Investor seeks out the engines for mainland's through train

CHEAH Cheng Hye literally has a rags to riches story to tell; the rags were The Star newspapers he folded in his first job as an inky-faced 17-year-old in Malaysia, the riches have come from transforming himself from a financial journalist into a respected authority on the stockmarket.

When the good times were rolling in 1996, Mr Cheah took home a bonus of 'several million US dollars' as founder and fund manager of the award-winning Hong Kong boutique investment house, Value Partners.

Now, 25 years after selling his motorcycle to pay for his sea passage to Hong Kong, he sees the same steely determination to succeed in the mainland, where he and his staff spend a quarter of their time hunting for investment bargains.

'I was very adventurous in those days,' he said, recalling leaving The Star to take up a job on the Hong Kong Standard after he had jumped from newspaper folder to reporter.

'My generation of overseas Chinese were brought up as commercial soldiers,' he said. 'We were kind of brainwashed into the idea that you do whatever it takes to achieve a better life.' While wearing out shoe leather in the mainland, Mr Cheah is often reminded of the Malaysia of his youth.

'If you go to Shanghai and walk around, you will see people who are bursting with energy. They are hungry for education, they are hungry to get into whatever is the latest thing,' he said.