The family clan’s philanthropic tradition finds its earliest expression in the contribution made by our founding patriarch, Mr. Siu Kai Un (蕭啟垣alias蕭垣) (1863-1933) towards the establishment of the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, which opened on 27 November 1929. Subsequent members of the family clan have served on the Board of Directors of the Tung Wah Hospital and continued to generously donate towards worthy medical and societal causes in Hong Kong. Mr. Siu Un also devoted himself to nurturing his children and grandchildren, who later emerged as prominent figures in Hong Kong’s construction, architectural, surveying and engineering sectors, while also expanding holdings through strategic land acquisitions in the areas of Wan Chai, Kennedy Road, Causeway Bay and Happy Valley.

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An early graduate of Queen’s College, Hong Kong in the 1870s (formerly Government Central School), Mr. Siu Un first cemented his reputation at Russell & Co., a leading American trading house in the region. He became Deputy Comprador, working alongside his good friend, Mr. Fung Wa Chuen who was Chief Comprador at Russell & Co. and who later became Chair of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong.

Capitalising on the first development boom in Hong Kong, he soon earmed a notable reputation as a building contractor for landmark civic and public works infrastructure on behalf of the Hong Kong Government from the early 1900s. Mr. Siu Un was involved in a large number of public works, and most notably led the construction of the Kowloon Canton Railway (British section) and the Lee Theatre in Causeway Bay (which at the time was widely regarded as the most modern theatre in Asia). He also amassed considerable wealth from landownership and development in Wan Chai, Kennedy Road, Causeway Bay and Happy Valley; and strategic shareholdings in companies linked to Russell & Co. and it's successor firm, Shewan, Tomes & Co.

In the last decade of his life, he donated HK$2,000.00, a very substantial sum at the time which placed him among the most generous individual benefactors that enabled the construction of the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital. His name and portrait remain prominently displayed alongside other distinguished figures such as Sir Tang Shiu Kin, KBE, Sir Cecil Clementi, GCMG, Sir Shouson Chow CMG, Sir Robert Hotung KBE and Mr. Fung Ping Shan, all of whom contributed similar amounts. The names of these individuals, along with the corresponding donation figures, are permanently commemorated on a prominent donor wall situated within the hospital’s interior; an enduring testament to their collective civic spirit.

At the time, Tung Wah Eastern Hospital was one of the most influential Chinese civic institutions in Hong Kong, providing essential care to the Chinese community at a time when colonial healthcare provision for the local population was limited. While the hospital’s founding mission was to provide medical care that was administered “by Chinese, for Chinese”  it also played a broader socio-political role at a time when the institutions of government had limited experience governing the Chinese. As noted by historian Dr. Elizabeth Sinn in her first book in 1989 (former Deputy Director, Centre of Asian Studies, HKU) :

“It also reveals the important social and political role the Hospital Committee played in the nineteenth century and show the great extent to which the Hospital’s history is the history of Hong Kong itself” 

(Sinn E. (1989). Power and Charity: the early history of the Tung Wah Hospital. Oxford University Press).

Link: History of Tung Wah Eastern Hospital - Hospital Authority

Photo credit: Tung Wah Group of Hospitals.