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Ngan Shing-kwan

Hong Kong entreprenuer and politician (1900–2001)

Ngan Shing-kwan, (Chinese: 顏成坤; 18 December 1900 – 14 April 2001) Hong Kong entrepreneur and politician, was the founder of the China Motor Bus, or CMB, which owned the bus franchise on Hong Kong Island from June 1933 to August 1998. In addition, he was appointed by the Hong Kong government as a non-official member of the Legislative Council in 1951, and subsequently served as the Senior Unofficial Member from 1959 to 1961 and concurrently as a non-official member of the Executive Council from 1959 to 1961.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Ngan Shing-kwan (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born 1903, died Apr 14, 2001.1

About

Ngan Shing-kwan was educated at Queen's College and St. John's University in Shanghai during his early years, and took over the family's rickshaw business in 1920. Optimistic about the future of the bus business, he then joined hands with businessman Wong Yiu Nam to set up CMB in 1923, the third bus company in Kowloon. After winning the franchise in 1933, CMB moved from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. Under his leadership, the business expanded rapidly after the war, with more than 100 bus routes, a fleet of more than 1,000 buses and hundreds of millions of passenger trips per year at its peak in the 1980s, making CMB the "Kingdom of China Motor Buses". In 1981, the PALIBURG HOLDINGS LIMITED attempted to snipe at CMB's stake, but was eventually repelled by Ngan Shing-kwan.

Outside of CMB business, Ngan Shing-kwan was a keen participant in community affairs, having been elected as the first Chairman of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals after its merger in 1931–32, and then Chairman of Po Leung Kuk in 1939–1940. After the war, he was appointed as a Non-Official Member of the Urban Council in 1946 and was promoted to Principal Non-Official Member of the Council in 1951 before resigning in 1953 due to official commitments. As a Chaozhou overseas Chinese leader in Hong Kong, Ngan Shing-kwan held a number of public offices during his tenure in the Executive and Legislative Councils, and did not leave the political arena until after the 1960s. On the other hand, he was a keen sportsman and served as the chairman and President of the South China Athletic Association (SCAA) for eight consecutive terms before and after the World War II. He was the chief team leader of the Hong Kong delegates to the Sixth National Games of the Republic of China in 1935 and the coach of the China national football team at the 11th Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany in 1936.

However, in the 1980s, Ngan Shing-kwan's family-run governance of CMB was said to be conservative and out of touch, and problems such as declining bus service standards and labour disputes aroused public criticism, prompting the Hong Kong Government to hand over 26 and 14 bus routes to Citybus Limited in 1993 and 1995 respectively. The termination of CMB's franchise was further announced in February 1998, and CMB's franchised bus service ended at the end of August of the same year, with the new franchise being taken over by the New World First Bus Services Limited. Although Ngan Shing-kwan had been the chairman and Supervisor of CMB since 1933, he had handed over the business to his children in the mid-1990s due to old age and declining health. As a matter of fact, the Ngan family, which holds a lot of land for depots and staff quarters, has long had its sights set on real property development, so since the end of the franchise, CMB has in fact changed from a bus company to a company with purely real estate as its core business.

From Wikipedia’s article on Ngan Shing-kwan, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedSt. John's University3

Career

Occupation: businessperson, association football coach, justice of the peace.6

Early career

Ancestrally from Chaoyang, Guangdong, Ngan Shing-kwan was born in Hong Kong on 18 December 1900, the only son of Ngan Wing-chi and his wife. Ngan Wing-chi originally worked as a coolie (i.e., head of hard labour) in the Kowloon Wharves, and later as a coolie of the Jardine's Sugar Factory and the Tsim Sha Tsui Goods Warehouse, and as a foreman of a licensed rickshaw coolie in Kowloon. Apart from being responsible for hiring people from places like Chaozhou and Shantou to work in Hong Kong, he was also responsible for supervising the living of these coolies in Hong Kong, from which he also collected fees from these coolies. In 1901, the Hong Kong government set up a committee to investigate the serious loss of manpower in sedan chair and rickshaw coolie, and Ngan Wing-chi was invited by the committee to give evidence. Ngan Wing-chi later set up his own rickshaw business in Kowloon, opening Wing Hing and Wing Lung rickshaw stores at 3 Frederick Lane and 112 Canton Road respectively, as well as a Sun Tak Lung rickshaw store at 110 Canton Road.

