The next big thing for Liu and his Legend: China's consumer revolution

"We currently focus more on consumer-related businesses as I feel the Chinese government is very serious about how to get its people to spend so we can boost domestic consumption, which is really important to national economic growth," said Liu, the 71-year-old chairman of Legend Holdings, parent of Lenovo and one of the largest privately owned industrial and investment conglomerates in China.

"You will see more and more Chinese people become middle class and more and more of them will travel abroad. When they travel, they will see popular things and businesses in foreign countries, for example, car rental, and when they get back, they may want to try the same things," Liu told the South China Morning Post in an exclusive interview in Hong Kong.

Legend, which lists on the Hong Kong stock exchange today after raising about US$2 billion in an initial public offering, has already invested in China Auto Rental, the country's No.1 car rental service provider. Liu said his next focus would be on any businesses, at home or overseas, that can help Chinese people "eat, dress, live and travel better".

The former top computer scientist turned entrepreneur is banking on the Chinese government's stated policy of turning the country into one full of consumers and ending reliance on low-end manufacturing and exporting to drive economic growth.

Chinese incomes have risen rapidly in recent years, the country's tourists are spending billions around the globe and vast areas of the country remain ripe for further development even as overall economic growth slows.

In a 2014 report, consultants McKinsey estimated the per-household disposable income of China's urban consumers would double between 2010 and 2020 to about US$8,000, and with more people set to move to cities as a result of the government's urbanisation policy, the numbers of consumers will grow.