But many have shifted into merely collecting rents from property and related businesses (ports, hotels, retail) or from government concessions (electricity, telecommunications, gas, casino licences).

ECONOMIST: Chinese family businesses

Around the turn of the last century, some 250 years after Mr. Payne died, a trust governed by seven trustees, or "feoffees" (pronounced: feff-EES), the feudal term used in Mr. Payne's will, started collecting rents from owners of newly built Little Neck cottages, and handed the funds over to the Ipswich public schools.

WSJ: Testing Donor's Intent, 350 Years Later