Sons of Shaw
Sir Run Run Shaw ran Shaw Brothers Studios from about 1958 until it dissolved in 1986. His right-hand man, co-pilot, and protege was Mona Fong, a popular singer who became his mistress and later his wife. But Run Run Shaw also had two sons, Vee Meng, the older, and Vee Chung, the younger.
Run Run Shaw took over the studio in the ‘50s with his older brother, Runme, and Run Run’s son, Vee Meng, became Runme’s adopted son and heir to his part of the family business. Vee Meng and Vee Chung were involved in the family business, and Vee Meng was the one assigned to meet Serafim Karalexis when he came looking for a kung fu movie to release in the wake of the success of Five Fingers of Death. The two spent all day in a screening room as Vee Meng showed Karalexis trailer after trailer until Karalexis lit on The Duel, a David Chiang/Ti Lung action flick as his first acquisition.
But Run Run’s sons are less famous for their business acumen and more famous for being kidnapped.
On Feb. 6, 1964, Vee Meng and his wife were on their way to work in Singapore when 4 gunmen blocked their car, dragged Vee Meng and his driver, Mundari, out, bundled them into a van, and sped off. For days they were kept blindfolded in a hut where they could hear “ducks and chickens” while…something happened. The Shaw organization seemed to have handled this with barely any involvement from the police. No one knows if they communicated with the kidnappers, or if they paid a ransom, but on February 17 Mundari and Vee Meng were released in a Singapore suburb. Vee Meng had lost 17lbs, by his own estimate, and both were very sick. He said he and Mundari were released because the kidnappers couldn’t negotiate a ransom with his family and also because of he and his driver’s “violent stomach trouble” leading one to wonder what exactly went on in that hut and just how bad it smelled.
Years later, on October 3, 1971, also in Singapore, Vee Chung was being driven home from the racetrack when his Mercedes was blocked by a stolen taxi. Four gunmen grabbed Vee Chung and stuck him in their trunk and drove away, but while trying to transfer him to another vehicle he managed to escape. Despite being shot in the arm he ran home. The stolen taxi was found abandoned in a nearby cemetery.
The kidnappers then called the house and demanded $200,00 ransom for…failing in their attempt? The police haggled them down to $100,000 and set up a sting operation with a fake Vee Chung who would hand over the ransom. Not realizing that this sounded incredibly stupid, the kidnappers agreed to meet in the parking garage of the Shangri-La Hotel. Soo Tang-hwat, a gangster and blackmailer arrived to collect the money and was killed in a shootout with the police.
These sons of Shaw stayed away from Hong Kong and lived in Singapore, which sounds incredibly dangerous, and ran Shaw Brothers overseas operations. But in the early ‘80s they withdrew from the day-to-day management of the company as the film business became harder and Mona Fong slowly assumed control of the studio. They wound up mostly managing the philanthropic side of Shaw, notorious for their lineage, rather than famous for what they did.