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Established in 1987, Lee Kuo Chuan Primary School was situated along Ah Hood Road. This newly formed school also took in students from Rayman Primary School, which closed in 1984. The school was officially declared open on 3rd April 1987 by Mr Lawrence Sia Khoon Seong, former Member of Parliament for Moulmein Constituency.
- Humble Beginnings
- He Was Tan Kah Kee’s Protege-Turned-Son-In-Law
- He Started His Own Businesses
- He Was Southeast Asia’s Rubber and Pineapple King
- He Was The Vice-Chairman of OCBC
- He Founded The Lee Foundation
- There Are Places Named After His Father
- He Had Liver Cancer
- He Left Half His Fortune to Lee Foundation After His Death
- Led A Humble Life Despite His Riches
Lee Kong Chian was born in Furong Village, Fujian, China, and received his early education in private schools in his hometown. In 1903, 10-year-old Lee came to Singapore to join his father, Lee Kuo Chuan, who worked as a tailor. He studied at the now-defunct Anglo-Indian School and the Chung Cheng High School. In 1909, Lee went back to China to com...
After Lee returned to Singapore, he worked as a teacher at Tao Nan School and as a translator at a Chinese newspaper. In 1915, he joined Tan Kah Kee‘s China Guohua Company and became his protege. Two years later, he was promoted to the rank of a manager. In 1920, he married Tan Kah Kee’s daughter, Tan Ai Leh.
In 1927, Lee established his own rubber smoking house named Lee Smoke House in Muar, Johor. The company was later renamed Lee Rubber Company in 1928, and managed to pull through the hard times in the 1930s during the Great Depression, which forced many businesses, including his father-in-law’s, to wind up.
Lee’s businesses of rubber planting and manufacturing, and pineapple planting and canning expanded to other parts of Southeast Asia. Known as “Southeast Asia’s Rubber and Pineapple King”, he became one of the region’s richest man, and Lee Rubber Company became a multimillion-dollar business. At the peak of his business, the company had an estimated...
Lee diversified into banking, and became Huayi Bank’s general manager and vice-chairman. Following the 1929 Wall Street stock market crash, Lee facilitated the merger of the Oversea-Chinese Bank, Chinese Commercial Bank and Ho Hong Bank. By the end of 1932, the merged entity was the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and became Singapore’s ...
In 1952, he set up the Lee Foundation with a capital of $3.5 million, and used his wealth to support education through the foundation. Since then, the foundation has been making large sums of donations to school-building funds and charities.
While it is hardly surprising that the philanthropist had places named after him, what many don’t know is that there are also some schools named after his father, Lee Kuo Chuan. These include: 1. Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School 2. Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School 3. Heritage Centre, Hwa Chong Institution (High School Section), previous...
In 1964, Lee’s health deteriorated and he went to Hong Kong for liver cancer treatment. After an operation, he recovered and went to Shanghai the following year to be further examined by Chinese physicians. Three months later, he returned to Singapore and his health gradually improved after months of rest. However, his conditioned later worsened an...
Lee’s philanthropic spirit continued even after his death. When he died in 1967, he left half of his fortune to the foundation so it could continue with his charitable work.
With the empire he had built, Lee Kong Chian could have indulged himself and lived a life of luxury. Instead, he worked tirelessly to serve the people, and played a pivotal part in Singapore’s education sector. It’s the pioneers like him who’ve contributed to what Singapore has today. Like this post and MustShareNews’ Facebook pageto keep up with o...
There are also some places named after Lee's father, Lee Kuo Chuan, including: Kuo Chuan Avenue, a road in Singapore's Marine Parade district; Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School; Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School; Heritage Centre, Hwa Chong Institution (High School Section), previously known as Kuo Chuan Art Centre; Lee Kuo ...
Lee Kong Chian (Dr) (b. 18 October 1893, Nan’an, Quanzhou, Fujian, China–d. 2 June 1967, Singapore), also known as Geok Kun, was a philanthropist and multi-millionaire businessman who made his mark in the rubber trade and later the pineapple, coconut oil and sawmill businesses, among others.1 Lee also invested large sums in enterprises such ...
Lee Kuo Chuan Primary School, on Ah Hood Road in the Balestier area, school was around for a short time and closed down in 1997..
Oct 13, 2014 · Named after Dato Lee Kong Chian’s father, Lee Kuo Chuan School was founded in 1950 on a three-acres land donated by the late Dato Lee. Often mistaken as an aided Chinese-medium school, it was actually a government English co-ed primary school well-known for its extracurricular activities such as swimming, volleyball and basketball.
During his lifetime, Tan Sri Lee’s benevolence to ACS was marked by two major donations – the Lee Kuo Chuan Auditorium of ACS (Barker Road) in memory of his father in 1950 and later on, the building at the Lee Kong Chian block of ACS (Barker Road) which housed the Post School certificate classes as well as modern science laboratories.
