Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1993

CITATIONS would want to make the most o f all usable space. Even today Lee Shau Kee works a 12-hour day. The only indulgence he allows himself is to start his day at tw o o'clock in the afternoon and finish working at two in the morning. One seldom finds his picture in the society pages of Hong Kong's newspapers and magazines. He says h e is no good at socializing, preferrin g instead to work late into the night on company business, using for his calculation, at least until a few years ago, a traditional Chinese abacus. Dr. Lee lives simply. He is an easy-going, unassuming man and a very, very good listener. He goes to a cheap barber, uses an inexpensive tailor and has the distinction of having once bough t six pairs of the same shoes because he did not want to waste his time on trivial matters. But when asked why he still devotes so much time to his business when he already has so much money, he replied, 'Because this is my work.' It is this dedication to his life' s work which accounts for Dr. Lee's singular success. Over the years Lee Shau Kee has given generously to a number of community projects, in Hong Kong, Britain and China. Three of these are quite unique and stand out from the rest. The first is the establishment, in 1979, of the Lee Shau Kee Scholarships tenable at Wadham College, Oxford. Each year, three to four Hong Kong students are admitted to Wadham, thanks to the foresight and generosity of Lee Shau Kee. So far some 46 student s have benefitted from the scheme and Lee ha s been made a Fellow of the College. Then in 1982 Lee Shau Kee's generosity extended to China a s he and his friends established the Pei Hua Education Foundation 'to assist China in the training and development o f her professionals'. Earlier this year he was made an honorary citizen of Guangzhou and was invited to become aHon g Kong Affairs Adviser by the Chinese Government. Lastly , of course, Lee Shau Kee has bee n a major benefactor of the University ever since he helped to found the Three-Year M B A Programme with a generous donation. He is a member of that programme's advisory board as wel l as being a member of the United College Board of Trustees. More recently, and jointly with Dr. Cheng Yu Tung, Lee Shau Kee made a donation of US$6 million to this university and Yale to support ajoin t research programme o n Hong Kong, South China and Taiwan. Mr. Chancellor, for his outstanding achievement as one of Hong Kong's premier property developers, for his philanthropy which has benefitted diverse charity groups from Rehabilitation International to the Community Chest to the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and such institutions as hospitals, schools and sport s centres i n his native Shunde, but above all, for his abiding interest in supporting the teaching and research programmes of thi s university, I present Lee Shau Kee for the award o f Doctor of Social Science, honoris causa. 46th Congregation 23