Ann Tse-kai Hong Kong industrialist, established Winsor Industrial Ltd textile manufacturing

HF: The following article about Ann Tse-kai was written by Liu Oi Yan and first  published in the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, edited by May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn. The publisher, HK University Press, has kindly granted permission for it to be posted here, but retains copyright over this material from 2012.

Our article was first posted on 10th April 2019. Regrettably a couple of images I included then that I thought to be of Ann Tse-kai were not of him. York Lo quickly pointed this error out to me and sent the images shown in this updated version of the article for which I thank York.

Thanks also to SCT for proof reading the retyped article.

Ann was closely associated with a Hong Kong textile manufacturing company, Winsor Industrial Ltd, about which I have very little information. If you find anything out about this company or further information about Mr Ann please send it in.

TK Ann (left) as part of HK garment industry’s trade delegation in Europe in 1963

Ann Tse-kai OBE, CBE, JP, GBM (1997) b. 26 June 1912, Shanghai; d. 3 June 2000, Hong Kong. Politician, industrialist, linguist

Born into a small merchant family and educated at a traditional Confucian school, Ann Tse-kai developed both entrepreneurial and linguistic skills at an early age. He first came to Hong Kong in 1938 following the Japanese invasion of China, moving to Chongqing when Hong Kong itself was invaded in 1941. He settled in the colony in 1949 and established a textile manufacturing business, Winsor Industrial Ltd, which became one of the leading companies of its kind in Hong Kong.

Ann served on the Legaslative Council (1970-74) and Executive Council (1974-79) and later played an important role in shaping the terms of the return of Hong Kong to China in the years leading up to 1997. He founded the One Country Two Systems Economic Research Centre in 1990, an influential think-tank on Hong Kong policy, and set up an International Trade Research Fund to promote foreign trade and economic cooperation.

T.K. Ann (center) with future HK Chief Executive C.H. Tung (left) and Li Ka-shing (right) at a function in the 1980s (People’s Daily)

TK Ann shaking hands with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1983 (People’s Daily)

He was Deputy Director of the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1993-97), Vice-Chairman of the Committee for Drafting the Hong Kong Basic Law, Chairman of the Consultative Committee on the Hong Kong Basic Law, Hong Kong Affairs Advisor, and Vice-Chairman of the eighth and ninth National Committees of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He was conservative on democratic issues, believing that economic progress was only possible under conditions of political stability.

TK Ann (left) with his political mentee and future HK Chief Executive C.Y. Leung in the early 1990s at the One Country Two Systems Economic Research Institute which they co-founded (Ming Pao)

T.K. Ann with his book “Cracking the Chinese Puzzles”

He published a number of works, including several popular language books, such as Cracking the Chinese Puzzle (1982), and The Chinese Written Language is Easy to Learn (1995).

Young T.K Ann with his first wife and their children

In 1934 he married Yih Jeh-chuen with whom he had four children; after her death in 1987 he married Cheng Wai-wing in the same year.(1)

Source:

1. Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, ed M Holdsworth & C Munn, HKU Press, 2012 This wonderful book collects in one volume more than 500 specially commissioned entries on men and women from Hong Kong history.

See:

1. Funeral for Ann Tse-Kai Held in Hong Kong People’s Daily 13th June 2000
2. T. K. Ann Wikipedia

This article was first posted on 10th April 2019 and reposted on 15th May 2019.

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