By MAX HASTINGS

Last updated at 11:14 18 februar 2008

Behind high walls and guarded security gates, in the outskirts
of Beijing, stands a big apartment building, rejoicing in the name
of Chateau Regency.

Access is hampered by serried ranks of BMWs and Jaguars. A sign
in the lobby proclaims: “China’s premier luxury apartment
building.”

This is one of the glitz-built fortresses of the country’s
new commercial class, who are gaining and spending fortunes on a
staggering scale.

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Average annual incomes in China’s countryside are
£236, but in the cities there are now 68 billionaires, up
from a mere 27 in 2006.

Some have got rich from manufacturing, others from electronics,
property, trading or - like Liu Yonghao, a former pig-food salesman
whose New Hope group is now official supplier of pork to the
Olympic Games - through agricultural products.

Some 10,000 Chinese boast a net worth over £5 million
apiece, and a string of them live in the Chateau Regency.

The building is a monument to such excess that even the most in
your face British lottery winner might flinch.

A Beijing businesswoman, whom to spare her blushes we shall call
Hui, gave me a guided tour of her eighth floor palace.

The apartment is a riot of gilding; purple and green carpets; a
library packed with new, unread and probably unreadable books;
electronic gadgetry; pools of giant goldfish; vast gold mirrors;
imperial-sized beds and sofas deep enough to drown in.

The dining-room table is permanently laid for eight. The massive
sunken bath and Jacuzzi look in danger of falling through into the
floor below.

A whole room is devoted to shoes, racked from floor to ceiling
in a fashion that would earn the envy of former Philippines First
Lady and shoe queen Imelda Marcos.

My hostess, a chunky 47-year-old, has made a fortune out of
trading in pharmaceuticals.

She dispensed with her husband along the way and now lives in
splendid isolation with her 20-year-old daughter who, poor kid,
resembles a rabbit trapped in gold headlights.

They enjoy from their balcony a view of the scruffy apartment
buildings inhabited by less fortunate neighbours, but no Beijing
resident can afford to care too much about aesthetic beauty, which
the city is almost bereft of.

Hui drives a Maserati, which she tells me with a giggle she has
taken up to 140mph, a notable achievement amid the gridlocked local
traffic system.

Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton should smile upon her, because
she is the sort of customer who keeps them in caviar. I asked if
she was happy, and got a huge grin. “I love my life,” she
says.

She has lately discovered religion, and her apartment boasts its
own Buddhist shrine.

“Before I became religious, I was always stressed, always
pressured,” she says. “Now, my Buddha master tells me I
should take it easier - and I do. Buddhism has taught me about my
destiny.

“I’m successful because it’s my destiny. If
you’re born into a poor family, then that’s another kind of
destiny.

“Any time I have a problem, my Buddha master tells me what
I should do.”

It seemed discourteous to ask whether her Buddha master takes a
percentage for all this sage advice.

It was he, she says, who urged her to get into property
development.

She is now doing that, too, with notable success. She employs a
workforce which will soon be 100-strong and is thinking of buying a
country house with a garden.

Unsurprisingly, she enthuses about China’s government:
“They are sensible people. They let us develop our businesses.
I like them.”

I tell her, entirely truthfully, that her flat is awesome.

I especially like the Western Christmas decorations adorning her
horrible china ornaments, the fairy lights laced into her fitness
machinery.

“My Buddha master tells me I must get slimmer,” she
says, beaming, and he is not wrong about that.

China’s new rich have embarked on a consumer binge which
inspires them to commute to Hong Kong for tax-free shopping, and to
the capitals of Asia and Europe in pursuit of pleasure.

Lu Yamei, a self-consciously glamorous 39-year-old swathed in
mink and make-up apparently applied with an industrial
paint-sprayer, fingered a Cartier necklace as we talk.

“I have just bought it, as a present to myself for working
so hard,” she says, with a coy little smile.

