How Kenneth Fok Pursued Guo Jingjing
They were an unlikely pair. One is a rich businessman from Hong Kong, the other is an Olympian diver from Mainland China. One spoke broken Mandarin, the other didn’t understand Cantonese at all. Just how did Kenneth Fok (霍启刚) and Guo Jingjing (郭晶晶) come together?
In the latest episode of The Amazing Race: China Rush <极速前进>, Kenneth and Jingjing talked about their romantic first meeting. It started with the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, where Kenneth went to witness live. Kenneth didn’t know who Jingjing was at the time until he returned to Hong Kong and saw replays of Jingjing diving. Kenneth said he was captivated by Jingjing’s talent and skill.
When the Olympics were over, Jingjing and her team went to Hong Kong for a press conference and a celebrity banquet. Kenneth was also there, and introduced himself to Jingjing as a fan. He then requested a photo with her.
In their second meeting, Kenneth asked for another photo with her. She recalled, “I remembered him because he wore glasses. I told him, didn’t you already get a photo? He told me that it was someone else so he never got one.”
Kenneth smiled and said, “Yes, I did that on purpose.”
Asking Jingjing for her thoughts on Kenneth when she first met him, she admitted, “He’s very polite. The glasses looked interesting on him.”
When Jingjing traveled to Macau for her team, she bumped into Kenneth again. “I was holding a lot of bags, and then he suddenly showed up next to me and asked me if I needed help. I was like, wasn’t he the guy who I took a photo with two times before? The trip to Macau was about an hour, so we chatted the entire time.”
Kenneth said, “I knew Jingjing would be going to Macau, so I went. I asked her for her phone number. A photo wouldn’t be enough. To chat with her, I really practiced my Mandarin!”
The Hong Kong businessman expressed that, because they were in a long distance relationship at the time, they would always communicate with each other over text. The couple communicated in English at first; having grown up in England, Kenneth was never very skilled at typing in Chinese.
“We didn’t have smart phones then. We were still using those phones with the qwerty keyboard. I never typed Chinese before, but I could write it stroke by stroke. Sometimes she would ask me why it took so long for me to reply, and that’s because I write slow. I then decide to learn pinyin so I could reply quicker.”
Kenneth and Jingjing married in November 2012 welcomed their first baby, a boy, in 2013. Jingjing said marriage has taught her how to prioritize relationships. Kenneth also likes Jingjing’s simplicity and realism.
Despite the couple being a hot subject for gossip magazines, Kenneth and Jingjing have managed to maintain private lives over the years. They prioritize their son over anything else.
“Kenneth is a very responsible father,” said Jingjing. “He would always come home to see the baby no matter what. Even if he has a social event to go to, he’ll use that 20-30 minute window to go home and see his son.”
Source: QQ
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Oh I love this! He seem like a great guy and def was infatuated with her! He made great effort to woo her and it seem so simple but sweet! Love this!
@happybi
Yeah, prob an old fashioned and simple guy at heart. I mean how many rich young ( relatively younger compares to all those old ugly rich middle aged dude ) guys that have been overseas for their studies and still picked a girl in the mainland? Actually, a very interesting pair.
@kiki actually I’m not surprised. As i have watched her dive on tv before and i find her amazing! Not the prettiest girl but find her just awesome. Power in a small package!
@happybi
why couldn’t you have added, “not the most handsome guy, but very nice.” are women’s value only in being pretty?
@msxie0714 with so many rich guys going for young hot girls that I do find it neat that he went for her. And no I don’t believe woman value in only being pretty. That is why I enjoy reading this. I don’t find her to be that young hot girl but she is a talented and amazing so I can see why he fell for sure. I guess i do lump all rich guys as being leeches and uses their money for them young pretty girls.
@happybi oh yes I definitely concur on her talent, resilience and commitment. I mean you don’t get to be at her level if you are short of any of the above lol. Definitely power or dynamo in a package. In case you do not know the history, his dad also pursued his mum right after a beauty pageant. She married him right off after the pageant without going into the entertainment industry coz his dad is like super duper rich. But his mum is really amazing, right after marrying his dad and produced 3 heirs, they divorced and she went on to nab another rich fella when she was already in her 50’s. Amazing
@nigel wow had no idea.
Yeah his mum is former Ms HK 77. My mum love her look to bits. She always tell me she is very elegant-looking which I do think she is. She was featured in 2012 Tatler. You can view it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjz7oMKQGEE
@nigel Thanks! She looks good.. very elegant.. I actually know who she is now that I saw that video… know she married a rich guy just didn’t know who they are till now. ehehhehehehe
Errr, that romantic courtship sounds simpler than what I recall it was, back then.
GJJ was in another relationship with another national China diver at that time.
Guo Jing-jing is very elegant (kinda Japanese looking, to me) like his mom Loletta Fok (singer Sally Yip’s bestie)
Yes his mom was a society lady – always understatedly classy elegant … tasteful. Never crass-ostentatious like some of the wealthy society ladies could be … and who was always doing her rounds of society
charity gala and balls.
Even after divorce, she was snapped up by another high profile society dude and seems happier than she was with Timothy Fok (Kenneth’s dad).