Ho Sin Hang 何善衡 |
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Born | 1900 Panyu, Guangdong, China |
Died | 4 December 1997 (aged 97) Hong Kong |
Other names | S. H. Ho He Shanheng |
Occupation | Entrepreneur, Investor |
Board member of |
Hang Seng Bank, Dah Chong Hong, Hang Chong Investment Co., New World Development, Wing Lung Bank, Furama Hotel Enterprises, Miramar Hotel and Investment |
Ho Sin Hang (Chinese: 何善衡; pinyin: Hé Shànhéng; Jyutping: ho4 sin6 hang4; 1900 –4 December 1997), also known as S. H. Ho and He Shanheng, was a Hong Kong entrepreneur, philanthropist and financier. He co-founded Hang Seng Bank in 1933, and served as its chairman. Ho also cofounded the Hang Chong Investment Co Ltd. and Dah Chong Hong Ltd., and was the first chairman of New World Development Company.
Ho was a renowned philanthropist. In 1970 he founded the S.H. Ho Foundation to support charitable causes. Many buildings and institutions in Hong Kong and China bear his name, including the S.H. Ho College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Ho Sin Hang Campus of Hong Kong Baptist University. Owing to childhood poverty, Ho received little formal education, and education became the main focus of his charitable endeavours. He was one of the four founders of the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation.
Ho Sin Hang was born in 1900 in Panyu, Guangdong, southern China. Due to poverty he only received a few years of education and began working at the age of 14. He worked in a salt warehouse for two years before taking up a position as an apprentice in a goldsmith's shop.
Ho completed his apprenticeship and was promoted to assistant manager at age 22. Two years later he resigned from his position to set up a trading business in Guangzhou. In 1933, Ho co-founded Hang Seng Ngan Ho with three partners, Lam Bing Yim (), Sheng Tsun Lin (盛春霖) and Leung Chik Wai (梁植偉). Hang Seng began as a small currency changing booth on Wing Lok Street in Sheung Wan. Lam, the main shareholder, managed the firm's business in Shanghai and Ho managed its Guangzhou branch. After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Shanghai and Guangzhou were occupied by the Japanese, but Hang Seng initially made substantial profits by facilitating the foreign exchange needs of the Republic of China. In December 1941, Hong Kong also fell to the Japanese and Hang Seng was forced to close. Ho moved to Macau, which, as a Portuguese colony, remained neutral throughout the war, and continued the business as Wing Wah Ngan Ho. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Ho revived Hang Seng, which became a leader of Chinese-owned banks in Hong Kong.