Sir David Wing-cheung Tang was a Hong Kong businessman, philanthropist and socialite. He was best known for founding the Shanghai Tang fashion chain in 1994, which he sold in 1998 to Richemont.
Background
Sir David Wing-cheung Tang was born on August 2, 1954 in Hong Kong. He was born into a prominent Hong Kong family. His grandfather, Sir Shiu-Kin Tang (鄧肇堅), co-founded the Kowloon Motor Bus Company and was considered "one of Hong Kong's greatest philanthropists".
Education
At the age of 12, David Tang moved with his parents to England. Following his primary education at La Salle Primary School, he was sent to board at The Perse School, Cambridge. After leaving Perse in 1973 he went to King's College London to read Philosophy and then Law.
Career
David Tang started his career at his grandfather's solicitor firm. He joined the London law firm Macfarlanes as a trainee solicitor, where he was described by the then senior partner Vanni Treves as being "confident, quick witted and funny", as well as being "charmingly undisciplined and unreliable". By mutual agreement he left the firm after a couple of months without completing his training contract, and instead changed career path and joined Swire Pacific Limited.
David Tang was the founder of the China Club in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Singapore, the Shanghai Tang stores, Havana House and Pacific Cigar Company Ltd (the exclusive distributor for all Cuban cigars in Asia Pacific). More recently he opened the Cipriani in Hong Kong and the China Tang restaurant at the Dorchester Hotel. Tang was also a director and advisor to a number of boards, including Tommy Hilfiger.
In 1983-1984, David Tang taught English literature and philosophy at Peking University.
In August 2017, Asia Times reported that David Tang planned a farewell party at the Dorchester Hotel in London as doctors had given him only a month or two to live. However, before the farewell party could occur, David Tang died on 29 August 2017, twenty-seven days after his 63rd birthday, leaving behind his wife Lucy and a daughter Victoria and a son Edward from his first marriage to Susanna Cheung.
Politics
David Tang was unrestrained in speaking, at times scathingly, in opposition to the Hong Kong Government.
Personality
David Tang was the Honorary Consul of Cuba in Hong Kong. From time to time, he contributed articles for newspapers.
He was invited to provide a weekly English column for the Chinese-language Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily. A selection of his articles has been published in a book An Apple a Week (published in 2006). He also contributed an "agony uncle" column to the weekend Financial Times, in which he responded to readers' social dilemmas.
In 2011, David Tang founded a website, ICorrect.com, where celebrities can post fixes and refutations of incorrect information spreading over the internet.