HK woman reaps rewards in China's opening up

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. To mark the occasion, we are publishing a series of reports celebrating the city's achievements in different aspects over the past four decades.

Chen Huijuan, a native of Chaoshan, Guangdong Province, was the first Hong Kong entrepreneur who invested in Shekou, Nanshan District, in the early stage of China's reform and opening up.

She was better known as Mrs. Ma in the Shekou area, as she followed Hong Kong tradition using her husband's surname.

She started her business 40 years ago under the call of Yuan Geng, founder of Shekou Industrial Zone who is well-known as a pioneer of reform.

Ma, now in her 80s, was the founder of what was then called Shekou Shopping Center, a grocery store that accepted foreign currencies.

Chen left the mainland at age 22 and engaged in the tourism visa business and travel service with her husband Ma Canhong in Macao and Hong Kong.

In 1978 when China unveiled its reform and opening up, she was invited by Yuan Geng, vice chairman of China Merchants Group based in Hong Kong and then CEO of China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone, to Shekou.

"During the trip to Shekou, the area was just barren land with dusty roads and there wasn't even a pier," Chen said during an interview with Shekou Daily recently.

Many investors hesitated and left, but Chen stayed as she believed in Yuan's vision and future of Shekou. Chen decided to set up a shopping center that accepted foreign currencies in 1979, the first of the type in China.

Yet the way to set up such a center was full of hardship and setbacks because nobody at provincial and Central governments would like to approve as there were no examples to follow.

Yuan wrote letters to the Central Government. Under the attention of leaders of State Council, the State Imports and Exports Administration Committee approved of setting up such a shop.

"On the first day we opened the store June 28, 1982, we recovered all our investment at around 500,000 yuan (US$71,450)," Chen recalled.

As the shop was small, about 300 square meters in size, nearly 500 people had to line up all the way to the coast of Shekou. The initial success had built up Chen's confidence for further investment.

In 1988, Chen set up Chung Kin Shekou Development Co. Ltd. and engaged in foreign trade and built its 35-story office building in 1993 on the original site of the shopping center. The building, still a landmark in Shekou, integrates office, business, entertainment and dining services.

Now the business of the company has expanded from foreign trade to real estate development, automobile, chemistry, mining and aviation.