Lifetime achievement award; Starting with a tiny workshop and $200 in seed capital, an industrialist has built an empire - only to give it away CHIANG CHEN, chairman of the Chen Hsong Holdings, said he wanted in his youth to follow in the footsteps of the heroes in the classical Chinese novel Water Margin. In the book, 108 heroes steal from the rich and give to the poor during the Song dynasty. Although the realities of life quickly put paid to such notions, the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award in this year's DHL/SCMP Hong Kong Business Awards has become something of a legend and hero himself, both for his success in business and his generosity to the community. Dr Chiang was born in 1923 and grew up in poverty. His parents died when he was still young. Moving from Shandong to Hong Kong in 1949, he scratched a living doing a string of labouring jobs until friends recommended him to the Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company (Haeco). Two years later, spotting opportunities in the plastics industry, he left the company to start his own workshop with $200 in seed money. Dr Chiang said times were hard back then. His entire workshop was no bigger than the small room in the office where he now works and had no chairs. He worked around the clock and leaned on the wall for a quick nap when exhausted. Soon after starting up his workshop, he began to conduct research on the production of plastic injection moulding machines. Within eight years, he had invented the first locally designed and manufactured 10-ounce, in-line screw-type plastic injection moulding machine. The machine is one of the achievements of which Dr Chiang is most proud. 'I love inventing stuff. I spent days and nights on the machine. I was thrilled when it finally succeeded,' he said. The invention won a New Product Award from the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong. In 1991, Chen Hsong was listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In the same year, Chiang Industrial Charity Foundation (later called Chiang Chen Industrial Charity Foundation) was established. His childhood dream of being a hero and helping the poor has never left Dr Chiang. But rather than helping the poor by stealing from the rich, he uses his own money. In 1990, he donated his entire Chen Hsong shareholding, valued at $800 million, to the Chiang Chen Industrial Charity Foundation. The foundation bases its work on Dr Chiang's belief that industry makes people prosperous, which in turn makes a country stronger. The belief was born when Dr Chiang visited Europe and saw signs in six languages, of which only one was Asian, and that was Japanese. He was astonished. 'China is so big with so many people. Japan is so small with so few people,' he said. 'Why didn't they put Chinese on the signs? It was because China was poor. Most people didn't have the money to travel to Europe. China was listed as one of the biggest nations but most people were still living in poverty. 'Everything in the mainland belonged to the central government. The land belonged to the government, the sky belonged to the government, the ocean belonged to the government ... so the people couldn't get anything from it. 'China was a socialist country for decades. It opened up in the 1980s, the policies loosened and people were allowed to start their own businesses. But the people didn't know how industry worked. They didn't know about marketing. 'I wanted to help so that people could earn more money in industry. Only when the people are prosperous can the country get stronger.' The Chiang Chen Industrial Charity Foundation supports training activities in the areas of industrialisation and economic development, activities for the improvement of mechanical manufacturing and production technology, and research and development activities for the manufacture of new machine tools. More than 30,000 students, professional managers and engineers in Greater China have benefited. The foundation organises courses for senior management and an international conference on manufacturing technology, held every two years. It has also sponsored the establishment of three industrial training centres at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the Southern Yangtze University and the Northwestern Polytechnic University of Xian. It offers scholarships at universities in Hong Kong and overseas. The foundation now holds 54.14 per cent of the company and derives its income from the annual dividends. Dr Chiang's work has been widely recognised. He has received many honours for his philanthropic contributions. The Hong Kong government awarded him the Grand Bauhinia Medal in July this year. The 82-year-old Dr Chiang still goes to work every day. Asked for the secret of his success, he replied: 'Perseverance, commitment and a kind heart.' 'I wanted to help so that people could earn more money in industry. Only when the people are prosperous can the country get stronger' Chiang Chen Chen Hsong Holdings chairman quick facts Chiang Chen Industrial Charity Foundation was founded by Chiang Chen in 1990. Its objective is to support industrial training and research. The foundation established three industrial design training centres at three universities in the mainland in 2000. At the last count, the centres had run 166 training courses and invited overseas experts to give lectures on industrial management and industrial design. A total of 10,801 people took part in these courses. The foundation organises courses for senior management executives and sponsors participants' training fees, instruction fees, transport and miscellaneous fees. Up to 2003, 9,104 executives took part in 238 courses in Hong Kong. The foundation also organised events in Taiwan and overseas. The foundation awards 45 scholarships, worth a total of $420,000, to Hong Kong students every year. It also has overseas fellowship programmes for engineering master's students and overseas exchange scholarships for undergraduates. It funds educational or non-profit projects conducted by academic institutions to develop machinery and manufacturing technologies. Judge's comment 'As one of Hong Kong's leading industrialists, Dr Chen has championed the importance of research and technology in industrial development and manufacturing. He has made great contributions to various charitable causes in Hong Kong and the mainland. His dedication to his industry and to society at large is an example to us all' Tung Chee-chen Orient Overseas (International) chairman
