well-connected, well-heeled and EVENTUALLY well-oiled
Who wouldn't want to be a member of the venerable Hong Kong Club? Established almost 160 years ago, the former colonial bastion of power is the watering hole of choice for the city's business elite and thrusting new rich.
Yet simply being wealthy is no guarantee of getting in, at least not straight away. Take the cases of two humble aspirants - Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp chairman Vincent Cheng Hoi-chuen and PCCW chairman Richard Li Tzar-kai, understood to be seeking membership next month, having waited for more than two years.
Preparing their bid for respectability, both have been spotted hanging out with the 28 committee members at the club bar every Tuesday at 5.30pm, in the hope of winning favour and joining the roll-call of 1,304 privileged members.
Lai See understands that being the HSBC taipan, Mr Cheng's candidacy is a shoo-in but Mr Li's bid could yet run into problems.
Sources say a previous attempt to join saw him blackballed, with club crusties apparently spluttering into their G&Ts over cyber-tomfoolery and other shenanigans making news at the time. Whatever the outcome this time around, Mr Li is unlikely to be short of Jackson Room dining companions; his deputy chairmen - Jack So Chak-kwong and Francis Yuen Tin-fan - are both fully paid-up regulars.
