User:Frostly/Drafts/Lam Chi-fung

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林子豐
Lam Chi-fung
File:Dr Lam Chi-fung.jpg
1st headmaster of the Hong Kong Baptist College
In office
March 1956 – April 1971
Succeeded byDr. Tse Chi Wai (Chinese: 謝志偉博士)
Personal details
Born6 November 1892
Jieyang County, Guangdong Province
DiedApril 17, 1971(1971-04-17) (aged 78)
Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong Baptist Hospital
Children
  • Lam Sze Hian
  • Lam Sze Chai
  • Lam Sze Chun
  • Lam Sze Chung
  • Lam Sze King
  • Lam Sze On
  • Lam Sze Yiu

Lam Chi-fung,[a] OBE[?] (6 November 1892 – April 17,1971) was a banker, Baptist educator and philanthropist from Hong Kong. Lam founded Ka Wah Bank in 1922. He was the first headmaster of the Hong Kong Baptist University from 1956 to 1971, headmaster of the Hong Kong Pui Ching Secondary School from 1950 to 1965, chairman of the Hong Kong Baptist Association from 1941 to 1971 and the chairman of the Baptist Convention of Hong Kong from 1941 to 1971.

Born into a Christian family in Jieyang County, Guangdong, Lam went to Hong Kong in his early years to trade rice and later acted as an agent for the import of anthracite from Vietnam; in 1922, he founded Ka Wah Bank in Guangzhou, which later moved its headquarters to Hong Kong in 1924. Ka Wah Bank had a strong presence in the 1920s and 1930s, but its business was later curtailed by the political instability in mainland China and came to a halt after the Fall of Hong Kong in 1941. After the war, Lam reorganized Ka Wah Bank and remained chairman of the bank until his death in 1971.

Life[edit]

Early life[edit]

Lam was born on 6 November 1892 in Jinkeng, Jieyang County [zh], Shantou, Guangdong. His father, Lin Shaoxuan, taught in rural areas and later became a Baptist pastor.[1] Growing up in a Christian family, Lam became a Christian at the age of 14. He attended the Baptist Jieyang Truth Secondary School in his early years and later transferred to Shantou Boulder Secondary School.[1] After graduating from secondary school, he aspired to become a doctor and went to Beijing in 1911 to study medicine at the Peking Union Medical College, but soon went to Xiamen to attend Tongwen College [zh] to study foreign languages and commerce.[1] After completing his studies, Lam planned to study abroad but eventually chose to return to his hometown.[1]

Banking and business career[edit]

In 1916, Lam was hired by his uncle to join a rice making company in Chaoshan as an English speaking secretary.[2] He was later transferred to Hong Kong to expand local markets and got promoted to a manager soon afterwards.[3][1] Later, Lam created another company mainly to import anthracite.[4] In 1926 Lam founded Zhongyi Steamships and expanded to Macau, Guangzhou and Zhanjiang.[4] Henry Fok’s mother was hired by Lam as a transporter of coal near that time.[5]

CITIC Ka Wah Bank Limited in To Kwa Wan, Hong Kong

After Lam's commerce business stabilised, he noticed an opportunity in expanding the banking industry locally, so, on 2 February 1922, he founded Ka Wah Bank or what is now known as CITIC Bank International.[6][7] In 1924，Lam moved the head office of Ka Wah Bank to Des Voeux Road in Central, Hong Kong, with a capital of HK$500,000.[6] By 1931, he opened a branch of the bank in Shanghai, and the share capital of the bank increased HK$1,000,000.[6] However, because of economic instability caused by political turmoil and Japan's invasion of China, Lam was forced to close the branches in Shanghai and Guangzhou in 1935.[6] Lam was elected as the chairman of the Hong Kong Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce [zh] from 1937 to 1939.[8] Because of the influence generated by trading with Vietnam through the Hong Kong Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce, Lam helped facilitate the "Sino-French Vietnam Business Treaty (Chinese: 中法越南商約)" in 1935.[9] Things worsen for Lam in 1939 because of the start of World War II, his banking business was significantly impacted. In December 1941, because of the Pacific War, and the subsequent Fall of Hong Kong, the banked ceased operating until the liberation of Hong Kong in 1945.[6] Ka Wah Bank resumed operations in Hong Kong and was subsequently renamed Ka Wah Bank Limited in January 1949.[6]

