HONG KONG

Hong Kong is home to the greatest concentration of OHs outside London. OHs from around the world frequently visit Hong Kong on business, some fleetingly and others electing to stay for many years.

Three successful OHs based in Hong Kong share their stories and how they have built their careers in this dynamic city.

SEUNG CHONG ( The Knoll 19793) SOLICITOR AT WSCHONG&CO SOLICITORS

MY WRITING SKILLS HAD BEEN RECOGNIZED BY WINNING THE CHURCHILL ESSAY PRIZE, BUT A WRONG TURN DOING SCIENCE A-LEVELS HAD RESULTED IN VERY LOW GRADES. I WAS FORTUNATE TO BE ACCEPTED TO READ LAW AT BUCKINGHAM AND I WENT ON TO DO A MASTER’S IN LAW AT KING’S COLLEGE LONDON. The emergence of China’s economy provided new opportunities for the legal profession. Work was exciting, with corporate and private equity deals. In 1995, I was involved in a judicial review appeal to the Privy Council. The opposing silk was Jonathan Sumption QC. My responsibility was to ensure the pleadings were bound in cornflower blue. HA dinners were much smaller then. Regular attendees numbered 12 and black tie was de rigeur.

Hong Kong was under colonial rule. As a Malaysian, my family had been loyal subjects of Empire. A greatgreat-grandfather built a clock tower in Penang to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. My grandfather matriculated at Peterhouse in 1920. Although only two of eight graduates from either of the two universities he found himself under-promoted compared to his British peers. He said I would never know what it is like to live under colonial rule. That was true until I arrived in Hong Kong. Born after Merdeka, colonial rule did not sit well with me.

I decided to embrace the future and moved to Beijing in 1996. Work in Beijing was even more exciting. I advised multinationals investing in Mainland China. Every transaction was a ‘first’ of some sort. Later, I distilled my experience in a book entitled The Law and Practice of Mergers & Acquisitions in the People’s Republic of China published by the Oxford University Press. As my career and livelihood owe much to China, I used the royalties to build a primary school in rural Yunnan Province.

I met my wife, Kristie Lu Stout, in Beijing in 1998. An American and a graduate of Stanford, Kristie is a journalist at CNN. We met at a party at a three-star hotel in Beijing. She was dressed as a cool, hip Californian. I was in typical OH gear: Gucci loafers. Our first date was a walk around the lakes behind the Forbidden City. We returned to Hong Kong in 2000. After some years at Freshfields, I was elected as a partner at White & Case. I began to advise on acquisitions by PRC clients around the world. Our daughter, Arabella, is an Art Scholar at Harrow International School. She already has more Send Ups than I ever had.

Five years ago, I set up my own boutique firm. I advise sophisticated clients in complex cross-border transactions. In 2019, I matriculated at Oxford to read for a Master’s degree in Taxation Law, one of the few parttime degrees offered by the university. Sitting exams in sub fusc in your fifties is challenging, but the course was invigorating and like a mental oil change. The underlying theme of a Tax degree at Oxford is redistributive justice. I became the 17th person in my family to have graduated from Oxford, Cambridge or both.

I recently launched a second career as an Arbitrator. Arbitration in Hong Kong is growing as a means to resolve disputes given Hong Kong’s unique role and location. To improve my understanding of the subject, I am doing a PhD at Maastricht University on the resolution of tax disputes involving one or more sovereign states via arbitration.

We often say Stet Fortuna Domus and hardly ever Donorum Dei Dispensatio Fidelis. I prefer the latter. The faithful exercise of one’s scant skills and paltry talent reflects better the Harrow ethos.

AFTER LEAVING HARROW, I READ JURISPRUDENCE AT ST HUGH’S COLLEGE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY , before qualifiying as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG London and returning to Hong Kong in 1999 to join HSBC Investment Bank, specialising in corporate finance and M&A advisory. In 2006, capitalising on the benign market conditions in the aftermath of SARS, I decided to open a restaurant called The Press Room, a modern New York-style French brasserie. There was a clear gap in the market for Western food at the time: with hole-in-the-wall eateries at one end of the spectrum and hotel fine dining restaurants at the other end. The Press Room became an instant hit by offering good quality food at reasonable prices, which eventually led to the further opening of multiple outlets under various brands ranging from gastropubs and coffee shops to a Michelin two-star restaurant. Nowadays, the core business focus is Classified, a chain of all-day cafés that serve comfort food in residential neighbourhoods and office locations. Against the backdrop of rising rent and labour costs, this concept is thought to be more sustainable and less susceptible to the vagaries of the market. The experience at Harrow has taught me to be resilient and adaptable, which has stood me in good stead whether through the financial market volatilities during my banking years or the recent pandemic that significantly impacted the restaurant industry.

ANDREW KUK (Bradbys 2000 3) OPHTHALMOLOGIST

ALTHOUGH I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN THE UK MY PARENTS ORIGINATE FROM HONG KONG AND I AM FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO CALL THIS PLACE MY SECOND HOME. At Harrow, I made a very close group of friends who came from Hong Kong, and today, regardless of the struggles during our journeys of parenting, building businesses or acquiring professional qualifications, I nostalgically smile as I recall a simpler time when we played the same Yarder, fountained the same boys and tormented the same Ms Dave's every break possible. From each apparently insignificant memory to the grander moments we had on the Hill, I am thankful and am certain our time at Harrow has shaped us into the men we are today.

It is therefore no surprise that after graduating from Imperial College and practising as a junior doctor in the UK, I was keen to try my luck with the notorious Hong Kong medical licensing exam. I have found that many OHs leave School with certain attributes in common: being presentable, being responsive to decision making in pressured environments and being able to capture an audience’s attention. I certainly had to draw on or at least pretend to have some of these to navigate my way into the Hong Kong medical field.

Within a flash I have been in Hong Kong for nine years now. Perhaps through my unhealthy relationship with video gaming I opted for a microsurgical specialty and decided upon being an eye surgeon. Some may find it hard to believe but there are remarkable similarities. Our most common surgeries include removing cataracts, adjusting eye lid positions and providing injections into the eye for various degenerative diseases. Within ophthalmology, I have sub-specialised in the oculoplastic and orbital field where I focus on helping people with repairs of orbit fractures and removal of tumours within and around the eye. Currently, I work in the public sector where I can assist with complex cases and have the pleasure of teaching trainees. Having mentored a few OHs during medical school and some through the Hong Kong Medical Licentiate Exam, I remain readily available to help any others who may find themselves in similar positions or simply wish to find out more about working in the UK’s NHS or Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority.

“I was recently asked by Arnold Wong to take over his role as the Hong Kong OH Rep as he finishes his 17th year. Firstly, a huge thank you to Arnold who has established an incredible network here. Every year without fail he has gone above and beyond to organise our annual OH dinner, not to mention multiple receptions for staff, parents and alumni. I have very large shoes to fill, but will endeavour to try my best for our community in Hong Kong and see that our Old Harrovian population grows from strength to strength.”