Crazy rich Asian ‘push presents’: Guo Jingjing and Kenneth Fok got a lavish multimillion-dollar mansion, plus 3 more OTT gifts wealthy Hong Kong families gifted couples just for giving birth
- Chinese Olympic gold medallist diver Guo Jingjing received a home in Hong Kong’s exclusive Repulse Bay after her third child with tycoon husband Kenneth Fok
- But Lee Ka-shing and wife Cathy Chui topped Guo and Fok with no less than three mansions from business magnate dad Lee Shau-kee to celebrate their fourth kid
Traditionally, starting a family might be considered a cause for belt-tightening and financial fastidiousness, but can you imagine actually making millions by rearing a child? That’s the strange reality for some in modern Chinese culture.
To encourage newlywed couples to have children, wealthy families in Hong Kong and East Asia often use cash, diamonds and even mansions as incentives to encourage the sprouting of a new family branch – and an extension of the family name.
Of course, there are some golden rules to keep in mind. For example, the gender (with greater payouts for a preferred male heir …) and the total number of children might also determine how generous the gifts might be. Another general rule? The more the merrier!
Meet four fortunate couples who received the most expensive “push presents” from Hong Kong tycoons simply for having a child.
Mario Ho and Ming Xi
In traditional Chinese families, a birth is usually celebrated even more if the baby is male, indicating an heir to the throne – so it was surely a very happy day for the Hos.
The proof? In 2020, Mario’s mother, Leong On-Kei, gifted the couple a HK$500 million (US$64 million) luxury home in Hong Kong’s Island View estate in Deep Water Bay as a “reward”, according to a report by Ming Pao newspaper.