Background
Pao was born in 1918 in Ningbo, the 3rd of seven children of a prosperous upper-middle-class family. His father successively ran a shoe shop in Wuhan, a bank in Shanghai, and worked as a bank manager in Hengyang and Chongqing. In 1946 he went into a business venture with his parents to manufacture paper. In 1949 he relocated to Hong Kong with his family where he was involved in import and export, venturing into the shipping line at a later time. In 1967 he became the chairman of the World-WIde Shipping Group.
In 1937, the anti-Japanese war erupted and Pao Yue-Kong had to terminate his studies. Two years later, he found a job in the office of central trust in Hengyang. After the war ended in 1945, he was transferred to Shanghai Bank as a business development manager. The following year Pao Yue-Kong was promoted to deputy general manager.
In 1949 he and his family moved to Hong-Kong. Pao and his father decided to set up a trading company with two friends from his hometown. Their business was not very profitable. As such, Pao Yue-Kong decided to move his focus to the shipping industry.
Pao Yue-Kong purchased his first secon-hand ship from England in 1955 with te money he borrowed.
In 1986 he became the biggest indiviual shareholder of the Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong when he purchased 14.5 percent of its shares.
By that time Pao Yue-Kong had reached his peak both on the sea and on land. He died in Hong Kong in 1991.