Taipan (corporate title)

This article is about the Cantonese term. For other uses, see Taipan (disambiguation).

A taipan (Chinese: 大班; pinyin: dà bān; Sidney Lau: daai⁶baan¹,^[1] literally "top class"^[2]), sometimes spelled tai-pan, is a foreign-born senior business executive or entrepreneur operating in mainland China or Hong Kong. The term Taipan also refers to the mixed political and business oligarch families in the Philippines who control the politics and own the various businesses.^[3]

History

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, taipans were foreign-born businessmen who headed large hong trading houses such as Jardine, Matheson & Co., Swire and Dent & Co., amongst others.^{[citation needed]}

The first recorded use of the term in English is in the Canton Register of 28 October 1834.^[4] Historical variant spellings include taepan (first appearance) and typan.^[4]

Politico-business oligarchs in the Philippines

The term also refers to the Chinese-Filipino business oligarchs and business families who own or have involvement in various businesses in the Philippines and are the powerful billionaire-founders of Chinese-Filipino business empires. Examples of taipans are: The López family of Iloilo of Lopez Holdings Corporation; the late Henry Sy of SM Investments; National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) vice-chairmen Henry T. Sy Jr. and Robert Coyiuto Jr.; Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corporation; and Lucio Tan of Philippine Airlines.^[3]

In popular culture

The term gained wide currency outside China after the publication of Somerset Maugham's 1922 short story "The Taipan" and James Clavell's 1966 novel Tai-Pan, which was adapted into a 1986 film of the same name, directed by Daryl Duke.

The term was used to describe the protagonist's family in J. G. Ballard's 1984 novel Empire of the Sun.

Notable taipans

• Anthony John Liddell Nightingale, Jardine Matheson (2006–2012), Hong Kong
• William Jardine,^[5] Jardine Matheson (1843–1845), Hong Kong
• James Matheson, Jardine Matheson (1796–1878), Hong Kong
• Lawrence Kadoorie,^[6] China Light and Power (1899–1993), Hong Kong
• Alasdair Morrison,^[7] Jardine Matheson (1994–2000), Hong Kong
• Simon Murray,^[8] Hutchison Whampoa (1984–1994), Hong Kong
• Percy Weatherall (born 1957), Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong
• William Keswick (1834–1912), Scotland
• Merlin Bingham Swire (born 1973), England
• Douglas Lapraik (1818–1869), England
• John Johnstone Paterson (1886–1971), Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong

See also

• Hong Kong portal
• China portal

• Canton System, the single-port trading monopoly operative in China prior to the First Opium War.
• Thirteen Factories