Wong Shing
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Wong Shing, alias Wong Pin Po (1827 – 5 August 1902), was a Hong Kong and Chinese journalist, publisher, businessman and member of the
Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's " one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Ko ...
.


Early life and education

Wong was born in a poor family in the
Heungshan Xiangshan County, also spelled Hsiangshan, Siangshan, Heungsan, and Heungshan, was a former county in Southern China. Since 1912, it was a county in Kwangtung Province ("Guangdong"), in the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China. It wa ...
District of Kwangtung Province. He entered the first class of the Morrison Educational Society School in
Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...
in 1841 with two other Chinese boys,
Yung Wing Yung Wing (; November 17, 1828April 21, 1912) was a Chinese-American diplomat and businessman. In 1854, he became the first Chinese student to graduate from an American university, Yale College. He was involved in business transactions between Ch ...
and Wong Foon. They were later transferred to Hong Kong. Wong became one of the first Chinese to study abroad when in 1847, Dr.
Samuel Robbins Brown Rev. Samuel Robbins Brown D.D. (June 16, 1810 – June 20, 1880) was an American missionary to China and Japan with the Reformed Church in America. Birth and education Brown was born in East Windsor, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale College ...
, an American teacher in the Morrison School, had to leave China due to his ill health. He offered to take a few of his old pupils back to the United States for further education. Yung Wing, Wong Foon, and Wong Shing signified their desire to go, and expenses for the three for two years were paid by Dr. Brown and the Morrison Education Society. They embarked at Whampoa on the ship ''Huntress'' and started the journey of more than three months during which they passed the Cape of Good Hope and proceeded to the United States. Upon their arrival, they were admitted to the Monson Academy at
Monson, Massachusetts Monson is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 8,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The census-designated place of Monson Center lies at the ...
.


Career


Journalistic career

As a result of ill health, Wong Shing did not manage to acquire any academic honours during his study in the United States and had to return to Hong Kong after two years. When he studied abroad he was baptised and became a member of the Chinese congregation of the
London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational m ...
. He worked for the '' China Mail'' owned and published by Andrew Shortrede for about two years after he returned from the United States. In 1864, Wong Shing published ''Daily General Price Current''. He also served as an interpreter for the Hong Kong government. In 1853 he became the manager of the printing establishment of the Anglo-Chinese College operated by the London Mission under Dr.
James Legge James Legge (; 20 December 181529 November 1897) was a Scottish linguist, missionary, sinologist, and translator who was best known as an early translator of Classical Chinese texts into English. Legge served as a representative of the London ...
for some ten years. He was also the first Chinese name to appear on the Juror Lists in Hong Kong in 1858.


Chinese foreign ministry

He left Hong Kong to join the staff of the Chinese Government School being established in Shanghai to teach foreign languages to Chinese students for a short period of time and returned to Hong Kong and resumed the management of the Mission press. In 1872 Wong was offered an appointment in the Tsung Li Yamen in Peking, to set up a printing office with moveable type for the foreign ministry. He served with Viceroy Li Hung-chang and Marquis Tseng Chi-tze and was a member of the Chinese legation staff in Washington. During his service at the Qing government, Wong took the second group of students in Yung Wing's Educational Mission scheme to the United States.


Return to Hong Kong

After his retirement from the Chinese diplomatic service, he became a prominent merchant and property owner in Hong Kong. He was praised being frugal. He bought land in Hong Kong before it increased ten times in value. Although he had the opportunity to raise rent, he did not do so. He was also a member of the organising committee for the
Tung Wah Hospital Tung Wah Hospital is a Charitable hospital in Hong Kong under the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. Located above Possession Point, at 12 Po Yan Street in Sheung Wan, it is the first hospital established in Colonial Hong Kong for the general publi ...
and founding director when it was opened in 1870. Wong was naturalised in December 1883 and became the second Chinese to be appointed to the
Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's " one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Ko ...
in 1884 after Ng Choy. He was described as a man of property, much-travelled, speaking good English and fully qualified to "look at Chinese affairs with English eyes and at English affairs with Chinese eyes." He was also noted for his cooperative attitude towards the colonial government's policies. When his six-year term expired in 1890, he asked not to be reappointed. He was succeeded by Dr.
Ho Kai Sir Kai Ho, CMG, JP, MRCS (; 21 March 1859 – 21 July 1914), better known as Sir Kai Ho Kai, born Ho Shan-kai (), was a Hong Kong barrister, physician and essayist in Colonial Hong Kong. He played a key role in the relationship between ...
.


Death and family

He died on 5 August 1902 evening at his residence No. 55, Peel Street. His remains were transferred to the steamer ''Heungshan'', and conveyed to the burying ground of his ancestors at Heungshan. His coffin was escorted by a police sergeant and four Sikhs. Wong was among the first Chinese to send their children abroad for education. One of his sons was educated at a university in Scotland, one worked as a civil servant at the Registrar General's office, another worked in the
Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (), commonly known as HSBC (), was the parent entity of the multinational HSBC banking group until 1991, and is now its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary. The largest bank in Hong K ...
. Other members of family were also in government service. A daughter of Wong Shing married to
Wei Yuk Sir Boshan Wei Yuk (1849 – 16 December 1921) was a prominent Hong Kong businessman and member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Early life, education, and business career Sir Boshan was born in Hong Kong in 1849, the son of Wei Kwong ...
, later Sir Boshan Wei Yuk who became a prominent businessman and member of the Legislative Council.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Shing 1825 births 1902 deaths People from Zhongshan Hong Kong businesspeople Hong Kong journalists Hong Kong Protestants Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong