Seventy years ago in Chaozhou, Guangdong, Mr. Li was born into a well-educated family which instilled in him early on a respect for education and a wish to gain more knowledge. In 1940, when he was 12 years old, his father Mr. Li Yunjing decided to move the whole family to Hong Kong. Though by doing so they could avoid the wartime turbulence in the mainland, the senior Mr. Li, in poor health, found it difficult to settle in a new place and passed away in 1943. This meant that when Mr Li Ka-shing was only 15, he had to shoulder the responsibility of supporting his mother and younger siblings. He first worked for a firm manufacturing watchstrap, then became a salesman of plastic products. Because of his hard work, he was soon promoted to manager and, later, general manager. In 1950, with his own savings, he set up a plastics factory named “Cheung Kong” on Hong Kong Island, thus beginning his illustrious career in the business world. In 1957, accurately foreseeing a growth in demand, he established Cheung Kong Industrial Company Limited, specializing in plastic flowers and toys. In the following year, he made his first venture into the real estate business and, by the age of 30, had made a name for himself in Hong Kong as a successful businessman. Today, Mr. Li controls four publicly listed companies, namely, Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, Hutchison Whampoa Limited, Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited, and Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited, with a combined market capitalization of approximately HK$450 billion. Based in Hong Kong, the Group has major investments and operations in over 24 countries around the world, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and France. Businesses encompass such diverse areas as property development and investment holdings, estate management and real estate agency, securities investment, hotels, container terminals, retail, manufacturing, telecommunications, infrastructure projects and materials, transportation and energy.

Mr. Li Ka-shing is the Chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited and Hutchison Whampoa Limited. Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited is the flagship of the Cheung Kong Group which has business operations in 56 countries around the world and employs around 240,000 staff. In Hong Kong alone, the Group includes eleven listed companies with a combined market capitalization of approximately HK$827 billion. Hutchison Whampoa Limited is a Fortune Global 500 company.

Born in 1928 in Chiu Chow, a coastal city in the southeastern part of China, Mr. Li fled to Hong Kong with his family to avoid the perils of war. His father suffered from tuberculosis and passed away in Hong Kong. Shouldering the responsibility of looking after the livelihood of the family, Mr. Li was forced to leave school before the age of 15 and found a job in a plastics trading company where he labored 16 hours a day. By 1950, his hard work, prudence and his pursuit of excellence had enabled him to start his own company, Cheung Kong Industries. From manufacturing plastics, Mr. Li led and developed his company into a leading real estate investment company in Hong Kong that was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1972. Cheung Kong continued to expand by acquiring Hutchison Whampoa and Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited in 1979 and 1985 respectively.

Based in Hong Kong, the Cheung Kong Group's businesses encompass such diverse areas as property development and investment, real estate agency and estate management, hotels, telecommunications and e-commerce, finance and investments, retail, ports and related services, energy, infrastructure projects and materials, media, and biotechnology. Mr. Li is a strong believer in synergy—the power of combined efforts. This belief is reflected in his naming his company Cheung Kong Holdings after the Yangtze River that flows through China, a great river that aggregates countless streams and tributaries. The Times in the United Kingdom and Ernst & Young UK jointly named Mr. Li as the Entrepreneur of the Millennium at the turn of the century.

Mr. Li believes that an equitable society can only be achieved if each and every individual is ready and willing to do his or her part. In 1980, Mr. Li set up a charitable foundation with a mission to nurture "a culture of giving" in our society. The Li Ka Shing Foundation focuses on a two-pronged approach: capacity empowerment through education, and the building of a caring society through medical and healthcare related projects. To date, the Li Ka Shing Foundation and other private charitable Foundations established by Mr. Li have supported numerous charitable activities with grants, sponsorships and commitments of HK$8.3 billion.

Mr. Li also founded Shantou University in 1981 in Shantou, China, to engineer reforms in China's education system. Shantou University has nine colleges including a medical college with five affiliated hospitals. With students enrolling from all parts of China, the university has approximately 6,500 undergraduate and 1,500 graduate students.

In recognition of his philanthropic efforts and his contributions to society, Mr. Li has received Honorary Doctorates from the University of Cambridge, the University of Calgary in Canada, Peking University, and the University of Hong Kong, among others. Mr. Li, a Justice of the Peace, has also received the Grand Officer of the Order Vasco Nunez de Balboa from Panama, The Commander in the Leopold Order from Belgium, Knight (Commander of the Order) of the British Empire, and the Grand Bauhinia Medal of Hong Kong. More recently, in January 2005, Mr. Li received the Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur from the French Government.

Mr. Li has two sons. The elder son, Victor, now serves as Managing Director and Deputy Chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, Deputy Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Limited, and Chairman of Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited and CK Life Sciences international (Holdings) Inc. Mr. Li's younger son, Richard, is Chairman of PCCW, one of Asia's leading information technology and telecommunications companies.