I actually first saw this article on reddit, and someone posted the following http://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/1y6xqr/hong_kong_billionaire_li_kas

I actually first saw this article on reddit, and someone posted the following http://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/1y6xqr/hong_kong_billionaire_li_kashing_shares_some_of/cfic0wg http://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/1y6xqr/hong_ko... >Li Ka-shing is an impressive man, and he drops some good wisdom here. I certainly don't want to knock it. But here's how you become Li Ka-shing: show up in the middle of a war zone with a little cash, a lot of ambition and no scruples. Smuggle supplies for both sides, at a major premium, of course, and use your profits to slip your sticky fingers deep down into the underbelly of your city (that's where the buying lunch for more knowledgable people comes in). Then you use your newfound influence to quash the competition, and any dreams of a free market in your chosen territory. Buy up all the prime land, take over the port, and stand there at the door with a shit-eating grin on your face when the Chinese roll in with their tanks, because they're happy to make you even richer as long as you do what they say. > You want to set up a department store chain to compete with Li Ka-shing's? Well you're shit out of luck, because he owns the shopping mall where you set up, and for some reason, security won't let your delivery trucks in, and they happen to be fixing the sidewalk right in front of your door. Want to compete with his shipping business? Sorry, things are really backed up at Li's port, what with the sudden unscheduled maintenance on that crane near your berth. > Sorry for the rant. A lot of people think that Hong Kong is some bastion of the free market. It's actually a really dirty oligopoly, run by Li and a handful of other people like him. It just happens that if you're another Asian billionaire, or a major bank, you can park your money there basically free of charge, with no questions asked. Just don't try to bootstrap your way from Chunking Mansion to the private jet-set. Not on his watch. > Having said that, Li Ka-shing did start from next to nothing, and he did pull himself up by his bootstraps to become one of the richest men in Asia. He's certainly a highly capable guy, but he has made many very questionable decisions along the way. Being rich isn't everything. I'm just hoping I can work my way to a comfortable retirement, and at least be able to sleep at night when I look back over my choices in life. I claim to have done no fact checking, but the user seemed at least someone in touch with HK politics, way more so than myself :)