Yamei is a cosmopolitan who lived in San Francisco for three
years when her property developer husband worked there.

Back in China, she started a kindergarten for the children of
the wealthy, which now boasts a staff of 40, ten of them imported
from the U.S. to teach English to her 100 pupils, who start
language courses at the age of three.

If others worry about the chasm between haves and have-nots in
the new China, Yamei does not: “How do you say what is rich
and what is poor?” she demands.

“If you make the money legally, you’re entitled to it.
I just want to fulfil my potential.”

To do so, she maintains a frenetic pace. Last Saturday, she
tells me, she was working until 5am.

She and her husband keep three houses in Beijing, one used
exclusively for business entertaining, which she enjoys.

She watches TV news and reads magazines assiduously, so that she
can keep her end up in conversation at power dinners.

She herself prepares meals occasionally: “Because I want my
children to grow up knowing that their mother is capable of
cooking.”

She has recently started a new business, franchising European
health products explicitly targeted at the rich.

She says she organises her schedule meticulously, so that she
can spend quality time at weekends with her nine-year-old
twins.

She no longer takes many foreign holidays, as she is too busy.
Max Mara, Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton, her favourite brands,
get her custom in Beijing, where their wares are heavily taxed but
readily available.

She and her husband have already planned their children’s
education. After high school, they will be sent to university in
the U.S., where they were born.

“It’s a country that gives you great chances,” she
says.

Most wealthy Chinese nowadays dispatch their children abroad for
a few years, to perfect their fluency in English. Another popular
selfindulgence among businessmen is to maintain parallel households
and mistresses in several Chinese cities, but I did not ask
Yamei’s views on this quaint custom.

She says she now finds the business climate in China more
difficult than it was back in the 1980s: “There is so much
competition. But if you’re tough enough and you’ve got the
right products, you can make it.”

She looks tough enough, all right. Her father was, until
retirement, a detective in Beijing’s criminal investigation
department.

Now, Yamei says, Dad looks in wonder at her fabulous range of
possessions and says: “You’d better make sure you’ve
got plenty of security.”

Wang Jiangmin is a less accomplished shopper than either Yamei
or Hui, but he is a much bigger money-maker.

He is a 57-year-old computer wizard who over the past 20 years
has built an anti-virus software business, still wholly owned by
himself and his wife, which has propelled him into the ranks of the
super-rich.

If you met Wang in the street, you would see only a tall,
gangling, nerdish-looking figure in a quilted jacket, who walks
with a limp.

When I was shown into his unpretentious Beijing boardroom,
strewn with stacked chairs and assorted debris, at first I mistook
him for a bag-carrier for the company president.

Wang’s story is rags-to-riches. Crippled-with polio as a
child, he was unable to attend regular school.

Instead, he devoted himself to studying technology at the
factory where his father worked. He qualified as an electronic
engineer, and worked for years as a line employee.

In 1986, he exploited China’s new wave of commercial freedom
to start a business in two little rooms with eight employees.

For the next 20 years, he was principal designer of the products
which have made him rich.

Today, he gives responsibility for sustaining innovation to his
180-strong staff, 90 of them engineers. He focuses upon selling his
wares around the world.

“I’m nothing special,” shrugs this mild, curiously
sympathetic man. “There are thousands like me in China.

“Today, people are making in months the sort of fortune
which it took me 20 years to achieve.”

He ticks off some of his expensive mistakes - notably a big
premature investment in the internet. He is an intensely serious
workaholic, who says he is too busy to spend his own money.

He travels abroad only to attend computer conventions.

Unlike some of China’s conspicuous consumers who crowd the
luxury stores, he says that money means nothing to him, now he has
enough of it to buy anything he wants. His only relaxation is an
occasional day’s fishing.

When I tell him that I, too, am a fisherman, he waxes indignant
about the prices charged by the lakes outside Beijing: “Some
places make you pay 60 pence to catch a fish weighing under a
pound! I prefer to go to places where you pay £3, but there
is no weight limit.”

