Wu Yee-sun

Who was Wu Yee-sun?

Dr. Wu Yee-sun was a Hong Kong entrepreneur and billionaire who founded the Wing Lung Bank.

Although born into a family of great renown, the times were difficult and family duties made it necessary for him to forego school life at the tender age of 14. The young Wu abided by the motto that says 'Adversity breeds greatness'. The family suffered through a number of disasters and, as the oldest son, Yee-Sun left Guandong Province to seek work in Hong Kong to help support his family in the 1920s. In 1933, he and some friends established "Wing Lung Money Exchange" in Central, Hong Kong. Because of his subsequent success, over the years in Dr. Wu's name or that of his father, Dr. Wu's family has been able to contribute towards setting up or improving hospitals, clinics, universities and schools in Mainland China and Hong Kong. On May 11, 2005, Dr. Wu died in Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital at the age of 105.

His father, Wu York-Yu, and grandfather, Wu Yee-Hong, were both enthusiastic practitioners of the "grow and clip" method of training penjing, which came to be known as the "Lingnan School". This "grow and clip" method, inspired by the contorted trees shown in early Chinese paintings, seeks to give strength and an ancient appearance to a dwarfed tree by allowing its branches to grow and gain caliper and then cutting them back. The method requires great patience, dedication, careful attention to detail, and a lighter, more natural approach to the caring of these plants. The "grow and clip" technique contrasts with the technique associated with Japanese bonsai of wrapping branches with wire to bend them to the desired shape. The tropical trees more favored in the "Lingnan School" are quicker growers and respond better to "grow and clip" than the more temperate specimens used by the Japanese.