“I had a typical Chinese-style relationship with my father: serious conversations, seldom in a relaxed mood. We would talk about business or how to be a proper human being. Or he would tell stories about the old times.”

- Robert H. N. Ho

 

1906

Robert Shai Lai is born in Hong Kong on 15 May, the third son of Robert Ho Tung and Clara Cheung Lin Kok.

 

1914

After early home tutoring with other members of the family in Chinese and English, he attends Diocesan Girls’ School with his sisters. The school teaches boys at primary level.

Around this time, he is caned by his father for impudence to a Peak Tram inspector. Recalled in one sister’s memoir as the only incidence of corporal punishment meted out by the patriarch.

 

1916

Transfers to Queen’s College (formerly Government Central School), attended by his father, elder brother Edward and many cousins.

 

1923

Close to finishing school when Edward, already studying at the University of Hong Kong, gives the welcome address ahead of Dr Sun Yat-sen’s famous speech there. Sun also meets Robert Ho Tung during his Hong Kong stay.

 

1924

Aged 18, tries to join the famous Baoding Military Academy in Nanking. Goes first to Shanghai with mother Clara. Sources suggest he may have wanted to become a naturalised Chinese citizen to facilitate his army application. On finding the Baoding Academy had closed down, he applies for military training in the UK with the help of his father’s contacts.

Returns to Queen’s College where he leads the tennis team. Citing reports in the Yellow Dragon school magazine, biography Ho Shai Lai portrays him as an irrepressible personality (loud, cheery, humorous, questioning, persistent, and gregarious). In later interviews, he acknowledges his patriotism and desire to serve China from an early age.

 

1925

Briefly attends the University of Hong Kong.

Starts army training at Woolwich Military Academy in the UK.

Robert Ho Tung’s friend and former Hong Kong colonial secretary James Stewart Lockhart becomes his guardian in the UK. This leads to on-going correspondence until Stewart Lockhart’s demise in 1937.

 

1926

Finishes course at Woolwich. Goes on to train in the use of artillery, but refused admission to the Military Staff College as he is not a British army officer.

Insists on wearing Chinese army uniform rather than the British uniform of all his UK classmates on official occasions.

 

1927

Starts tank training in the UK.

Causes scandal over application for a Chinese passport and renunciation of British nationality due to sensitivities over his military knowledge. His training is halted.

Secures commission from father’s acquaintance Marshal Zhang Zuolin, who controls northeast China, to facilitate admission to study at the L’Ecole d’Application d’Artillerie at Fontainebleau.

Leaves the UK and goes to France to undertake language studies.

 

1928

Marries Hesta Hung Ki Fun, a classmate of his sister Jean and relative of his father’s younger brother Ho Fook at major society celebration at Idlewild.

Returns to France with new wife to take up military studies.

 

1930

Heads back to Hong Kong after graduation. Joins army led by Zhang Zuolin’s son, Zhang Xueliang or the “Young Marshal”, in northeast China. However, he is not assigned any substantial duties.

“My father worked as an aide to the Young Marshal in the northeast of the country in Mukden (now Shenyang). The Young Marshal’s father had been in control of Manchuria until he was assassinated by the Japanese by a bomb on a train in 1928. The Japanese were hoping that in getting rid of the father, they would be able to get Manchuria, as the Young Marshal was still very young.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1931

In Beijing, with father and Zhang, watching Chinese opera charity performance when the Mukden incident takes place.

Given his language abilities, assigned to take League of Nations delegation to Shanghai to probe cause of the Chinese-Japanese conflict.

Returns to Hong Kong to attend Golden Wedding anniversary of his father and Margaret in December.

 

1932

Becomes an artillery battalion commander. Accompanies foreign military observers at frontline during Japanese attack on Shanghai.

Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel.

First and only son Robert Hung Ngai born in Hong Kong.

