Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China/Hongkong/Lau Pun Chin
MR. LAU PUN CHIN.—A most important post, and one which can only be filled by a financier of ripe experience, is that of compradore to the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation at their head office in Hongkong. Indeed, so great are the responsibilities of the position, and so large is the guarantee required, that when the office became vacant two years ago some difficulty was encountered in finding a suitable man to fill it. The choice fell upon Mr. Lau Pun Chin, who, during twenty years' residence in the Colony—for the greater part of which he conducted the Chinese business of Messrs. Chater and Mody—had shown himself a singularly able financier. Mr. Lau Pun Chin, who is 38 years of age, is a native of Chin San, near the neighbouring port of Macao. He was educated in English at a private school, and then went through a course of study at Queen's College, Hongkong. His interests are not confined to his financial duties, for he is a member of the committee of the Tung Wah Hospital, and of the committee of the Horticultural Society, in the promotion of which he has borne a considerable part, whilst as a member of the Chinese Club he keeps in close touch with the social life of his fellow countrymen. He has erected in his native village two schools—the Chin San Lans School in 1902, and the Kung Too College in 1904—many of the scholars from which have been taken, after examination, to the Imperial Military College at Wang Po by the Viceroy of Canton. Several of them have continued their studies in Europe, whilst others have proceeded to Japan. Mr. Lau Pun Chin is a director of the Fook Sin Tong Hospital at Chin San, and for several years has paid two Chinese for vaccinating applicants free of charge. In this way more than two thousand poor Chinese have been vaccinated annually.
