How 'general manager killer' made it to the top of China Resources

China Resources (Holdings) chairman Song Lin, 50, joined the conglomerate, the State Council's overseas investment arm, as a management trainee in Hong Kong in 1985 and has spent his entire career there.

Born in Rushan, Shandong province, he studied at the High School Attached to Shandong Normal University and graduated from Tongji University in Shanghai with a degree in solid mechanics.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post in 2005 he recalled driving around the New Territories to scout out locations for new petrol stations early in his career.

In addition to providing him with a crash course in Cantonese, Hong Kong village politics and the then colony's archaic indigenous land policies, Song's assignment also introduced him to the rougher elements of his new home.

"I drove around Yuen Long and Sheung Shui to bargain with indigenous residents and deal with the triads," he recalled. "The triads were so ferocious that one time we ended up throwing bottles at each other."

China Resources has interests in consumer goods, power, property, cement, gas, pharmaceuticals and finance. Song worked his way up through its asset management, petrochemical, power and semiconductor divisions before becoming general manager of the group in 2004.