 

1933

Works on resistance to the Japanese in the northeast with Zhang but as towns continue fall, Zhang resigns and goes overseas. Robert Shai Lai also takes leave to attend graduate training at the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for two years. Many of his US classmates go on to become senior military figures in the Second World War, including the China arena. This paves the way for him to play a significant cross-cultural bridging role.

“I don’t recall how I went to the United States or returned to Hong Kong but one of my first memories is being allowed to ride one of the smaller horses at a riding school there and being led around on a grassy plain in Kansas. Another is being given candy by a neighbour. I have never liked sweets. When a chocolate was put in my mouth, I spat it out all over his jacket. I was roundly told off for that.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1934

While still training in the US, Zhang returns to China from a “self-reflection” trip in Europe and with more sympathy for communist ideals.

 

1935

Hesta returns to Hong Kong with son Robert Hung Ngai in May. Robert Shai Lai completes training and leaves the US in June. Visits China before returning to Hong Kong, where he works in family businesses, including Kung Sheung Daily News. In October, he takes up military duties again with Zhang’s army.

 

1936

Assigned to military intelligence work and participates in anti-communist campaigns in Shaanxi.

“Eventually, my father was trusted enough to operate the radio or message centre, which handled the secret telegraph communications and codes.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

Is in Hong Kong in December, celebrating family anniversaries and birthdays when the Xian incident occurs.

“My father should have been captured as well, as part of the Young Marshal’s ‘gang’, but very luckily he was not there when the Xian kidnapping occurred. He was in Hong Kong due to my grandfather’s birthday.

“Then my father had something else to worry about. Should he re-join his office in Xian or stay in Hong Kong? He chose to go back. The Young Marshal had already been arrested. But my father stayed and was investigated by Chiang’s group. They found he was not connected, even though he was involved with the telegraph office.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1937

Transferred to look after salt matters in Guangzhou while under investigation in relation to Xian incident.

Father Robert Ho Tung later visits Nanking for discussions on industrial investment and meets senior members of the Nationalist government, including Chiang Kai-shek.

“While my father was found innocent regarding the Xian incident, he was relieved of any important duties. No job really until the Japanese war. Then they used him again and he fought an important battle against renowned Japanese general Kenji Doihara. He got a medal for that.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1938

Mother Clara dies on 5 January 1938. Carries out main Buddhist funeral duties as elder brother Edward is a Catholic.

Named in Clara’s will as one of the people she would like to form a Board of Directors to look after Tung Lin Kok Yuen and Po Kok School.

Sent to the frontline and engages in battles using his artillery expertise in Anhui, Henan and Jiangxi as the Japanese advance. Later assigned to military intelligence in southern China.

First and only daughter Margaret Min Kwan born on 28 August.

“My father was always away. Once in a while he would come back to Seymour Road to visit us. Only a short visit usually. My mother would go with him. Of course, she would stay at the back, not on the frontline. Thus, my sister and I were left in the care of my grandfather and grandmother Margaret. My other grandmother Clara had already died by then.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1941

Transferred to Liuzhou, Guangxi, under the command of General Fakui Zhang.

Does not attend Diamond Wedding anniversary of his father and Margaret on 2 December, incurring much displeasure. Family lore suggests this was due to his advance knowledge of the impending Japanese invasion of Hong Kong on 8 December and the danger his presence would pose to his family.

“My grandfather had summoned – I think that is the word – all relatives to come back to celebrate the anniversary. All of them did return… except my father. My grandparents were extremely upset that one of the sons would not show up for such an event. Later, it turned out my father knew exactly when the Japanese attack was coming because he was working in cooperation with British intelligence at that time. All the Chinese government and higher-ups knew. But he could not tell us. He just did not show up. My grandparents were so mad! My grandfather did not know the real story until after the war.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1942

Hesta looks after the two children Robert and Margaret at Idlewild in the early days of the occupation before the Japanese realise they are Robert Shai Lai’s immediate family. They then hide out at the Tung Lin Kok Yuen in Happy Valley. Using false IDs, his wife and children make their escape to China and reunite with him.

