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New life in Edinburgh wears well on HK couple

3-MIN READ3-MIN
Enoch Yiu

There are many paths Hongkongers take to becoming entrepreneurs, but the roads seldom end in Scotland.

For Raymond Lo Wai-man, a former Hong Kong policeman, and his accountant wife, Carole Tong Ching-man, it began with a desire to visit relatives in Edinburgh and find a quiet place to raise their daughter.

Ten years later, they own five restaurants in the Scottish capital and are major importers of underwear, businesses that, combined, have a turnover of HK$250 million a year.

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In 1997 the paired travelled to Edinburgh to visit Mr Lo's parents, who had moved there to live with their younger daughter. A policewoman herself, she had married a Scottish policeman she met when they both worked in Hong Kong.

'We found Edinburgh to be a more relaxed place to live and to raise a child,' says Mrs Lo, 46. 'The hectic lifestyle in Hong Kong meant we had little time together.'

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The couple sold their flats and investment properties in Hong Kong, raising about HK$4 million to start a new life in Edinburgh. Though the Scottish capital has a population only about the size of Macau, a half million, both cities draw millions of tourists a year.

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