School of hard knocks
David Tang triumphed over adversity - and 'disgusting food' - at his British boarding school to launch a dazzling business career
Starting at a new school can be a chastening experience for any child, but for the boy who grew up to be businessman, fashion entrepreneur and club and restaurant owner, Sir David Tang, the challenges were particularly daunting.
Having attended La Salle Primary School in Hong Kong as a day pupil, Tang was sent to board at The Perse School, in Cambridge, in Britain at the age of 13.
"My parents sent me off and said goodbye and I was on my own," he says. "My first day of school was horrible. Out of 800 boys I was the only foreigner and I didn't speak a word of English."
Given such an inauspicious start in an alien society and education system, it seems something of a personal triumph that Tang has gone on to become not only such a well known figure in both British and Chinese society - honoured first with an Order ofthe British Empire (OBE) and then made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 2008 - but also write a weekly column for the English newspaper, Financial Times.
Tang says that his desire to prove one particular master at The Perse School wrong was a significant spur to his success later in life.
"My English teacher said that I would never be fluent in English," Tang says.