By David G. McIntyre, Special to the Star-Bulletin
Andrea Yip, a former resident of Hawaii who has lived and
worked in Hong Kong for three years, poses with Chinese-style
jackets at her store, Shanghai Tang.
Opportunity knocks,
aloha answers
Young isle professionals are riding
By Susan Kreifels
Hong Kong's economic wave
Star-BulletinHONG KONG -- Famous faces are all in a day's work for Andrea Yip.
Lauren Hutton, Prince Andrew, Steven Segal, Cindy Crawford, Richard Gere and Chinese movie star Gong Li are among her customers at Shanghai Tang, a trendy new shop on the beaten path of this city's wealthy shoppers.
Yip, the shop's 28-year-old customer services manager from Waialae Iki in Hawaii, is one of the many young Chinese-American professionals swept up in the "greater China" economic revolution.
"They like the aloha spirit here," said Yip, whose constant smile fits the upbeat mood of a shop known for traditional Chinese clothing in untraditionally bright colors. "There are so many opportunities for Asian Americans."
Yip speaks fluent Mandarin and working Cantonese; bridges the gap between Western and Eastern cultures and business; has management experience from four years as a restaurant manager at Hilton Hawaiian Village; and loves living in Hong Kong, where her first job three years ago was manager of the Peninsula Hotel's Felix restaurant.
It's the kind of formula that's in demand here, a promising one for young Hawaii professionals, particularly Asian Americans, who are looking for better opportunities than the state's sagging economy offers.
Larry Wang, managing director of Wang & Li Asia Resources in Hong Kong, said companies are looking for people who know Asia and want to live here. Their first preference is returning overseas Asians, then Asian Americans -- but non-Asians who know the area and languages also face good opportunities.
Hong Kong business gradually will become more Chinese-dominated after the July 1 return of the city to Beijing, Wang said, and foreigners will be expected to integrate more with the local community and speak the languages.
Wang, a Chinese American born in North Carolina, said the days of multinational companies sending over managers who know little about their Asian hosts are numbered. So are the expensive expatriate salary packages that companies pay to entice managers.
At the same time, Wang said, salary packages in Hong Kong are as good or better than those in the United States, taxes are lower, and promotion tracks faster. "It's totally performance oriented," said Wang, whose recruitment agency visits U.S. campuses and professional groups.
"The people we deal with want to come," said Wang, who is passionate about building bridges between the United States and China. "They come on their own money. They can apply themselves here in ways they cannot in the United States."
Wang's company has been approached by more than a thousand Asian Americans. At least 150 have landed jobs here, but Wang said people need to be focused and willing to "work their behinds off."
Greg Li, 27, of Manoa, knows what that means. Li studied in China in 1990-91 while getting a degree in Asian studies at Cornell University. That year convinced him that China was "the future."
By David G. McIntyre, Special to the Star-Bulletin
Hawaii native Dalton Tanonaka, anchor for the NBCAsia
Evening News, delivers his newscast in the network's Hong Kong
studio. He says, "Idon't believe major outlets will be censored
or will practice self-censorship under Chinese rule."
Having a liberal arts degree made it tougher getting a job, but he convinced a Hong Kong plastics manufacturing company that he could learn. He was hired in 1992 and sent to Shenzhen across the border from Hong Kong to learn the business in Cantonese, a language he couldn't speak. He learned on the job and lived in the workers dorm for a year, no showers or hot water. He put in 12-15 hours a day."Sometimes I'd wake up in the workers dorm crying, wondering why I was there," Li said. "It was character-building."
Five years later, Li is an underwriter in Hong Kong with General Reinsurance, the third-largest reinsurance company in the world. Part of his job is marketing his company in China.
"It was definitely worth it," Li says now. "Asia is the land of opportunity. Take a chance and see what you can do. Don't be afraid."
Jennifer Li, 23, also saw the opportunity in Hong Kong. From Hawaii Kai, she speaks Mandarin and Cantonese and was an exchange student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1994. She graduated from Georgetown University in Asian studies and worked summers in law firms.
Li found a job as executive assistant at the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong in 1996. Like Yip, she meets famous people regularly; she recently dined with Henry Kissinger.
"It would have been easy to live at home hanging out on the beach," Li said. "At my age I'm getting very unique exposure from what I would get in the United States. Everybody is coming through Hong Kong now. All eyes are on Hong Kong."
