Bao Congxing
Pao Chung-hing (born 1922, died September 2013[1]), also known as Yu Siu, was a Hong Kong industrialist, philanthropist, and community leader.
Early life
Pao hailed from Zhuangshi Town, Zhenhai County, Zhejiang Province (now Zhenhai District, Ningbo). He was a member of the Ye family’s twenty-second branch. His parents died when he was young and he was raised by his grandmother. He attended Yip’s Chung Hing Primary School and, upon graduating in 1935 at age 14, went alone to Shanghai to seek his fortune. There he apprenticed at Heng Hing Cotton Mill by day and studied accounting at Lixin Evening School.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, he did business in Chongqing and Sichuan. After the war he became manager of a pigment firm in Shantou, Guangdong, and married the daughter of his employer, Mrs Zhang Sui-chih. With her family’s support he returned to Shanghai, and in 1948 moved to Hong Kong to expand his enterprises.
Business career
In Hong Kong he founded the Union Textile Investment Company, serving as chairman. Spotting the booming textile industry in the 1960s and low labor costs in Africa, he began investing in Ghana in 1960. Over two decades he built a vertically integrated textile empire—from cotton cultivation to spinning, weaving, dyeing, and garment manufacturing—employing thousands and earning the nickname “Textile King of West Africa.” He also chaired Hong Kong Yong Wai Enamel Company and Tai Kei Industrial Company, and invested in electronics.
In 1965, Premier Zhou Enlai of the People’s Republic of China personally met with him during the Premier’s African tour.
Community roles
- Honorary president, Federation of Zhejiang Associations in Hong Kong
- President, Ningbo Association of Hong Kong Residents
- Lifetime honorary president, Ningbo Association of Hong Kong Residents
- Honorary president, Hong Kong–Ningbo Fellowship Society
- Honorary citizen of Ningbo City
Philanthropy
- Pao Chung-hing Scholarship
Legacy
- Former residence of Pao Chung-hing in Zhenhai District, Ningbo: a Qing dynasty (Emperor Guangxu) era brick-and-wood building covering approximately 500 m2.[2]