Forced labour to high finance: Hong Kong investor's journey Exiled to the Gobi Desert at the age of 15, Weijian Shan's days were marked by gnawing hunger and back-breaking forced labour. But his sense of hope was kept alive by an unlikely source -- insecticide manuals. Now one of Asia's top financiers and the head of Hong Kong-based private equity firm PAG, Shan comments on the political crisis in the city, warning that history could repeat itself if lessons from the past are not learnt. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES