The rise and fall of Jimmy Lai, now on trial for violating the National Security Law, mirrors the trajectory of Hong Kong itself: a population of hard-working entrepreneurial refugees creating a spectacularly successful economy under the largely benign influence of colonial British rule, then suffering perhaps irreversible downturns after it came under Beijing’s control. Lai, also known as Lai Chee-ying, was born in 1947 and arrived in Hong Kong as a penniless twelve-year-old stowaway. By dint of ingenuity and hard work he built his factory job into textile empire Giordano, with stores in an estimated thirty countries.
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