As a free port, Hong Kong has its own special tolerance for people from different countries.

According to the Hong Kong government census in June this year, there are now about 15,000 Indians in Hong Kong, and the Broadway cinema on the border of Nathan Road and Argyle Street regularly screens a Hindi-language movie every Sunday, and the venue is full.

From a historical point of view, there have been two waves of Indian immigration to Hong Kong, one was when Hong Kong was opened at the beginning of the port, and the Indian entourage brought by British officials and businessmen to Hong Kong became the first batch of immigrants. The second was in the late twenties, when the world economic crisis broke out, which spread to India, directly leading to various crises such as bank failures, factory bankruptcies, and unemployment of workers, causing a wave of immigration.

But for these Indian immigrants, Hong Kong is ultimately the territory of the Chinese, not their homeland. Therefore, since the opening of the port, there has been a saying among Indians in Hong Kong that 'make money in Hong Kong and enjoy returning to India', and most Indians have indeed done this, working in Hong Kong for three or five years to earn a sum of Hong Kong dollars, and then returning to India like a rich man.

At a time when generations of Indians have been shuttling back and forth in Hong Kong, the family has been living in Hong Kong for 17 years.

Today, two young brothers of the Charillera family, 31-year-old George Charillera and 29-year-old Harry Charilla, opened the Charillera Company in Hong Kong, specializing in laundry, clothing and tailor shops, with more than 10 factories, covering all the Chinese weaving factories in Hong Kong.

At this time, in a bungalow on Wata Old Road, Xia George looked at his younger brother Xia Harry, who was putting dirty clothes on his body, and asked: "Harry, two days ago, the Chinese garment manufacturers union united forty-one weaving industry bosses and planned to join forces to boycott our company, have you heard about this?" ”

Young Shahari took off his clean suit and put on a padded jacket covered with dust and oil, and listened to his brother's question, revealing a mouthful of snow-white teeth: "Of course I know that they made such a big noise, but what is the use of that?" The Chinese's garment-making skills are indeed worth learning, but when it comes to doing business, they are far behind. ”

Shahari, who has been working as a street vendor since the age of 12, speaks of business with confidence in his eyes.

"Of course I trust your mind." Even Xia George, who is two years older, admires his brother in his heart, but he still said, "I mean, the company does not have perfect textile technology yet, and our raw materials will always have to be purchased from Chinese, if they resist the ...... of Charilila."

"George, you still don't know enough about the Chinese." Xia Harry took off his leather shoes, put on a pair of vinyl shoes, glanced at his brother, and said with a smile, "Maybe they were really united during the war years, but in the business field of the peace years, it is not easy for peers not to squeeze each other, how can they refuse a big customer like us?" Rest assured, the day after they finished the trade meeting, more than one Chinese boss came to me privately and belittled the owners of other textile mills to worthless, just to get a few more orders in our company. ”

Brother Xia George shrugged his shoulders: "It seems that my worries are unnecessary, but next time you should tell me these things in advance." ”

"You just need to handle the company's orders, and I'll do everything." Shahari, who had changed into a sloppy outfit, pointed at himself and asked with a smile, "How is my outfit?" ”

Xia George looked at his younger brother and said, "Yes, those British soldiers will be deeply moved when they see you like this." ”

"I thought so too, and I deliberately wore two cotton shirts under my padded jacket, and when I pushed the cart to the barracks, the British soldiers happened to see the sweat on my face." Xia Harry looked at the black rubber shoes on his feet, smiled, and said in an exaggerated tone, "When the time comes, those stupid soldiers will definitely say again, Harry, you are really an honest businessman, and it is too wise to hand over your military uniform to you!" ”

Chargeorge was amused by his brother's tone, and what he admired most about Shahari was that he could turn around the British soldiers in the barracks, and no Indian had such a skill before.

In fact, at the end of the Japanese occupation, the Charillera family did have a miserable time, especially after the recovery of Hong Kong, the Charilila family, who worked for the RB people during the Japanese occupation, quickly depreciated and invalidated a large number of Japanese military tickets that they had worked so hard to save, and the whole family was destitute and gloomy.

However, the clever Shahari was not discouraged, but set his sights on the British troops stationed in Hong Kong who had just finished the battle.

After the war, a large amount of tobacco and alcohol were stored in the warehouses of the Japanese army, and the British army could not supply them, and they did not dare to sell them in the market, so they came up with a barter method to exchange tobacco and alcohol for fresh fruits and vegetables.

Xia Harry, who got the news, did not hesitate, and pulled his brother to buy cheap vegetables from farmers in the countryside of the New Territories every day, and then pulled a cart to the British military camp, exchanged cigarettes and alcohol, and then went to the market to sell them to the Chinese at a high price, and soon the family's life gradually improved.

Of course, there were far more Indians in the business at the time, but Shahari saw the long term compared to his short-sighted compatriots.

At the beginning of exchanging tobacco and alcohol for vegetables, the British army would still stipulate the quantity, but after only a short time, the British army found that the amount of tobacco and alcohol in the warehouse was too large, and they simply did not stipulate the quantity.

While the rest of the Indians were ecstatic to remove the entire box of alcohol and cigarettes in their cars, Shahari did not.

Every time after transporting vegetables to the barracks, Shahari only took a few cigarettes and a few bottles of wine as before, but there was one more detail than before, that is, every time he took the cigarettes and alcohol, he would take the initiative to go to the British army to declare the quantity, so that the British army knew that he was different from other greedy Indian compatriots.

This gradually attracted the attention of the British army, and his 'stupidity' eventually moved a quartermaster, and he quickly won the trust of the other British troops stationed in Hong Kong.

In order to repay Shahari's honesty, the quartermaster offered to let him help with the purchase of food, which was a huge profit at the time, and as long as he did a little bit of manipulation on the price of food, a large amount of kickbacks would fall into his pocket.

But the shrewd Shahari did not do this, he still showed his honest side in front of the British army, and he would not be greedy for a penny except for the profits he deserved.

His 'stupidity' was once again rampant in the barracks, and after half a year of delivering food, Shahari finally waited for his chance.

Knowing that the Harriela family had worked as tailors, the British military camp in Kowloon considered Harry to be absolutely trustworthy and decided to give him all the uniforms for production, and paid the full amount in advance.

In just five years, Shahari has grown from making uniforms for the British army in a family garment workshop to now owning more than a dozen garment factories, employing more than 300 people, and expanding its business scope into other types of clothing, making it the largest garment company in Hong Kong.

But even with such a big family business now, Shahari still sets a fixed time every month, changes into sloppy clothes, and pushes a cart of good vegetables and fresh meat to the barracks in person.

He is trying every means to get closer to the British army, if he changes into a suit and drives a luxury car, Shahari does not dare to guarantee whether this hard-won friendship will be broken due to the psychological imbalance of the British army.

"George, I have to go." Before leaving the house, Xia Hari glanced at his brother and said to him with a smile, "Don't worry because of the Chinese, the British stupid soldiers are already helping me contact the military uniform business on the American side, the Xia Lila company will only get bigger and bigger, you have to trust your brother." ”