I suggest that he should try salmon-fishing in Canada, where his
only son has been studying for the past four years. “When
would I get the time?” he demands.

A host of overseas Chinese, the diaspora which quit China during
its decades of poverty and fear, are returning to share the glories
of its new prosperity. Wiang’s son, by contrast, thinks he may
stay in Canada.

His father has no objections. He professes no interest in
founding a dynasty. “If that’s what he wants, so be
it,” he says.

Wang thinks Westerners are more frightened than they need to be
about China’s dramatic economic and industrial rise. “As
manufacturers, we are at the cutting edge,” he acknowledges.
“But as innovators, the West is still a long way
ahead.”

Unlike some of his peers, who are shamelessly boastful about
their wealth, Wang is defensive about his fortune.

He says it is much less fun having money than he used to imagine
when he was a humble factory worker.

“Our rich class is now paying more tax. I’ve given over
a million renminbi (about £72,000) to a foundation, two
million to a university. We’re contributing to society,
generating jobs. I’m just lucky that my field has developed as
fast as it has.”

Wang’s business, like those of so many 21st-century computer
kings, remains the focus of this austere, dedicated man’s life.
His attempts to amuse himself by diversifying have not been a
success.

“I bought two restaurants,” he complains. “They
employ 200 staff, but they’ve never made any money.”

Doesn’t he even enjoy eating in them? He throws up his
hands: “I don’t care what I eat. To be honest, I prefer
fast food. I don’t want to waste time eating.”

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=66,3084,0,0,1,0

<< MICHAEL STUPARYK/TORONTO STAR
Retired
billionaire businessman Robert Hung-Ngai Ho, who now makes his home in
Vancouver, has gifted $4 million for Buddhist studies to the
Scarborough campus of the University of Toronto.

Since 2000, Ho has donated millions of dollars to establish academic
programs in Buddhism at universities in Hong Kong and Thailand in the
name of Tung Lin Kok Yuen, a non-profit Buddhist group founded in 1935
by his late grandparents, who began the family fortune.

Now, the retired Vancouver-based businessman and one-time journalist
hopes to encourage academic Buddhist studies in his adopted homeland.
This week’s announcement at the Scarborough campus, which will bolster
the U of T’s existing Buddhist studies program, followed an identical
donation in February to the University of British Columbia.

“Our vision would be to see Buddhism not just as a religion
predominant in Asia but to be more widely known and better understood
by the international community,” Ho told a luncheon held at the campus
Wednesday in appreciation of Ho’s generosity.

“Buddhism, like many of the other religions, has been an integral
part of our global cultural development and will continue to grow in
harmony with our society globally.”

Born into a Buddhist family, Ho, 74, said he did not enjoy going to
temples or Sunday religious school until he turned 40 and began seeking
spiritual growth. After studying various religions, he felt Buddhism
suited him best because of its principle of self-salvation.

“It teaches you to do everything on your own, to rely on yourself
instead of any supernatural powers or gods,” explained Ho, who retired
in Canada in 1989 after retiring as publisher of Hong Kong’s Kung
Sheung Daily Press. (A master’s graduate of Columbia University’s
journalism school, he had worked at the Pittsburgh Press and National
Geographic, for a time as White House correspondent, before returning
to Hong Kong.)

`Our vision would be to see Buddhism … widely known and better understood’

Donor Robert Hung-Ngai Ho

“Unfortunately, people mix up their superstitions with Buddhism,
turning it into a mythical chop suey, so others think that Buddhists
are a bunch of voodoos.”

That’s why Ho has put his energy and resources into building a
strong global network of Buddhist studies programs at academic
institutions, which can help debunk misconceptions about this ancient
religion.

The gift will support a visiting professorship and lectureship
program in Buddhist studies, as well as conferences, public lecture
series and scholarships.