However, after the death of Ngan Wing Chee on 9 March 1905, his widow, Ngan Chim, in her capacity as the estate's undertaker, entered into a power of attorney on 9 May of the same year, handing over her husband's rickshaw business during his lifetime to his brother, Ngan Luk, to take care of it on her behalf. Years later, Ngan Chim withdrew his power of attorney on 10 December 1917, declaring that Ngan Luk no longer had anything to do with the Wing Hing, Wing Lung and New Tak Lung. However, Ngan Luk initially continued to operate the business after the power of attorney was withdrawn, and it was not until a writ was later issued by Ngan Chim's party that Ngan Luk formally surrendered the business and separated the property from Ngan Chim's party. Ngan Chim then went further and filed a lawsuit in 1918, demanding that Ngan Luk's side hand over its business accounts for inspection, which was eventually ruled in favor of the case in 1919. In addition, the Ngan Chim family originally lived at 116 Canton Road, while Ngan Luk's family lived at 114 next door; but after the two parties split up, Ngan Luk's family moved away to live at the nearby No. 18 Haiphong Road.

Although he lost his father at a young age, Ngan Shing-kwan was sent by his family to the Queen's College to study English, and later went to St. John's University in Shanghai to further his studies. According to a book published in 1937 by the scholar Wu, Hsing-Lien, "A Brief History of Chinese Celebrities in Hong Kong", Ngan Shing-kwan had followed Dr. Sun Yat-sen's work of national salvation after he had left Queen's College in his early years; and as an ex-student of Queen's College, he was invited by Queen's College Ex-students' Association to be the Honorary Advisor in April 1971 after many years of service.

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Pre-war work

Ngan Shing-kwan has been active in community affairs since he founded CMB. Originally from Kowloon, he was elected by his neighbours as the General Manager of the Kwong Wah Hospital in 1926–1927 in the year B3, and then as the chairman of the hospital in the year D4 in 1927–1928, and during his tenure, he pushed for the establishment of a new maternity ward for the Kwong Wah Hospital. From 1927 to 1928, he was a member of the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital Preparatory Committee, which led to the opening of Tung Wah Eastern Hospital in 1929. In 1931, the Tung Wah Hospital, Kwong Wah Hospital and Tung Wah Eastern Hospital were merged to form the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, resulting in Ngan Shing-kwan being elected as the chairman of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals for the year of Xinwei, the first chairman of the Group, by a vote of 13 to 12 against his rival, Lian-bo Chen. During his tenure, in addition to establishing a women's voluntary school, he also set up a tuberculosis convalescent ward and an operating theatre at Kwong Wah Hospital, and presided over the repatriation of unemployed overseas Chineses. The social services provided by the three hospitals also recorded a surplus of over HK$17,000. In addition, the Mainland China regions of Northern China and Northern Guangdong were plagued by flooding at the time, so under the leadership of Ngan Shing-kwan, the three hospitals raised a total of HK$440,000 for disaster relief. After stepping down as Chairman of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals in 1932, he, together with Law Man Kam (later Sir) and Chan Lian Pok, was appointed by the Hong Kong Government as the Special Administrator of the three hospitals in 1933, with the responsibility of reviewing and reorganising the affairs of the three hospitals. Ngan Shing-kwan's deep connection with the three hospitals led to his appointment in 1950, many years later, as a permanent adviser to the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals.

Other pre-war positions held by Ngan Shing-kwan included serving as a member of the Council for the Defence of the Armed Forces from 1932 to 1933, as a committee member of the Four Rings Reinforcements committee from 1932 to 1941, and as a member of the Hong Kong Government's Licensing Board from 1937 to 1941; he was also invite to serve as a Standing Committee Member of the Hong Kong Branch of the National Salvation Bonds in 1937. In addition, Ngan Shing-kwan, a Christian, participated in the founding of the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong as early as 1932, and served as its founding board member as well as a vice-president during the pre-war period; he also served as a member of the National General Assembly of the Chinese Christian Church and the National Association of the YMCA of Hong Kong, and as an executive committee member of the Hong Kong Association of Chinese Young Men in Society. The National Council of the Church of Christ in China, Guangdong Association District Council No. 6, Vice-Patron of the Hong Kong St. John Ambulance Association, Finance Committee Member of the Chinese Reserve Police Force, director of the Christian newspaper Daikuang Pao (being the last surviving ex-director of the newspaper since Yinshang Wang Guoxuan died in 1974, and, from 1940 to 1941, a member of the board of trustees of the Hong Kong Association of the Church of Christ in China. On 27 April 1932, Ngan Shing-kwan was also awarded an unofficial Justice of the Peace by the Hong Kong Government, in recognition of his participation in public service.

From Wikipedia’s article on Ngan Shing-kwan (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • Born1903, Hong Kong7
  • DiedApr 14, 2001, Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital8
  • CitizenshipBritish Hong Kong9
  • Children310

Sources

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