Hong Kong – At just over a month old, Ethan Li Cheung Chi has become a minor media celebrity.
The son of tech-billionaire Richard Li and Macau-born actress Isabella Leong remained a hot topic in Hong Kong Chinese newspapers yesterday since news of his birth was reported by Apple Daily last Friday.
Li, chairman of Hong Kong telecom company PCCW, told Apple that he and his girlfriend had not discussed marriage yet.
“I don’t want the baby to grow up in a goldfish tank,” he added, on why both mother and child will remain temporarily in North America to escape the media glare.
Li, 42, has himself been in the spotlight for his bid to privatise the Hong Kong-listed PCCW. The move was recently blocked by a Hong Kong court.
His first child, born in Canada on April 26, has attracted attention for the millions he stands to inherit.
Nicknamed “Superboy”, Li was ranked Hong Kong’s 16th richest man by Forbes magazine this year with total assets of HK$8.6 billion (S$1.6 billion).
His “Superman” father, tycoon Li Ka Shing, 80, was Hong Kong’s richest man and Asia’s third-richest with an estimated wealth of US$16.2 billion (S$23.3 billion), according to Forbes.
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Baby Ethan
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Ethan is Li senior’s second grandson. Elder son Victor Li has three daughters, aged five to 13, and a son, Michael, born in 2006.
The low-profile new grandfather was the target of the Hong Kong media last week.
He did not hide his delight at the news of the birth out of wedlock, saying he knew of the pregnancy and even elaborated on his choice of Ethan’s Chinese name, translated variously as “long reign” and “long-term good governance”.
If his son weds Leong, the union will add to other celebrity-billionaire couplings in Hong Kong, such as model Cathy Chui’s 2006 marriage to Martin Lee Ka Shing, son of real estate billionaire Lee Shau Kee. Chui has since given birth to two daughters.
Leong, who turns 21 this month, will also have netted a big catch as Li is arguably the most eligible bachelor in Hong Kong.
Actress Michelle Yeoh was reportedly the matchmaker when she and Leong worked on the 2008 movie, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor.
The romance was never confirmed by the couple before last week. It has now emerged that Leong was already pregnant when she was promoting the Mummy film.
She put on hold a promising film career for motherhood, Apple Daily reported. Film-makers told the newspaper that Leong, before and after her pregnancy, turned down offers to act in three movies, a stage production and voice work for an animated feature. One was a movie, Turandot, to be directed by China’s Zhang Yimou.
For now, films certainly seem far from her mind. She told Ming Pao Weekly in its weekend issue that she would stop work for now to take care of Ethan and
take English-language lessons.
She called Ethan “our first baby”, signalling that more babies might come and that bachelor boy Li might at last make a commitment to a permanent union.
This article was first published in The Straits Times.
