Wu’s journey began, improbably, with a hotel. The China Hotel in Guangzhou was one of the country’s first five-star hotels and, as Lee noted, “the mainland’s first major foreign-funded and foreign-managed enterprise, helping build Western confidence in China.” More consequentially still, it was China’s first major development to incorporate the build-operate-transfer model—the then-novel financing structure that allowed a private developer to build, run and eventually hand back major assets.
The hotel also pushed Wu, almost by accident, into the infrastructure projects that would come to define him. While building it, he was told the city’s electricity bureau would have to cut supply on certain days. “I say I don’t expect our paying guests to walk up 18 floors,” he recalled. “Although it might work for your body, it’s not pleasant.” When officials offered to reroute another district’s power to him for an extra charge, he saw something larger at work: the need for critical infrastructure.
Pressed by Chan on whether property development in Hong Kong would have made him considerably wealthier, Wu agreed that had he stayed away from setting up transportation and utilities in the mainland, he could have probably made “more money,” but “there’s only so much money you need”.
“If you do real estate in Hong Kong, 50 years later, nobody will remember you,” said Chan. “You do what you did, and 50 years later, in the history book, they will still talk about Gordon Wu.”
“The most important thing is, real estate is not always making money,” said Wu. “Real estate comes in cycles. Therefore, you’ve got to be careful. But if you build something that is really what people want, that is very safe.”
Read more: Hopewell Hotel: a new chapter in the legacy of Hong Kong’s four rings