Richard Charles Lee Ming-Chak,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(; 7 March 1905 – 6 July 1983) was a Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist.

Early life

Lee was born on 7 March 1905 in

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...

. Lee's father was Hysan Lee, a prominent local merchant and often nicknamed the "King of Opium". Lee's younger brother was

Jung Kong Lee Dr. Jung Kong Lee (; December 1924 – 31 January 1990) was a Hong Kong-born American-educated chemist and politician. He was member of the Hysan Lee family and a chemist at the University of Kansas. He was also a member of the Hong Kong Basic L ...

. Lee's ancestral home was

Xinhui Xinhui, alternately romanized as Sunwui and also known as Kuixiang, is an urban district of Jiangmen in Guangdong, China. It grew from a separate city founded at the confluence of the Tan and West Rivers. It has a population of about 735,500, ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, China.

Education

After Lee studied at the Queen's College, he was sent to study in England and graduated from the

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named after ...

with the bachelor's and master's degrees in Engineering Science. During his study at Oxford, he was the president of the Central Union of Chinese Students of Great Britain and Ireland.

Career

Lee worked at the

Chinese Red Cross The Red Cross Society of China () is the national Red Cross Society in the People's Republic of China. Origins and history before 1949 The Red Cross Society of China was founded as the Shanghai International Red Cross Committee on March 10, 19 ...

during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

and returned to Hong Kong in 1945. Besides taking part of the family business, he was also directors of more than 60 companies, including the vice-chairman of the board of directors of the N. M. Rothschild & Sons (Hong Kong) when it opened in Hong Kong in 1973. He was also chairman of the

China Light and Power Company CLP Group () and its holding company, CLP Holdings Ltd (), also known as China Light and Power Company, Limited (now CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd., ), is an electricity company in Hong Kong. Incorporated in 1901 as China Light & Power Company Syndi ...

. Lee was among the first Hong Kong businessmen to invest in the Mainland China after the Open Door policy in 1979. For instance, he invested in the construction of the Garden Hotel in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

with director of the PRC

Overseas Chinese Affairs Office The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council (OCAO) is an external name of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Prior to 2018, OCAO was an administrative office under the State Council of t ...

Liao Chengzhi Liao Chengzhi (; 25 September 1908 – 10 June 1983) was a Chinese politician. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1928, and rose to the position of director of the Xinhua News Agency; after 1949, he worked in various positions related to ...

in 1980. He also invested in the oilfield exploitation in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

. Lee was also appointed by the colonial government to many public positions, including the Hong Kong representative of the economic commissions in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, and the commissions in trade in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. Lee was appointed to the

Urban Council The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...

in 1953 and the Legislative Council briefly in 1955 before he was appointed to the council again from 1959 to 65, succeeding Lo Man-wai. He was also unofficial member of the Executive Council from 1961 to 66. For his public services, he was awarded Officer and Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1949 and 1963 respectively. Lee was also member of the Court and Council and the Building and Finance Committees of the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...

and the vice-chairman of the Court of the

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university an ...

. He received honorary degrees from the two universities in 1964. Lee was a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and was the Grand Master of Freemasonry for Hong Kong and Far East District from 1961 to 83.

Personal

On 15 May 1941, Lee's daughter

Vivienne Poy Vivienne Poy (née Lee; ; born May 15, 1941) is a Canadian businesswoman, author and philanthropist. She served as a member of the Senate of Canada from 1998 until her retirement in 2012. Early life and education On May 15, 1941, Poy was ...

was born in

. She is the first

Asian Canadian Asian Canadians are Canadians who were either born in or can trace their ancestry to the continent of Asia. Canadians with Asian ancestry comprise both the largest and fastest growing group in Canada, after European Canadians, with roughly 19.3 ...

to be appointed to the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...

. The

Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library The Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library ( zh, 利銘澤典宬) is part of the University of Toronto Libraries system. It features a unique research collection on Canada-Hong Kong studies. Located inside Robarts Library at the University o ...

was founded by Poy in her father's honour. Lee died of heart attack on 6 July 1983 at his residence in Hong Kong.

References

External links

The Industrial History of Hong Kong Group - Richard Charles Lee
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Richard Charles 1905 births 1983 deaths Hong Kong businesspeople Hong Kong philanthropists Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford Hong Kong Freemasons Masonic Grand Masters Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Members of the Urban Council of Hong Kong Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century philanthropists Alumni of Queen's College, Hong Kong