by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

I suspect China is taking over the world. I'd rather

it be Greeks because I'm addicted to souvlaki. But the Greeks drained their energy beeping their car horns in soccer celebration, and now there's nothing left.

The other day, all my suspicions about China were confirmed. My phone rang and on the line was a Hong Kong businessman named Allan Zeman. This guy is large. He owns all sorts of businesses: clubs, restaurants, real estate, a theme park that's being updated at the cost of a billion to battle the upcoming Hong Kong Disneyland. Pesky news reporters chase Zeman around. He had breakfast and lunch with Colin Powell last week. Zeman constantly jets around the planet, to his mansion estate in Phuket, Thailand, his interests in Las Vegas, and he even has money in Romania.

It's an unlikely destiny for a poor Montreal kid who not all that long ago was bussing tables at a Montreal steak house.

There are three types of ex-Montrealers, as proven in my family. My doctor brother in Memphis snipes about separatists and high taxes, as if bitterly spurned. One sister in London, England, sentimentalizes Montreal and pines to be here. Another sister in London seems to have totally forgotten about our city.

Zeman has almost totally forgot his home town. For a sharp-minded guy, he'd flunk a test on his local past.

Here's what he remembers: his dad died when he was seven or eight. His father was a self-employed tailor or salesman from Europe. The family lived on Villeneuve, then moved to Snowdon. By 11, Zeman was tossing 150 Montreal Stars a day and bussing tables weekends at the Wagon Wheel. He asks me if the Star still comes out. Nope. Thankfully he doesn't ask about the Wagon Wheel. It burnt down in 1972, killing 37. He left Montreal in 1970.

Zeman's sister still lives here but he hasn't returned in about six years. Western University recently slapped him with an honorary doctorate. He didn't bother dropping by while in the neighbourhood.

As a teen, Zeman had a knack for cash. He motored to class in a Nova convertible, the only student driving to Northmount High. At 17, he was given a big job at now-defunct needletrade giant Algo Industries, where he was a pioneer in importing clothing from Hong Kong.

While still a teen, he bought a mansion in Westmount, at 3803 The Boulevard. Mordecai Richler lived next door. Much of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz was filmed at the home. More recently, the owners of scandal-plagued Cinar animation moved in and are fighting to keep it from creditors.

To the young shmata importer, Hong Kong beckoned like a whispering, seductive siren of the seas.

When he told his mom that he was moving to Hong Kong, she replied: "What.. you're moving to Japan?"

Zeman tells me this from Macao, where he's meeting with a partner to confer about his Las Vegas interests. As we speak, he's watching a TV news report on himself. Zeman gently grouses that the report fusses that ticket prices could go up after renovations to his Ocean Park theme park.

I tell him that I've opted to keep free admission to my modest, but reliable eight-foot inflatable backyard pool.

So his Montreal history is a bit shaky. But he's had a keen eye on China.

"You had a whole group of people that grew up without an education. They were peasants and they were starving and they grew up under a brutal regime, but today you wouldn't believe some of the cities in China, it's just incredible. There's so many cities that are booming you wouldn't believe it. They have a great life and they love it. If you speak to them, they're as happy as can be.

"Within 25 years, Hong Kong and China will take over the world, in a very humane way."

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