‘Dumpling Queen’ a fine example of contribution immigrants can make

Peter Liang recalls the life of Chong Kin-wo and concludes that the city’s future could ultimately lie in how it can best integrate new immigrants and how it can encourage their many talents

The death of Hong Kong’s “Dumpling Queen” Chong Kin-wo from an illness has brought to life the story of a near penniless immigrant building a HK$5 billion business with nothing more than her cooking skills and perseverance.

Her life story is a timely reminder of the contributions that immigrants have made to this city at a time when they are blamed for putting a severe strain on social and medical services and aggravating the housing shortage problem. Widely publicized stories and images of overcrowded public hospitals at the height of the flu season have fueled the public’s misguided animosity against new immigrants.

Many social activists, politicians and even some normally reasonable professionals are calling on the government to reduce the intake of 150 new immigrants a day for family reunions. Supposedly academic studies were done to show that new immigrants have already stretched social service resources to breaking point.

But those studies have failed to factor in the increase in wealth created by the new immigrants who will enter into the workforce. Instead of being maligned as dependents, immigrants should be welcomed for the potential contributions they can make to the economy at a time when the local population is rapidly aging.

In fact, the foundation of Hong Kong’s modern economy was laid down by the influx of immigrants in the 1960s and 1970s when they toiled tirelessly in factories making wigs, toys, plastic flowers and garments often under horrific working conditions. The wealth they helped create gave Hong Kong the resources to build the infrastructure facilities essential to the establishment of a regional business hub and an international financial center.

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs were first-generation immigrants, including Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing whose path to success is legendary. In her lifetime, Chong gave Hong Kong young people a lesson that the road to success is not limited to property, finance or technology.

A northerner who spoke neither Cantonese nor English, arrived in Hong Kong in 1977 with two young daughters jobless and with little money. She did what she knew best, making meat-filled dumplings which was a staple food in her hometown and hawking them at Wan Chai ferry pier. The rest is history.

Dubbed the “Dumpling Queen” by the local media, her company sells millions of frozen dumpling with a wide choice of fillings under the brand name, you guessed it, Wan Chai Pier, in Hong Kong and throughout the Chinese mainland. In Beijing and other northern regions more and more families have abandoned the ritual of dumpling making in family gatherings or festive days and switched to Wan Chai Pier’s products for the unbeatable convenience and consistent quality.

Establishing its first dumplingmaking plant in Shanghai in 1998, Wan Chai Pier has gained more than 50 percent of the market share on the Chinese mainland. In the process, Chong won the admiration and praise of business associates and even competitors.

Simon Wong, chairman of the Chamber of Food and Beverage Industry of Hong Kong, a trade association, told SCMP that he remembered her as a diligent businesswoman who preferred to keep a low profile, while fiercely protecting and maintaining product quality and the reputation of her company.

As such, Chong was the embodiment of the tradition of Hong Kong as a city of immigrants. To be sure, the looming specter of an economic slowdown arising from the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and the Chinese mainland has deepened Hong Kong people’s worries about jobs and social security.

But the unemployment rate has remained low and demand for workers, especially in the construction and healthcare sectors, is seen to be rising. It needs immigrants to join the workforce now as much as it did in the 1960s and 1970s.

Housing will always be in short supply and average home prices are always on the rise in land-scarce Hong Kong with or without immigrants. Social and medical services will face the biggest strain from an aging society and the situation can get much worse if the workforce continues to shrink.

The future of the city may very well lie in how it can best integrate the new immigrants into the workforce and provide sufficient opportunities for them to develop their entrepreneurial skills.

Supposedly academic studies were done to show that new immigrants have already stretched social service resources to breaking point. But those studies have failed to factor in the increase in wealth created by the new immigrants who will enter into the workforce.