The legendary Hong Kong businessman and socialite was both an admirer of China and critic of Beijing.
Tributes are pouring in for Hong Kong businessman and socialite David Tang, who has passed away in the UK at age 63.
Elegant, incisive and funny, David Tang has been a frequent contributor to the BBC over decades.
«Always fun to work with him, » senior producer Mantej Deol recalls. «He used to tease me whenever I asked him to do a BBC interview.»
«‘Am I your token China man?’ he would ask.»
«Yes David, from a billion people I would choose you! And then he would fall about laughing.»
Much of the coverage of Mr Tang’s life has focused on his party lifestyle, his rich and famous friends and his royal connections.
But there was a seriousness behind the playboy.
His friends in Hong Kong say his true legacy — tireless promotion of his birth city, and of Chinese culture — will live on long after his untimely death.
Hong Kong-based American businessman Mitch Presnick first met Mr Tang in 1996, when he sought to join the China Club, a number of related clubs in Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore that hark back to Shanghai night life of the 1930s.
In addition to the clubs, Mr Tang also founded Shanghai Tang, a high-end clothing line inspired by traditional Chinese design, which was later sold to the French luxury group Richemont.
«He was doing things that no-one else was doing, that no-one else had done before, » Mr Presnick recalls.
«I loved the way he was showcasing Chinese culture in a muscular and confident way, showing the best of China and the best of Chinese art and culture.
