Chao Tsong-yea, one of the three founders of Hong Kong's shipping industry, has died. He was 88.
Born to a well-to-do Shanghai family, Chao, known as T. Y., practised as a lawyer in Shanghai between 1934 and 1941, then became involved in the import/export and shipping business.
In 1948, he entered the shipping business in Hong Kong. The business flourished and his fleet helped transport soldiers during the Korean War between 1950 and 1953.
By November 1975, Chao was described as semi-retired, but he continued to chair Wah Kwong Shipping and Investment Co as well as Wah Kwong Properties.
His empire ran into trouble in the mid-1980s amid a worldwide shipping slump and he was forced to sell part of his collection of antique ceramics and jade carvings in November 1986, raising $77.26 million. Wah Kwong owed $6.63 billion at the time.
Chao quit as chairman of Wah Kwong Shipping Holdings in August 1997 due to ill health, and in October last year a committee was set up to oversee the shipping empire, ending a dispute among the family over his estate.