Professor William Bowen, chair of the humanities department at
Scarborough, said the visiting lectureship will enrich
interdisciplinary studies in visual and performing arts, religion,
philosophy and more.

Studies of Buddhism and other eastern religions have proved popular,
he said. A first-year course in religious traditions of the East has
already reached its capacity of 500 students, and a second-year
introduction to Buddhist philosophy course is filled with 86.

“But the most spectacular impact is that our students and the
community as a whole will be exposed to a changing roster of
international experts, and given immediate exposure to the vitality of
research in Buddhist thought and culture,” noted Bowen, adding that the
Buddhist conferences and lectures will start in September 2007.

The soft-spoken Ho said he learned much about generosity from his
grandparents, the late Lady Clara and Sir Robert Ho Tung, who headed
what was perhaps Hong Kong’s wealthiest family long before fellow
billionaire entrepreneur Li Ka Shing became a familiar name to
Canadians.

Born to a Dutch father and Chinese mother, Sir Ho made his fortune
in real estate and commodities trading. Many parks, schools and
buildings in Hong Kong have been named after him, and the Ho clan
remains one of the most influential in Hong Kong’s business community.

All the charitable giving, according to Ho, is simply “in accordance
with Lady Clara’s compassion and sacred vow to spread out beyond Hong
Kong so that overseas Chinese and foreigners would be enlightened by
the Buddhist doctrine.”

Ho said he’s also negotiating with a U.S. university to build a
Buddhism study centre south of the border. He declined to name it, but
Ho has already donated more than $30 million to his alma mater, New
York’s Colgate University, to fund projects in the sciences and Asian
studies.

