Chien Lee – Hysan 95

Chien Lee

Chairman of Bei Shan Tang Foundation

For Chien Lee, Chairman of the Bei Shan Tang Foundation, a passion and support for Chinese culture and the arts has always been in his blood. Grandson of Lee Hysan and son of Dr. Jung Sen Lee, Chien grew up at the Lee family house on Kennedy Road and worked at the famous Lee Gardens Hotel group.

After graduating from university, Chien’s career at the Lee Gardens Hotel group began in 1983. “My mission was to expand the company portfolio,” he explains, and, to this end, he spent much time in mainland China. “This was when the Chinese market had just opened, so we began a hotel training program in Shanghai very early on and started to open hotels around China managed by the group.”

As a regular visitor to the hotel, Chien has fond memories of dining at the hotel’s iconic Chinese restaurant, the Rainbow Room. “Although I didn’t work at the hotel, my office was next door at One Hysan Avenue so we would often go to the Rainbow Room,” he recalls. “It was always busy, and everyone knew about it. Even though there was no ballroom, you’d always find people having large functions or events at the Rainbow Room.”

When the hotel was about to close, Chien started to gather things here and there and he admits, “Before I knew it I had to rent storage for all the items. People call me the Lee Gardens historian because I have all this memorabilia.”

“Before I knew it I had to rent storage for all the items. People call me the Lee Gardens historian because I have all this memorabilia.”

“We have built a network and hub of Chinese art and culture. It was born on this hill, when my grandfather invited the poets to come here and it became a well-known place for cultured intellectuals.”

Chien credits his love and appreciation of artefacts and preserving the past to his father. “The most interesting thing I’ve collected are the wedding invitations and letters from my parents’ wedding in 1949. My father had a habit not to throw things away. For instance, I found among his belongings every passport and every diary he had used for the 50 years preceding his death neatly filed in his desk drawer.”

Chien’s father, Dr. Jung Sen Lee, was an ardent supporter of Chinese culture, heritage and the arts throughout his life. He also founded the Bei Shan Tang Foundation, which today supports scholars and museum professionals by allowing them to travel and work overseas on projects.

The foundation is named after The Bei Shan Poets Society, a group of literary and art scholars who were invited by Lee Hysan to host their intellectual gatherings at Lee Gardens in the 1920s. The view from Lee Gardens offered sweeping views of the harbour, which was often a source of inspiration for the poets.

“My father founded the Bei Shan Tang Foundation because he was very interested in Chinese art and culture,” he says. Dr. Lee was a well-known patron of the arts, serving on various councils for cultural societies in Hong Kong, most notably the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Art Museum, where most of his collection was donated.

(Right: Poets at Bei Shan Poets Society)

Today, the Bei Shan Tang Foundation financially supports projects that are related to Chinese art and culture, and to education. “My father collected and built up a network of friends at museums around the world that had collections of Chinese art,” he says. “Bei Shan Tang Foundation has leveraged this network to promote Chinese art and culture as well as to support education through the provision of scholarships to students and the promotion of Positive Education in Hong Kong.”

For Chien, the desire to appreciate and preserve Chinese art and culture is something that has been handed down within his family throughout the ages: “We have built a network and hub of Chinese art and culture. It was born on this hill, when my grandfather invited the poets to come here and it became a well-known place for cultured intellectuals. After so many years, we have kept the spirit of connecting people in the field of Chinese art and culture.”

(Left: The house on Lee Garden Hill where poets of Bei Shan Poets Society gathered)