Hing Chao's concept of time can be traced to the far corners of northern China. "My parents used to tell me that the most important thing in life is timekeeping. You always have to be very aware of how you spend every moment of your life," says the Hong Kong-born Chao, whose family runs the shipping firm Wah Kwong Group. "But after I went to Inner Mongolia - not that I forgot or I disagree with what they say - the significance of time completely changed." After he graduated from the University of Durham, Chao spent a year with the Orochen and other indigenous communities in northeast China. He went on to launch Earthpulse, a charitable organisation committed to empowering marginalised rural communities and protecting their local heritage. "When I started exploring and travelling in Inner Mongolia, time just took on a completely different significance, because I realise that in civilisation we have a concept of linear time: we look back at history and we look forward to the future; it's very project-oriented," Chao says. "But in nature, everything goes into cycle. Spring comes this year and it will come back next year. The people, because they live so closely with nature, have a concept of time that is extremely cyclical." In addition to his work with indigenous cultures, Chao is active in Hong Kong's martial arts community. He launched the Hong Kong International Kung Fu Festival in 2009 and co-authored Hung Kuen Fundamentals: Gung Gee Fok Fu Kuen earlier this year to support the preservation of the 300-year-old Hung Kuen style of martial arts. Chao, who started learning martial arts at the age of eight, says the practice is becoming increasingly divorced from the needs of society. "Times have changed, societies have changed in time, but martial arts, in the way it's being taught and packaged, hasn't," he explains. "We have to make the teaching of martial arts more effective, and you can learn more in a much shorter span." Sustainability is a common theme for the managing director of Wah Kwong Property Holdings, who has also been advising municipal governments on the mainland on urban planning projects - when not looking after the group's properties or planning Earthpulse's annual gala dinner. While it would seem difficult juggling so many diverse interests while still making time for friends and family, Chao thrives on the variety. "I enjoy working on completely different projects because I feel challenged. Working on different things also gives me fresh ideas to bounce around. So by doing more, I achieve more. If I just stay on one path, my ideas often become stuck," he says. Chao also tries to focus on the here and now, and the lessons learned in Inner Mongolia. "I think living in the moment, living fully every moment, is more important than always looking back in the past to learn about lessons of history and looking forward to something you are going to accomplish because it may never happen," he says. "What you do right now at this moment is the most important thing."
