Rebecca Lee Lok-sze (, born 1944) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

explorer. She is the first Hongkonger and the first woman to have visited the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

, the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

, and

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

. Lee has also visited the

Yarlung Tsangpo Canyon The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, also known as the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, the Tsangpo Canyon, the Brahmaputra Canyon or the Tsangpo Gorge (), is a canyon along the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the deepes ...

(the deepest canyon in China) and the

Taklamakan The Taklamakan Desert ( ) is a desert in northwest China's Xinjiang region. Located inside the Tarim Basin in Southern Xinjiang, it is bounded by the Kunlun Mountains to the south, the Pamir Mountains to the west, the Tian Shan range to the n ...

(the hottest desert in China).

Life and work

Lee has worked as a professional graphic designer, painter, photographer, and writer. In 1985, she joined the Chinese National Antarctic Expedition and first set foot on

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. Over the following 30 years Lee has made significant contributions toward polar exploration and educating people about environmental impacts. In 1997, she founded the Polar Museum Foundation. Lee has donated a collection of artifacts from her polar expeditions to the Museum of Climate Change at

The Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...

. In 2012, she collaborated with the

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra () is a symphony orchestra based in Hong Kong. Colloquially referred to as the HKPO or HKPhil (), the orchestra was first established in 1947 as an amateur orchestra under the name Sino-British Orchestra (), ...

on a performance of the ''

Sinfonia antartica ''Sinfonia antartica'' ("Antarctic Symphony") is the Italian title given by Ralph Vaughan Williams to his seventh symphony, first performed in 1953. It drew on incidental music the composer had written for the 1948 film '' Scott of the Antarcti ...

'' by

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

. Lee is currently the honorary adviser of the

Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education The Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) is one of the member institutions of the Vocational Training Council (VTC) offering vocational education to post-secondary students in Hong Kong through its nine campi located across the ter ...

(Chai Wan), science adviser of the Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department and vice chairman of the

Scout Association of Hong Kong The Scout Association of Hong Kong is the largest scouting organisation in Hong Kong. Scout training was first introduced in Hong Kong by Rev Spink of St Andrew's Church, Kowloon in 1909 and 1910 by the Protestant based Boys' Brigade, Chums S ...

Programme Committee.

Awards and honours

*Doctor of Humanities, ''

honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

'', by

Lingnan University (Hong Kong) Lingnan University a public research university located in Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong. Lingnan University has 3 faculties, 3 Schools, 16 departments, 2 language centres, and 2 units (science and music), offering 29 degree honours ...

in 2000 *Medal of Honour from the Hong Kong government in 2008 *Honorary fellowship of

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU or HKPU) is a public university, public research university in Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The university is one of the eight University Grants Committee (Hong Kong), government-funded degree-grant ...

in 2009 *Doctor of Humanities, by the

Hong Kong Institute of Education The Education University of Hong KongUniversity titl ...

in 2012 *Honorary fellowship of

in 2013

References

External links

Rebecca Lee discusses lessons from her life

Rebecca Lee talks about the ''Sinfonia antartica'' performance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Rebecca Chinese explorers 20th-century explorers Living people 1944 births Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong Members of the Society of Woman Geographers