Sample - Ring Dragonz

Hong Kong
“which to the Chinese means you are the head of a
very powerful family.”
“You mean you’re a celebrity, Papa? Like
Walsh’s mom and dad?” Henry anxiously inquired.
Mr. Lee squirmed uncomfortably with this
comparison. “Uh, it means our whole family name is
a celebrity,” he explained. “But our family weren’t
entertainers, Henry. The Lees controlled the seas in
Hong Kong. Shipping.”
“Mama? Papa? Is it safe for you to go home?”
Anne Mai wondered aloud. This question seemed to
burrow straight into her parents like an arrow.
“I’m sure it’s quite safe, Mai Mai,” her mother
clarified. “But this is where things start to become
hard to explain.” She looked to her husband, his
fingers buried in her hand.
“When my father died,” Mr. Lee began again,
“he named me the Taipan of my family. During
those years business in Hong Kong was doing very
well. Not just for the Lees, mind you, but also for
the other four Taipans and their families. But there
was a worry. We knew the day was coming when
China would again take charge of our island.”
“Communism in mainland China was very
different from the life we had grown up knowing
under British control,” Mrs. Lee felt compelled to
explain.
“Exactly.” Mr. Lee nodded. “There was a
growing concern that businesses would be seized by
the new regime, so a meeting of the five Taipans
was called. At this meeting in Kowloon, the other
four families and I decided to move our businesses
overseas and leave Hong Kong.” This last detail
seemed to sting Mr. Lee’s lips.
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