To the late Mr. & Ms. Low Hong Kee.
We Chinese have a saying known as Yin Shui Si Yuan (饮水思源), when you drink water, remember its source. Likewise, one should not forget their roots and those that have done good to you.
The Late Mr. Low Hong Kee & His Wife, Mdm. Lin Zhui came from Penglai Town in Anxi, a province in Fujian China in the early 1950s in search of a better life abroad. He had started out as a metal scrap collector foraging for parts to be sold and throughout the years, saved up enough to start Hong Hock in 1964.
In the early 1970s, opportunity had risen for the purchase of Hong Hock’s first batch of non-ferrous metals – Brass, Copper and Bronze from traders in Japan. Negotiations back then were an uphill task with the Japanese and our founder not sharing an ounce of common language. Armed with only his knack of dollars and cents, negotiations were done through “sign language” through the use of simple finger gestures and numbers to close the deal. Shortly after, the cold war came and the Japanese bought back their materials at multiples what we had originally paid for, paving the way for our stockholding business under what we call HH Group today.
Empowering Others
As much as they focused on their business, our founders never forgot their roots and frequently gave back to their Town in Anxi. Both our founders were big believers of empowering the youths through education so that they would be able step out and compete on equal footing with others.
In the 1990s, they funded the construction of He Qian Primary School (鹤前小学), Mei Bin Primary school (美滨小学) and Kui Mei Primary School (魁美小学) for the betterment of their village.
In the process, they had also setup an educational foundation called “Low Hong Kee & Lin Zhui Educational Foundation” that supports 200 students from improvised families but have excellent academic results from the Anxi Region. 100 Primary School Students would get 200 yuan each and 100 junior high school students would get 300 yuan each under this educational fund.
Mr. Low Hong Kee had passed on in the year of 2000 but his philanthropic deeds were carried on by his wife Mdm. Lin Zhui whom established the Low Hong Kee Education Foundation (刘鸿基教育基金会) in memory of him. In March 2007, the construction of the Low Hong Kee Educational Foundation Building (刘鸿基教育基金大厦) was completed. The building allowed for the foundation to become self-sustaining in the form of rental income which was then distributed to scholarships for the students of Anxi. Upon completion, this building and the funds are managed by the Anxi Educational Bureau.
