A class trip to Hong Kong for the members of the Yangtze CEO program

The Yangtze CEO program was attended by 30-odd students, which includes personal
ities like Jack Ma, Guo Guangchang, Niu Gensheng and others who are regarded, wi
thin China, as remarkable people. Once, the program organized a visit to China t
o see Li Ka-shing, who is regarded as the big brother of the Chinese [business]
world.
Since we have never met, I made up the scenario in my mind, and decided I have t
o, amongst other things, make sure that I was properly attired. At that time, I
assumed that to see the big brother would be no different from visiting the [top p
olitical] leadership.
Usually, when we meet people [of such importance], we would firstly see his empt
y chair instead of his person; secondly, we would be the one giving him our name
cards, but he would not return the gesture; thirdly, after he shakes hands with
everyone, we would all stand around to hear him speak, as if we were given an a
udience a situation akin to going to the Great Hall of the People to listen to a s
peech, applaud, and that concludes the matter; and finally, there has to be a ma
in table at such a reception where the Big Brother would come sit for a while, a
nd leave after taking two mouths of food, before leaving on the pretext that he
is busy, and then we would return home emotionally-charged to write our reflecti
ons [on the short meeting]. Would it be really as I imagined? Read on, for the m
eeting totally turned my expectations on its head.
Firstly, as soon as the elevator s door opened at the top level of the Yangtze Bui
lding, the 70-odd-year-old Big Brother shook our hands while his was on his feet
. This opening was quite different from what I expected, and caused me to be a l
ittle stunned.
Secondly, the Big Brother gave us our name card on meeting us this too surprised m
e. Together with the card came a plate which came with numbers, you get a number a
s soon as you get his name card, and this number determined where you would sit.
This avoids the situation where program members might come into conflict over w
ho gets to sit at which table. When we take photos, we too take up positions in
accordance with this number.
I felt that this was a pretty good arrangement, and saves us much embarrassment.
After we have taken the photo, we get to play our role as supporting characters t
o applaud in the hope that Big Brother would give us a speech. Big Brother did n
ot plan to speak, but in order that the show could go on, he obliged. When he sp
oke, he said he did not prepare to speak, but he had eight words (in Mandarin) t
o share with us: master oneself, pursue selflessness .
Having heard thus, [I felt that] Big Brother must be very well-read; although he
was academically not quite well qualified, he has read much, [and the result is
] his words are very philosophical. master oneself, pursue selflessness , he repeat
ed this in Cantonese after saying it once in Mandarin, then he repeated it using
English because there were foreigners in attendance. Repeating it several times
, we were given the time to understand the deep meanings of these words.
What is to master oneself ? When amongst the crowds, the process of empowering and
inflating oneself, and surpassing others, often leads to others feeling the pres
sure of one s presence. Because you are now tall and mighty, you become overpoweri
ng like if you keep standing while others are squatting, you make others uncomfort
able. So, you have to pursue selflessness , so that you melt into the crowd, and ma
ke no one feel you exert any pressure [upon them].
On the one hand, you master yourself; on the other hand, you return to the ordin
ary. In the process of making your life comfortable, you do not end up causing s
tress to others.
Four tables; each gets 15 minutes of Big Brother s time

We applaud after this speech, and then we start our meal. Lady luck smiled upon
me, and I was seated at the same table as Big Brother.
At
so
to
nd

