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As the saying goes, there's a woman behind every successful man and this is doubly so in the case of Henry Tang Ying-yen - he has two women to protect his interests and help channel his ambitions.
They are Lisa Kuo Yu-chin, Tang's wife for 27 years and the mother of his four children, and his mother Susan Tang Yau Suk-yan.  
Kuo was almost unknown to the public before her husband's admission of infidelity and now the illegal structure scandal. Kuo had led a low-profile tai-tai life, often 'hiding' behind Tang at public appearances except to photograph her husband.
On his campaign website, Tang writes: 'Over the years, through good times and bad, she has always stood by my side with her big smile to show her love and support.'
That support has been put to the test. In October, Kuo stood in front of the cameras for the first time to demonstrate that she had forgiven her husband for a past affair. 'I have let it go. I totally support my husband,' she said in a magazine interview before the couple met the press.
Born to a wealthy family that ran Asia's biggest textile firm, Kuo was nine when she met 12-year-old Tang. They reportedly fell in love when they were in university and were engaged in 1976. 
They married in 1984 after a fight that almost ended their relationship.
Kuo's second appearance before the cameras, to take the blame for the illegal structures and to beg public forgiveness for her husband, drew both sympathy and disapproval.
Dr Petula Ho Sik-ying, a women's studies specialist at the University of Hong Kong, was sympathetic to Kuo. 'It is a choice forced upon her. She could have refused but what good would it do her?' she said.
Ho said Kuo was in the unfortunate position of having to consider the interests of her husband, mother-in-law, family and even the wider community, but not her own. 'Why does this society always corner women in this way?' she said. 
Those who have met Kuo say she is not as weak and shy as her public image.
But Kuo is also different from the second most important woman in Tang's life: his mother. The 85-year-old Susan Tang, who is active in charity and social circles, carefully groomed her son's manners, tastes and education. 
In 2003, she publicly said Tang was considering taking the post of financial secretary vacated by Antony Leung Kam-chung. She was also in the legislature with Kuo when Tang delivered his second budget speech. 
A finance sector member of the Election Committee who nominated Tang for chief executive said Susan Tang had been trying to drum up support for her son through her social and charity networks.
'The elder Mrs Tang has been helping her son to liaise for support in Po Leung Kuk  [women's and children's charity] and among the Shanghainese socialites,' the member said. 'She knows Henry wants the job so much, so she has been helping her son a lot.' 
A justice of the peace, Susan Tang is a director of the Federation of Women and vice-president of the Girl Guides Association. She is also a former Po Leung Kuk director.



The women behind the scenes in quest for power