Chan Lim Pak – WW2 Collaborator, MD of Fook Hing Oil Refinery Co + dramatic death…
HF: New information added by Chris – image of Chan and source, and further information in his comments added to the main article. And HF re Chan’s death near Brothers Islands.
Chan Lim Pak (also, Chan Pok Yim) was born in 1884 in Nanhai ( Namhoi) Guandong and died on 24th December 1944.
Details of his dramatic life can be found below in the second extract and in a lengthier biography in a Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography which states…
During WW2, “He made a considerable profit from the monopoly for the sale of cooking oil [ie Fook Hing Oil Refinery Company] ,given him by the occupation government. In December 1944 seeing that the end as near for the Japanese, he and three of his concubines boarded the Lingnan Maru on Christmas Eve to travel to Macau, only to run into American bombers firing on the steamer. Chan allegedly drowned as he was clutched at by one of his concubines, weighed down by gold bars she had strapped to her body.”
Our main concern might be his involvement in Fook Hing and other HK companies. Can anyone supply further details about his manufacturing interests here?
But the end? “Two ships? Chris suggests, “As for the name of the ship, I suspect “Reinan” is just the Japanese rendition of “Lingnan” (嶺南)”. Two final destinations? Or, as one account has it, was the ship bombed while moored to a pier in Hong Kong? The Dictionary of HK Biography states he died, “near the Brothers Island off coast of Castle Peak.” These can be more easily identified as being to the East of HK International Airport. And one, two or three concubines?
This image of Chan was sent by Chris in his comment below this article.
“Who is Who in China” (3rd edition, 1925) published by the China Weekly Review, Shanghai.
Extracted from – Hong Kong: A Society in Transition
This article was first posted on 30th October 2014.
See:
- Hong Kong: A Society in Transition, IC Jarvie, Kegan Paul International, 1969, p110
- Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, Ed M Holdsworth and C Munn, Hong Kong University Press, 2012
- http://hkprintingpress.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/1929-profile-mr-chan-lim-pak/
Related Indhhk article: Fook Hing Oil Factory, Cheung Sha Wan, BAAG report, 1943