junior. This was a man I could
easily love. Indeed, as I lay there on my back, surveying the
crumbling plaster on the ceiling, I loved him already.”
C O M M U N I T Y
SPHERE 12
His many charitable and
community activities are very dear
to Li Ka-shing’s heart
By Arthur York
a journey with Li Ka-shing