Tung Chao-yung or C. Y. Tung (; 28 September 1912 – 15 April 1982), also known as Tung Hao-yun, ), was a Chinese shipping magnate, the founder of the Orient Overseas Line (now

Orient Overseas Container Line Orient Overseas Container Line, commonly known as OOCL, is a container shipping and logistics service company with headquarters in Hong Kong. The company is incorporated in Hong Kong as Orient Overseas Container Line Limited and separately inc ...

or OOCL). He was the father of

Tung Chee Hwa Tung Chee-hwa (; born 7 July 1937) is a Hong Kong businessman and politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He is currently a vice-chairman of the Chin ...

, the first chief executive of the

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

SAR. At the peak of his career, he owned a shipping fleet with over 150 freight ships; his fleet's cargo capacity exceeded 10 million tons.

Career

Tung was born in Dinghai,

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Ji ...

, on

Zhoushan Zhoushan , formerly romanized as Chusan, is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of ...

Island. He spent his early business years in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

. In 1945 Tung bought an old boat, ''The Heavenly Dragon'', which would become his company's flagship and the first Chinese boat to drop anchor at European ports. He moved to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

with the KMT in 1949 and diversified his investments in Hong Kong with the companies Maritime Transport Limited, the Oriental Overseas Container Line, Island Navigation Corporation. Tung accumulated his fleet of ships over the next few years. In 1959 he built the largest tanker in the world, the 70,000 tonne ''Oriental Giant'', followed by his first new boat in France. In 1973 he purchased the ''Queen Elizabeth'', which he wanted to make into a floating university, an endeavour to later inspire the

Semester at Sea Semester at Sea (SaS) is a study-abroad program which was founded in 1963 and managed by the Institute for Shipboard Education (ISE) in Fort Collins, Colorado. Colorado State University is the current academic sponsor and the program is condu ...

programme. Tung believed in the importance of education. In September 1970, he bought the

Cunard Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Ber ...

ocean liner ''

RMS Queen Elizabeth RMS ''Queen Elizabeth'' was an ocean liner operated by Cunard Line. With ' she provided weekly luxury liner service between Southampton in the United Kingdom and New York City in the United States, via Cherbourg in France. While being constr ...

'' to convert it into a floating university ''

S.S. Seawise University RMS ''Queen Elizabeth'' was an ocean liner operated by Cunard Line. With ' she provided weekly luxury liner service between Southampton in the United Kingdom and New York City in the United States, via Cherbourg in France. While being con ...

'' to keep the

World Campus Afloat Semester at Sea (SaS) is a study-abroad program which was founded in 1963 and managed by the Institute for Shipboard Education (ISE) in Fort Collins, Colorado. Colorado State University is the current academic sponsor and the program is condu ...

programme alive. His goal was to help the UN train maritime specialists. On 9 January 1972, the ship caught fire during refurbishing and sank into

Victoria Harbor Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental i ...

in Hong Kong on the eve of her inaugural voyage. He did not give up the plan because of this setback. He bought a smaller ocean liner, SS ''Atlantic'', to complete the plan. He cooperated with various universities (e.g.

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

) to run the academic sea programme with the Institute of Shipboard Education entitled

. In 1979, Tung received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...

. Politically, Tung was aligned with

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...

regime of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...

; indeed the company emblem of the OOCL is a

plum A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes. History Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found ...

blossom, the national flower of the

, and Tung Group was considered the national merchant shipping company of the ROC.Spies 197 However, when the OOCL experienced financial trouble after his death the government of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

rescued the company. This paved the way for C.Y. Tung's son,

, to become the Chief Executive of the

Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China The special administrative regions (SAR) of the People's Republic of China are one of the provincial-level administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China directly under the control of its Central People's Government (State ...

in 1997.

References

External links

Tung Chao Yung's biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tung, Chao-yung 1912 births 1982 deaths Hong Kong shipping businesspeople Hong Kong billionaires People from Zhoushan Billionaires from Zhejiang Businesspeople from Ningbo Chinese emigrants to Hong Kong Chinese diarists 20th-century diarists