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Explainer | Jiangmen, a Greater Bay Area laggard, counts casino tycoon, ex-NBA star and Hong Kong movie icons as investors, benefactors
- Jiangmen has the second lowest GDP per capita among 11 Greater Bay Area cities, just ahead of Zhaoqing
- City is ancestral home to casino billionaire Lui Che-woo, Lee Kum Kee’s family business and Hong Kong movie stars Andy Lau and Chow Yun-fat
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Jiangmen ranks as the second poorest city in the Greater Bay Area. Yet, it is rich in its own way, counting a casino tycoon, an ex-NBA star, the king of oyster sauce, and a host of Hong Kong’s film stars among its famous natives and benefactors.
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The city of 4.6 million people in the southernmost part of Guangdong province – about two to three hours from Hong Kong by train or ferry – thrives with millions of natives overseas, including tycoon Lui Che-woo of casino operator Galaxy Entertainment and developer K Wah International, among its biggest cheerleaders.
They have invested about US$30 billion to help lift the city’s lightweight economy as at 2018, according to local government statistics, while donations to its causes amounted to HK$7.71 billion (US$995 million).
The Jiangmen Star Park, developed in November 2010 over 14,000 square metres at a cost of 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million), is the city’s import of the Hollywood Star Walk to spur domestic tourism, paying tribute to a host of Hong Kong celebrities with family ties to the city.
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More than 120 of such movie icons have had their hand prints and statues built there, including Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Chow Yun-fat, Donnie Yen and Canto-pop singers Alan Tam and Gillian Chung.
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