that time, I thought to myself that I was seated quite close to Big Brother,
I would get to speak to him for a little longer; therefore, I was in no rush
speak. Against my expectations, after ten-odd minutes, Big Brother stood up a
asked us to excuse him, because he has to go over to another table to sit.
Then do I realize that placed at each of the four tables were an extra set of
cutlery and crockery, and Big Brother [in the course of the meal] sat at every t
able. In the hour, Big Brother took turns sitting at each table, spending approx
imately 15 minutes at each one. At this time, everyone was moved by Big Brother s
planning, down to the very details of the meal.
After Big Brother had made his round, he did not leave immediately. He went arou
nd shaking each and everyone s hands. Everyone in attendance enjoyed this opportun
ity, the waiters and waitresses standing in the corner too, for Big Brother went
out of his way to make sure he shook their hands too. At this time, I remembere
d that I ever heard a speech of his, and asked Big Brother about the book relate
d to the speech. At that time, Big Brother did not have the book with him, but h
e delegated the task to his subordinates, and when I alighted from the car, the
book was already in my hands. Throughout the entire process, everyone felt extre
mely comfortable.
This is precisely why Big Brother is who he is; this is his soft power. He posse
sses this intangible power, and this stems from his values; in his words it is t
o pursue selflessness to make everyone comfortable. Later, I mentioned this matter
to the head of our program, and he said that because Mr. Li was so sincere in t
reating people that, when many people came to Hong Kong, they were willing to do
business with him.
You can t say that Mr. Li Ka-shing is doing all this because he is now rich; he ma
y be rich, but this is not the source of his soft power. Being rich is only his
current status, when he first struck out in the world of business, many others w
ere wealthier than he was he couldn t have been the wealthiest then. When Bill Gates
founded his business, many other were also wealthier than he was; why is it tha
t, at present, the latter is no longer present?
So, money is not the deciding factor of one s success; it is what lies beyond mone
y that decides who is the winner and can last till the very end. That is why I o
ften say that which lies beyond money is soft power. Mr. Li Ka-shing s soft power
comes from something other than money it is how he treats people and handles matte
rs; it is his value of mastering oneself, pursuing selflessness . These values are
not meant to be enunciated but acted upon. Once you feel it, you would share it
with others, and this slowly forms a field [of the public impression of Mr. Li].
When this field has been fully formed, everyone would be willing to do business
with him, to give him the best opportunities, and this is why Mr. Li became inc
reasingly successful, and this forms his soft power.
Many of us today fall into the trap of donations and academic qualifications (as a m
eans to build ourselves up) for we pursue our selves without pursuing selflessne
ss. As we build ourselves up, we become proud and arrogant; we think that wherev
er we go, we should be well-received. If people do not applaud you or inflate yo
ur ego, you end up being unhappy.
On the contrary, truly successful gentlemen like Mr. Li Ka-shing handle this mat
ter very differently. His existence leaves other feeling only more comfortable and
not any bit of unhappiness this is only possible having attained the state of sel
flessness. Along the way, many have been willing to help Mr. Li; if he had been
egoistic, I doubt he would have made it today.

He often humbly says: It is only that this era gave me this extraordinary opportu
nity to make whatever I am doing a success, but my learning is very shallow, and
so I must tirelessly [continue to] research and learn.
Translated by William Chong, please feel free to share and reproduce with acknow
ledgements. Original text in Chinese available at http://www.cmoney.tw/notes/not
e-detail.aspx?nid=19669A class trip to Hong Kong for the members of the Yangtze
CEO program
The Yangtze CEO program was attended by 30-odd students, which includes personal
ities like Jack Ma, Guo Guangchang, Niu Gensheng and others who are regarded, wi
thin China, as remarkable people. Once, the program organized a visit to China t
o see Li Ka-shing, who is regarded as the big brother of the Chinese [business]
world.
Since we have never met, I made up the scenario in my mind, and decided I have t
o, amongst other things, make sure that I was properly attired. At that time, I
assumed that to see the big brother would be no different from visiting the [top p
olitical] leadership.
Usually, when we meet people [of such importance], we would firstly see his empt
y chair instead of his person; secondly, we would be the one giving him our name
cards, but he would not return the gesture; thirdly, after he shakes hands with
everyone, we would all stand around to hear him speak, as if we were given an a
udience a situation akin to going to the Great Hall of the People to listen to a s
peech, applaud, and that concludes the matter; and finally, there has to be a ma
in table at such a reception where the Big Brother would come sit for a while, a
nd leave after taking two mouths of food, before leaving on the pretext that he
is busy, and then we would return home emotionally-charged to write our reflecti
ons [on the short meeting]. Would it be really as I imagined? Read on, for the m
eeting totally turned my expectations on its head.
Firstly, as soon as the elevator s door opened at the top level of the Yangtze Bui
lding, the 70-odd-year-old Big Brother shook our hands while his was on his feet
. This opening was quite different from what I expected, and caused me to be a l
ittle stunned.
Secondly, the Big Brother gave us our name card on meeting us this too surprised m
e. Together with the card came a plate which came with numbers, you get a number a
s soon as you get his name card, and this number determined where you would sit.
This avoids the situation where program members might come into conflict over w
ho gets to sit at which table. When we take photos, we too take up positions in
accordance with this number.
I felt that this was a pretty good arrangement, and saves us much embarrassment.
After we have taken the photo, we get to play our role as supporting characters t
o applaud in the hope that Big Brother would give us a speech. Big Brother did n
ot plan to speak, but in order that the show could go on, he obliged. When he sp
oke, he said he did not prepare to speak, but he had eight words (in Mandarin) t
o share with us: master oneself, pursue selflessness .
Having heard thus, [I felt that] Big Brother must be very well-read; although he
was academically not quite well qualified, he has read much, [and the result is
] his words are very philosophical. master oneself, pursue selflessness , he repeat
ed this in Cantonese after saying it once in Mandarin, then he repeated it using
English because there were foreigners in attendance. Repeating it several times
, we were given the time to understand the deep meanings of these words.
What is to master oneself ? When amongst the crowds, the process of empowering and
inflating oneself, and surpassing others, often leads to others feeling the pres
sure of one s presence. Because you are now tall and mighty, you become overpoweri
ng like if you keep standing while others are squatting, you make others uncomfort
able. So, you have to pursue selflessness , so that you melt into the crowd, and ma

