Dr. J. S. Lee (1915-2007) is the Founder of the Bei Shan Tang Foundation and a distinguished philanthropist in Hong Kong who valued the importance of arts to a society and the need to nurture cultural developments.
Dr. Lee was born in Hong Kong in 1915, the son of prominent businessman Lee Hysan. Dr. Lee’s solid foundation in traditional Chinese studies and his education in China cultivated a great interest in Chinese art, and he became an avid collector of all genres of antiques. He was a major benefactor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and played an instrumental role in the building of its Institute of Chinese Studies and the Art Museum in the 1970s. In 1985, he founded the Bei Shan Tang Foundation to help promote Chinese art and culture. The Foundation has been a longtime supporter of initiatives in the field of Chinese art at many universities, research institutions, museums, and cultural organizations around the world since its inception. In addition, the Foundation has also provided financial support to many students to pursue their studies in the Chinese arts and culture field.
Dr. Lee received traditional private tutoring at home in his early youth before attending middle and high school in the city. In 1935, he enrolled in Yenching University in Beijing, where many distinguished academics were teaching. Among his many contemporaries was J. M. Hu with whom he developed a lifelong friendship. Thirty years later, they would together found the Min Chiu Society in Hong Kong, a highly exclusive association for aficionados of Chinese art.
Due to the Japanese invasion, in 1937 Dr. Lee moved inland to study at the National Sichuan University in Chengdu, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in economics. Shortly thereafter he joined the Bank of China, and at the height of World War II, he was posted to its London branch. In 1947, he returned to Hong Kong and with his brothers, directed the family business.
As well as being a director of various companies until he retired, he was involved in many volunteer organizations. In 1972, he was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his service to the Hong Kong community, and in 1974, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law degree by The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
