Many Asian tycoons die at their desk. But Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest man, has decided not to, formally passing the reins of his $100bn retail, infrastructure and property empire to his elder son Victor Li on Friday after a decades-long apprenticeship.

许多亚洲富豪死在自己的办公桌旁。但香港首富李嘉诚(Li Ka-shing)决定不那么做，他在周五正式把他的规模1000亿美元的零售、基础设施和房地产帝国的控制权交给了长子李泽钜(Victor Li)。此前，李泽钜经历了数十年的“学徒生涯”。

The 89-year-old Mr Li built his Cheung Kong group from humble beginnings making plastic flowers in the 1950s to a global conglomerate that owns 52 ports around the world, numerous energy and utility companies, the 3 mobile phone network and retail chains including Superdrug and Watsons.

现年89岁的李嘉诚白手起家，于1950年代创立了生产塑料花的长江实业集团(Cheung Kong group)。如今，他已把长江实业打造成了一个全球性帝国，拥有遍布世界各地的52个港口、众多能源和公用事业公司、3个移动电话网络，以及包括Superdrug和屈臣氏(Watsons)在内的零售连锁企业。

Known in Hong Kong as “Superman” for his dealmaking prowess, Mr Li on Friday stepped down as chairman of CK Hutchison, his main holding company, and named 53-year-old Victor Li as his replacement.

在香港因交易能力出众被称为“超人”的李嘉诚，在周五辞去了其主要控股公司长江和记实业(CK Hutchison)的董事长一职，并任命53岁的李泽钜接替他的职位。

A test of a succession plan that has been decades in the making, Mr Li’s resignation is also a symbolic turning point for Hong Kong, where the economy has long been dominated by a coterie of tycoons.

李嘉诚的辞职，是对一项已酝酿数十年的继任计划的考验，也是香港的一个标志性转折点。长期以来，香港经济一直由一群大亨所主宰。

“No one can replace Li Ka-shing,” says Joseph Fan, a professor of finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “It remains to be observed how his retirement will affect the productivity and value of the Li empire.”

“谁也无法取代李嘉诚，”香港中文大学(CUHK)金融学教授范博宏(Joseph Fan)说，“他的退休将对李氏帝国的生产率和价值产生何种影响，还有待观察。”

Business associates paid tribute to Mr Li, who has a personal fortune of $34bn, according to Bloomberg, making him Hong Kong’s richest man but placing him well behind Chinese internet tycoons Jack Ma of Alibaba and Pony Ma of Tencent, who are worth $50bn an $47bn respectively.

生意伙伴们赞扬了李嘉诚。根据彭博(Bloomberg)的数据，李泽楷的个人财富为340亿美元，这让他成为香港首富，但也令他远远地落后于两位中国互联网大亨——阿里巴巴(Alibaba)的马云(Jack Ma)和腾讯(Tencent)的马化腾(Pony Ma)。马云和马化腾的身家分别为500亿美元和470亿美元。