Lee Moses

Moses Lee was a Chinese-American entrepreneur and social activist.

Biography

Moses Lee was born in 1938 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China. Due to wartime chaos at the time of his birth, his family fled to Fenghua County. Since he was hidden in a bamboo basket during the escape—reminiscent of the biblical story of the Hebrew prophet Moses—he was named Moses. He was the 18th of 22 siblings.

In his early years, Lee studied at Zhejiang Medical University (now Zhejiang University). Due to political movements in China, he was forced to drop out and was sent to work in rural areas of Shaoxing. Later, he went to Shanghai and secretly traveled by boat from the Port of Shanghai to Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong, claiming to be an overseas Chinese, and being fluent in English, French, and German, he quickly secured a job. Within just three months, he became deputy manager of the company he joined, and within six months, he was promoted to manager. About a year later, he founded his own business. From 1965 to 1985, he served as Chairman of Golden Route Trading Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong.

Later, he emigrated to the United States, where he obtained an MBA in Business Administration and a Ph.D. in International Public Relations from Stanford University. He became involved in politics and social activities in the U.S., once serving as Deputy Mayor of San Francisco. From August 1988 to September 1992, he was Chairman of the San Francisco-Taipei Sister City Committee and also served as an advisor to Lien Chan.

On September 28, 2008, he donated USD 1.1 million to his alma mater Zhejiang University to help establish the Moses Lee Medical Foreign Language Library at Zhejiang University.

He currently serves as Honorary President of the Zhejiang University Alumni Association in Shanghai and Japan, and as Chairman of the Chinese American Foundation, Chairman of the Chinese American Medical Foundation, and a core committee member of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

References

• Donation ceremony held for alumnus Moses Lee and Taizhou Zhejiang University Alumni Association
• Zhejiang University alumnus Moses Lee visits Zijingang Campus
• Stanford MBA Moses Lee offers career advice to Zhejiang University students – China MBA Network