After the war, Lam continued to act as the chairman of Ka Wah bank.[10] The bank continued to steadily develop after the war.[10] At the same time, he founded two factories in 1947, one of them mainly manufacturing flashlights, he became the chairman of both companies.[8] In the early 1950s, Lam started changing his focus from his business to church and education, he gradually passed the family business down to his sons to manage.[10][11][12] Despite this, he remained as the chairman of Ka Wah bank, and the 2 other companies previously mentioned until his death.[10][11][12] After his death, Ka Wah Bank was neglected by the descendants of Lam, a majority of the ownership was given to an American financial group, later in 1974, the ownership changed hands to Liu Can Song (Chinese: 劉燦松) a Singaporean businessman.[6] In 1986, the financially endangered Ka Wah Bank received the help of CITIC Group and became CITIC Ka Wah Bank in 1998.[6] In 2002, CITIC Ka Wah Bank, under the direction of the CITIC Group acquired Hongkong Chinese Bank.[6] The same year, CITIC Ka Wah Bank changed its name to CITIC Bank International, and the acquired Hongkong Chinese Bank changed its name to CITIC Ka Wah Bank Limited, from then, Lam's family fully left the Ka Wah Bank business.[6][13] In May 2010, CITIC Ka Wah Bank Limited changed its name to CITIC Bank International, fully removing the "Ka Wah Bank" name.[6]

Philanthropy[edit]

Lam is the president of the Kowloon City Baptist Church [zh] from 1939 until his death. Lam's family donated 120,000 thousand HKD to build the Church shown in the image
Lam was the headmaster of Pui Ching Middle School in Hong Kong (shown in image) from 1950 to 1965，he also was the superintendent for Pui Ching Middle School in both Hong Kong and Macau

Lam was Christian, he was a follower of the Hong Kong Baptist Church [zh] from a young age, and he later lead the church's financing and preaching departments.[14] In 1938, Lam and his family moved from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon City.[9] In the following year, he participated in the construction of the Kowloon City Baptist Church [zh], he and his wife were the first few deacons of the church, and he was the Chairman of the Deacon Board until his death.[15] Lam and his wife donated HK$120,000 thousand to support the construction of a new church in Kowloon City in 1962.[16] He also participated in the construction of a church in Po Kong Tsuen [zh] and was elected to be a Chairman of a committee in the church, the church was built for Christians coming from Chaozhou, it was later renamed to Kowloon City Chiu Chow Baptist Church.[15] In March of the same year, the Baptist Convention of Hong Kong was formed and Lam was invited to be one of the executive committee members to take charge of the war relief work.[17][18] In addition, Lam was a member of the Board of Directors of the Chinese YMCA from 1930 to 1932, and later served as President of the Chinese YMCA from 1933 to 1934 and from 1939 to 1956, and was also the Chairman of the Hong Kong side of the Guangdong-Hong Kong Chinese YMCA Military Service Corps in 1938, and was also the General Secretary of the YMCA for a time in 1947.[19][20] After stepping down as President of the Chinese YMCA in 1956, he was invited to serve again as Honorary President until 1959.[21]

In 1935, he contributed to the construction of a canal in his hometown of Jieyang County [zh].[19][22][15] In 1940, in response to a call from the Nationalist Government, the church raised over 2 million French francs for the National Salvation Bonds in Hong Kong and Macau, and was awarded a plaque by the Nationalist Government in the same year as a token of appreciation for its "loyalty and righteousness".[23] In January 1950, a fire broke out in Tung Tau Village in Kowloon City, destroying 6,000 wooden houses and leaving 20,000 people homeless.[24] As the Hong Kong Government did not have a comprehensive public housing policy at the time, Lam joined the Hong Kong and Kowloon Joint Committee for the Relief of the Kowloon City Fire Victims and donated HK$1,000 to help the victims.[25] During this period, he made several radio appeals for donations for disaster relief work in his capacity as President of the Chinese YMCA and later served as the Vice Chairman of the Kowloon City Fire Construction Committee, participating in its Construction Subcommittee and eventually setting up the "Pok Oi Village [zh]" at its original location to rehouse the victims.[25][24]

