Chao's $65 Mil. Bounty for Gay Gigi Yields 1,500 Offers

A Hong Kong tycoon’s offer of a $65-million reward to any man who can woo his lesbian daughter has produced 1,500 love letters from prospective suitors.

Cecil Chao, 76, made his offer of HK$500 million ($64.5 mil.) after media publicity surrounding the civil union of his daughter Gigi Chao with her girlfriend of seven years Sean Yeung aka Sean Eav. The lesbian pair were joined in Paris on April 4. France recognizes civil solidarity pacts which confer many of the rights and duties of marriage. Hong Kong doesn’t recognize any kind of same-sex union.

Gigi, 33, is a University of Manchester architecture graduate described by her father Cecil as “a very good woman with both talents and looks. She is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work.”

Gigi Chao’s public Facebook page contains a self-description reading: “Helicopter Pilot. Social entrepreneur. Creator of expressions in colour and emotion.” The page also describes her as an executive director of Cheuk Nang, her father’s property company. Gigi’s main occupation is running Haut Monde Talent, a Hong Kong model management and PR firm located on Hennessy Road.

The page contains a photo apparently taken aboard the first-class section of an airliner with the caption, “Going to Paris to buy a few businesses.” It was during that Paris trip that Gigi and Sean apparently entered into their civil solidarity pact.

Gigi seems to be taking in stride her father’s unsolicited efforts on her behalf, shrugging it off as just “an interesting way of expressing his love.” They still speak on a daily basis, she told an AP reporter.

In a 2007 interview with HK Magazine, she said, “My father took a hands-off approach in parenting. I see him as a friend more than a father. My parents never pressure me with high expectations.”

Gigi has expressed a bit of annoyance at the hundreds of letters and invitations she has received via Facebook and email. Yet when asked if she would go on a date set up by her father, she seemed to equivocate, saying she would not bother to think about it until it really happens.

When the chairman of property developer Cheuk Nang Holding made his public offer last week he was roundly jeered from all corners of the world for trying to impose a traditional marriage on his daughter while he himself is known to have fathered three children — including Gigi — by different women and has bragged about having slept with over 1,000 women.

“I didn’t say I will not let her get married,” the elder Chao retorted to charges that he was meddling in his daughter’s life. “I just helped her look for a potential spouse. How can she marry a woman? It’s impossible and illegal.”

He has a point, legally speaking. France doesn’t allow same-sex marriages, though it does permit civil solidarity pacts which confer some of the same benefits and obligations as a marriage. Hong Kong doesn’t recognize any kind of same-sex civil union.

“I don’t mind whether he is rich or poor,” Cecil Chao Sze-tsung has said about the kind of man he would like to find for his daughter. “The important thing is that he is generous and kind-hearted.”

The prize money was described by Chao as “an inducement to attract someone who has the talent but not the capital to start his own business.”

He later said it would take that amount of money for his daughter to have a comfortable life in Hong Kong, which in his view requires a home worth $19 million, with the rest to be used for investments.

“Living a comfortable life in Hong Kong, not super-luxury, takes HK$500 million,” he said.