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The late Mr. Chou Wen Hsien, a native of Suzhou, was born in Shanghai on 27
May, 1921. On Friday, 23 November, 2007, Mr. Chou passed away peacefully at
the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, aged 90.
Throughout his life, Mr. Chou was a devoted son who lovingly fulfilled his filial
duty. In 1947, Mr. Chou married Madam Yim Wan Chun, Ina in Shanghai. Mr.
and Mrs. Chou, parents of Vivien, Jeannie, Sylvia, Charlotte, Kitty, and Valerie,
were a dedicated, caring, and loving couple throughout their long and happy
marriage over the last sixty years.All of their children have graduated from overseas
universities with honours and are well-established in their respective careers.
In 1948, Mr. Chou moved to Hong Kong and started his business with his younger
brother Mr. Chow Chung Kai in the textile industry. Like many first generation
entrepreneurs, Mr. Chou brought with him to Hong Kong, capital, technology,
business talent and management skills. To begin a successful business in a
completely new environment, Mr. Chou had to manage everything by himself and
had to overcome many difficulties and hardships. The successful development of
Mr. Chou’s business mirrored the entire growth and development of the industrial
and manufacturing business in Hong Kong over the past sixty years and, indeed,
also provided many job opportunities.
Through his continuous effort and determination, Mr. Chou successfully expanded
and diversified his business. In 1969, his business empire went public under the
name of Winsor Industrial Corporation Limited (“winsor”) and became one of the
largest textile groups in Hong Kong. Winsor was also one of the initial constituents
of the Hang Seng Index. Concurrently, Mr. Chou diversified his business to different
sectors including real estates, construction, ship chartering, oil exploration, freight,
warehousing, food manufacturing, health food supplement, insurance and retailing.
Mr. Chou also created well-known brand names like Vincent Shirt, Winner Instant
Doll Noodle and the Essence of Mushroom (Yun-Zhi) which are famous in Hong
Kong and overseas. The business empire of Mr. Chou has expanded into China,
Southeast Asia, Western Europe and North America. Mr. Chou’s contribution to
the improvement of general health and quality of living of mankind has been
tremendous.
Mr. Chou, together with Dr. Ann Tse-Kai and Mr. Tang Hsiang Chien were the
major founders of Winsor. They worked harmoniously among themselves for over
fifty years. The late Dr. Ann Tse-Kai served as the founding chairman and later
the honorary chairman of Winsor. During his chairmanship of Winsor, Dr. Ann
Tse-Kai was invited to be the Vice Chairman of the National Committee of Chinese
People’s Political Consultative Conference. Mr. Tang Hsiang Chien was the deputy
managing director of Winsor and subsequently was invited to be a member of the
Standing Committee of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Mr. Chou started as the managing director of Winsor, and in 1996, became the
Chairman of Winsor succeeding Dr. Ann Tse-Kai.
In 1992, Sir Run Run Shaw, Dr. Li Ka Shing, Dr. Cheng Yu Tung, Dr. Lee Shau
Kee, Dr. Frank Tsao, Mr. Chou and Mr. Chow Chung Kai jointly established a
joint-venture in Singapore known as the Suntec Investment Pte. Limited with
Mr. Chou elected chairman for the first term.
Over the last twenty years, Mr. Chou concentrated his efforts on the promotion of
Chinese traditional herbal medicine and Chinese culture. He started the Winsor
Health Products Ltd and dedicated himself to the Company by taking up the posts
of both chairman and general manager. In the field of health care, he strongly
adhered to and promoted the belief “prevention is better than cure”. This belief has
now been well received and recognized by the public. He established and chaired
The Hong Kong Association for Health Care Limited. He published a quarterly
magazine “Health Care” with himself as president of the publication. Through his
initiative and connections, Mr. Chou successfully joint-ventured with a number of
medical research institutes. Mr. Chou started the joint-venture Project Suzhou
Institute of Chinese Materia Medica and the Suzhou Tianshi Health Products
Limited and served as honorary chairman. He gathered a group of experts
specializing in researching herbal medicine with the aim of identifying and
developing effective recipes for the prevention and cure of cancer and cardiovascular
diseases.
To promote Chinese traditional culture, with a focus on integrity and virtue
education, Mr. Chou sponsored a series of activities including music composition.
He demonstrated his support of Chinese culture by turning well known Chinese
poems into songs and lyrics in the hope that children would learn a reputable
poem whilst singing the song. Mr. Chou published these musical pieces under the
name of “Poems of Tang and Sung Dynasty, Music and Painting”and “Ancient
Poems With Modern Music”. These two pieces of work were performed by
professional musician from time to time, are very popular and resulted in a lot of
attention with favorable comments in Hong Kong.
Mr. Chou was always enthusiastic in serving the community. To promote general
education and Chinese culture in Hong Kong, Mr. Chou established the “Chou’s
Foundation” and the “Winsor Education Foundation” to provide financial assistance
to students with financial difficulties. Apart from Hong Kong, Mr. Chou also
established various foundations in China and Taiwan to promote music, literature,
medical education and scientific research on both banks of the Strait. Mr. Chou
was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the NewAsia College and served on
the Council of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was chairman of the
Hong Kong Music Institute, Vice-Chairman of Soochow University and Honorary
Head of its School of Pharmacy. He served as director and adviser to many charitable
organizations such as the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, Po Leung Kuk, and Pok
Oi Hospital. He was also chairman of Yan Chai Hospital. In addition, Mr. Chou
dedicated himself to the well being of his native place, and gladly took up the
posts of chairmen, and subsequently honorary chairmen of the Kiangsu Che Kiang
and Shanghai Residents (Hong Kong) Association, Shanghai FraternityAssociation
Hong Kong Ltd., Jiangsu Residents (Hong Kong) Association Limited, Hong Kong
Suzhou Association Limited, Suzhou Wu County residents (Hong Kong)
Association, Jiangsu and Suzhou Chinese Overseas Friendship Association and
Overseas Exchange Association. These services earned him tremendous
appreciation and commendation from his native friends.
In 1975 and 1987, Mr. Chou was honoured by the bestowment of JP and OBE
respectively. He was conferred with honorary PhD degree by the East Asia
University, Macau in 1987. For his achievements and contributions in the field of
medical research, Mr. Chou was awarded the title of Honorary Visiting Professor
by the Medical School of Soochow University, Shanghai Normal University, the
Shanghai Medical College and the Soochow University. From 1983 to 1992, Mr.
Chou was appointed as the Honorary Consul in Hong Kong by the Government of
Finland. In 1991, he was awarded the senior honorary title “Cross of Commander
of the Order of the Finnish Lion”. In 1995 and 2000 respectively, Mr. Chou was
given the title “Honorary Citizen” by the cities of Suzhou and Guangzhou. Finally,
in May, 2005, Dr. Chou was further honored with the title of “Honorary Fellowship”
by The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Mr. Chou has dedicated his life to charity and benevolence, to the improvement of
the general health of mankind, and to the continuous quest for knowledge and
self- improvement. He was humble and gentle, open-minded and kind, generous
and helpful, faithful and sincere. Mr. Chou took good care of his staff and colleagues
and had always treated them with respect. Throughout his life, Mr. Chou
demonstrated vision and interactive thinking. He was a pioneer who always had
many creative ideas. He was a man full of enthusiasm, and never say stop. He has
distinguished himself as a patriot who has deeply loved Hong Kong, his native
place as well as his country. He has set a good example to our community. Mr.
Chou was a man of honour, much admired and respected. He is indeed our role
model. The expressions, memories, speeches and smiles of the late Dr. Chou Wen
Hsien will be forever in our minds.
P
