For those who have traveled to Taipei, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Taipei, one of the landmarks in Taipei City and awarded the prestigious "Forbes Five Star", has a magnificent European-style building, and the design is luxurious and exquisite, which is impressive.
Many people may not know that behind the scenes of this hotel there is a legendary story of three generations of Chinese businessmen from ChaozhouThailand, and there are also evocative fragments of memories of grievances between wealthy families. It is necessary to mention again that this invisible wealthy family uses their flour for Din Tai Fung buns, and they also own a lot of land in Xindian District, New Taipei City.
7blocks Ocean left Chaozhou for Thailand, went to Taiwan to run a flour mill and became a hotel tycoon
Qiao Taixing’s flour
Today I will share a wealthy Thai overseas family in Taiwan, the Lin Guochang family. Some people may find it strange, but if you mention the family’s industries, you may feel very familiar.
When traveling to Taiwan, many people will stay at the "Forbes five-star" Taipei Mandarin Hotel. The predecessor of this well-known hotel, the Zhongtai Hotel, was founded by Lin Guochang, who came to Taiwan from Thailand to start a business.
Lin Guochang, who has already made a fortune in Thailand, first founded the Qiao Taixing Flour Factory near Nangang Station in Taipei when he came to Taiwan. Now this flour factory has After more than a decade, it is one of the largest flour manufacturers in Taiwan. Its time-honored "Jiahe" brand flour is used by well-known restaurants and restaurants such as Din Tai Fung, Jiu Zhen Nan, Mr. Marco, St. Mary's, and San Xiecheng. Designated for use by baking companies.
Just in 2020, "Lianhua Investment Holdings", the largest and most productive flour manufacturer in Taiwan, split off its pasta business "Lianhua Milling" and cooperated with "Qiao Taixing", and the third party of the Lin Guochang family Lin Mingjia, who was in the 19th century, became the chairman of Lianhua Milling. The combination of powerful companies will undoubtedly establish its superior competitiveness in Taiwan's pasta industry.
Lin Guochang (standing behind), the founder of Qiao Taixing Flour Mill, and Chiang Ching-kuo (3rd from the right) and others who visited the factory
Speaking of Lin Guochang, the founder of Qiao Taixing Flour Mill, he can be called an inspirational and successful businessman, and his life is full of legends color.
Lin Guochang was born in Chaozhou, Guangdong in 1873 (the twelfth year of Tongzhi, Emperor Mu of the Qing Dynasty). In order to make a living, when he was 16 years old, he borrowed 7 yuan from his grandmother to pay for his journey, and left Chaozhou to live with relatives in Thailand.
When he first arrived in Thailand, Lin Guochang worked as a street vendor, a street sweeper, sold rice, charcoal, and opened a grocery store. After having accumulated a certain amount of savings, Lin Guochang opened "Chengxing Lijin Bank" in Bangkok and became rich from this.
Japan was defeated and surrendered in 1945, and Taiwan was recovered. However, in the second half of 1945, there was a food shortage on the island. Later, the food control policy in the early days of Taiwan's recovery was implemented. In fact, this was also the "February 28th" incident. will spread to One of the island-wide inducements. In the 1950s, Taiwan began to implement the policy of "cultivating industry through agriculture and developing agriculture through industry". Agricultural land policies and food policies also changed, and consideration was given to matching food policies with people's livelihood supply and encouraging the development of agricultural product processing industries. development.
Against this background, Lin Guochang came to Taiwan from Thailand to invest. In 1953, he founded Qiao Taixing Flour Mill next to Nangang Station in Taipei. It has a history of nearly 70 years. "Qiao Taixing" is named after overseas Chinese. The flour mill invested by Thai overseas Chinese businessman Lin Guochang also received the attention of the government at that time. Mr. Jiang Jingguo and Mr. Yin Zhongrong all visited the factory and the "Jiahe" brand it produced "Four is now a time-honored brand product.
Chen Hanzhang, the owner of "Liu Zhangli" steamed buns, and Lin Guochang, the founder of Qiao Taixing's "Jiahe Brand" flour
The reason why they chose to set up a factory near Nangang Railway Station was to consider the transportation of imported wheat from abroad. Convenience. When
was founded, Lin Guochang introduced the latest flour production equipment from the United States. The large "Qiao" character on the "Jiahe brand" flour packaging, as well as the chrysanthemum and gladiolus trademarks, quickly attracted the public and gained a high degree of popularity. Because of its popularity, it has been the designated flour brand for many well-known old noodle shops for more than a century.
For example, Chen Hanzhang, the owner of "Liu Zhangli" steamed buns, is famous for making solid and chewy Shandong steamed buns. He can be called an old man in Taiwan's steamed bun industry. Costco Costco, department stores SOGO etc. The steamed buns he served.
Chen Hanzhang once revealed that one of the secrets why his "Liu Zhangli" steamed buns have remained stable for more than 40 years is due to the stable quality of "Jiahe Brand" flour.
In the early days, Chen Hanzhang learned how to make Shandong steamed buns from a Shandong man who came to Taiwan. When he first started running "Liu Zhangli", he tried using many different flours and became familiar with them. We compared them one by one in terms of taste, color, and ease of kneading. Finally, we found that "Jiahe brand" blue chrysanthemum flour has a very fine texture and a natural flour white color. The steamed buns produced are very solid and fragrant, so for more than 40 years, I have been using it since I came and it has remained unchanged.
The swimming pool of Mandarin Oriental, Taipei
On May 18, Mandarin Oriental, Taipei celebrated its 8th anniversary. This hotel is currently the first and only hotel in Taiwan to have won the Forbes Five-Star Award for six consecutive years. Visitors who have visited the hotel will feel the strong European architectural style and it is famous for its exquisite and considerate service. Many celebrities often choose to stay in this hotel when they visit Taipei.
The owner of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Taipei is Lin Mingqun, the third generation of the Lin family and chairman of Kai Tai Feng International. Lin Mingqun is an invisible rich man. In March this year, the 23rd floor of the "Bihuside", the largest mansion in Neihu, was sold for NT$4.23 billion. The buyer was Shun Jicheng Co., Ltd., and its owner is the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Taipei. Lin Mingqun, the owner of "Wenhua Garden".
Before the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Taipei was renovated, it was the Zhongtai Hotel. In 1962, Lin Guochang invested again after the flour mill to build the Zhongtai Hotel on Dunhua North Road. When the Zhongtai Hotel was in its heyday, the KISS dance hall, B.B.Q barbecue, and the earliest Thai restaurant in Taipei were all historical memories of old Taipei people.
In 2005, Lin Mingqun, the eldest grandson of Lin Guochang, spent a huge sum of NT$25 billion to transform the Zhongtai Hotel into today's Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Taipei. He also built a luxury mansion "Wenhua Garden", which made Lin Guochang's family famous for a while. Mandarin Oriental, Taipei has also become one of the landmarks of Taipei City.
Taipei Mandarin Oriental Hotel was formerly known as Zhongtai Hotel and its founder Lin Guochang
Since the Lin family has always kept a low profile, if it were not for the failure of four judicial auctions of road land in Xindian District, New Taipei City in May this year, with a case value of NT$250 million, many people would have People may not realize how rich Lin Guochang's family is.
Before his death, Lin Guochang, in addition to investing in the Qiao Taixing Flour Mill and the Mandarin Oriental Taipei Hotel, formerly known as the Zhongtai Hotel, also purchased a large number of properties and land in Taipei and New Taipei with the traditional concept of "there must be wealth in the land". .
For example, he invested in the former "China Stadium" site in Section 4 of Nanjing East Road in Taipei today, and the original site of the "Really Good" seafood restaurant at the intersection of Xinsheng South Road and Heping East Road. 50 years ago, he also bought a large amount of land to build residential buildings in Xindian District, New Taipei today.
Lin Guochang had many wives and concubines in Thailand. He married a total of 7 wives and concubines. The two wives who followed him to Taiwan to start a business were Zhao Bizhi and Lin Zhu Peifang. After the death of Lin Guochang's first wife, Zhao Bizhi was promoted to the official wife, and Lin Zhu Peifang was called "Mrs. Ru" by the outside world. The two fell in love as sisters and worked together to help their husband start a business in Taiwan.
The roads in Xindian District, New Taipei City that were auctioned by the judiciary
If it were not for the failed judicial auction of the four roads in Xindian District, New Taipei City and the media reports, the outside world might not know that Lin Guochang's "Madame" Lin Zhu Peifang is the "Xindian landlord's wife" ", an invisible rich woman.