http://www.niyam.com/gnulinux/lfy/fy/FY-monthly-col.php?oct2k4

Buddhist Billionaires October 2004 Work Is For Profit And For Your Purification Why do you get a salary? Is it the form of compensation you demand, for “donating” time away from your self and your family to the employer whom you resent and from the work that you loathe? So that you can thus support your self and your loved ones? In our world where money has become the only religion, two types of disciples exist. Those who earn so they can live. And those who live so they can earn. Which one have you become? Why do you work? A civilization which induces stress through work has produced two types of workaholics: those who work to keep themselves gainfully employed; and those who work to keep themselves away from the desparation of a lack of income. Which one have you become? Obssessively, we have reached that moment in the advanced evolution of our society, where our standard of living is being judged by how much more we consume annually. Where a man who consumes more is considered “better off” than a man who consumes less. This points to why people do not understand the business model and even the eonomics behind GnuLinux. Why we do not understand how something that is free-of-cost earns IBM and HP more than 4 billion dollars in annual sales. GnuLinux is not about a muft and mukt computer kernel. It is about understanding Buddhist economics. GnuLinux is the effect of a subtle change in the value systems of a few that is impacting millions. One kernel can make the whole world green. Om Money Padme Hum I bet you are intruiged with what is Buddhist economics. Here is an article by the noted economist, E.F. Schumacher, http://www.schumachersociety.org/buddhisteconomics.html. A quick glance through it, and you will understand what value-systems GnuLinux is ushering in as we hurtle through the chaos of our daily lives. Buddhism is about a tremendous Yes to everything, including material wealth. What amazes me is that this rare flowering of human consciousness is perhaps the only one that has a total acceptance for material wealth. Yet among all the billionaires in our world, none is a Buddhist. Maybe because we are all obsessed with procuring goods and nothing much else. The Buddhist, like GnuLinux, is interested in liberation. For Buddhism, it is not wealth that stands in the way of liberation, but the attachment to wealth; not indulgence and pleasure, but the obsessive craving for these. The thirst for liberation can transform even work to worship. In that light, work becomes a method of purifying our character, through discipline, through refining our abilities, through letting go of our ego and joining other co-workers for a common task. GnuLinux Sutra Look at GnuLinux. It has brought forth people who work together in a community, where often middle-of-the-stream programmers gradually refine themselves to produce software that eventually outclasses all other. Proprietory software reduces people into becoming consumers of buggy, expensive, software that traps them into an endless cycles of re-investment. It divides society between those who have software, and those who don’t. GnuLinux brings the focus back on the individual, on the attainment of liberation in software. It bridges the digital divide. Perhaps Eric S Raymond’s ‘The Cathedral and The Bazaar’ paints half the picture, and a lopsided one at that. For it is still consumer-based, and on a producer-as-consumer economics. Can we look forward to the day in this century, when a patent is not used to abuse or to sue others, but as a free ‘prasad’ to all mankind? Had Gautam Buddha written the GPL, he would have painted a much larger vision of the General Public Liberation, where software is used and written for ensuring software freedom, and as a path to self-liberation. His book would have been titled ‘Buddhism in the Bazaar: The Path To Right Livelihood.’ GnuLinux already offers this path to your personal wealth and contentment. This is the real revolution of GnuLinux. You have to be ready for it. Inspired by the vision of Osho. Niyam Bhushan is a leading technology writer, editor, columnist, with a background in graphic design. He consults and trains in digital imagery. He has been using computers across several platforms since 1982, and loves the freedom and power offered by GnuLinux. Email: freedomyug at linuxforu dot com © 2004 Niyam Bhushan. First published in LinuxForYou magazine, www.linuxforu.com. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved. In Hindi, ‘muft’ means ‘free of cost’, and ‘mukt’ means ‘with freedom.’ 14.3.09 The Billionaire’s List changes The toll on the markets has not only shrunk the wealth of the world’s billionaires, compiled every year by Forbes, but also changed the pecking order. Bill Gates is once again the world’s richest, and Mukesh Ambani has replaced Lakshmi Mittal as the richest Indian. The world is left with fewer billionaires as the economic downturn shaved millions off the fortunes of the world’s richest. India’s wealthiest fared no better, as 24 made it to the Forbes’ list of billionaires this year and another 29 who were on the list last year found themselves reduced to multi-millionaires, thanks not just to the steep fall in share prices but also to the rupee’s depreciation by nearly a fifth, which depresses the dollar value of rupee wealth. Leading the pack among India’s richest and ranked seventh in the world is Reliance Industries (RIL) chief Mukesh Ambani. His net worth is down to $19.5 billion after the RIL stock plunged about 40% in the last one