Lam Chi-fung founded the Hong Kong Baptist College in 1956 and served as its president until he died in 1971. Baptist College was the predecessor of Hong Kong Baptist University (pictured)
Lam Chi-fung founded the Hong Kong Baptist Hospital in 1963

He was a member of the Board of Governors of the Guangzhou Baptist Pui Ching Secondary School [zh] in the 1930s, and in 1933 he helped the school to secure land in Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong, for the construction of the Hong Kong Pui Ching Primary School [zh], which later had an expansion in 1935 for to provide secondary school level education.[19] After the fall of Hong Kong]] in 1941, Lam relocated to neutral Macau to escape Japanese rule. Although he was forced to pause many of his business ventures, he continued his church and school work, and in 1944 he agreed to be the headmaster of both Pui Ching Secondary School in Macau and Pooi To Girls' Middle School in Guangzhou, which had been temporarily moved to Macau.[23] After the war, Lam returned to Hong Kong to reorganise the Baptist Church's educational activities. He was made the headmaster, manager and superintendent of Pooi To Middle School and helped secure land from the Hong Kong Government for the construction of a school building.[18][26] In 1950, he was further invited to take up the voluntary post of headmaster of the Hong Kong Pui Ching Secondary School. During his tenure, he successfully persuaded the Secretary for Education, Douglas James Smyth Crozier, to grant a large piece of land adjacent to the original school building for expansion, and when the new Block E was opened in 1953, the then Governor of Hong Kong, Alexander Grantham, was invited to officiate at the key-opening ceremony.[27][28] During his 15-year tenure as headmaster of Pui Ching Middle School in Hong Kong, and as superintendent from 1958 to 1959, the school received many donations from various sectors and developed significantly.[29][30] After stepping down from the post in 1965, he was invited to serve as Superintendent of Pui Ching Secondary School in Hong Kong for one year until 1966, and as Superintendent of Pui Ching Secondary School in Macau from 1963 to 1970.[31] In addition, Lam was also a member of the Board of Trustees of Minsheng College in Kowloon City from 1926 and became the Chancellor and Chairman of the School Council from May 1955.[32]

His interest in education led him to be invited to serve as Vice-President of the Chinese Language Society of the University of Hong Kong in 1951, to be elected the first Chinese President of the Hong Kong Teachers' Association in 1952, and to be appointed a member of the Hong Kong Government's Education Committee in 1954.[33] In 1951, Lam was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Higher Education in Hong Kong to review the development of higher education in Hong Kong, which led to the publication of the Jarswick Report in 1952.[33] Although the report concluded that Hong Kong needed only one University of Hong Kong, it welcomed the establishment of more post-secondary institutions, laying the groundwork for Lam Chi-fung's future proposal to establish a Baptist post-secondary institution.[34][35] In 1955, with the call to promote the Baptist spirit of schooling, Lam proposed to the Baptist Union the establishment of a Baptist College, and he was one of the members of the Preparatory Committee of the Hong Kong Baptist College.[34] After the official establishment of Baptist College on 5 March 1956, he served as its headmaster until he died in 1971.[34][36] In 1959, Sir Robert Black, the Governor of Hong Kong, agreed to grant a site at Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong, as a permanent site for the school.[34][36] To provide a venue for the College to hold ceremonies, Lam Chi-fung donated HK$500,000 to build a college hall for his wife's golden wedding anniversary in 1970, but the hall was not completed until May 1978, seven years after his death.[37]

