A taipan (, literally "top class" ), sometimes spelled tai-pan, is a foreign-born senior business executive or entrepreneur operating in mainland China or Hong Kong.

History

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, taipans were foreign-born businessmen who headed large hong trading houses such as Jardine, Matheson & Co., Swire and Dent & Co., amongst others. The first recorded use of the term in English is in the Canton Register of 28October 1834. Historical variant spellings include taepan (first appearance) and typan. The term also refers to the Chinese-Filipino business oligarchs who own or have involvement in various businesses in the Philippines and are the powerful billionaire-founders of Chinese-Filipino business empires. Examples of taipans are: The López family of Iloilo of Lopez Holdings Corporation; the late Henry Sy of SM Investments; National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) vice-chairmen Henry T. Sy Jr. and Robert Coyiuto Jr.; Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corporation; and Lucio Tan of Philippine Airlines.

In popular culture

The term gained wide currency outside China after the publication of Somerset Maugham's 1922 short story "The Taipan" and James Clavell's 1966 novel Tai-Pan, and was film adapted in 1986, directed by Daryl Duke. The term was used to describe the protagonist's family in Empire of the Sun.

Notable taipans