According to reports, after Lin Zhu Peifang passed away 24 years ago, he left a huge inheritance, but his inheritance tax still remained NT$220 million that has not been paid, so his assets were subject to judicial auction. The four Xindian Egg Yolk Community lands announced in May this year were not auctioned. They currently belong to the fourth type of residential land. They are four-story residential buildings that are more than 50 years old and are scheduled to be used as roads. Since 2019, there have been 2-3 rounds of public auctions, and one asset has been rejected 9 times.
media inquiries found that there have been at least 30 cases of unpaid inheritance tax against Lin Zhu Peifang since 2009. Most of them are located in the alleys of Zhonghua Road, Xindian District, New Taipei City. There are about 6 land and road properties, and 10 old apartments. . In addition to Lin Zhu Peifang, the holders of its asset projects also include Lin Guochang's wife Zhao Bizhi, his eldest grandson Lin Mingqun, and grandson Lin Mingjia.
It may also be because the relationship between the auction objects is quite complicated, and members of Lin Guochang’s family all have rights and interests. Even if the plot of land is good, those who intend to participate in the auction are worried that the property will not be divided in the future, so they are "daunted". Because even if someone successfully bids, as long as other members of Lin Guochang's family exercise their rights, the court will usually let the co-owners of the assets buy it back first, without worrying about outsiders selling it away.
Three generations of grievances and infighting among the wealthy Thai businessman Lin Guochang's family
Lin Guochang's eldest grandson Lin Mingqun
Lin Zhu Peifang, who is "like a woman" as Lin Guochang, is the concubine of a wealthy family. How can she owe taxes?
According to an announcement from the Taipei Taxation Department, the executor of Lin Zhu Peifang’s tax arrears case is a person named Chen Xiusheng. In 1992, when Lin Zhu Peifang was still alive, she transferred her equity in the Zhongtai Hotel to a low value. The price was sold to Chen Xiusheng, who then transferred it to Lin Mingqun, the eldest grandson of Lin Guochang.
For this transaction, the Taipei tax department determined that it constituted a gift and required nearly NT$110 million in back taxes. Later, the party involved, Lin Zhu Peifang, was dissatisfied and applied for administrative review. After her death in May 1998, Chen Xiusheng continued to apply for review as the executor of the will, and finally launched an administrative lawsuit.
After that, Chen Xiusheng's lawyer applied for a "check and correction" requesting to correct the amount of the inheritance. This also caused the inheritance tax payment deadline to be repeatedly postponed. In 2010, the Taipei High Court reprimanded the Taipei tax department for "special protection and wanton violation of the law." Now, 12 years later, Lin Zhu Peifang's assets have also failed to be auctioned repeatedly, but his tax arrears records have remained in the tax files. As a result, the former rich concubine also became a large tax arrears. After the matter was reported by the media, everyone knew that she turned out to be a "landowner" who owned a large amount of land in Xindian.
Time is like a song, and time flies by. 50 years ago, when Lin Guochang bought a house and built an apartment in Danyang District, Xindian, New Taipei, the land was next to a pig house for raising pigs. Now, the house price in Danyang District, located at the southeastern end of the Greater Taipei Basin, is NT$500,000 per square meter, and Not to mention the buildings, the value of the land alone has increased countless times.
Lin Mingqun, Chairman of Taipei Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Mandarin International
Going back to the Thai overseas Chinese businessman Lin Guochang, he was worth at least several billion when he was alive. Although he had many wives and concubines, only his first wife gave him 2 children. Later, after the eldest son died of illness, only the second son, Lin Shaoming, was left alone. The second generation, Lin Shaoming, also has two sons, the eldest grandson Lin Mingqun and the younger grandson Lin Mingjia, who will become the chairman of Lianhua Milling in 2020.
Since Lin Shaoming lived overseas for many years, Lin Mingqun and Lin Mingjia were raised by their two grandmothers, Zhao Bizhi and Lin Zhu Peifang. It is said that Lin Mingqun maintains good interactions with his father abroad, while Lin Mingjia has a good relationship with his two grandmothers.
After Lin Guochang passed away in 1977, it is said that he left a legacy of NT$2.4 billion in Taiwan. According to his will, 75% of the property was divided between Zhao Bizhi and Lin Zhu Peifang, and his second and only son. Lin Shaoming only received the remaining 25%. Because the will had been changed many times, Lin Shaoming suspected that the two stepmothers had "tampered" with the will and sued the court.
There is also a saying that Mr. Lin also had another idea in disposing of the property in his will. He gave 75% to his two wives and left only a small portion of the property to his son. He was worried that his son Lin Shaoming would be a spendthrift and his two grandchildren would not be able to get the money.
In fact, after the two grandsons Lin Mingqun and Lin Mingjia grew up, and Zhao Bizhi and Lin Zhu Peifang died one after another, their family property was also transferred to It is the third generation of the family, but it has only caused conflicts among brothers and internal strife over property. This may have been something that Mr. Lin and his two wives had not thought of before. Carefully planning for the intergenerational inheritance of wealth for their two grandsons would also create "unforeseen consequences". No flower will bear any fruit.
Lin Guochang (right) and his second son Lin Shaoming (left)
Lin Guochang had a reputation as a "patriotic overseas Chinese" during his lifetime. He did not expect that his carefully designed cross-generational inheritance arrangement of "passing on to grandchildren but not to sons" would lead to Two grandsons fought a lawsuit over the inheritance of a wealthy family for more than 20 years.
At that time, in addition to establishing Qiao Taixing Flour Mill and Zhongtai Hotel, Lin Guochang also founded the real estate developer "Qiao Tai Construction". The descendants of his family are also "spreading out" in Taiwan. In order to assist the Basketball Association in holding the second Asian Men's Basketball Championship in Taipei (Note: 1963), he spent 30 million to renovate the Chunghwa Stadium.
For his father's inheritance, Lin Shaoming and his two sons started a property dispute. Finally, the two parties reached an agreement. Lin Shaoming changed from the original 25% to 50% of the property, which is about NT$1.2 billion. Two Sons Lin Mingqun and Lin Mingjia each get the remaining 25%, which is about 600 million yuan.
Unexpectedly, one wave after another, the two brothers Lin Mingqun and Lin Mingjia also started a lawsuit over property disputes. Lin Mingqun, who had a good relationship with his father Lin Shaoming, acted as the "dad faction" and had a deep relationship with his two grandmothers. Lin Mingjia, who played the role of the "grandmother faction", started another protracted lawsuit.
Lin Mingqun, the former chairman of Zhongtai Hotel
In 1995, the Zhongtai Hotel, the predecessor of Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Taipei, was officially helmed by the third generation of the family. Lin Mingqun, the eldest son of Mr. Lin, officially became the chairman of Zhongtai Hotel. What outsiders didn't expect was that among the "three things a new official takes office", Lin Mingqun would direct the "first fire" at his younger brother. The first official document he issued was to dismiss his younger brother Lin Mingjia from his position as deputy general manager.
As a result, the two brothers officially broke up, and the Zhongtai Hotel, headed by Lin Mingqun, and the Qiao Taixing Flour Mill, headed by Lin Mingjia, also drew a clear line.Judging from later official registration data, Lin Zhu Peifang had many properties and houses in the Zhonghua Road area of Xindian, and their household registrations were all at the site of Qiao Taixing Flour Mill. This also roughly shows the ancestral relationship between her grandmother Lin Zhu Peifang and her grandson Lin Mingjia. Even more than his feelings for his eldest grandson, Lin Mingqun.
family is sometimes an unreasonable place. Emotional relationships sometimes determine the inheritance relationship of family businesses. Objectively speaking, Lin Mingqun and Lin Mingjia, the third generation of the Lin Guochang family, are both excellent brothers. Qiao Taixing has a history of 69 years and has long been designated and selected by many well-known pasta, bread, cakes and catering restaurants. In Lin Ming Under Chia's management, this time-honored flour manufacturer continues to pursue innovation and change. It is also the first flour manufacturer in Taiwan to obtain the SQF Level 3 (food hygiene, food safety, food quality) food safety verification mark.
As the eldest grandson, Lin Mingqun also managed the Zhongtai Hotel with great success after taking charge. On May 18, 2014, the renovated Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Taipei opened with unprecedented fanfare and set many "firsts", including the most expensive, longest-lasting, and most advanced hotel. The ribbon-cutting ceremony invited actress Brigitte Lin, and many friends from the political and business circles were present to support her.
In order to create a perfect hotel, Lin Mingqun, the boss with a picky personality who is almost as fussy as a turtle, took everything into his own hands and stayed in 41 Mandarin Oriental hotels around the world before finally choosing this brand as a partner.
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