https://www.scmp.com/rss/325848/feed The latest news on Robert Kuok Hock Nien, Malaysian-born Hong Kong-based business magnate, investor, philanthropist and found of the Shangri-La group. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Daniel Ren Daniel Ren Shangri-La Group has launched its super-luxury hotel brand in mainland China, Shangri-La Signatures, featuring a convergence of cultural heritage and nature aimed at attracting wealthy tourists amid a rebound in demand for leisure experiences. The company was spearheading a move among global hoteliers to focus on unique offerings, operational agility and the evolving preferences of Chinese travellers to stay abreast of the competition. “Affluent Chinese travellers, particularly millennials and... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3318908/new-shangri-la-luxury-brand-lures-rich-chinese-tourists-unique-cultural-experiences?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3318908/new-shangri-la-luxury-brand-lures-rich-chinese-tourists-unique-cultural-experiences?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Jul 2025 11:14:47 +0000 Yuke Xie Yuke Xie Kuok Hui Kwong, daughter of Malaysia’s richest man, Robert Kuok Hock-nien, has been named CEO of luxury hotel group Shangri-La Asia, effective August 1. Kuok, 47, has been serving as Shangri-La Asia’s executive director since June 2016 and chairman since January 2017, according to a Wednesday filing with Hong Kong’s stock exchange. Shangri-La Asia is listed in Hong Kong and Singapore. The Harvard-educated Malaysian, the sixth of Robert Kuok’s eight children, took the helm of the luxury hotel... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3318454/kuok-hui-kwong-daughter-malaysias-richest-man-lead-hotel-group-shangri-la-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3318454/kuok-hui-kwong-daughter-malaysias-richest-man-lead-hotel-group-shangri-la-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jul 2025 10:15:49 +0000 If there was one valuable lesson that Kuok Hui Kwong learned during the Covid-19 outbreak, it was the importance of telling a complete and authentic story to her audience. Constrained by pandemic curbs and travel restrictions, the 45-year-old Malaysian-born chairperson of the Shangri-La Asia Limited hotel group embraced social media while the virus was ravaging the global economy, sharing her business philosophy and ideas, and sometimes her reflections on family life, via her personal account on... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3240248/shangri-la-hotels-hui-kuok-braves-new-world-social-media-share-stories-life-goals-staff-guests?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3240248/shangri-la-hotels-hui-kuok-braves-new-world-social-media-share-stories-life-goals-staff-guests?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Nov 2023 00:00:20 +0000 Memoirs of a Flying Tiger: The Story of a WWII Veteran and SIA Pioneer Pilot was published last month by war veteran Ho Weng Toh, and co-written by National University of Singapore academic Jonathan Sim. It recounts Ho’s colourful life and storied career, starting with his studies at the University of Hong Kong, becoming a Chinese air force B-25 bomber pilot during World War II, and eventually ending up in Singapore where he rose to become chief pilot at Singapore Airlines. Here are excerpts of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3041008/hku-student-world-war-ii-chinese-air-force-pilot-99-year-old-ho?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3041008/hku-student-world-war-ii-chinese-air-force-pilot-99-year-old-ho?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Dec 2019 07:00:11 +0000 It has been almost eight decades since Hong Kong fell into the hands of Japanese forces during World War II, but war veteran Ho Weng Toh can still remember the fear that plagued the city. One particular memory that stands out for the 99-year-old was seeing Kai Tak Airport – Hong Kong’s international gateway from 1925 to 1998 – go up in flames in front of him. “From the balcony, I had a clear view of the Kai Tak Airport … The airport had always been a pleasant sight for me. That day, it was not,”... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3041022/singapore-pilot-99-remembers-wartime-hong-kong-and-being-flying?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3041022/singapore-pilot-99-remembers-wartime-hong-kong-and-being-flying?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Dec 2019 05:15:10 +0000 ON CHINA’S CULTURAL STRENGTH At a very young age, perhaps four or five years old, I was becoming conscious of mother’s stories, and her frequent exhortations to me and my brothers. Father, his associates, and even the Chinese labourers working in the shop also had wisdom. I learned from them and from their behaviour that I belonged to a people with a very rich culture. As I grew older, through the 1930s and 1940s, I began to realise that what the Chinese lacked most of all was discipline and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121117/dengs-despair-rebirth-under-xi-and-how-i-felt-about-buying-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121117/dengs-despair-rebirth-under-xi-and-how-i-felt-about-buying-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Nov 2017 01:00:15 +0000 CUT THE APRON STRINGS AND CAST OFF In 1967, word reached my ears that the Blue Funnel Group was coming to set up the national shipping line of Malaysia. Blue Funnel was probably the largest shipping conglomerate in Britain at that time. It owned Blue Funnel, Glen Line, Straits Steamship Co in Singapore, and many other lines. The Executive Chairman, a man whom I recall walked with a bad limp, was making frequent lobbying trips from London to Kuala Lumpur. I was interested in applying for the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121108/how-i-launched-malaysias-national-shipping-line-and-what-genghis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121108/how-i-launched-malaysias-national-shipping-line-and-what-genghis?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Nov 2017 01:00:15 +0000 UNSUNG HEROES The overseas Chinese made enormous contributions to Southeast Asia. They are the unsung heroes of the region: the poor men and women who migrated and blazed trails into the jungle, accessing the timber wealth; Chinese workers who planted and tapped rubber, who opened up the tin mines, who ran the small retail shops. It was the Chinese immigrants who tackled these Herculean tasks, and created a new economy around them. The British were good administrators. Many of them in private... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121085/chinese-most-amazing-economic-ants-earth-robert-kuok-memoirs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121085/chinese-most-amazing-economic-ants-earth-robert-kuok-memoirs?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Nov 2017 01:02:14 +0000 FROM SEA TO AIR It was likely that some people in the government thought that it was shameful for Chinese Malaysians to run the national shipping line. When I sensed that this was their attitude, it was time for me to call it a day. Kuok Brothers eventually sold all their MISC shares and pulled out of the national shipping company completely. In the early 1970s, the Kuok Group started its own shipping company, Pacific Carriers, in Singapore. By then I was a semiexpert on shipping. Any business... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121067/malaysia-singapore-airlines-siamese-twins-set-separation-robert?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121067/malaysia-singapore-airlines-siamese-twins-set-separation-robert?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Nov 2017 06:00:30 +0000 COMMUNIST DEVILS? PLEASE, PRIME MINISTER Malaysia has had six Prime Ministers since independence. I have known all six. The first, Tunku Abdul Rahman, had tremendous rhythm. He was a well-educated man, having graduated with a law degree from Cambridge. If you talk of brains, Tunku was brilliant, and very shrewd. His mother was Thai, and he had that touch of Thai shrewdness, an ability to smell and spot whether a man was to be trusted or not. Tunku was less mindful about administrative affairs.... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121058/devils-friends-how-chinas-communists-won-over-malaysian-pm-tunku?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121058/devils-friends-how-chinas-communists-won-over-malaysian-pm-tunku?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Nov 2017 01:01:56 +0000 Malaysian-born billionaire Robert Kuok has just published his memoirs – due out at bookshops this weekend – but they are by no means a tell-all. For starters he reveals few clues on the decades-old question of who will succeed him at the helm of the corporate empire he built from scratch in the post-war years. Still, the 376 pages offer a rare glimpse into the private life of a magnate, 94, who despite once owning the South China Morning Post is well known for having avoided the media limelight... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121123/my-mother-and-mao-singapore-taxes-and-rise-hong-kong-property?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2121123/my-mother-and-mao-singapore-taxes-and-rise-hong-kong-property?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Nov 2017 06:00:15 +0000