All eyes are on China as well. Yip hopes to get a chance to work next in Shanghai, where a Shanghai Tang store will open after New York. "Everybody wants to get to China and take part in the action."
Impending changes
By Susan Kreifels
being taken in stride
Star-BulletinTwo years ago Douglas Holtz recruited 27 Filipinos to work at the American Club in Hong Kong, where he is general manager. They spoke English and were experienced in club work. But their visas were not renewed after their contracts expired. Now Holtz is 27 workers short.
"China wants to bring in workers," Holtz said. "We've lost our Filipino labor."
At a gathering of former Hawaii professionals now working in Hong Kong, there was general agreement that there would be no major business changes in Hong Kong after it goes back to China July 1. But they worry about the small things that could make life difficult.
Holtz, former general manager of Mid Pacific Golf Club, said it will become more difficult to get foreign labor for low-level jobs. However, he said many of those positions still require English skills and experience that mainland Chinese lack.
Lee Fei-Shung Yih owns the Kaplan Educational Center Ltd. in Hong Kong, where he prepares students for college-entrance exams. Yih, who went to high school in Hawaii and is a former interim pastor at Kalihi Union Church, has been working since November to get a work visa for an employee from Missouri.
"We never had hassles before," Yih said. "There will be more bureaucracy from the British government going to a communist government. Hong Kong runs efficiently, like a fine clock. When the new government comes, there will be ways to hassle and get what they want."
Andrea Yip, customer services manager at the Shanghai Tang clothing store, is waiting to see if her work visa will be renewed in July. However, visas for management-level workers are easier to obtain.
She'll also see a change in merchandise at her store since all clothing displaying the Chinese flag will be taken from shelves after July 1, according to a new Chinese regulation. Yip said the store will take more care in avoiding political statements made on T-shirts.
Yip and Holtz said they also will be more careful about making statements that could be interpreted as political and that could reflect on the businesses where they work.
"It's self-censorship," said Yih, who has lived in Hong Kong for almost 12 years and has the right of abode to stay. "Nothing overt is stated on paper. People do things on their own."
Media analysts say they have seen increasing self-censorship in the local Hong Kong media. But a former Hawaii journalist who now works in Hong Kong said the foreign press should remain unaffected.
"We decided to base here to have a front-row seat for the historic event," said Dalton Tanonaka, a Kohala native and anchor for NBC Asia Evening News. "The transfer of sovereignty won't affect the way we do our jobs at NBC. The impact will be on local news organizations, who may have to worry about the effects of words written or pictures broadcast.
"I don't believe major outlets will be censored or will practice self-censorship under Chinese rule. But that will certainly be monitored by those of us in the business."
Yih and Holtz are also concerned that Chinese officials might want special privileges and skip waiting lines to get into organizations. But Holtz said the American Club's "party line" will hold fast in fulfilling membership requirements: Wait your turn.
For the moment, people said they are happy to be in Hong Kong. Besides the buildup of excitement and attention as July 1 approaches, salaries are higher than in Hawaii, and taxes are lower. "The business opportunities are unbelievable," Holtz said.
What they say
about Hong KongWho: Jennifer Li, executive assistant at the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong; Hawaii Kai native and 1992 Punahou School graduate. JENNIFER LI
The turnover: Hong Kong will be the first colony in history ever returned to its previous sovereign. Hong Kong remains an important business center for the region. Hong Kong ranks as the U.S.'s 11th-largest trading partner, with two-way trade reaching approximately $24 billion. 1995 figures show that 42 percent of U.S. goods for China and 60 percent of Chinese goods destined for the United States were transshipped through Hong Kong. This trading activity created more than 400,000 jobs for Americans.
The future: The results of the seventh annual American Chamber Business Confidence survey indicate that 95 percent of U.S. companies in Hong Kong either have a "favorable" or "very favorable" view of the business climate in Hong Kong over the next five years. In the next three years, 99 percent of the companies would rate their expected business performance as "good" or "satisfactory," and 46 percent of the companies surveyed actually plan to increase investment activities in Hong Kong and China. The survey concludes that U.S. business executives have confidence that positive trends will continue post-1997 and well into the 21st century.
Larry Wang, managing director for Wang & Li Asia Resources in Hong Kong, a job recruitment agency, gives this advice to Hawaii professionals seeking jobs in Hong Kong and China: Advice for job-seekers
Speaking Mandarin is top, Cantonese second. Classroom study is not enough: Travel or study in Asia to practice the language and become familiar with the business environment.
Hong Kong
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