In 1950, a seminary that was built by the church was forced to close due to political reasons, he supported the church's opening of a seminary in Hong Kong to replace the closed seminary, he was the president of the preparatory committee for the Seminary.[38] When the seminary, now named Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary, was officially established in 1951, he took the roles of the chairman of the board and the president of the seminary department.[38][39] The seminary was originally established in Kowloon Walled City, but was moved in 1959 to Ho Man Tin mountain path and moved again in 1999 to the north of Sai Kung District, Xi Ao.[38]In 1952, the Baptist Association advocated the establishment of a Baptist clinic to serve the public and elected Dr. Lam Sze On, the sixth son of Lam Chi-fung, as the Chairman of the Organizing Committee.[17]In 1959, the Hong Kong Government further agreed to build a Hong Kong Baptist Hospital adjacent to the proposed Baptist College premises in Waterloo Road at the urging of Lam Chi-fung.[17]

As a leading figure in the Hong Kong Baptist Church, Lam Chi-fung is an important bridge between Hong Kong and the American and other overseas Baptist churches.[40]After the war, he was an enthusiastic participant in the work of the World Baptist Federation. In 1955, he attended the 9th World Baptist Congress in London, England, for the first time as a representative of Hong Kong, and was elected Vice-President of the Congress.[41]In 1960 he was re-elected Vice-President of the 10th World Baptist Congress and was awarded the Brazilian Citizen of Honour and the Key to the City of Rio de Janeiro while attending the Congress in Brazil, followed by the Texas Citizen of Honour and the North Carolina Citizen of Honour and Key to the City when he moved to the United States.[42]In 1965, he again travelled to the United States to attend the 11th World Baptist Congress and was subsequently awarded honorary doctorates in law from Baylor University and Stetson University respectively, and while in the United States he managed to raise $200,000 to support the construction of the Baptist College.[16]In recognition of his work in education and Baptist ministry in Hong Kong, Baylor University also established the Dr. Lam Chi-fung Science Scholarship in 1959.[41]As for Hong Kong, he was also awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal and the OBE in 1953 and 1957 respectively, in recognition of his educational and charitable work.[43][44]

Later life[edit]

In his later years, Lam continued to be an supporter of the development of Hong Kong Baptist University, and succeeded in securing the university's accreditation as a registered post-secondary university by the Hong Kong Government in March 1970.[45][36]Many years later, Baptist College was formally approved by the Hong Kong Government to become the Hong Kong Baptist University in 1994.[36]On 17 April 1971, at 8.50 a.m., Lam Chi-fung died of a stroke at the Hong Kong Baptist Hospital at the age of 78.[12]His family held a mass funeral service at the Kowloon Funeral Parlour on 24 April of the same year and an interment service at the Kowloon City Baptist Church on the same day, followed by burial in the Pokfulam Road Cemetery of the Hong Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union.[12]In addition, several schools and churches that were close to Lam Tze Fong, including Baptist College, Hong Kong Pui Ching Secondary School and Macau Pui Ching Secondary School, have held memorial activities in his memory.[46]Tse Chi-wai, Head of the Physics Department of the Baptist College, has taken over the post as President of the College, which was left behind by Lam Chi-fung.[17]

Personal life[edit]

Lam Chi-fung married Chen Zhiting in 1920 in his hometown of Jieyang County when Chen was 18 years old. Chen was the daughter of a prominent local family.[47] The marriage resulted in seven sons and two daughters, Daniel Lam See-hin, David See-chai Lam, Lam Sze Chun, Lam Sze Chung, Lam Sze King, Lam Sze On and Lam Sze Yiu, in that order. Lam Sze Ying and Lam Sze Him are the two daughters.[12] Mr. and Mrs. Lam's eldest son, Daniel Lam See-hin, has served as an appointed member of the Urban Council and a non-official member of the Legislative Council, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ka Wah Bank and Chairman of the Council of the Hong Kong Baptist College, and was awarded the CBE.[48] He was the first Chinese governor and the second non-white governor of British Columbia from 1988 to 1995.[49]

After his marriage to his wife, Chen Zhiting, Zhifeng Yuan was built in Jieyang County the same year of the marriage as their residence, and the house was later classified by the Guangdong Provincial People's Government [zh] in November 2012 as a provincial cultural relic protection unit.[3] After moving to Hong Kong, the family lived in Tai On Terrace, Western District, Hong Kong Island, and then temporarily in the office of Kwong Yuen Shing Hong in Bonham Strand West due to a landslide.[7]In 1938, he moved his family from Bonham Road to Robinson Road in the Mid-Levels area and then to Carpenter Road, Kowloon City.[50]

Timeline

Publications[edit]

  • 中東見聞錄. Hong Kong, Chik Fung Bookstore, 1958.
  • 友誼旅程. Hong Kong, Chik Fung Bookstore, 1961.

