STOCK TIPPING, lychee growing and toy making are diverse activities that have a couple of things in common - money making and Christina Cheung Choi-ngor. Throw in futures trading, merchant banking, travel, property and media interests, and it is easy to see why Ms Cheung is a mover and shaker in Hong Kong business. But it is as a stock tipster that the co-founder and vice-chairman of South China Brokerage became a household name and the darling of Hong Kong retail investors, who have dubbed her 'Big Sister Ngor'. Her tipping record over the 23 years she has been in the business is impressive, with many rights and very few wrongs in predicting the stock benchmark's level - including the 1994 tips that the Hang Seng Index would break the 10,000-point level, as well as the peaks of 18,000 in August 1997 and March 2000. But she was wrong when saying the index would break 20,000 after Hong Kong was handed back to China in July 1997, as by October of that year the Asian economy was in free fall and the Hang Seng Index had been slashed by more than 65 per cent in a year, to a close of 6,660.42 points in August 1998. 'I usually got the market right in a rising market. This may be because I am an optimistic person and I always think of the good aspect,' Ms Cheung said in her usual cheerful tone. 'I predicted the market would go down in 1987, 1991 and 1998 ... but not as far as it did.' So what of the future? The golden index tipster is predicting the market will go beyond 20,000 next year, driven by the optimistic outlook for mainland economic development. And what about the Securities and Futures Commission's recently announced proposal requiring analysts writing newspaper share-tipping columns to stop using pen-names and disclose their identities and name their firms? Ms Cheung said she was not worried as her weekly column 'Big Sister Ngor's speech plaza' in the Express Magazine carried her true name and firm. But she warned that the SFC proposal could reduce the flow of information to retail investors. 'Some analysts are writing columns under pen names because their brokerage firms do not allow them to offer views to the public in case negative comments about listed companies create trouble. 'Any requirement forcing analysts to disclose their identities may stop them writing or they may not be frank when examining ... transactions or companies. This will reduce market transparency.' Ms Cheung said the media and stock analysts would discipline themselves. As a newspaper investment tipping columnist who was once on the senior management of the Express News, which her group bought from former Sing Tao chairman Sally Aw Sian in 1991, this is something Ms Cheung knows all about. Many of her stock advice columns were published in the newspaper, which also carried other stock commentators' columns, making the Express News a favourite of retail investors before keen competition led to the paper closing in 1999. 'Working in the media and writing for the public means you face high social responsibilities,' she said. South China Brokerage's holding company no longer owns a newspaper but it does maintain 15 magazine titles, making it one of the largest media groups in Hong Kong. Ms Cheung's sanguine nature stems from her family background. She was No4 in a family of six girls and two boys. 'It is a big family and all members stick together. We help each other through difficulties and share our happiness.' After graduating with a master's degree in business administration from the University of Illinois in the United States, she returned to Hong Kong in 1981 and joined Sun Hung Kai Securities, Hong Kong's largest brokerage house before overseas firms flooded in. Ms Cheung left Sun Hung Kai with colleagues Robert Ng Hung-sang and Howard Gorges to set up South China Brokerage in 1988. 'The 1987 market crash was such a big hit to the stock market worldwide that it inspired us to consider making changes,' Ms Cheung said. 'We decided to try starting our own firm while we were still young. I thought that if anything went wrong, I could always find work in other brokerages.' But as with her index tips, she did not get it wrong. The trio, who started with capital of $20 million, now have a business with assets of $4 billion and 50,000 employees in a group which has business in stock broking, investment banking, media, manufacturing, agriculture and tourism. Ms Cheung and Mr Gorges each holds about 5 per cent of the group and Mr Ng 65 per cent. The rest is in the hands of public shareholders. Ms Cheung said the reason for South China Brokerage's diversification was simple. 'There is a Chinese saying that the people in the village will get rich at different times. By diversifying into different businesses we can capture the opportunities of different business cycles.' And this is exactly what toy manufacturing did for the group in the years following the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Now lychees are being grown under Ms Cheung's nurturing hands. The company has 1,665 hectares of land in Zhengcheng, a city close to Guangzhou, on which 500,000 fruit trees were planted, most of them lychees, one of the most popular fruits in China. Legend has it that 1,000 years ago, during the Tang dynasty, Emperor Tang Yun-chung sent his army to Zhengcheng to collect newly harvested lychees in an effort to make his concubine Yeung smile, hence the name 'concubine's smile'. Every summer, many Hong Kong people travel to the southern mainland to visit the lychee farms. 'Like many locals, I love eating lychees,' she said. A unique feature of the fruit is that it grows best in the latitude where Zhengcheng is found. 'This eliminates many competitors and brings good profits to the group,' said Ms Cheung, whose appetite for hard work is legendary. However, she admits women do have to work hard if they aspire to be appointed to senior positions. 'When I started working, society was so conservative that bosses usually avoided promoting women for the fear of sparking rumours of romance or setting their wives to worrying. Women also found it hard to participate in many of the entertainment activities with the male clients,' she said, laughing. 'You need to be really good to convince others that you were promoted because of your talent and performance and not because of your beauty or relationships. This attitude is starting to change and life will be easier for the next generation of working ladies.' This was confirmed by a former boss at Sun Hung Kai Securities, Fung Ka-pun: 'Ms Cheung worked from 8am to 9pm every day without any complaints. Her hard work, combined with her gentle manners, made her an outstanding colleague in the office.' But success can carry a high price, especially for a woman - long hours, little leisure and possibly no romance. Ms Cheung, who takes great comfort from her close-knit family and likes nothing better than spending a quiet time at home watching television with her parents, does not think her career costs her a husband. 'Many women choose to marry and spend their time looking after husbands and children. It is a matter of choice. 'I prefer working. I don't regret my choice.' Biography Christina Cheung Choi-ngor is a co-founder and vice-chairman of South China Brokerage and vice-chairman and chief executive of South China Industries. Before that, she worked in the research and institutional departments of Sun Hung Kai Securities from 1981 to 1988. She holds a master's degree in business administration from the University of Illinois in the United States.