ke no one feel you exert any pressure [upon them].

On the one hand, you master yourself; on the other hand, you return to the ordin
ary. In the process of making your life comfortable, you do not end up causing s
tress to others.
Four tables; each gets 15 minutes of Big Brother s time
We applaud after this speech, and then we start our meal. Lady luck smiled upon
me, and I was seated at the same table as Big Brother.
At
so
to
nd

that time, I thought to myself that I was seated quite close to Big Brother,
I would get to speak to him for a little longer; therefore, I was in no rush
speak. Against my expectations, after ten-odd minutes, Big Brother stood up a
asked us to excuse him, because he has to go over to another table to sit.
Then do I realize that placed at each of the four tables were an extra set of
cutlery and crockery, and Big Brother [in the course of the meal] sat at every t
able. In the hour, Big Brother took turns sitting at each table, spending approx
imately 15 minutes at each one. At this time, everyone was moved by Big Brother s
planning, down to the very details of the meal.
After Big Brother had made his round, he did not leave immediately. He went arou
nd shaking each and everyone s hands. Everyone in attendance enjoyed this opportun
ity, the waiters and waitresses standing in the corner too, for Big Brother went
out of his way to make sure he shook their hands too. At this time, I remembere
d that I ever heard a speech of his, and asked Big Brother about the book relate
d to the speech. At that time, Big Brother did not have the book with him, but h
e delegated the task to his subordinates, and when I alighted from the car, the
book was already in my hands. Throughout the entire process, everyone felt extre
mely comfortable.
This is precisely why Big Brother is who he is; this is his soft power. He posse
sses this intangible power, and this stems from his values; in his words it is t
o pursue selflessness to make everyone comfortable. Later, I mentioned this matter
to the head of our program, and he said that because Mr. Li was so sincere in t
reating people that, when many people came to Hong Kong, they were willing to do
business with him.
You can t say that Mr. Li Ka-shing is doing all this because he is now rich; he ma
y be rich, but this is not the source of his soft power. Being rich is only his
current status, when he first struck out in the world of business, many others w
ere wealthier than he was he couldn t have been the wealthiest then. When Bill Gates
founded his business, many other were also wealthier than he was; why is it tha
t, at present, the latter is no longer present?
So, money is not the deciding factor of one s success; it is what lies beyond mone
y that decides who is the winner and can last till the very end. That is why I o
ften say that which lies beyond money is soft power. Mr. Li Ka-shing s soft power
comes from something other than money it is how he treats people and handles matte
rs; it is his value of mastering oneself, pursuing selflessness . These values are
not meant to be enunciated but acted upon. Once you feel it, you would share it
with others, and this slowly forms a field [of the public impression of Mr. Li].
When this field has been fully formed, everyone would be willing to do business
with him, to give him the best opportunities, and this is why Mr. Li became inc
reasingly successful, and this forms his soft power.
Many of us today fall into the trap of donations and academic qualifications (as a m
eans to build ourselves up) for we pursue our selves without pursuing selflessne
ss. As we build ourselves up, we become proud and arrogant; we think that wherev
er we go, we should be well-received. If people do not applaud you or inflate yo
ur ego, you end up being unhappy.

On the contrary, truly successful gentlemen like Mr. Li Ka-shing handle this mat
ter very differently. His existence leaves other feeling only more comfortable and
not any bit of unhappiness this is only possible having attained the state of sel
flessness. Along the way, many have been willing to help Mr. Li; if he had been
egoistic, I doubt he would have made it today.
He often humbly says: It is only that this era gave me this extraordinary opportu
nity to make whatever I am doing a success, but my learning is very shallow, and
so I must tirelessly [continue to] research and learn.
Translated by William Chong, please feel free to share and reproduce with acknow
ledgements. Original text in Chinese available at http://www.cmoney.tw/notes/not
e-detail.aspx?nid=19669