Honors[edit]

Special honors[edit]

Honorary degrees[edit]

Eponyms[edit]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ In this article, the surname is Lam, not Chi-fung.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e 曾向榮 [Tsang to Wing] (in Chinese). 2003. pp. 3–49.
  2. ^ 中西合璧植豐園 [East Meets West in Chik Fung Yuen]. 5 June 2013.
  3. ^ a b 杨, 建东 (5 June 2013). "中西合璧植丰园" [The Garden of Plantation]. 揭阳新闻网 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁6至7。
  5. ^ 蔡少琪（造訪於2014年12月2日）
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 〈發展歷史〉（造訪於2014年12月2日）
  7. ^ a b 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁7。
  8. ^ a b 曾向榮（2003年4月），林子豐年表。
  9. ^ a b c 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁9。
  10. ^ a b c d 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁12。
  11. ^ a b 〈嘉華銀行業務擴展〉（1970年12月16日）
  12. ^ a b c d e 〈訃聞〉（1971年4月24日）
  13. ^ 〈公佈更改公司名稱董事委任及辭任〉（2002年11月25日）
  14. ^ 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁18。
  15. ^ a b c d 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁10。
  16. ^ a b c d 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁15。
  17. ^ a b c d 廖志勤（2007年）
  18. ^ a b 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁11至12。
  19. ^ a b c 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁8。
  20. ^ 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁22。
  21. ^ 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁23至24。
  22. ^ 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁25至26。
  23. ^ a b 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁11。
  24. ^ a b 朱秀蓮（2003年3月）
  25. ^ a b 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁12至13。
  26. ^ 何澤乾（1989年），頁26。
  27. ^ 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁44。
  28. ^ 何澤乾（1989年），頁55。
  29. ^ 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁28至29。
  30. ^ 陳力行（1999年），頁42。
  31. ^ 陳力行（1999年），頁42至43。
  32. ^ 〈學校歷史〉（造訪於2007年7月10日）
  33. ^ a b 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁1314。
  34. ^ a b c d 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁29。
  35. ^ 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁49。
  36. ^ a b c d e 〈撫今追昔，繼往開來〉（造訪於2014年12月2日）
  37. ^ 〈一般資料〉（造訪於2007年6月29日）
  38. ^ a b c 〈學院簡史〉（造訪於2014年12月2日）
  39. ^ 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁30。
  40. ^ 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁23至33。
  41. ^ a b c d 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁14。
  42. ^ a b c d e 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁14至15。
  43. ^ a b Lee (1966), p.174.
  44. ^ a b "Supplement to Issue 40960 Archived 5 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine", London Gazette, 28 December 1956, p.26.
  45. ^ 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁16。
  46. ^ 〈林子豐博士舉殯〉（1971年4月25日）
  47. ^ 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁5。
  48. ^ "Dr. Daniel H. Lam" (8 August 2007)
  49. ^ 〈體會人生、慢慢想通、林思齊小史〉（2010年11月22日）
  50. ^ 曾向榮（2003年4月），頁7及頁9。
  51. ^ "Supplement to Issue 39743 Archived 5 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine", London Gazette, 2 January 1953, p.96.
  52. ^ 何澤乾（1989年），頁56。
  53. ^ 〈培正校史〉（造訪於2018年6月21日）
  54. ^ Historical cum Social Study on Kowloon City district in connection with Kai Tak area (December 2009), p.207.
  55. ^ 〈第39屆林子豐博士紀念盃運動頒獎典禮〉（2012年4月）

Further reading[edit]

  • 李, 景新 (1965). 林子豐博士言論 [The Speeches of Dr. Lam Chi-Fung] (in Chinese). Pui Ching Middle School, Hong Kong, China.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links[edit]


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