HK tycoons lose in election revamp
Bloomberg
When Beijing regained control of Hong Kong more than two decades ago, the Chinese Communist Party entrusted the territory’s wealthiest tycoons with enormous influence over local politics.
This week, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) took his most dramatic step yet to grab some of that power back.
Xi’s sweeping overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral system — aimed at neutralizing pro-democracy voices — will curtail the clout of billionaires such as Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠) and Lee Shau-kee (李兆基), who used to wield effective control over one-quarter of the seats on the 1,200-member Election Committee that decides Hong Kong’s chief executive.