Image source: Next Magazine

 

 

Chun Wo Development Holdings Limited, a long-established Hong Kong construction company, was founded by Pang Kam Chun in 1968 and listed in 1993. In the past half century, it has more than 6,800 employees and is known as one of Cheung Kong's favorite construction companies. It has participated in the construction of large-scale infrastructure projects such as the MTR Shatin to Central Link, the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, and the Passenger Inspection Building of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.

Pang Kam Chun has four children and brought them up with a strict family education. On Sundays, after having tea with the family, he would take his children to a bookstore. In the evening, he would tell them stories of successful people and teach them how to be a good person, just like laying the foundation, hoping to lay a good foundation for their character in the world.

His youngest son, the group's chief executive and chief operating officer, Derrick Pang, was interviewed by our magazine and shared the influence his father had on his life. He mentioned that his father’s sudden death in 2010 was a major blow to him. "I suddenly lost my direction and asked myself, should I stay in the company? What's the point of staying?"

After experiencing pain, Derrick Pang gradually realized that what his father left behind was not just a construction company, but a platform that could carry on the mission and help others. From a prince o the company's top leader, he constantly pondered the value and methods of doing things. Four years ago, he founded Lifewire, a charity crowdfunding platform affiliated with Chunwo, to raise funds for sick children in need and patients with rare diseases. From then on, he saw what is most worth keeping.

Derrick Pang is talkative, direct and loves to tell stories. He said that when he was a child, his father often told him stories of celebrity success and life lessons.

 

"He is the boss of the family, and he talks about truth. After tea on Sundays, he goes to the bookstore, and when he gets home, he tells the stories of past successful people that were written in "Ming Pao Weekly", about how hardworking they were. We sit on the floor of the hall and talk for an hour."

Derrick Pang's father,  Pang Kam Chun is the founder of Chun Wo Development Holdings Limited, a long-established construction company in Hong Kong. He started out as a stone breaker on construction sites, working during the day and studying science, engineering and architecture courses at night. He was diligent and hardworking. He built his business from scratch and understood that every penny was earned with blood and sweat. When it came to his children's education, he never let them slack off. 

"My father is a traditional feudal person. He never turns on the TV when we eat at home. We always ask Dad to eat, Mom to eat, and then everyone to eat. Then the meal begins and no food is left behind. Not even a grain of rice can be left in the bowl."

Pang Kam Chun attaches great importance to his children's education, using traditional methods and covering all subjects. "As for studying, we must arrange enough different tutors. We have to read a lot of extracurricular books. During the summer vacation, we read extracurricular books for three hours every day. We write book reports every month and every week. My brother is responsible for correcting my sister's report, and my sister is responsible for correcting my and my sister's report. My father really knows how to arrange it, he only corrected my brother's report. He also insisted that we practice swimming so that we would know how to swim if we fell into the sea. "

 

Image source: Next Magazine

Dad's Alternative Tour Group

Even if the whole family goes out to have fun, it is an alternative tour group. "When traveling with him, or going anywhere, he never jokes.He only talks about principles, how to be a good person, and everything revolves around attitudes towards life, attitudes towards people, and reading."

The reporter frowned a little when hearing this, and Derrick Pang also laughed and said, "It's actually hard to bear sometimes. Why when I am with my dad we talk about these things and nothing else? He never joked around. Over time, you will slowly accept it. Or you see how hard your father worked and you will understand why he taught us so. This is also his way of expressing his love for me. He can't say it, but he expresses it slowly through these things. "

Dad’s huge figure has always protected the well-being of the Pang family and the entire Chun Wo Group, and he is deeply respected by his peers and employees. Pang Kam Chun passed away due to illness in 2010 at the age of 71.

Protecting The Family Business

"This hit me really hard, I went to the United States when I was 14, and when I came back (in 2001) I was 26. I wanted to spend more time with my parents, and I didn't want my father to suffer so much. But suddenly my father passed away. My original idea of ​​not wanting my father to suffer so much was gone. Suddenly, I lost my direction. So what am I staying for? "

At that time, Derrick Pang had been working at Chun Wo for many years and had always been guided by his father. The death of his father not only made Derrick Pang lost, but also greatly affected the direction of the entire Chunwo Group. The Pang family sold Chun Wo to Asia Allied Infrastructure Holdings Limited in 2014, and bought it back two years later to regain family control.

“I didn’t come back for money, I lived a very good life in the United States, not making a lot of money, but I got to the movies with my friends after work on Friday, play basketball on Saturday, and drive to Tahoe, California to ski when I have free time. In fact, it is a very leisurely life and the working hours are not long. What exactly do I live for in Hong Kong?" He graduated with a master's degree in civil and environmental engineering from MIT and worked as an engineering consultant in the United States for three or four years. After his father left, he thought about returning to the United States and returning to his comfortable life.  After struggling for half a year, he suddenly remembered a sentence his father said when he was a child, which brought him back to reality.

"I was studying in the US when I was young. One summer I returned to Hong Kong to volunteer for the Hong Kong Paralympic Games. I didn't go home until one o'clock at night. Many parents might praise you for being and doing good, being hardworking for society. But that is not my father, he scolded me, he scolded me very intensely"

"I was a little bit at odds with him. We had arguments. A young man with ideals who wanted to do something meaningful for society was shut down. Wow, what the hell!"

"He said: If you study hard and do what you are supposed to do, you will not only have one hand to help others. There will be a hundred and  thousand other people to help others. In fact, he gave me the company as a platform. Besides doing my own job well, how can I use this platform to help others? '
 

Charity Crowdfunding Platform

Therefore, he decided to stay and chat with the company's chairman and his eldest brother Dominic Pang, and ponder his role and possibilities in Chun Wo. In 2014, he founded Lifewire, a charity affiliated with Chunwo, to crowdfund for sick children and patients with rare diseases.

"At that time, we were talking about crowdfunding, which was a relatively new concept. Crowdfunding in foreign countries was only for IT products, and the Hong Kong market was too small to do that. But Hong Kong people are kind-hearted. If you ask them to donate money without asking for anything in return, they will be willing to do so, but it will make it difficult for them to buy things. So we tried to do donations, and were lucky to find a good team. The process was hard because no one knew us, and we had to make people listen to us. It took a lot of effort to do charity and help people. "

Image source: Next Magazine

With the support of Chun Wo, Lifewire saves on manpower, administration, space, electricity and other expenses, more than 95% of the funds raised can be donated. There are many different types of fundraising activities being held every year, with the support of many celebrities. On December 2, the annual charity run "Lifewire Run" was held. "This time we run in Aberdeen in the hope that everyone can reminisce about the characteristics of Hong Kong. To be honest, I rarely go there, so it is new for me. The focus of the process is to have fun and raise funds, and more importantly, to let everyone know what difficulties these patients encounter."

Recalling his experience with a sick children, he was immediately touched.

"At first I just thought, I can help people, I try to help, but when you see these diseases, One of the patients had his foot twisted into a triangle shape and needed several surgeries to correct it. He couldn't walk and had to kneel on the ground. But when you see the childs's smile after the surgery, you feel like, wow, a little money can help so many people. It's a feeling that's hard to describe. I get excited even when I talk about it."

In recent years, Derrick Pang has come into contact with many patients with rare diseases and found that although their lives were full of flaws and limitations, they can actually live a fulfilling life, which really inspired him.

 

Inspiration From Patients With Rare Disease

 

"Recently, I went on stage to sing with a little kid named Long Long. You saw how lively and full of positive energy he was. It's generally estimated that he would live until his twenties, but he still faced it very positively. If many of us knew that we only had a dozen or a few years left to live, what would our mentality be? Would we still spend time studying? Or: forget it, give up, don't even think about it!" 9-year-old Long Long suffers from mucopolysaccharidosis. He lacks the enzymes that break down mucopolysaccharides, which affects the normal functioning of cells and causes damage to the heart, bones, joints, respiratory system, nervous system, etc. There are currently more than 6,000 known rare diseases in the world, many of which are caused by gene mutations or genetic defects. According to the latest research by the University of Hong Kong, one in every 67 people in Hong Kong suffers from a rare disease, accounting for about 1.5% of the population.

"Another example is a young girl who didn't even know what rare disease he had. She was a teacher three years ago and was able to move freely. One day, she suddenly found that he couldn't climb the stairs. she thought he was just tired, but for some unknown reason, her condition deteriorated every day. She couldn't climb the stairs at first, then gradually had to sit in a wheelchair, then had to use an electric wheelchair because she couldn't push her wheelchair, then she had problems controlling the electric wheelchair. Her hands and feet started to become weak, and her eyesight started to deteriorate. She had to wear sunglasses to live a normal life because the light was too glaring. Her eyesight was also very weak at night, so she started to learn sign language for the blind and learn embossed characters." The patient is named Hester Chan. Her younger brother is mentally handicapped and her younger sister also has special learning needs. In the eyes of others, this may be an endless night, but she has become a blessing to others.

"Can you imagine a person who has everything and then has everything taken away from them day by day? What would their mentality be like? But she is still grateful that she can enjoy life in this world, go skydiving in the mountains, go diving in the sea, keep learning, and she wanted to write her story down to encourage others."

Image source: Next Magazine

The reporter asked how it was possible for people to face suffering so positively? He said, "She (referring to Jiamin) has faith (believes in Jesus), so she knows how to be grateful." When asked by reporters whether he believes in Jesus, he said, "I don't know which god is real and which is fake. I can't make this decision. Maybe one day I will be able to do it, but I haven't reached that moment yet. I see that the power of faith is very great. It can make people think much farther and broader. It is an immense force, very powerful, and has a positive impact on many people. "

"I can't imagine what I would do if I experienced this disease. I might not give up until I'm blind and can't walk.

 

The Prince's Training

As the second generation successor of Chunwo,  Derrick Pang has gone from being a prince in the eyes of employees to a gradually mature leader. Last year, he officially took on the role of Group Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer. He admitted that he had experienced a lot of trials and difficulties in the process. "As the second-generation successor, all my colleagues in the company call me Prince. Prince this, Prince that. I started out as a construction worker, not an office worker. I am grateful to my father for giving me the opportunity to work on the construction site, where I also faced many challenges. My colleagues knew that I was the prince and didn't want to communicate with me. Firstly, they were afraid that people would say they were shoe shing (brown nosing), and secondly, they might be fired if they said something wrong. '

Derrick Pang recalled a time that everyone might be testing his leadership ability. There is a story that left a deep impression on him. . "At that time, I was the supervisor of a project, responsible for digging and cleaning sewers (sewage wells). Urine and feces fell into these wells and once the pump in the well was blocked, urine and feces accumulated there and the project could not be completed. On the first day, I asked the workers to clean it up. On the second day, I asked them, but they had not done it. On the third day, they had not done it again. This went on for a whole week. On the last day, I said  if no one goes down to do it, then I would do it. Then the next day came, are you going to do nthe work now? Nobody uttered a word. After my morning meeting, I went to do it. I was a little cowardly when I got there. The well was dark and thin, and small. I pumped it out as soon as I got in. When I came back, my hands were full of feces and there was brown stuff under my fingernails. "


He described himself as someone who acts on his words and likes to get down to work. "I do this so that people around me know that I am a person who can deliver on my promises and take responsibility."  He also said that he had encountered many setbacks. "When we were busy with the Tin Shui Wai West Rail project, there were some very difficult things to do. I was willing to raise my hand and do them. There were also setbacks, and I took them all. My colleagues quickly gained confidence in me and respected you as a leader and were willing to work with me." However, he added: "If it weren't for my (Prince) status, I would have been troublesome."

 

The Rich Second Generation & Ordinary people

 

A prince is still a prince after all. Because of his status, Derrick Pang understands that no matter how hard he works, he may be more comfortable and luckier than others. But at the same time, no matter how hard he works, he may still be criticized and blamed. However, he sees that his father who has worked hard all his life, has set the best example for him. People live not only for wealth and fame, but for beliefs and values. "What remains is a belief, a philosophy of how I can continue to help others. You usually run into me when you go to Mong Kok. I take the MTR and eat fishball noodles. That is the kind of person I am, I was like this before and still am like this now. I don't think I am not a rich second generation, nor do I think I am not an ordinary person.

 

 

 

 

Interview reprinted from Next Magazine

 

Click here to view Next Magazine's interview video

 

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