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Super-rich still living good life in Hong Kong

Abbie Chan drives a Porsche and says she owns about half a dozen luxury apartments in Hong Kong.

A regular on the high-society circuit, the businesswoman attends three to four balls a month, spending around HK$10,000 (US$1,300) on new clothes and accessories each time.

Trim and fashionable, she is one of Hong Kong's ultra rich, boasting a lifestyle the overwhelming majority of residents can only read about in the society pages of newspapers.

While most people fret about unemployment and how to make ends meet as the city struggles to shake off its second recession in five years, such woes are remote to the super-rich.

Chan says she made US$25 million selling insurance when she was 23 before going on to make more by distributing health products in the last eight years.

While the halving of Hong Kong real-estate prices since 1997 has slashed the value of her properties, Chan continues with skiing trips and frequent shopping sprees in Europe.

Asked how she felt about the hardship most people in the territory face, Chan said, "I'm very lucky and I treasure what I have."

Showing off a wine cellar in her sprawling duplex flat, the 30-something says her career success and wealth have very little to do with her privileged background.

The wine cellar cost HK$500,000 to build and the wine is worth up to HK$2 million, she said.

Her architect father owns a string of properties in Hong Kong and went into retirement in his forties.

Chan and her older sister clinched exclusive rights to distribute the Maruha brand of shark liver pills outside Japan in 1994 and the business has since grown.

Popular belief credits shark liver pills with being a sovereign remedy for illness ranging from arthritis to diabetes.

Apart from Hong Kong, the sisters also distribute the products in Switzerland, Singapore and Australia.

"When you are rich, you will be beautiful. Money can buy beauty," says the avid golfer, who swims and undergoes regular slimming treatments and other beauty care.

While the less fortunate tighten their belts, the slowdown has meant little to Chan and other wealthy people in this city.

Sales of foreign branded items have remained strong and luxury car dealers recently said their top-end customers are still bringing in the much-needed revenues.

There are the exceptions, however. The downturn has claimed many casualties in Hong Kong, and amongst them are a few well-known names.

Veteran Cantopop singer Kenny Bee, once the heart-throb of thousands of teenage girls, filed for bankruptcy in July.

Bee and his former wife Teresa Cheung borrowed heavily to invest in Hong Kong's real estate in the 1990s, but found themselves stuck with huge debts when the property market crashed in 1997. Newspapers put the sum at HK$250 million (US$32 million).

The number of personal bankruptcies hit a record 10,173 in the first half of this year, almost triple those in the same period last year and surpassing the total for all of last year.

The number of suicides has also risen in recent years, a trend social workers blame partly on the harsh economic climate.
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