The family clan’s philanthropic tradition finds its earliest and most notable expression in the contribution made by our founding patriarch, the late Mr. Siu Un 蕭垣, towards the establishment of the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, which opened on 27 November 1929. Younger members of the family clan have subsequently sat on the Board of Directors of the Tung Wah Hospital.

A Queen’s College alumnus (formerly Government Central School), the late Mr. Siu first cemented his reputation as Compradore at Russell & Co., a leading American trading house in the region at the time. 

He then went onto earn a notable reputation as a contractor for landmark civic and public works infrastructure from the early 1900s when he was involved with the construction of the Kowloon Canton Railway (British section) and the Lee Theatre in Causeway Bay. He also amassed considerable wealth from landownership in Wan Chai, Kennedy Road and Happy Valley; and strategic holdings in companies linked to Russell & Co. and it's successor, Shewan, Tomes & Co.

His donation of HK$2,000.00, a very substantial sum at the time, placed him among the most generous individual benefactors of the hospital. His name and portrait is displayed prominently alongside other distinguished figures such as Sir Tang Shiu Kin, KBE (eminent entrepreneur and philanthropist), Sir Cecil Clementi, GCMG (former Governor of Hong Kong and noted Sinologist), Sir Shouson Chow CMG (distinguished politician and entrepreneur) and Mr. Fung Ping Shan (renowned entrepreneur and benefactor), 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 institutions in Hong Kong, providing essential m 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.