A city that is home to the oldest Chinese community in Europe, twinned with Shanghai, the largest city by population in China, made £90 million in tuition fees alone from Chinese students last year and the number of fans of Liverpool FC in China has just over taken that of Manchester United, so no one should be surprised to hear 39,000 homes in the city Liverpool were under Chinese ownership. Li Ka-sing the billionaire owns properties and businesses all over the world and the properties in Liverpool he acquired were from the local developer West Tree that have been thoroughly modernised and refurbished and the initial profits went to the developer and not Mr. Li. Sad to see, under the influence of the current government initiated Sinophbia movement the article is making it looked as if a crime have been committed (by the Chinese). Those in the city council were not smart enough to notice the sign of the tide was turning in Liverpool's favour when they gave those properties to West Tree. Let me explain.
Since the early 80s, because of the political turmoil in Liverpool, a lot of Chinese investors at home and abroad, relocated to Manchester and contributed to the region's phenomenal growth and prosperity in the years that followed. In the last five years we began to see some the fruits of investments from Manchester trickling back to Liverpool, from large entities like Peel Port's Liverpool 2 to many other smaller businesses and the number of students coming to Liverpool university from China and Hong Kong are also on the rise and so are the investors. There are reasons for this happening, one is the changing political climate conjured up by Whitehall that is souring relations between the Manchester city council and some overseas commercial establishments. Also, most Chinese people prefer to live in places next to a river and/or an estuary like Liverpool and landlocked Manchester even with its ship canal simply is not as desirable. Besides, (not a lot of people know this) Manchester is twinned with China's now-world-famous-for-all-the-wrong-reasons Wuhan.
Hi Rennie. Thanks for reading and for an interesting and thoughtful comment. I would say though that the article isn't trying to made it look the a crime has been commited by the Chinese at all, moreso that an oversight has been commited by the council which has lead to now-valuable property falling into the hands of a billionaire with the local taxpayer not bennefitting. It is very much the (former) regeneration department at fault, not Li Ka-shing. As for Chinese and Hong Kong investment in Liverpool's property, I have to say the scale of it did surprise me. Interesting to read about the trickling back of Chinese investment to Liverpool, sounds like it could make a good piece to itself.
PS He's a one, isn't he! "LI KA SHING, 68, Hong Kong billionaire; in a court case alleging that he withheld the inheritance of a business associate's daughter; in Hong Kong Nov. 25. The court rejected the claim of American heiress Adrienne Lefkowitz, 51, that Li owed $1 million which he had promised her father he would give her. Li cited his lawyers' opinion that the pledge was not legally binding. He plans to give up business in 1998 for social work."
A city that is home to the oldest Chinese community in Europe, twinned with Shanghai, the largest city by population in China, made £90 million in tuition fees alone from Chinese students last year and the number of fans of Liverpool FC in China has just over taken that of Manchester United, so no one should be surprised to hear 39,000 homes in the city Liverpool were under Chinese ownership. Li Ka-sing the billionaire owns properties and businesses all over the world and the properties in Liverpool he acquired were from the local developer West Tree that have been thoroughly modernised and refurbished and the initial profits went to the developer and not Mr. Li. Sad to see, under the influence of the current government initiated Sinophbia movement the article is making it looked as if a crime have been committed (by the Chinese). Those in the city council were not smart enough to notice the sign of the tide was turning in Liverpool's favour when they gave those properties to West Tree. Let me explain.
Since the early 80s, because of the political turmoil in Liverpool, a lot of Chinese investors at home and abroad, relocated to Manchester and contributed to the region's phenomenal growth and prosperity in the years that followed. In the last five years we began to see some the fruits of investments from Manchester trickling back to Liverpool, from large entities like Peel Port's Liverpool 2 to many other smaller businesses and the number of students coming to Liverpool university from China and Hong Kong are also on the rise and so are the investors. There are reasons for this happening, one is the changing political climate conjured up by Whitehall that is souring relations between the Manchester city council and some overseas commercial establishments. Also, most Chinese people prefer to live in places next to a river and/or an estuary like Liverpool and landlocked Manchester even with its ship canal simply is not as desirable. Besides, (not a lot of people know this) Manchester is twinned with China's now-world-famous-for-all-the-wrong-reasons Wuhan.
Hi Rennie. Thanks for reading and for an interesting and thoughtful comment. I would say though that the article isn't trying to made it look the a crime has been commited by the Chinese at all, moreso that an oversight has been commited by the council which has lead to now-valuable property falling into the hands of a billionaire with the local taxpayer not bennefitting. It is very much the (former) regeneration department at fault, not Li Ka-shing. As for Chinese and Hong Kong investment in Liverpool's property, I have to say the scale of it did surprise me. Interesting to read about the trickling back of Chinese investment to Liverpool, sounds like it could make a good piece to itself.
In relation to the houses scandals I don't think the Sunday times mentions another Merseyside connection. The world's 30th richest man has taken a hit from his gamble on some of our local pubs. ('Hurrah' might say those whose decent neighbourhood boozer has gone down the pan in recent years.) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/li-ka-shing-left-crying-into-his-beer-after-greene-king-suffers-big-loss-sj666sp83
PS He's a one, isn't he! "LI KA SHING, 68, Hong Kong billionaire; in a court case alleging that he withheld the inheritance of a business associate's daughter; in Hong Kong Nov. 25. The court rejected the claim of American heiress Adrienne Lefkowitz, 51, that Li owed $1 million which he had promised her father he would give her. Li cited his lawyers' opinion that the pledge was not legally binding. He plans to give up business in 1998 for social work."