year. Close behind is ArcelorMittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal, who is ranked eighth with a net worth of $19.3 billion. His fortune dwindled as shares of the world’s largest steel firm hit four-year lows amid slackening global demand. The next Indian on the list is Anil Ambani. Ranked 34, the Reliance ADAG chairman, who was the biggest gainer last year, lost $32 billion, or 76% of his fortune, in the last one year as shares of his group firms — Reliance Communications, Reliance Power and Reliance Capital — declined. Bharti group CEO Sunil Mittal is the fourth richest Indian, ranked 59 globally, with a net worth of $7.7 billion. Wipro chief Azim Premji makes it to the list with a total wealth of $5.7 billion, as do brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia of Essar ($5.6 billion). Other Indians on the list include DLF’s KP Singh ($5 billion), Kumar Birla ($4.2 billion), Adi Godrej ($3.3 billion), Dilip Shanghvi ($3 billion) and Savitri Jindal ($2.7 billion). Brothers Malvinder and Shivinder Singh also feature in the list, with a net worth of $2.6 billion. Among notable drop-offs in the list are Unitech founder Ramesh Chandra, who lost an estimated $9 billion due to a slump in realty stocks, and Suzlon’s Tulsi Tanti, who is poorer by $2.6 billion. Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal saw his net worth lowered by $1.1 billion, while investment banker Nimesh Kampani and Indiabulls promoter Sameer Gehlaut lost $1 billion each. Liquor baron Vijay Mallya is another ex-billionaire. Microsoft founder Bill Gates pipped billionaire investor Warren Buffet to emerge as the wealthiest man in the world with an estimated fortune of $40 billion. Having lost $25 billion in 12 months, Mr Buffet comes second ($37 billion). Mexican telecom czar Carlos Slim Helu ($35 billion) is ranked third on the list, followed by Oracle CEO Lawrence Ellison ($22.5 billion) and furniture firm Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad ($22 billion). According to Forbes, there are now 793 billionaires globally, down from 1,125 a year ago. India not only saw its share of the wealthiest plummet, it also gave up its position as home to most billionaires in Asia to China, which has 28. List of Korean billionaires and multi-millionaires This is an incomplete list of Korean billionaires and multi-millionaires, and also describes wealth in Korea. There are several published Korean rich lists within Korea including ones issued by the wealth valuation company Equitable, the Digital Times, Korea Times, and other major Korean publications. In addition, Forbes magazine, Merrill Lynch, and other chroniclers of the power elites of the world have found sufficient high profile rich in Korea as to generate accurate numbers and reasonable deductions. Forbes magazine has hinted at Korea having at the very least 7 high billionaires living on the peninsula, and at least ten families alone who control in the high billions in assets. Problems in determining wealth in Korea Sociological research in Korea into the great families of wealth and privilege has not been forthcoming, so much more work has been done abroad by American and European publications such as Forbes, The Asian Wall Street Journal, and The Economist magazine as well as merchant banking units from Merrill Lynch and other holders of massive private fortunes. Internally, Korean newspapers have exercised great caution, and declined to compile lists of the rich, how they became rich, or mapped great holdings of wealth; this changes as foreign banks publish such material abroad, and articles then find their way back into Korea through the internet and foreign banking and financial publications. Corporate wealth and rich lists Most Korean corporations, even public ones, do not as a habit list salaries of chief executives, presidents, or stock benefits to members of their boards. Individuals rarely disclose salaries, or bonuses, and there is no real attempt to open corporate books to the public, or to shareholders to indicate substantial shareholders so determining the hierarchy of the rich is difficult. It may be assumed that a yardstick to compile salaries of corporation heads is to go down the middle between American and Japanese salaries for comparable industries, based on gross volumes of sales, number of employees, and job title. This benchmark would suggest at least 1000 employees of major companies making more than $1 million a year of salary; and perhaps 500 earning more than $2 million based on Korea’s commercial success. Political wealth and rich lists Elected and appointed politicians rarely if ever file disclosure of assets, investments, or family links to corporations. It is generally assumed in Korea that any senior politician is a millionaire, and long term politicians as a family are multi-millionaires. At times of contention, public disclosures validate this. Foundations wealth and ranking by assets held The use of foundations to sequester assets again has not be studied at length, and foundations are not required to disclose all assets, investments, or profits; and in many cases hold, or are believed to hold, or handle trillions of won of investments that are controlled by very few people with great power and limited scrutiny or public oversight. Disclosures are usually triggered by political scandals with little public accountability in place or sociological analysis of influence. Non-profit and church or religious group holdings While the wealth of Sun Myung Moon is often mentioned, and is said to be in the multiple