“Once we arrived in Guangzhouwan (Zhanjiang), my mother, sister, amah, and I started to walk north to reach my father. We walked for – oh, I don’t know – about two-and-a-half to three weeks.

“We were passing Chinese troops all the time and my father in Liuchow luckily got news of us. He then came down to collect us in an ambulance, which was the only vehicle he could find to fit all of us in at once!”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

Assigned a logistics role that involves interaction with US forces and overseas supplies. Also appointed to the Nationalists’ prestigious Military Commission.

“When the US came to help China during the war, my father was a major go-between as he spoke English. His main role was logistics. He dealt with supplies and had to make sure the route was safe for supplies to get through – it could be anything from rice to ammunition and guns. Moreover, it just so happened that the general in charge of the US troops (General Albert Wedemeyer from 1944) had been a classmate at Leavenworth.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1944

Margaret dies in Hong Kong.

Builds close connections with former Leavenworth graduate General Albert Wedemeyer, now in charge of US support in China. The friendship endures throughout the post-war period.

Works in Kunming, where US General Claire Chennault, of “Flying Tigers” fame, is based. Deals effectively with increasing US aid and promoted to Lieutenant General Logistics Bureau Deputy Commander.

“I had been going to school in Gweilin as True Light had moved there from Hong Kong. When it looked like Liuchow was going to fall to the Japanese, my father asked me to catch the train back to Liuchow – at that time it took all night – to rejoin my sister, mother and amah. By then, my father was in Kunming.

“When I got there, the Japanese were moving quickly and Liuchow was beginning to panic. Trains out were fully loaded. If you wanted to get on, you had to pay somebody who was a muscleman to go in and get you a seat. Those who couldn’t get on started to lie in front of the train so it couldn’t move. They were that desperate.

“Getting on a train was impossible. So we called my father and told him the situation. Now, it just so happened that my father knew General Chennault, head of the Flying Tigers, who was also based in Kunming. My father called up Chennault and asked if any of his fighters were still flying to Liuchow. And there was one – a B25 bomber – which had been sent to Liuchow, without bombs, to burn all the papers at their headquarters there. Chennault said: ‘OK, that plane is going empty. You can use it.’

“Of course, we didn’t know any of this at the time. It was between the two of them. By the time we knew anything, there was a jeep with a trailer outside our house and two Americans knocking on the door. They said to my mother: ‘Are you Mrs Ho?’

‘Yes.’

‘Yes? Right now, come with us. You are leaving this minute.’

“We didn’t know what to grab. Then we rushed off to the airport – you could hear machineguns were already going by then – and got on the plane. We sat where the bombs were usually held. No air pressure or anything. Just us and the two pilots.

“One of the pilots then threw something over to my mother and said: ‘Mrs Ho, I will give you a spare parachute to wear.’

“Well, my mother didn’t know how to wear a parachute - and they ignored the amah.

‘And as far as those two children are concerned, we will grab one each.’ I still remember that. It must have been a joke…

“Anyway, we flew off and we got out. That was the closest to really being in trouble after Hong Kong.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

Meets President Chiang for the first time.

 

1945

Following the Japanese collapse, marches troops from Liuchow to Guangdong, risking encounters with communist forces. Becomes one of the first KMT commanders to reach Guangzhou and plays a major role in maintaining order. Attends surrender ceremony led by General Fakui Zhang.

“We were anxious to get back to Hong Kong but were advised not to because there was no government there at the time (after the Japanese surrender on 15 August). Actually, my father was one of the first to enter because he had already been sent to take over Guangzhou from the Japanese. In Guangzhou, seven Japanese officers surrendered to him so he was given seven samurai swords.

