う TMS 16 000 91 Sir Y. K. PAC: Obituary (157)
Sir Richard Francis, Director-General, British Council. writes:
YOUR obituary of September 24 rightly acknowledges Sir Y. K. Pao's generous support for a variety of charitable causes, but it fails to mention one of the most significant. The Sino-British friendship scholarship scheme stands as an enduring memorial to Sir Y. K's commitment to the development of his homeland and to Sino-British relations.
Five years ago he took the initiative in persuading the British and Chinese governments to provide opportunities for gifted young Chinese scientists, engineers and scholars to further their studies in Britain. Ever tenacious, he saw his scheme (which he declined to have named after him) launched within months.
The British Council was commissioned to manage the Sino-British friendship scholarship scheme through its contacts in China and in the UK higher education sector, and in 1987 the first annual contingent of some 400 Chinese scholars arrived in Britain.
The Times
Issue 54151.
Copyright (C) Times Newspapers Ltd. 1985 - 1992
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TMS 24 Sep 91 Sir YK PAO dies in Hong Kong; Sir Yue-kong PAO (369)
From LULU YU in Hong Kong
SIR Yue-kong PAO, the Hong Kong shipping, property, hotels and trading magnate, died yesterday at the age of 73.
A native of Ningbo, near Shangnai, he amassed a personal fortune estimated at more than HKdollars 25 billion (Pounds 1.85 billion). After arriving in the colony in 1949, he built a shipping business with the largest private fleet in the world and later diversified into property, banking, aviation and hotels.
Wharf Holdings, worldwide Shipping and their subsidiaries, the public companies that his family controls, have a combined market capitalisation of more than Hkdollars 30 billion. But Sir Yue-kong, dubbed 'king of the seas', was not just a businessman. Many saw him as a statesman and philanthropist. He was Peking's appointee in helping to draft the Basic Law, under whion Hong Kong will be governed after the sovereignty changeover in 1997, and was famed for friendships with leaders such as Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Deng Xiaoping and John Major.
He met Deng in 1987, and advised him to retire while sti in good health. Sir Yue-kong himself had done so a year earlier, leaving his four sons-in-law to run his businesses.
Sir David Wilson, the Governor of Hong Kong, described him as the first businessman in the colony to achieve international stature.
His contribution to building up Hong Kong's prosperity was matched by great generosity in both education and the arts, he said. John Gray, deputy chairman of Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, paid tribute to Sir Yue-kong's
integrity, dedication and wisdom'.
Sir Yue-kong died suddenly of respiratory failure at his home. He had been suffering from asthma in the past 18 months, but otherwise his health seemed sound. In recent years he had been active travelling, swimming and playing golf. ûne son-in-law, Peter woo, aged 46, chairs Sir Yue-kong's property and hotel