billions, non-profit church groups and religious corporations are known to have extensive landholdings both in Korea and extremely large investments in securities and land abroad. Occasional disclosures in the media indicate the huge amounts of wealth owned, and transferred abroad by churches, religious holding companies, lesser cults, and other missionary groups. These have their origins going back to the great Buddhist monastic orders which had incredible economic power, controlled essential resource exports (rice and ginseng), and which had huge plantations with extensive numbers of slaves as early as the Korean three kingdoms time and as late as the declining years of the Joseon dynasty; with gains coming back under the Japanese occupation through fundraising for Korean independence movements. Spectacular showcases of Korean Christian wealth have been displayed in huge cathedrals and church-building, and at times a lifestyle of conspicuous consumption and profligate spending by church leaders, or church cult leaders, when financial irregularities or scandals have been made public. Estimates on financial holdings of the richest churches often exceed billions in assets and investments. Gross income of chaebols and the top 50 Korean companies The relations between chaebols and the Korean power elite are now studied more closely as the elite itself showcases wealth and power more publicly than before as Korea places itself in the community of successful countries. Internationally known Korean billionaires (Forbes) Known Korean billionaires according to Forbes analysis units include: Legend Icon Description ▬ Has not changed from the list for 2007. ▲ Has increased from the list for 2007. ▼ Has decreased from the list for 2007. No.   Name   Net worth (USD)   Age   Citizenship   Residence   Source(s) of wealth   Ref. &0000000000000001.0000001 Kim, VladimirVladimir Kim $5.5 billion   Kazakhstan  United Kingdom Kazakhmys [citation needed] &0000000000000002.0000002 Lee Kun Hee $2.9 billion   South Korea  South Korea Samsung [citation needed] &0000000000000003.0000003 Chung Mong Koo $2.2 billion  70  South Korea  South Korea Hyundai [citation needed] &0000000000000004.0000004 Shin Dong Bin $1.8 billion   Japan  Japan Lotte [citation needed] &0000000000000005.0000005 Lee Myung Hee $1.8 billion   South Korea  South Korea Shinsegae [citation needed] &0000000000000006.0000006 Lee Jay Yong $1.7 billion   South Korea  South Korea Samsung [citation needed] &0000000000000007.0000007 Shin Dong Joo $1.7 billion   Japan  Japan Lotte [citation needed] &0000000000000008.0000008 Nicholas Park $1.7 billion   United States  South Korea Attorney [citation needed] &0000000000000009.0000009 Yong Keu Cha $1.3 billion  Kazakhmys [citation needed] &0000000000000010.00000010 Chung Mong Joon $1.3 billion   South Korea  South Korea Hyundai Heavy [citation needed] &0000000000000011.00000011 Suh Kyung Bae $1.1 billion  Amorepacific [citation needed] &0000000000000012.00000012 Han Chang Woo $1.1 billion   Japan  Japan Maruhan [citation needed] [edit] Internationally known wealthy Korean individuals (Forbes) No.   Name   Net worth (USD)   Age   Citizenship   Residence   Source(s) of wealth   Ref. &0000000000000013.00000013 Chung Yong Jin $975 million   South Korea  South Korea Shinsegae [citation needed] &0000000000000014.00000014 Shin Chang Jae $950 million   South Korea  South Korea Kyobo Life [citation needed] Chang Pyung Soon $945 Million Kyowon Group Choi Jin Min $930 Million Kiturami Chey Tae Won $810 Million SK Group Kim Seung Yoon $800 Million Hanwha Yoon Seok Keum $790 Million Woongjin Kang Young Jeong $720 Million Daekyo Lee Jay Hyun $715 Million Cheil Jadang Hong Ra Hee $700 Million Samsung Koo Bon Mo $670 Million LG Group Chung Mong Jin $665 Million KCC Shin Kyuk Ho $660 Million Lotte Park Moon Deuk $650 Million Hite Brewery Chung Mong Gyu $645 Million Hyundai Kim Nam Goo $640 Million Korea Investment Koo Bon Neung $620 Million Heesung Group Kim Jung Joo $590 Million Nexon Chung Eui Sun $560 Million Hyundai Lee Joon Yong $540 Million Daelim Koo Bon Joon $500 Million LG Kim Jeong Hoon $500 Million Yurie Koo Bon Sik $495 Million LG Moon Kyu Young $480 Million Aju Lee Ho Jin $475 Million Taekwon Chung Yoo Kyung $470 Million Shinsegae Lee Boo Jin $410 Million Shilla Lee Seo Hyeon $410 Million Cheil Cho Yang Rai $405 Million Hankook Tire This benchmark would suggest at least 1000 employees of major companies making more than $1 million a year of salary; and perhaps 500 earning more than $2 million based on Korea’s commercial success. [edit] Rich List according to Chaebul.com Chaebul.com is a local source that evaluates the fortunes of Korean businesspersons. According to its analysis of listed stock value as January 2008, the top 20 known Korean share-rich individuals are the following. Chung Mong Joon $3.8 Billion Hyundai Heavy Chung Mong Koo $3.2 Billion Hyundai Lee Myung Hee $2.2 Billion Shinsegae Shin Dong Bin $2.0 Billion Lotte Shin Dong Joo $1.9 Billion Lotte Lee Kun Hee $1.8 Billion Samsung Huh Chang Soo $1.4 Billion GS Koo Bon Moo $1.4 Billion LG Nicholas Park $1.3 Billion Lee Suh Kyung Bae $1.2 Billion Amorepacific Chung Yong Jin $1.1 Billion Shinsegae Chung Mong Gyu $1.1 Billion Hyundai Development Chung Mong Jin $1.1 Billion KCC Koo Bon Joon $1.0 Billion LG Kim Seung Youn $1.0 Billion Hanwha Yoon Seok Keum $0.9 Billion Woongjin Chung Eui Sun $0.9 Billion Hyundai Kim Nam Koo $0.8 Billion Korea Investment Lee Soo Young $0.8 Billion DC Chemical Kim Jun Ki $0.8 Billion Dongbu Kim Nam Ho $0.8 Billion Dongbu Kim Young Sang $0.6 Billion Daewoo

