Most people know Leung Fungyee, president of Qin Jia Yuan Media Service Co., as a prolific author of business-centric novels, but Leung herself feels she is first and foremost a businesswoman.

Leung is proud of her business expertise, and that's not just her confidence talking. In fact, she has excelled in just about everything she has tried so far. She is a scholar who, after acquiring her doctorate from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, completed her studies in Europe and the United States. She is a novelist with more than 100 popular books to her credit. She is an entrepreneur who has held high positions in global companies. She is a marketing expert who started a bilateral public relations company involving Hong Kong and Canada, a first in that field. Last but not least, she is a trend-setter who has revolutionized many aspects of people's lives, including the introduction of Filipino domestic staff into Hong Kong homes.

In 1977, Leung started a company specializing in providing trained Filipino maids, the first of its kind in Hong Kong. Filipino maids have now become an indispensable part of Hong Kong life. In 1995, Leung founded Qin Jia Yuan Media Service Co. together with her husband Huang Yihong, and successfully floated it on the Hong Kong stock exchange last year. It was the first company of its kind to be listed in Hong Kong. The shares were oversubscribed 87 times and many business tycoons in the territory like Lee Ka-shing, Lee Shao-kee and Tsang Hin-chi bought shares in the company.

At that point, Leung decided to give up her writing in order to devote all her time to the company. With her relentless efforts, the company's business has swiftly expanded, and now the 56-year-old Leung is planning to float her company in overseas stock exchanges.

Leung's success in all her endeavors has earned her the nickname "Leung Phenomenon." Business icons like her often seem unapproachable, but Leung, a charming, affable woman, is unexpectedly down-to-earth.

Leung was born into a rich business family in January, 1949. Her family background meant she was acquainted with the world of business from a very early age. However, her father lost all his money in a venture when Leung was 14 years old, and he had to work as a common employee in a bank to earn a living.

This decline in the family fortunes did not affect Leung much, as her parents did their best to provide her with a comfortable life. In 1966, Leung was admitted to the Chinese University of Hong Kong for a major in Chinese and a minor in Chinese history.

At that time, Leung was an earnest student who focused only on her education. After graduating, she went on to study in the university's graduate school and earned her masters' degree.

During that period, she met her ex-husband He Wenhui. They went to England together to pursue their higher studies after they got married in 1972.

Back in her university days, Leung had started writing scripts for television stations in order to earn some money to pay for her education. In 1975, while she was still abroad, a newly opened TV station offered her a job. She returned to Hong Kong and started working as a screenwriter.

Soon after that, she resigned and opened Hong Kong's first company providing trained Filipino maids, thereby introducing Filipino servants to the territory. The business brought her HK$30,000 (US$3,699) in the first month and soon enabled her to buy a Mercedes-Benz. However, her family and friends were not terribly enthusiastic about her company. They didn't want her to pursue this career path.

"Friends and parents didn't understand, and they even didn't know how to introduce me to others because I don't have a title or a decent position in a normal company," Leung said.

But Leung stuck to her business, turning it into a grand success. Many people started copycat companies to try and imitate her, but Leung had already set her eyes on something new.

Leung's success in managing her company caught the eye of Fung King-hey, the business magnate who founded Sun Hung Kai Securities. Fung invited her to become the head of his company's public relations department.

For a while, she was unsure about whether to take it up, as she had no experience in the field. But Fung's confidence in her helped her take up the job.

"Fung is the one I learned a lot from and his business ideas influenced me and my later career path. He simply taught me everything and I feel very appreciated," Leung said.

Her busy schedule made it difficult for her to meet her husband, who was then a teacher in Canada. In order to make frequent trips between Canada and Hong Kong, Leung accepted a position as consultant with global conglomerate Ogilvy in 1983. Meanwhile, she went back to her old college to complete her studies, and received her PH.D degree after only two years.

The job shift couldn't help save her marriage, however, and she split with Him in 1985. In the same year, she became the head of a newly created international department of the Hong Kong stock exchange at the invitation of the bourse. This time, the job was more than an ordinary experience. The 1987 stock crisis and the slumping shares triggered much turbulence in the industry. In 1988, Leung resigned during the confusion, and met another savior of hers, her present husband, Huang Yihong.

In the same year, Leung joined Huang's company and became a board director. From then on, she began taking her writing seriously. When she was working for the Hong Kong stock exchange, Leung had been writing a column in the Ming Pao Newspaper called Qin Jia Yuan, a name given by novelist Louis Cha. The name Qin Jia Yuan, which means "diligence and opportunity" in English, later became Leung's company name.

In 1989, Leung published her first novel and her fame skyrocketed both in Hong Kong and on the mainland. Leung is a prolific writer and can finish a novel in three weeks. Many of her writings have been adapted into TV plays, which have found instant popularity on the mainland.

The idea of popularizing her own work was the original motive behind starting her own company Qin Jia Yuan. But since the company was founded in 1995, she has navigated the business into other areas like advertising and public relations.

With the company's stock market listing in 2004, Leung has become one of the richest Chinese women. However, this versatile businesswoman also has her regrets.

She is a woman who is very open-minded in terms of business, but very traditional when it comes to family life, Leung said. Her parents passed away very early, which left her with a deep sense of regret.

"To me, the meaning of success is to share it with the people you care for. My parents can never come back again, and it is my lifetime pity," Leung said.

Leung also said she is a woman who is both rational and sentimental. "I'm very rational when doing business and become sentimental when writing novels," said Leung. "The two things I'd like to collect are money and memory. I save the money in banks and save the beautiful memories in my head."

Though she has written more than 100 books, Leung has never regarded herself as a writer. "I don't deserve being called a writer, and writing is only my hobby. I'm a businesswoman by trade," said Leung.

"I don't have enough knowledge to be a qualified writer, but I know the trick of business and it is simpler," said Leung. "One thing you need to know is the data, and to make profit through management. The other thing is the company reputation, which can help the company to get more partners and contracts."

Leung thinks the company name Qin Jia Yuan best describes her experience. She works hard at everything she decides to take on, and she says she has been very lucky in many respects.

"I think nobody can succeed without these two factors: diligence and opportunity. The thing you can control is whether you want to be diligent or not, and if you are not, you will never be successful," Leung said.

In order to push her company to new highs, Leung has given up writing. "I was a housewife, a writer and a businesswoman before I started the company, and when the three roles conflicted, I chose to be a housewife. But now the company has gone public, I need to think for my shareholders and work hard to live up to their expectations," said Leung.

(Shenzhen Daily September 9, 2005)