Behind Ms Tong's unremarkable appearance is a go-getting woman. -- PHOTO: SINA.COM.HK
For a woman said to be central to a spat ripping apart one of Hong Kong's top clans, Ms Ida Tong hardly looks the part.
The mother of three was photographed in May by Hong Kong reporters, despite her attempts to shun publicity.
Although she looked trim and at least a decade younger than her 62 years, at 'only' about 1.6m tall and bespectacled, the pictures showed that she is not exactly a porcelain-skinned femme fatale many Hong Kongers had expected.
'She is not tall, her skin is very dark,' a source said, according to the reports.
The Sun tabloid cited sources as saying that they had seen Ms Tong and Mr Walter Kwok around town, but they always thought she was his personal assistant because of how simply she dressed.
But behind her unremarkable appearance is a go-getting, even aggressive, woman.
Ms Tong's ex-husband told The Standard that she dismissed their wedding photographer on the day they got married in 1971 after he got into a row with the couple.
'We did not take any pictures of our wedding,' said Dr Alan Lau, now the chairman of the Hong Kong Private Hospitals Association.
He said he met Ms Tong when he was 18 and studying medicine at the University of Hong Kong.
'She was a very intelligent and independent woman. Of course, I found her pretty at the time.'
However, he said she took away everything when they separated more than 20 years ago.
Sources close to Sun Hung Kai also said Ms Tong does not shy away from getting what she wants. 'Last year, someone agreed to buy residential units aggressively on Sun Hung Kai's behalf, while addressing herself as 'Mrs Kwok'. She even said Mr Kwok would sign the contract afterwards,' a source with knowledge of the deals said.
Next Weekly claimed that after divorcing Dr Lau, Ms Tong had a relationship with a Spanish man and lived abroad with him for a while. She now lives in a luxury apartment at Causeway Bay.
She is apparently not close to her three children by Dr Lau, who told The Standard that the children, who are now in their 30s, were shocked by the news of her relationship with Mr Kwok.