Today he is one of the most powerful men in Hong Kong arts. But had it not been for a delayed flight connection and a chance encounter with two ancient bowls, Sir Joseph Hotung might have been better known for commerce than culture.
Sir Joseph, who this month was awarded the annual Montblanc de la Culture Award for his patronage of the arts, freely admits he was more interested in figures than in figurines until one day more than 20 years ago, when he suddenly had two hours to kill in San Francisco.
'I drifted inside this oriental gallery, and saw these beautiful, decorative Ching bowls,' said Sir Joseph. 'I bought them on a whim, and from then on I became more and more interested in art.' Of course it could have happened at any other time, seeing something beautiful, buying it, and wanting to learn more. 'But you never know when, or whether the spark will come,' said the leading Hong Kong collector, art philanthropist, chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and director of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp (HSBC) and several other companies.
He has the enthusiasm of the converted: 'It has been fascinating because it's given me a totally new interest in life, and a new dimension. It helps me see things from different angles; so I'm very happy.' And that this conversion happened relatively late in life - when he was in his 40s - is in some ways an advantage. He understands what life can be without art, and he knows how much the appreciation of beauty and creativity has enriched his own life, so is willing to contribute part of his time and personal fortune, to creating environments whereby other people can learn to enjoy the same thing.
'There are people who go through their whole lives without art; I nearly did,' he said. 'But their life is perhaps not as dimensional or as full of colours as it could be.' When Sir Joseph was first announced as chairman of the Arts Development Council, there was some local opposition. Here was a big businessman taking over one of the most important decision-making positions for the arts in Hong Kong, when surely, it was argued, an artist would know the issues better and feel them more deeply.
'When I was asked to take it over I saw it as a challenge, and I was happy to respond,' he said. 'There has been a question about why they should ask someone who is not an arts practitioner [to be chairman of the independent arts body].' But, he argued, other international arts development councils do not have art practitioners in the chair. Indeed they benefit from having high-level business negotiators at the top when, after all, they are relying more and more on the business community for financial support.