 

 

With Western culture increasingly being influenced by Eastern thinking, we attended a three-hour seminar on applying the principles of Buddhism to the business world. Here’s food for thought.

1. We’re Connected with everything around us
When you harm the things or people around you, it harms you. When you help others, you help yourself. Observing that ‘life’ is interdependent inspires altruism - having regard for the wellbeing or best interests of others - and is the basic principle behind the concept of karma where everything you do and think in your business and in life has consequences.

2. Your Mind is Powerful
Your life is a reflection of your thoughts, as the saying goes, ‘nothing is good or bad, thinking makes it so’. In other words, your opinions on the world around you are your interpretation, only one possible point of view. If you abandon your harmful thoughts and actions, that is, eliminate negativity and cultivate altruism, you can shape and inspire your workplace, and your world.

3. The Importance of Understanding
Working on yourself is the highest contribution you can make in life because if you understand yourself, you can understand others and therefore have compassion. If you care for yourself and the people who work with you, they are more likely to respond in kind. It’s your role as a leader to help build those around you by genuinely looking after their wellbeing.

4. Compassion in Business
Compassion for yourself and others is a benefit to you. But how do you act compassionately in a competitive business world? Consider there are two types of competition - wanting to be on top at the expense of others, and accepting that others want to be on top then working harder and smarter to get there.

Real success is built on strength, which comes from endurance, clarity and compassion. Strength rarely comes from losing your cool or forcing a harmful short-term win when faced with conflict or competition. When you have strength, you become someone to reckon with, someone who wins others over. But compassion doesn’t mean letting others walk over you, it requires earning a reputation of respect and integrity over the long-term.

So perhaps re-examine the values by which you measure your business ’success’ (ie: not solely by your bottom line and market share) and consider introducing an extra distinction and measure - altruism.

5. Going Global
If you keep your mind still, you’ll find peace. Living in a world where the three biggest killers of our time are anger, anxiety and depression, we’re constantly adding our own emotions, stresses and ego to the stillness of the day. By learning to quiet your mind, and give up or release the stress, and breathe slowly and deeply, you’ll quiet and clear your mind. You can then gain an awareness of the bigger picture and see things from all points of view.

On a global level, when we find inner peace, barriers between people are dissolved and the world no longer seems so hostile because your perception has greater insight.

Some great principles to bring into business.