Industrialist who had Deng's ear

A MAN of many talents, the late Ann Tse-kai - whose funeral will take place tomorrow - played a unique role in shaping the handover of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty.

Although he retired from the local corridors of power after serving in the British colonial establishment as a legislative and executive councillor during the 1970s, he swiftly re-emerged on the political scene in the early 80s as one of a handful of capitalists who had the ear of Deng Xiaoping, and so could help shape the late patriarch's plan to re-unify China under the 'one country, two systems' formula.

Ann - who died of heart complications last Saturday at the age of 88 - was then elevated to hold key positions in major bodies formed by Beijing to prepare for the handover. Three years after the promulgation of the Basic Law in 1990, he was appointed as one of two local vice-chairmen of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in 1993. The other is still longtime patriot-businessman Henry Fok Ying-tung. Under the Chinese hierarchy, the position enjoys the status of a state leader.

Born in Shanghai in 1912 to a family of a small merchant, Ann was sent to a traditional Confucian school at the age of six. He studied Chinese literature and economics, and later learned foreign languages including French, Japanese, German and Spanish. At 23, he co-wrote a Chinese translation of an American novel, Second Deluge. It was published in 1937.

Like many in Shanghai, Ann came to Hong Kong after the Japanese invasion in 1938. He headed for the southwestern city of Chongqing when Hong Kong fought a war against Japanese troops in 1941.

After the war, Ann returned to Hong Kong and settled down. From there began his success story in the worlds of business, politics and linguistics.