“Meanwhile, the British were still way out on their ships (Admiral Cecil Harcourt arrived on 30 August) and Hong Kong was being looted. There was no police, nothing. So my father was sent over. He only had about 20 troops but the appearance of Chinese soldiers quietened the city ahead of Harcourt’s arrival.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

Awarded Legion of Merit by the US government for reorganising Chinese supply lines, international coordination, and planning of tactical and logistical operations in the final months of the war.

 

1946

Unable to attend memorial services for Margaret as urgently called to the northeast to organise supply points from Qinhuangdao and Hulutao ports for hundreds of thousands of Nationalist troops as the civil war between the CCP and KMT resumes.

As commander of Hulutao, he is also responsible for the humanitarian repatriation of more than one million Japanese from northeast China over a period of three years.

Meets Chiang’s son Chiang Ching-kuo, later President of Taiwan. They stay in contact over the years.

 

1947

Honoured with the Medal of Freedom, Silver Palm, by the US government.

 

1948

Assigned to Nanjing for logistics work.

 

1949

Appointed Commander of Keelung Harbour in Taiwan in October, in addition to other duties related to the retreat, to strengthen it for “military transportation” to and from Taiwan, according to a South China Morning Post report at the time.

Goes on a visit with his wife to Japan in December. The country is under military occupation with General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. General Charles Willoughby, a former instructor at Leavenworth, is working as an intelligence chief there.

“Chiang said to my father: ‘You go to Japan.’ Soon after that the Korean War broke out. General MacArthur was the top man in Japan then and my father became very friendly with him. MacArthur was much more senior than my father but treated him like a protégé. I only met MacArthur once. He would always call my father ‘Ho’. Never by his first name.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1950

Chiang Kai-shek assumes presidency of Taiwan in March. Robert Shai Lai is made a Vice Minister of Defence and also takes up the role of Head of Taiwan’s Delegation to Japan in June, just ahead of the outbreak of war in Korea. Serves as trusted liaison to organise a secret visit by General MacArthur to Taiwan at the end of July. US economic and military aid to Taiwan resumes.

“Sadly, I didn’t have too much contact with my parents. They were not much in Hong Kong before and after the war. Then I went to school in the US. My sister had more time as she went with them to Japan and attended an American school there. After that, she, too, went to the US.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1952

Flies back and forth between Taiwan and Japan to liaise and coordinate different parties over difficult negotiations related to the Sino-Japanese peace treaty.

 

1953

Appointed Taiwan’s chief representative to the United Nations’ Military Staff Committee and is based in Washington DC during the early cold war years.

“When my father was appointed to the United Nations, I was studying in the US. But we didn’t see each other. He was in Washington and I was in school. I only saw him if I had a vacation and visited the capital.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1956

Robert Ho Tung passes away at Idlewild on 26 April. Returns for large-scale funeral and condolences from around the world.

Inherits the ownership of the Kung Sheung Daily News and Kung Sheung Evening News.

 

1957

Older brother Edward dies suddenly on 2 July in Hong Kong.

Ho family businesses run by remote as Robert Shai Lai continues to work on US-Taiwanese relations as a KMT officer.

 

1958

Major Taiwan Strait military crisis with PRC in the summer puts Taiwan on a war footing. Robert Shai Lai called on to use his US network and trusted relationship with senior US military personnel to secure advanced eight-inch grenade launchers. He accomplishes this and the weapons are deployed, helping to end the conflict.

"Oh yes, my father played an important role on both the military and political side for Taiwan. He got the US to agree to supply aid at the beginning and then the ammunition to repel an attack from the communists across the Strait. They were using artillery to bomb some of the islands and my father got the weapons to return the fire. It’s a long complicated story. But he did get what his government wanted.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1959

Promoted to the rank of General.

 

1962

Resigns from his United Nations role due to the pressing need to look after the family estate. He remains attached to the Taiwan government and President Chiang in a senior advisory capacity.

“My father played a good role and then asked for retirement. Chiang said no. My father said he must go because his own father had died and several years had already gone by when he couldn’t pick up the family business because of his Taiwan job. But they wouldn’t let him go. And you know Chinese people. They want mutual agreement. If Chiang said no and you just left, you would break that relationship.

“My father would say, ‘I want to go’, and the answer was always ‘No, no, no’, until finally he said, ‘I MUST go’. After that, they let him. They did give him a ‘consultant’ title. However, it meant he didn’t have to be in Taiwan all the time.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

Returns to Hong Kong to manage Kung Sheung Daily News and other family businesses and philanthropies, but still regularly visits Taiwan. The paper is viewed as pro-Taiwan. Also runs Taiwan China Color Printing Company (now known as China Color Printing Company), which is involved in printing Taiwan government materials.

Takes up residence at Ho Tung Gardens when in Hong Kong. Over the years, he meets numerous dignitaries there, including George H.W. Bush in the 1970s, when Bush was chief of the US Liaison Office in the PRC.

Hesta and Robert Shai Lai persuade journalist son Robert Hung Ngai to return to Hong Kong from the US to help with the workload.

“If I had it my own way, I would have tried to go it alone in the US or elsewhere. I said to my wife: ‘We’re going to stay here and survive on our own. Even if the family “left me in the field” - I wouldn’t use the words “disown me” - we will struggle through.’

“But my mother came to see me twice to persuade me to go back. Then my father visited. He said you have to take over whether you like or not because you are the only son. I got talking to my aunts and others. They said: ‘Be a good boy.’ So I went back.

“In fact, as our family was small – just one daughter and me – I had no choice but to carry on the family business. Who was going to do it otherwise? In the Chinese family mentality, you don’t hire people. You take care of your business yourself.

“My father also very loudly emphasised that he wasn’t trained as a businessman. He was a military man. When I said I was a journalist and wasn’t a businessman either, he replied: ‘You are closer than I am.’”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1964

Writes privately published “Supplementary Notes” in Chinese on the good deeds of his mother Clara to commemorate what would have been her 90th year.

 

1966

Goes on an extensive world tour with Hesta in his 60th year.

Sets up Hong Kong and Taiwan Trading Company and Taiwan Man Sang Products Company in Hong Kong to help boost Taiwan products overseas.

 

1967

Uses military training to shield Kung Sheung newspaper staff and building from violent confrontation during anti-colonial riots in Hong Kong.

“…Some 5,000 rioters marched towards our office building in Wan Chai. Tipped off by the police, we were prepared. My father was at the front and our loyal staff had sticks in their hands and were ready to fight. As we waited on the rooftop, we saw them coming from the cenotaph. We closed the gate and father calmed everyone, and told us not to fight or else we’d be in big trouble. When the rioters finally came, we got into a stalemate. After some rounds of chanting slogans, they dispersed.”*

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1973

Undertakes another lengthy world tour with Hesta.

 

1975

Attends Chiang Kai-shek’s funeral.

 

1976

Resigns from chairmanship of Hong Kong and Taiwan Trading Company and Taiwan Man Sang Products Company.

Attends opening of Lady Ho Tung Hall, constructed as part of a postgraduate complex at Chinese University of Hong Kong following a HK$1 million donation.

 

1977

Awarded Order of the Brilliant Star, First Rank, a civilian honour for his contribution to the development of Taiwan. The “first rank” medal is awarded by the President of the Republic of China.

 

1984

Closes Kung Sheung newspaper on 1 December, just ahead of the signing of the Joint Declaration between China and the UK on Hong Kong’s post-1997 future due to “enormous” financial losses, as stated in a South China Morning Post article.

 

Mid-1980s

Retires and lives between Taiwan and Hong Kong. Continues his two mothers’ horticultural endeavours, with a tea estate in Taiwan and vegetables grown on “prime Hong Kong real estate” at Ho Tung Gardens.

 

1991

Zhang Xueliang released from house arrest in Taipei.

Hesta unexpectedly passes away.

“Oh, my mother was a lady. She graduated from Diocesan Girls’ School and became a teacher for a short time. Then she dated my father. My mother followed my father during his time in the army. She was a housewife. Then, in Japan and the US, she became a social organiser as he had to host a lot of cocktail parties and dinners. She was always really good at that. She knew how to talk and was very friendly. Just a nice woman… but always in the background.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

Deafness becomes more pronounced.

“Deafness runs in our family. My grandfather was very deaf and had to wear a hearing aid. My father had to wear one. I do too."

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1995

Attends a reception marking the 50th anniversary of the victory over Japan together with PRC officials.

 

1996

Still playing tennis at 90.

“The ritual was that on Sunday, my wife and I would play tennis with my father. When he was 90, nobody wanted to play with him. However, it was an obligation. So we would hit the ball near him. Then he didn’t have to run and he could just sling it over! Mind you, he complained. “I don’t like standing tennis,” he said."

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

1998

After donating money for a campus building at Northeastern University, makes first trip back to northeastern China in decades to attend opening ceremony in June. He is accompanied by son Robert Hung Ngai and daughter Margaret Min Kwan.

Passes away at Ho Tung Gardens, aged 92, on 26 July. Funeral takes place in Hong Kong on 5 August, attended by senior community figures from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China. A Taiwan flag is sent over but not draped. His ashes are buried at Chiu Yuen cemetery with his mother and grandmother.

“I had a typical Chinese-style relationship with my father: serious conversations, seldom in a relaxed mood. We would talk about business or how to be a proper human being. Or he would tell stories about the old times.”

- Reminiscence of Robert H. N. Ho

 

2009

Commemorative plaque to Robert Shai Lai unveiled in the George H. W. Bush Gallery of the National Museum of the Pacific War in Texas at a ceremony attended by son Robert Hung Ngai.

 

---

Sources

 

BOOKS

• John M. Carroll, Edge of Empires: Chinese Elites and British Colonials in Hong Kong, (2005)

• Irene Cheng, Clara Ho Tung, A Hong Kong Lady: Her Family and Her Times (1976) and Intercultural Reminiscences (1997)

• Jean Gittins, Behind Barbed Wire (1982)

• Eric Ho, Tracing My Children’s Lineage (2010)

• May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn (eds), Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography (2013)

• Chan Lau Kit Ching, China, Britain and Hong Kong 1895-1945 (1990)

• Vicky Lee, Being Eurasian: Memories Across Racial Divides (2004)

• Christopher Munn, Anglo-China: Chinese People and British Rule 1841-1880 (2001)

• Carl T Smith, “Protected Women in 19th Century Hong Kong” in M Jaschok and S Miers (eds), Women and Chinese Patriarchy: Submission, Servitude, and Escape (1994)

• Victor Zheng and Wong Siu Lun, Ho Tung: The Grand Old Man of Hong Kong, (2007) and Ho Shai Lai (2008)

 

NEWSPAPERS

• South China Morning Post, numerous dates

• * O Chau, “House of Ho”, Post Magazine, South China Morning Post, 27 May 2012

 

ONLINE

• “Architectural Appraisal of Ho Tung Gardens”, by Ho Yin Lee, Lynne D. DiStefano and Curry C.K. Tse, Antiquities and Monuments Office, HKSAR Government, http://www.amo.gov.hk/ form/briefing/ htgaa_report.pdf, accessed 02/03/16

• Robert Hotung, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hotung, accessed 24/7/15

• Taiwan Documents Project, http://www.taiwandocuments.org/, 03/05/16

• Taiwan Today, archive, numerous dates, http://www.taiwantoday.tw/mp.asp?mp=9, 30/04/16

 

VIDEOS

• Dedication to Ho Shai Lai, George H. W. Bush Gallery, National Museum of the Pacific War, Texas, 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sANocvLVpHA

 

INTERVIEWS

• Mr Robert H. N. Ho, October 2015