Name Lee Hysan | Parents Lee Leung Yik | |
 | ||
Children Richard Charles Lee, Harold Lee | ||
Assassinated 1928, Central, Hong Kong | ||
lee hysan hall 2015
Lee Hysan (1879 - April 30, 1928) was a Chinese businessman who was involved in the opium trade and refinery, as well as land development in British Hong Kong during the early 1900s. He was nicknamed the "King of Opium" in Hong Kong and Macau.
Contents
- lee hysan hall 2015
- Early life
- Career
- Children
- Death and legacy
- Landmarks named after him
- Doggerel
- Notable relatives
- References
Early life
Lee was born in Hawaii. Lee's father was Lee Leung Yik (Chinese: 利良奕), a businessman who was heavily involved in the opium business in Hong Kong and China. Lee's ancestral home was Xinhui, Guangdong, China.
As a young boy, he lived in San Francisco when his father moved there. At age seventeen, he returned to Hong Kong and continued his studies at Queen's College. Since he spoke English fluently, he later taught English at Queen's College, his alma mater.
Career
Lee's father achieved great wealth from the opium trade, and Lee inherited his father's business. Having amassed a great fortune from his successful opium business, Lee later participated in the fast-growing Hong Kong real estate market.
In 1923, he bought the Jardine's Hill property, west of Causeway Bay, from Jardines for HK$3.8 million. He initially wanted to build opium refinery facilities there, but owing to the global anti-opium movement, he changed his plan and developed the property as Lee Garden. It is approximately the area around Lee Garden Road, Lee Theatre, Yun Ping Road and Percival Street.
Children
In March 1905, Lee's son Richard Charles Lee was born in Hong Kong. In December 1924, Lee's son Jung Kong Lee was also born in Hong Kong.
Death and legacy
On 30 April 1928, Lee was shot on a street in the Central district in Hong Kong and died shortly after yelling for help. The assassination was possibly due to a growing public resentment of his opium business, which people believed had caused great harm to Chinese society. The assassin was never caught, despite his family offering a huge bounty.
At the time of his death, his estate was valued at HK$4.4 million. The present-day Hysan Development Company has a market capitalization in excess of HK$20 billion.
Landmarks named after him
Doggerel
There was a popular doggerel in Hong Kong showing Lee's notoriety. The first characters of the first three lines sound (in Cantonese) almost the same as Lee's name:
Literal translation:
Notable relatives
Many of Lee's descendants and other family members are notable in their own right: